The real payment for the popular and free computer games is data and biometric data about the players
Have you played any popular PC games that are offered for free lately? Consider that you have gifted the companies that develop them valuable personal information. The big games, called in the industry "games AAA", are offered for free, but profit from the sale of related products and the mining of personal information about the actors. This is according to a new study conducted by Dr. Alex Gekar From the Department of Communication by Dan at the Gershon Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, and Alexander Bernwega of the University of Amsterdam.
Transparent and high price
"One of the most important concepts today in the worlds of media and economics is called 'appropriation' (assetization)", explains Dr. Gekar. "In this process, products that are paid for once are turned into assets from which you can derive continuous income, such as rent. As children, we would buy a computer game in a closed box at the mall, or download it from the Internet, and that was it. The game was ours. Today, the big game companies offer us the game for free, no money, when their business model is continuous profit: the game becomes a platform, like Facebook for example, that generates more and more profit."
As part of the new study, recently published in the respected journal Games and Culture, Dr. Gekker and research student Baranwega conducted a careful reading of the terms of use of three popular and free computer games: Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone. Along with the legal terms of use, the researchers tested and compared the user interfaces of the three games, and in particular their "launchers", i.e. the game entrance screens, which allow players to buy additional equipment or enhance the game experience with real money. Their findings indicate that the free games may have transparent and very high prices.
Information for a game
"We were surprised to find that in many cases a player who downloads one of the games for free is required to sign an agreement in which he allows the company to collect data on him, such as location, game patterns and even biometric data. In other words, it is possible that the camera he uses to play collects information about him such as age, origin and gender," says Dr. Gekker. "This data is then sold to other parties, according to the terms of use themselves, or they are used by the gaming company to maximize profit from ancillary products. Some of the games in the study can be played without paying, but social pressure is created here, just like when children don't want their classmates to see them in cheap 'clothes' - that's how they invest in the show clothes of their game characters. To whom to offer to buy, what and when - the company knows this according to the data it collects on the players, with their full consent."
According to Dr. Gekker, the new business model of the big game companies often comes at the expense of the players. "You have to understand that these games are developed differently from the beginning: they are not aimed at an optimal gaming experience but at encouraging continuous buying. The economic interest of the gaming company is that the players will continue to play, purchase various benefits and continue to share personal information. That's why the games themselves are continuous and encourage repetition, at the expense of the gaming experience and at the expense of privacy, of course."
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