If you’ve filled out a survey, ordered movie tickets or done any banking online you’ve likely had to weigh the consequences of knowing that your name, credit card number and even favourite colour is floating around “teh internets”. You see that little yellow lock icon somewhere on your web browser and feel that Neo himself is keeping your information safe from prying eyes. However, how many of us take such a security conscious approach to our online conversations and interactions? How many consider the fact that everything you do in an MMO is recorded and archived? My guess is that not many. That might need to change now that Sony Online Entertainment has handed complete server logs for the past four years for over 400,000 EverQuest 2 players over to researchers.
What are the eggheads doing with your data? All kinds of things it seems. From perfecting data-mining algorithms to deal with the sheer volume of data (over 60 TB!) to analysing purchases made, social interactions and who you’re spending your time with in-game. Demographic information was also provided in order to flesh out a profile and the researchers have wasted no time in taking the opportunity to play Freud for the sake of a few research papers.
While I doubt that Sony is peddling credit card information, it makes me wonder if we’ve been too trusting of a company like SOE or, at the very least, that we’ve been far too open in our interactions with other players considering that there’s someone listening in. I’m also wondering how many other companies are giving away or selling copies of their server logs. Should we just accept this as part and parcel of living in the internet age or, even if names and financial information are kept confidential, is this a violation of a fundamental expectation of privacy? Is this behavious ethical? I am left considering if the possible value of the research is worth the potential impact on the social aspect of online gaming.
