Lock your doors and bar your windows- EA is monitoring you.

A good long time ago, there was a little game that hit the MMORPG market and never made it- The Matrix Online. Made in conjunction with the release of the final Matrix film and hyped beyond belief, the game was meant to be the cure for the modern MMORPG, featuring things such as realistic hit detection and Matrix-style story plots that went on as the MMORPG aged. Of course, it was a flop- the game was clunky, uninteresting, and only really caught the interest of major Matrix fans. The biggest ?feature? in this game, however, was not in the game itself- it was the implementation of what are now called in game advertisements on billboards and other areas of the game. It was like how movie makers drop in logos in their movies- except in a video game.

Of course, this was not revolutionary- Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Anarchy Online and SWAT 4 doing this in the same methodology. The concept here is simple- people pay attention to advertisements, and the easiest way to get them to notice anything of that nature is to place it where they will absolutely have to notice it- namely, a video game. This is actually not a bad concept to think about. The way in which these advertisements work is far superior to that of movies or television, primarily because you'll reach a target audience- and with the right advertisements, you tap into an audience willing to spend. But a lot of debate is going on, especially since a new game was released into the market: Is this something we want in the future?

The game that recently came out, as many people know, is Battlefield 2142, the futuristic rendition of Battlefield 1942. As gamers around the world have discovered, the game contains what essentially amounts to spyware that monitors your computer, trying to specifically advertise things in-game that would interest you. As Penny Arcade jokes, sometimes this may be an advertisement too close to home. Nonetheless, many people feel it is an invasion of privacy, and are beginning to debate how far gaming companies are ?allowed? to go in in-game advertisements.

First off, let us begin to toss aside the issues we know won't happen. Let us, for the sake of the argument, contend that in no way will major one-player games begin having advertisements in them. I doubt the Final Fantasy series will try to sell Coke. I doubt Metal Gear Solid will advertise PETA. It just won't work that way. So, just to be fair, I will limit all my commentary to the online realm- where companies everywhere have to keep gearing for bigger and badder servers to accommodate growing player populations.

So, let me first take the side of the gamer and say that I absolutely detest advertisements in-game. When I play a game like Battlefield 1942, I sure as hell do not want to be sent an advertisement for Victoria's Secret or something of that nature. It may be sexy, but my purpose of being online is not to be inundated with advertisements that some algorithm thinks I would like. The real hitch here is what EA decided to do with Battlefield 2142- blatantly including malicious programs to monitor gameplay and attempt to advertise to gamers.

And that is where the line is crossed. Personally, I don't mind in game advertisements so long as they remain simple and easy. If a gaming company needs extra dough to continue to provide free game servers, then I don't mind at all. When I pay around $20 for a game and get absolutely free gaming servers hosted 24/7 all over the world, I expect at some point I will inevitably have to pay more or look at some ads to offset costs. That's how the world works. Nothing is free. However, when a company basically breaks into my computer and begins trying to extend it's advertisements to personal things, that is way too far. That breaks beyond ?We need cash to support our servers?. That even breaks the ?We need cash to support ourselves? theory. It means that EA has gotten damn greedy and, yet again, uncaring of it's customers.

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