So I just watched this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcTKWiZ8sI&feature=em-uploademail

Of course I'd like more sources on how it actually functions and of course this is far from the games we play, or maybe not ? Modern games have an increased focus on monitoring each of our actions, the most recent example I have in mind are Telltales games showing that you and X% of people made this choice or battlefield 4 monitoring every gunshot and the average precision on each weapon. Sure these stats are harmless, but I think they may have some influence in our behavior as we play and this example kinda show how the same principle applied to something more serious can be shaped into plain manipulation.

Glorious heck on a stick...this is wild. I Imagine it being even ten times worse considering the collectivist culture that pervades most of Asian society.
+1 for the video since I love random conspiracy theory stuff like this.

It bugs me that the video doesn't mention its sources. But thanks for sharing. Quite important.

I wonder if Rep points doesn't work the same way? At another site, I got quite good at predicting which comment would earn me a good score. And I think I have sometimes kept myself back out of fear of loosing rep.

I dunno about other forums, but I know that for GOG in particular, most people ignore rep and pay more attention to date of registration, since there are bots around here that'll massively upvote another bot or downvote an upstanding member so that more people are likely to get scammed by said upvoted bot and not listen to the person who complains about the fact they were scammed.

Although, yeah, you're kind of right, on a good deal of websites (Buzzfeed is a primary example), if you say anything contradictory to the popular opinion, you get disliked faster than you can say "whoops". However, it's worth noting that most of these sites do this either because they're infested with psychotic fans with nothing better to do (like an anime thread) or heavily-pushed political beliefs (like the Fox News comment section).

I think they are more used for design and marketing decisions actually. Like the recent controversy about "multiplayer games without a single player experience" and developers often slamming that "no one plays the solo" probably has some roots in how they monitor achievements.

big brother game, how nice.

this is the worst for mmos because they'll start tailoring the game to exploit you. they'll stack RNG to change what you get on the fly to make it more likely that you'll spend more money based on your profile they bought from some third party marketing company.

even in single player games. if they find out you're tolerant of grind they'll make the game grindier so you don't complain that it was too short.

It is not new. As in the idea has been around for hundred of years, and it is just a twisted variation of credit scores mixed with your shopping history and social media profiles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34592186

It really is a poor indicator of anything though. I mean the most prolific morons get pushed to the front of the cue for spouting gibberish, but as to their personality, no indicator. The Chinese government might just be about to build its own daemon.

There are plenty of western propaganda games, just as there are plenty of western propaganda movies and tv shows, people simply don't see them as such because they appeal to the status quo.

Extra Credits did a previous video on the subject some years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP4_bMhZ4gA&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5DQQY0DpnvthP15AsO-NWuj&index=14

They're too shy to call modern military shooters intentional propaganda cashing it out as "unintentional laziness" but in reality these games use xenophobic and dehumanizing fear of the 'other' to make the player and narrative feel real and grand - on the side of justice and moral good against relentless evil etc. The decisions and design are not by accident. They pander to the lowest common denominator and the worst in people to reap the greatest financial reward - which they clearly are successful in doing. The US military recruiters even use these 3rd party games (note: not AA) in their recruiting centers. There have been many articles written on the subject over the years.