Are you tired of hearing about our lost privacy, we being products, and all kinds of legal matters like GDPR, COPPA, and so on?

It's not about something to hide

When I started my research about privacy and video games, I asked gamers and bloggers regarding the privacy issues in video games. Mostly the bloggers and the gamers told me this is not an issue. The major issue about which they showed their concerns is as given: they don't like other people to know what they are playing. Also, the fact is of significant importance that some games require people to share things on Facebook.

The important parameter in this regard is all about the thinking of users about privacy as something legal and boring. It is not something that they should think about. But actually, it needs to be considered as the first priority.

To realize why we first need to understand what is PRIVACY we should stop just saying "privacy," and start saying "the right for privacy". This is what it is. Like other human rights such as safety, free speech, education, etc. We also have the RIHGT for privacy.

Most people might think that the right to privacy is about hiding information. If we hide something, then it's a secret. But actually, it's about controlling where and when your information is. You can share your information, but you should know people know what about you, and more important is what they can do about it. 

So, what's the big deal? 

Have you asked yourself, by now, what the big deal is? 

Well, the fascinating thing while playing games is that, we use lots of advanced technology- from cameras to microphone and other digital devices. These devices tend to produce lots of high-quality information about us, much more than just location: i.e., photos, sound files, and social relationships, physical characters like facial expression, the shape and movement of the body (body language), biometric data and so on. The future technology and development like the improvement of the VR-AR tech, and other developments like reading minds (thank you Facebook for that!)is not being mentioned here. 

Gathering the data is only the first step. The real deal is the analysis of the said information and sync it with the process and activities gamers did in the game while this data was collected. There are lots of psychological and personality reports data analyzers or learning machines can produce, some of them are already in use in the field of the game economy. For example- our temperament, how dealing with uncertainty conditions, dealing with stressful situations, how we behave in different social situations, and even our political opinion and our greatest fears.

It's not so easy to know which company knows what about us (we will discuss it). This is not something known to the general audience, so it's a bit surprising to see the article about how the US air force plans to use games for recruitment purposes [https://www.military.com/defensetech/2018/05/25/heres-how-air-force-plans-recruit-teenage-gamers.html]. 

I short the air force works on a game in which teenagers can play, and if they prove them "just brilliant," the army will contact them.

They, of course, thought about privacy issues and states that "They would play anonymously, identified only by an IP address," But I don't believe IP identification is the right solution or even enough for privacy issues, but what's more bothers me is the following explanation about the design of the game and the information they can conclude:

"By giving kids a few scenarios to work through, the Air Force can measure critical, creative, conceptual, constructive, contextual, and collaborative thinking."

"I can tell if you're empathetic. I can tell if you cheat. I can tell if you cut corners [or] if you're morally courageous under pressure or if you save your own skin."

This kind of information about 15-year-old teenagers, in the hand of government or other related institutions (or anyone actually), reminds me of Snowden's documents. We can't ignore the presence of games like angry birds in the papers he released and the amount of data possibly collected from the 15-year-old playing the game.

For example, this is a quote from Snowden's documents, related games, and virtual environments: 

"GVEs are an opportunity! We can use games for CNE exploits, social network analysis, HUMINT targeting, ID tracking (photos, docs IDS), shaping activities, geo-location of target."

And then: 

"We need to develop a viewer/DB that allows linguist/analysts to view/experience voice/text/video traffic together and archive the GVE data associated with reporting."

The end of privacy? Not necessarily

Yes, I know- privacy is dead. There are rules about privacy (GDPR, for example), and some of us embrace the fact that we can't really control it and "play the game." BUT I really think there are few things we must understand before giving up on finding holistic solutions:

First- We can't trust the law. Sorry for being so pessimistic, but if Snowden's case is not enough for you, then you must understand that rules can be changed by politicians and their needs. I'm happy there are rules like GDPR and COPPA, but history made me a skeptic about the life expectancy of laws, and I don't want my information (and yours) to be on the hand of politicians, their needs and bias. The fact that they CAN be changed is good enough for us to think about what we can do about it. 

Think about the next scenarios: What will happen if a few years from now the government decides that insurance and other health care (physical or psychological) can have your information and decide whether to pay for some kind of medicine or treatment? What if workplaces will ask your leadership profile to decide if you fit for a job you really want? 

Does that lead me to the second thing we must think about- Can previous data determine our future? Can it prevent us from fulfilling our potential? Am I the same person I was 15 years ago, or even five years ago? And we didn't discuss the option of profiling on gender, race, and other bases.   

This is not a unique thought when we relate to big data, but as gamers, the amount and quality of the data collected, and what can be done with them, is something worth remembering. We can already see how the game economy uses data to make us keep playing games (and maybe even addicted).

What can I do about this?

Don't panic! Well, not yet... There are solutions, not the kind of solutions that will make us go back in time and create stupid games. It's not fun, and I'm realistic- this will never work! But we must see the power we have- as gamers and as designers. The super-power-keyword is TRANSPARENCY.

Gamers are not only individuals sitting in front of screens and playing games. From my point of view, we are a community, which is power. Through blogs and groups (virtual and non-virtual), we can talk about this. Game reviews can address the information mentioned in the long tiring privacy agreements. When we talk about games and their mechanics, we can also speak out loud about privacy issues in the game.

We also can create standards. If I want to buy a game and hesitating between two different games, I guess a five-star privacy approved game will be more appealing for us, knowing the power and importance of privacy, and to parents buying their teenagers games. 

This leads me to how game companies can be transparent: Act like YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE from us. For Example-

Don't hide the information on privacy matters in privacy agreements nobody wants to read. Let us know, loud and clear, what kind of information is being collected and what your company does to protect it (like- information being deleted on a regular basis). 

Also, you can make a "privacy menu" [example] specifying the data being collected. In this menu, you gamers can mark what kind of data they want you to have, which one we want you to know only on a specific time or setting, and which one we don't want you to have at all. This menu is also your place and chance to explain to your gamers how it can affect the game. 

There are more solutions to this matter, and I'm sure we can be creative on issues we can't find solutions to, but besides transparency, a golden rule is- make us trust you. Let us know that every detail you have on your gamers is relevant for the game. Don't make players suffer or regret their need and willing to protect their data. Because, as Snowden said it:

"Privacy isn't about something to hide. Privacy is about something to protect... Privacy is what gives you the ability to share with the world who you are on your own terms."