The Guardian reports that the Internet search giant Google has filed a patent for a technology which keeps tabs on gamers in order to develop psychological profiles of consumers. The profiles would then be used to target advertising at players, both outside and inside games:
The company thinks it can glean information about an individual's preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says.
Current play patterns aren't the only element of interest; the technology can also scrape information from console memory cards. Any games machine that connects to the internet is a possible haven for tracking bots.
Google argues that it has no plans to incorporate the tech in the near future.
