The handling of personal information in mobile games

Abstract

The management of personal consumer information by corporate entities is a politically and socially sensitive subject. This paper examines how personal information is handled by mobile game developers and displayed inside mobile games. 38 mobile games from 29 developers were examined, chosen based on their popularity as expressed by the rankings in the Google Play store. An investigation was made into the type of information that is required during the registration process, what information is optional, and what information is finally displayed in the game and to whom. In a second step, the privacy policies of the 29 mobile game developers were compared, examining them for differences in content. Lastly, the reaction of game developers to written requests for information disclosure and deletion was investigated. Results suggest that how personal information is displayed in-game is largely dependent on the game genre. Privacy policies, while following the same template, differ in how detailed they are held. Lastly, replies to inquiries about information and requests for deletion varied greatly and sometimes were at odds with a company’s privacy policy. This investigation indicates the necessity of accumulating and sharing know-how and best practices for the design of privacy policies and the proper handling of personal information.