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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgMw6punQrE [youtube.com]

This a somewhat evil version of Neal Stephenson's "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" that follows you around across multiple platforms (including RL) and dynamically adjusts your gaming experiences (and your in-game cash shop prices) to keep you hooked and spending on a specific video game. (That is any specific game for which the publisher pays these people their service fee).

Just to be clear, this is a service being sold to game publishers. The service probably gets their data directly from AT&T or whatever.

SidAlpha on youtube got his mitts on a leak of their sales presentation, and it includes all the usual social media gimmickry, but it also listens to your home life through your phone so it knows the best time to prod you to play again or when to layoff - purportedly if your phone hears your baby crying, the service will reduce the intensity of both your gaming experience and any ads within regardless of platform. Or so they say... a truly evil product would choose that moment to intensify its efforts!

Also, based on the input it collects, the AI moderates your in-game rewards, including not just loot drops but also the quality and length of the missions/quests it gives you.

This kind of intrusiveness makes loot crates look good, which makes me wonder if the whole thing wasn't ginned up in an EA public relations office.....

Original Submission