Perhaps as a way to reserve a piece of the $500M pie that corporations will be spending on advertising inside video games this year, tech-giant Google is reportedly developing an application that will supposedly use your “gaming preference” and send directed ads to you.

According to a report by the UK-based paper, Guardian, Google “has drawn up plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games.”

“The company thinks it can glean information about an individual’s preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says.”

Targeted ad push is nothing new. But the way that Google will use this application seems alarming. Consider this example:

“In a car racing game, after a user crashes his Honda Civic, an announcer could be used to advertise by saying ‘if he had a Hummer, he would have gotten the better of that altercation’, etc,” the patent says. And: “If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee.”

“Publishers are becoming more like media companies,” said Justin Townsend, the chief executive of IGA, an in-game advertising company. “More games are being optimised for advertising.” But he said that privacy concerns should be paramount. “Both consumers, publishers and the advertising industry are very aware of privacy issues,” he said. “You cannot afford to be vague in these areas.”

This profiling application will be designed not just for online games but also for console gaming platforms such as the Wii, Xbox and Playstation.

Some critics argue that this is like “Big Brother” with companies delving too much into our private information. Imagine playing a game or series of games where your preference to genre, the amount of time you invest in a game all becomes a tool for companies to deliver ads targeted to the individual.

Google is currently getting the patent for the technology approved.

Ingenious? For marketing, yes. But what about for privacy?

Let’s hear your thoughts.