Google has patented the idea of analyzing in-game behavior to better target ads.
The patent says: “User dialogue (eg from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterise the user (eg literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterise the user (eg cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc).”
The information could be used to make adverts that appear inside the game more “relevant to the user”, Google says.
Players who spend a lot of time exploring “may be interested in vacations, so the system may show ads for vacations”. And those who spend more time talking to other characters will see adverts for mobile phones.
I, for one, look forward to the cosmetic surgery ads in character creation.
Well, that’s fascinating.
The Blizzard Feedback UI MOD has been redesigned and is included in this patch. You will notice a blue B button on your minimap to open it and a blue line of text saying “Alt Left Click for feedback” on items, creatures, quests and maps. Please do spam us with your useful suggestions, surveys and bug reports.
After an instance run, you are also welcome to complete a survey about your experience of it.
Does anyone have screenshots of the feedback UI?
It’s a really interesting idea, and probably really easy to implement too.
… okay. (Via Information Aesthetics; scroll down for some cool charts.)
My friend down the hall, whose baby turns four months old tomorrow, says that this is not merely cool, but medically necessary. Who knew?
Google didn’t reveal any equivalent services for cats, but on a similar note, see GPS tracking. This site has, perhaps, the greatest information illustration ever. And hey, it works on bears.
Buried away in a Pirates of the Burning Sea status update:
Another one of our new hires runs a full time usability/playability lab, where we bring in players to see what they think of the game. We’re also conducting tests of our new marketing materials, the new web site, etc. As you might expect, this kind of data is extraordinarily useful in fine tuning the game, and it’s extremely cool to watch our test scores constantly improving.
Awesome, and to the best of my knowledge, an industry first for independent MMO developers. But will said new hire have a job after launch?
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