Advertising in games may be taking its next step: according to Elite: Dangerous ’ end user license agreement, Frontier Developments may be including something known as “Dynamic Advertising” in its game. According to the relevant section (below), Frontier - and possibly other third-party companies - would be able to gather “non-personal” data from users on their habits around use of certain advertisements.

Loading

This is the relevant section of the EULA ( via Reddit ):The Game may incorporate technology (which may be provided by Frontier or third party service providers engaged by Frontier (each a "Dynamic Advertising Provider")) which enables advertising to be uploaded into the Game on your PC, and changed while the Game is being played on-line. In order that the Dynamic Advertising Provider is able to direct advertising appropriate to your Game and geographic region, as well as to the correct location within the computer game, certain non-personally identifiable data and information may be retrieved and retained by the Dynamic Advertising Provider including your I.P. address, geographic location, in-game position, and information concerning the appearance of advertising visible during your gameplay (for example, the length of time an item of advertising was visible, the dimensions of the advertisements). In addition, the Dynamic Advertising Provider may assign a unique identification number which is stored on your PC and which is used to monitor and calculate the number of views of dynamic advertising during gameplay. None of the information collected for this purpose including the identification number can be used to identify you.Although this is not yet official, it hints seriously at the possibility of this becoming a reality.In-game advertising is certainly not a new idea – developers have been including ads in various game environments for years. If this were it be implemented, it would significantly increase the intelligence and targeting of ads, making them more personally tailored.Increased amounts of advertising in games is likely not the only potentially controversial point in the EULA. Privacy will likely also be a large concern among many players.In what form or to what degree these adds may be implemented is unknown. IGN has reached out to Frontier Developments for comment.

David Witmer is a freelance writer for IGN. He enjoys tweeting and blogging about deep stuff. Follow him on Twitter @d_witmer , or on IGN at dynasty_70