Social Games: Privacy and Security

Recent online gaming developments and para-gaming environments, i.e., the social software tools to communicate with fellow gamers, report, discuss and disseminate assets and experience, strongly resemble social media like Facebook or Twitter. It has therefore been suggested that games like World of Warcraft, Little Big Planet, The Godfather, or The Secret World should be called “social games.” Privacy and security is an issue in these social games, as the players of these games do often not realize that they inhabit environments that have real estate outside the safe borders of the Magic Circle. The games companies harvest information about the players in ways that are far from transparent. The author will present examples of data mining and harvesting of data within a playful environment, analyze code segments that implement data collection, and suggest methods of refusal, sabotage, or disclosure of breeches of contract.