scholarly journals Getting under your skin(s): a legal-ethical exploration of Fortnite's transformation into a content delivery platform and its manipulative potential

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Marijn Sax ◽  
Jef Ausloos
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Content Delivery ◽  
Gaming Industry ◽  
Related Services ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Delivery Platform ◽  
General Data ◽  
Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

This article investigates the ethical and legal implications of increasingly manipulative practices in the gaming industry by looking at one of the currently most popular and profitable video games in the world. Fortnite has morphed from an online game into a quasi-social network and an important cultural reference point in the lifeworld of many (young) people. The game is also emblematic of the freemium business model, with strong incentives to design the game in a manner which maximizes microtransactions. This article suggests that to properly understand Fortnite's practices – which we predict will become more widely adopted in the video game industry in the near future – we need an additional perspective. Fortnite is not only designed for hyper-engagement; its search for continued growth and sustained relevance is driving its transformation from being a mere video game into a content delivery platform. This means that third parties can offer non game-related services to players within Fortnite's immersive game experience. In this paper, we draw on an ethical theory of manipulation (which defines manipulation as an ethically problematic influence on a person's behaviour) to explore whether the gaming experience offered by Fortnite harbours manipulative potential. To legally address the manipulative potential of commercial video game practices such as the ones found in Fortnite, we turn to European data protection and consumer protection law. More specifically, we explore how the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive can provide regulators with tools to address Fortnite's manipulative potential and to make Fortnite (more) forthright.

scholarly journals Getting under your skin(s): a legal-ethical exploration of Fortnite's transformation into a content delivery platform and its manipulative potential*

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Marijn Sax ◽  
Jef Ausloos
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Content Delivery ◽  
Gaming Industry ◽  
Related Services ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Delivery Platform ◽  
General Data ◽  
Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

This article investigates the ethical and legal implications of increasingly manipulative practices in the gaming industry by looking at one of the currently most popular and profitable video games in the world. Fortnite has morphed from an online game into a quasi-social network and an important cultural reference point in the lifeworld of many (young) people. The game is also emblematic of the freemium business model, with strong incentives to design the game in a manner which maximizes microtransactions. This article suggests that to properly understand Fortnite's practices – which we predict will become more widely adopted in the video game industry in the near future – we need an additional perspective. Fortnite is not only designed for hyper-engagement; its search for continued growth and sustained relevance is driving its transformation from being a mere video game into a content delivery platform. This means that third parties can offer non game-related services to players within Fortnite's immersive game experience. In this paper, we draw on an ethical theory of manipulation (which defines manipulation as an ethically problematic influence on a person's behaviour) to explore whether the gaming experience offered by Fortnite harbours manipulative potential. To legally address the manipulative potential of commercial video game practices such as the ones found in Fortnite, we turn to European data protection and consumer protection law. More specifically, we explore how the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive can provide regulators with tools to address Fortnite's manipulative potential and to make Fortnite (more) forthright.

A Layered Approach to Jurisdiction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Jerker B. Svantesson
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Privacy Laws ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
General Data ◽  
Layered Approach ◽  
Substantive Law

This chapter observes how it may be inappropriate to apply a single jurisdictional threshold to diverse instruments such as data privacy laws. In the light of this observation, a proposal is outlined for a ‘layered approach’ under which the substantive law rules of such instruments are broken up into different layers, with different jurisdictional thresholds applied to each such layer. This layered approach is discussed primarily as a technique to be utilized in legal drafting, but it may also be applied in the interpretation and application of legal rules. Article 3 of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which determines that regulation’s scope of application in a territorial sense, provides a particularly useful lens through which to approach this topic and, thus, the discussion is largely centred around that Article.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document