Online games used to predict real life actions?

[madhatter]

I am new to these forums, so I will throw out a conspiracy that I have come up with.

Video games... The norm of newer generations of children all over the world. Several people have tried to blame video games for violent actions of a few individuals. The maker's of GTA faced several lawsuits in the recent past for causing children who played them to commit violent acts of murder, etc. I do not agree that video games cause violence, but that is not the topic of my post.

To cut to the chase, I believe that a video game has the potential of mapping a person's pshychological identity.

Basis of idea...
Most everyone that has seen the rapid development in videogames in the past couple of years. Games like GTA simulate a person in society that can choose to do several activities. (Personally, I think the game kicks ass.) Though, when I look at what other game engines are starting to do, ex. HL2, my imagination runs away. The ability to create 3D environments that any person can "exist" in by playing a game. They can react with other people online, react with objects in the 3D environment, solve problems, etc. The blatant fact is that games have the capability of presenting a person with a pseudo-realistic society that has several choices and outcomes. That being said...

The psychological aspect
If you present a person in the game with a choice... say to walk to the left or to the right, then the person may make a choice. You could extend this simple choice selection in a variety of ways. If a government or organization created an online game with a variety of choices, then they could quite possibly predict how a certain person would react to different situations in society.

Suppose this government game was designed to where you could interact in a society that realistically presents a modern city. Of coarse this game would be easily marketable because it looks good and you can do whatever you want.(part of the attraction of children to games like GTA3 or Postal2) In the game, you could go on a shooting spree, or drive a taxi cab, etc. Meanwhile, you would be psychologically mapped through online statistics built into the game. If you play the game long enough, then the government/company will start to be able to predict your next choices and perhaps your style of "playing."

Basically, these game statistics and predictions could be correlated to how a person would react in real life.

Example
Say you play a game and you mug people with a gun. Further, you tend to target young women at night. Then, the government/company may start to recognize that you would prefer to mug young women at night in REAL life. Much more could be said by criminal psychologists that you may feel weak yourself, so you need a gun and you target women at night. This isnt the best example, but maybe it will help to show you how this psychological "choice" game could predict real life activities.

Problems with this conspiracy
1. The game would have to be good enough to keep people playing for quite a while to be able to predict their responses to situations.

2. The game would have to target a whole lot of people, so that all but a few will play it.

3. Assuming the game makers can do both 1 and 2, you would still have to have some random sampling of players to see how the game correlates to real life decision making.


Thanks for reading. I hope I communicated the idea.

[Crack]

That is an awesome tin-foil hat you have on there Mr Madhatter, Can you make one for me?

Seriously, that is a great conspiracy, it would be years in the future before any goverment could use games like that to predict choices by indivisuals, but maybe Games could be used to predict choices of a socitity as a whole, kinda like a massive social experment;

You are in a large room, no door in sight, there is a small shivering puppy on the floor in front of you:

Kick Puppy

[Nanz]

sounds interesting.

But id hazard a guess and say that the majority of people playing it would go on a mass killing spree etc.
Why would you want to act out your own boring mudane life in virtual reality?
But if it had risks involved like in real life i.e your character going to jail so you could no longer play, it would work better.

still its a pretty funky idea that it could predict real life activites

P.S i hope i understood it correctly

[cait987]

hmm, very nice first post and honestly full of info, almost to much to comprehend. Theres alot of information packed in there and it is acctually very well thought out however, there is one flaw personally. That is the fact that if people would be suspicious that the government would be using games to test people (since youde have to be near someone to witness it). you could in a sense act much differently to throw off the entire tally. Everyone here knows that they would do what the government least wants you to do. Sure, the people could be taped on camera or something but what if they are just there buying a game for a birthday or their kid then? doesnt that throw everything off?

Lets follow your example: mug night lady

but to throw off the tally and make their crimes easier couldnt they very easily: murder day man

If you know the government or whoever is doign the experiement is focusing on one branch of people through games then the criminal may evolve and choose a different branch that is easier to target thanks to the other people who screwed up.

Alot to comprehend and maybe Im giving people who would be taken into this test alot of credit, but hey im just trying to add some interest and conspiracy to the topic ^^

[madhatter]

heh thanks for the feedback!

The point is that the government would secretly fund a company...say Company X. All bystanders would see, is a sweet game produced by Company X.

The stats would be embeded into the game and stored secretly on a government server elsewhere. People playing the game would not even KNOW that their decisions are being mapped by government scientists. Then the government picks a good sample of individuals that play the game. The government would secretly observe the selected individuals via camera/bugs/etc. Similar situations from the game will confront these test individuals.

The point of these test situations is to note if the test individual made the same choice as the exact same situation in the game. My bet is that if the decision is a simple choice, that the individual will choose the exact same thing. With data like this collected, eventually predicting an individual's decision would become childsplay.

The game is just to market a large audience. Company X would be able to market the game as the next big and pretty game. Several kids would want to play a game that was like real life, but you could do anything. Look at the sales of GTA3...people like that sort of game. Put in some educational value, throw in a few gimmics, and back the game up with bogus government "its just what the healthy kid needs" studies; then Company X will be able to market towards parents or even schools.

[flutter_girl]

wow, that is some heavy shit dude, im never playing the sims again!

[bigbad]

Any choice someone made in such a situation would likely have nothing to do with a choice they would make in real life, as there would not be any consequences. Some would be acting out repressed desires, some would just be curious what would happen if they did something, but most of the information gathered wouldn't be relevant to any type of useful study.

[NoSoup]

Indeed, there is a similar "Game" in the book "Enders Game"

Quite an excellent series, if I do say so myself

[GuttersnipeXL]

Originally posted by flutter_girl
wow, that is some heavy shit dude, im never playing the sims again!

Ha! I was thinking the same thing myself!

If the government watched how I played video games, I'd be in a rubber room a long time ago. You're on to something though. I wouldn't doubt for a second that something like this is in the works. Especially with so many online games nowadays, where it would be much easier to map someones habits, as opposed to somebody playing an X-Box in their room. I've got more to say on this...I'ts 4:00AM and I need to get back to Morrowind and crush some skulls...maybe tomorrow if the gov't doesn't hunt me down.

[VitaminH]

I really don't think that would be a valid method of evaluation of people, as generally in a game there are no real consequences to your actions. Sure in GTA if you kill to many people you'll be chased by the cops and maybe get arrested, but you start right out in front of the police station all nice and new. In a game, there are no real ramifications for your actions, and peoples morals tend to break down.

For example, in reality I would never, ever even consider sleeping with a hooker under any circumstances. However, I did all the time in GTA because it was a way to gain extra health, as well as just generally funny to watch the car rock So should I be arrested for hiring a prostitute? I don't think so.

This is way to much like 'thoughtcrime' in 1984 for my liking.

[Nanz]

sorry for topping the old thread but check this out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3507531.stm

They are on the way to creating an entire virtual earth

[Xell101]

Main problem would be creating a game that would invoke reactions from the player that directly correlate to their actions in real life.