{"id":30,"date":"2026-03-26T18:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/chapter\/personal-information-avatar\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:29:08","slug":"personal-information-avatar","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/chapter\/personal-information-avatar\/","title":{"raw":"Personal Information Avatar","rendered":"Personal Information Avatar"},"content":{"raw":"Have students access the student chapter Personal Information Avatar<\/a> or display it using a digital whiteboard or digital project.\r\n\r\nExplain that you will be creating a character together. Ask students to contribute possible answers to the different items, clicking just one item at a time.\r\n\r\nStudents will likely find the first two questions (name and age) unremarkable, then express a bit of puzzlement at the next three (address, phone number and email address). By the time you uncover \"friends' names\" and \"credit card number,\" it will be clear to students that they are not making a regular character for a game; explain to them that they are, instead, contributing some of the information that video game companies gather about them when they play or register for games.\r\n
\r\n

Ask students why they think computer game companies gather personal information. Record all suggestions but make sure the following are included:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTo set up a unique user account (name, address, etc.)\r\nTo let users pay subscription fees or buy in-game content (name, address, credit card, etc.)\r\nTo establish if a user is old enough to agree to the Terms of Service or to access certain kinds of content (age)\r\nTo let users find other people to play with\/against on the same server (address)\r\nTo provide ads that are tailored to the player's interests (age, hobbies, etc.)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nPoint out that not every gaming company gathers all of this data, and that in many cases when users give up personal information it is part of a trade-off that improves their gaming experience \u2013 for example, knowing where a user allows the company to connect them to the nearest server (reducing \"lag time\" and making the game play more quick and smooth). Explain that it's important that users know when they're making these trade-offs, as well as exactly what they're trading and why.\r\n\r\nAsk students if they have ever done a similar exercise, in class or elsewhere. If so, ask them to reflect on what has changed since the last time they did","rendered":"

Have students access the student chapter Personal Information Avatar<\/a> or display it using a digital whiteboard or digital project.<\/p>\n

Explain that you will be creating a character together. Ask students to contribute possible answers to the different items, clicking just one item at a time.<\/p>\n

Students will likely find the first two questions (name and age) unremarkable, then express a bit of puzzlement at the next three (address, phone number and email address). By the time you uncover “friends’ names” and “credit card number,” it will be clear to students that they are not making a regular character for a game; explain to them that they are, instead, contributing some of the information that video game companies gather about them when they play or register for games.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Ask students why they think computer game companies gather personal information. Record all suggestions but make sure the following are included:<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

To set up a unique user account (name, address, etc.)
\nTo let users pay subscription fees or buy in-game content (name, address, credit card, etc.)
\nTo establish if a user is old enough to agree to the Terms of Service or to access certain kinds of content (age)
\nTo let users find other people to play with\/against on the same server (address)
\nTo provide ads that are tailored to the player’s interests (age, hobbies, etc.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Point out that not every gaming company gathers all of this data, and that in many cases when users give up personal information it is part of a trade-off that improves their gaming experience \u2013 for example, knowing where a user allows the company to connect them to the nearest server (reducing “lag time” and making the game play more quick and smooth). Explain that it’s important that users know when they’re making these trade-offs, as well as exactly what they’re trading and why.<\/p>\n

Ask students if they have ever done a similar exercise, in class or elsewhere. If so, ask them to reflect on what has changed since the last time they did<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-30","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":29,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/revisions\/383"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/29"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}