Proposal For EA Games to use AI for monetisation

[Droodey]

AA proposal for EA from a company affiliated with MIT (I changed the heading  it was a bit untrue)

 

Games aren't just games anymore. They are a marketing tool to get more money out of you,

 

They will use AI to track your location via your phone, or any internet device and follow you around placing adds adds all over the place referring you to the game for micro-transactions. In one place it states it will listen to you at home and if it hears a baby cry it will stop with the adds, and when the AI thinks the baby has stopped and is sleeping it will bombard you with adds for the game.  They have placed cameras in billboards etc to  use face recognition to show you adds all over the place. There is much more in the article, its quite scary stuff.

 

The Ai will work out where you home is by tracking your movements, if your at a place for 8 hours or more over night it will figure out your  location via phones gps and internet then your address by tracking your phone data, It will listen for engine noise to see if your in a car just to name a few things.

 

https://imgur.com/a/rhFuj

 

[ItsMitch]

Even though this doesn't meet the requirements (i frankly don't care) This shit is scary, AI to encourage users to pay for microtransactions, Y I K E S F R O M M E Y E F F 

[Droodey]

yeah I know it breaks some rules, But I think the information  it provides is worth it.

[ItsMitch]

1 minute ago, Droodey said:

yeah I know it breaks some rules, But I think the information  it provides is worth it.

Yeah, just add your opinion in your OP and quote something from the article, should be ok  

[Ashaira]

There was a research paper published by some company a few months ago that talked about everything in there. It got very little coverage cause people thought it was a long way off.

[Droodey]

According to this its already here, well some of it, more like most of it.  Implementation of 5G networks will turn out lives in to walking advertisements once there is more bandwidth out there.

[Lathlaer]

Is this really a letter from EA and not a letter TO EA? From the context it looks like it's a pitch from a 3rd party on how to improve monetization (multiple references to "you/your game").

[Droodey]

Its possible your right, that info seems to be redacted, It shows anthem at the top in the pictures. There is  a link to MIT for the audio algorithim, It may very be a proposal for EA. Either way its pretty scary stuff though.

 

[TetraSky]

So, is this like that "turning players into payers" thing?

If so, it's a scumbag move that I certainly would expect from EA.

[WereCat]

As long as we don't have ads in games... oh wait...

 

A whole new hide and seek game.

[Bouzoo]

Quote

[Press Here] or [Press Button]  to buy autoaim!

3) Most importantly, we have proven that allowing AI atler a player's game as a whole (social engineering) and alter the player's individual gameplay experience (psychological manipulation tactics) causes a consistent and dramatic increase recurrent revenue streams. 

Are you kidding me? Well done EA, well done. You have managed to fall even lower. 

 

EDIT: Also Imgur album says it was uploaded in January . 

Edited July 2, 2018 by Bouzoo

[Doobeedoo]

Using AI to exploit weak minds and zero their bank accounts. 

FeelsGoodMan

[Spotty]

If 'clippy' is the AI they're using for this, I don't think we have to worry.
"Hi there. Looks like you're trying to monetise your game. Try adding gambling or micro-transactions"

 

Spoiler

 

I wonder what was censored in that.

 

Spoiler

 

And companies wonder why Europe introduced GDPR.

 

 

2 hours ago, Lathlaer said:

From the context it looks like it's a pitch from a 3rd party on how to improve monetization (multiple references to "you/your game").

 

1 hour ago, huilun02 said:

If you look at the imgur photos there is no mention of EA anywhere. They used stills of Anthem gameplay for demonstration.

But yeah good job finding dirt and associating it to EA

I agree with these two statements.
If you read through it, it looks more like it is a pitch proposal from one company to another. I couldn't find any mention that specifically stated it was being pitched to EA, or was from anyone associated with EA games. It only uses a gameplay screenshot from Anthem(?) as what it denotes to be a "placeholder" image.

Also, if you read the very first slide it states that it is just a "Practice Presentation" and a "DRAFT". While the full name has been censored, it appears to be from a company called "[Censored] Data Broker LLC" - Which is famous for not being "EA Games".
 

Spoiler

 

[Ryujin2003]

This isn't really thst new. EA has a couple patents submitted for utilizing AI adaptive algorithms to adjust difficulty and other things for ingame performance, with the ability to shift the algorithm to manipulate micro transactions. Kinda like Activision, but a bit more flexible.....

 

This came out in March I believe. They aren't approved yet so far as I know, but I know they are geared for Anthem.

[W-L]

Please ensure a source and quote are added to meet the guidelines for the Tech News section. 

 

-Moved to General Discussion- 

 

[aezakmi]

Quote

The Ai will work out where you home is by tracking your movements, if your at a place for 8 hours or more over night it will figure out your  location via phones gps and internet then your address by tracking your phone data, It will listen for engine noise to see if your in a car just to name a few things.

yeah good luck tracking my crap phone that's 15 years old or a bus that changes route every time it rains because of the mud

[Droodey]

Changed the heading after  I finished reading the whole document.

[EPENEX]

Don't be some impressionable herd mentality cattle with gamer syndrome, and if you are, see a therapist. Find something meaningful to spend your money on and not some meaningless virtual non-tangible item to try to boost your ego or satisfaction. People who spend thousands on microtransactions need help, and I personally was in that boat where I had spent $1500+ on CS:GO and TF2 items. You just need to get back in touch with reality and realize that video games aren't worth that much. I am fine with microtransactions in games as long as they don't give you an advantage. There is nothing wrong with having an extra skin or something for a little bit of money, just as a consumer, don't go overboard.

[Andreas Lilja]

13 hours ago, Droodey said:

Games aren't just games anymore. They are a marketing tool to get more money out of you,

Games were always about making money. It's just that the market changed vastly, more mainstream and bigger budgets.

[veli2501]

I must be the only person that thinks that targeted ads aren't a bad thing.  I would much rather see things that are actually relevant to my interests.  There is also 0% chance that I would buy mtx, so once the algorithm figures that out they won't send me ads for those

[Droodey]

I don't mind the adds, its more the way they get to me I find disturbing, Listening to my environment through my tech devices and following me around I feel is an invasion to my privacy. This potentially coming from a  company making games, Imagine what law enforcement/governments will be doing when this becomes the norm, There are enough people with gambling issues already, imagine  someone with this problem having a slot machine following them around 24/7 for an example. Most people dont even know thay have a gambling/impulse problem

[Spotty]

5 hours ago, Droodey said:

Changed the heading after  I finished reading the whole document.

There is nothing to suggest that this is related in any way to EA Games. The images that contain images of EA games content are marked as "Placeholder" images, and it's clearly just there for demonstration purposes of what a game screen looks like. Whoever created this draft just happened to choose an image of an unreleased EA game when they likely randomly picked an image of a game screenshot off google.

Reading through it, it actually looks like this is targeted more to mobile app games. It mentions extensively that their program will track players through their phone, which suggests that the player must have associated app on their phone capable of doing this. There's also mention of "software designed for mobile phones" mentioned throughout, as well as a mention that they are able to detect if the user is laying on their back with their gaming device resting in their lap. I certainly don't lay down with a Xbone resting on top of me.

There's also no further information to suggest that this was ever actually followed through on and proposed to any game developers, as it is clearly marked as a draft and practice presentation.

This is also all on the assumption that images posted to Imgur are considered a reliable source.

Having read through it, there's definitely some concerning things discussed in regards to tracking customers and the extents they go through to do so, all of which are worthy of discussion. However, there's nothing to suggest this has anything to do with EA games and associating them, or any gaming company, with this is highly irresponsible. It only detracts away from the actual topic at hand (privacy vs marketing), and worst case scenario you could even be liable for libel allegations for associating EA games with this if it results in harm to their brand.

Please change the title and original post to something that more accurately reflects the contents. For example, "Marketing company proposes tracking customers to encourage in-app purchases" or similar would be far more appropriate.