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EA has filed a patent that could see personal data used to procedurally generate new experiences for its players.
While the patent was originally filed in 2020 and has still yet to go into use, it describes a ‘persona driven dynamic content framework’ that will gather data from across its slate of video games in order to better understand gamers and how they play. It will assign a ‘player persona’ from a list of titles like ‘explorer,’ ‘competitor,’ ‘collector,’ ‘support,’ ‘combatant,’ ‘tank/lead,’ ‘commander,’ and ‘completionist.’, and would then in theory dynamically adjust games on the fly based on the profile of who’s playing.
This unique use of procedural generation could ultimately make the gameplay experience itself something more akin to how the internet handles displaying advertisements, and could even potentially also be used for placing more targeted advertising within game worlds.
It’s also worth noting that EA also has a Patent Pledge in place as a company policy, which allows for other developers to use up to five of its patents without risk of legal action. If the targeted gameplay idea becomes a popular one, it could end up everywhere.
“The new persona patent from EA underlines the importance and need for more detailed and nuanced classifications for player personae. Thus helping game developers to make more informed decisions based on reactions to gameplay mechanics. This helps to create stronger and more robust gaming economies by studying player behaviour in context, leading to potentially adapting the experience via subtle content updates. By understanding player personas and player intent better, game makers have the opportunity to create more compelling and engaging narratives and gameplay, improving gamer retention.” said Theo Priestley, CEO and Co-Founder of Metanomic
