Submitted 6 days ago by iamthetot@piefed.ca to games@lemmy.world
https://www.eurogamer.net/sega-sonic-arg-ai-model-training-data
Sega is facing backlash after a recent Sonic the Hedgehog alternate-reality game - a sort of marketing campaign that takes place online - was revealed to be training AI models on participant data.
Just following in the footsteps of Pokemon go and all the other AR games that were harvesting your data that they said they could use for whatever. Now it’s being used for AI. And in some cases, training AI for military weapons.
AR games and ARGs are different. The key word is augmented vs alternate. AR games use video technology to augment reality, putting a video game in the physical world. ARGs use communications technology to put a puzzle in the social world.
For example, an ARG might begin with a morse code pattern hidden in the border of a promotional poster. The morse code is for a URL that leads to a seemingly normal pizza restaurant’s website. But if you put all the typos in the menu together, their positions in their respective entries make a phone number. Call the number, and you get the next clue, and so on and so on. People work together to solve these puzzles and get to the end, which is often some kind of teaser for an upcoming product. You could even give people a special video game item if they get to the end of the ARG.
They’re really fun, I was lucky enough to participate in the Warframe 1999 ARG. I didn’t make any original discoveries, but I followed along as it was happening and tried to solve the puzzles Myself. I even got most of them! The cool thing about an ARG is that they allow fictional worlds to blend into our world. That pizza restaurant website might be for a fictional pizza restaurant that exists in the story of the video game. So fans feel like they’re part of the game world in a way that video games just can’t do.
An ARG shouldn’t need to collect any user data to be able to work, but since it can really be absolutely anything, I’m not surprised someone used an ARG for nefarious purposes.
That you for helping me understand the difference. I’d say to your point 99% of the internet shouldn’t NEED to collect any user data. But data is the new oil. The currently reality sucks. And sadly reading the TOS won’t help anyone, because who knows what they’re doing. But now I understand the difference between AR and ARGs. Again thank you. :)
That’s so Sega…
maybe my understanding of ARGs is limited, isn’t it kinda weird for one to have a ToS? doesn’t that sort of contradict the AR-ness of the G?
airg
So, just like Pokemon Go?
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Robotnik-ass plan, wtf?