L&M 6 - If there Is Hope, It Lies in the LOLs

The issue of online surveillance is a fear that has existed since the early days of the internet. Its boiling point was, arguably, after Edward Snowden's leaking of the US Government's extensive surveillance programmes, previously deemed unlawful by the US Supreme Court. But surveillance and data hoarding are not only practised by governments - search engines like Google store searches and site traffic statistics to drive more profitable advertising. Video game companies have also increasingly been using this tactic to drive new business strategies that involve many very small purchases – known as microtransactions.

These microtransactions often rely upon popular trends to drive player interest. Massively Multiplayer Online games (games that involve huge communities of players from around the world taking part in a changing, online world) like World of Warcraft often target players with "sales" and exclusive items to drive predatory purchasing practices. Players not wishing to "miss out" on content supposedly available only for a limited time will fork out, and those who fall for this have their purchases logged so that AI-driven systems can then better target these high-purchase volume players - often referred to as "whales" - for exploitation later on. Surveillance, then, takes place not only before purchasing a game in the form of targeted advertising - but even after buying the product, a player still must live with their experiences, purchases, and habits all being recorded for use later on.

Works Cited

Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft, November 2004