Press Review
The German high-profile newspaper FAZ wrote: "The online game Data Dealer transforms inexperienced Facebook users into astonished data dealers. Their work could accomplish what no warning advice, no explanatory article and no lesson is able to achieve."
German National TV
Nice feature in German National TV (ZDF, 2012)
▶ Youtube
- "A charming way to educate about privacy protection and user profiles as well as about their implications for internet users"
Die Zeit - Germany´s leading high-profile weekly newspaper - "Shows how the data mafia works – with humor and expertise"
Computer Bild - Europe´s most sold computer magazine - "Vienna is home to law student Max Schrems, whose privacy protection lawsuits are putting quite some pressure on the worlds largest social network. But Vienna is also home to a Facebook game which shows the handling of sensible data from a different perspective [...] despite its small budget, the result is a professional-looking game."
20 minuten - Switzerland´s leading free daily newspaper - "Data Dealer unashamedly borrows from the game mechanics of Farmville or Mafia Wars, pokes fun at the privacy protection paranoia and roasts a whole industry along the way – your only way to survive is to become an insatiable data kraken. [...] The reliably addictive game principles of Farmville and Co. have also been internalised by the creators of Data Dealer, making their online game potential time killer material."
IGN Germany - "A subversive social game"
DRadio Wissen - National German radio broadcaster - "Criticism through imitation"
NZZ - Switzerland´s leading high-profile newspaper - "In perfect culture jamming style, a small group out of the Viennese net culture scene has within the past year developed an impressively professional Facebook game. [...] Another remarkable aspect is the technical and licensing side of the game, which exclusively uses HTML5 and SVG over the proprietary "Flash" and is licensed under Creative Commons – using the Wikipedia-compatible BY-SA license."
netzpolitik.org - the biggest German net/tech politics blog - "A more topical kind of Farmville [...] If these four people from Vienna should [...] really offer the game in an English version as planned, it might be interesting to see how Facebook will react to this rather obvious criticism."
heise.de / Telepolis - "A perfect example of this genre of games"
seriousgames.de - "A new approach of educating about privacy protection!"
Microsoft Germany - "Data Dealer pokes fun at the data collection frenzy of Facebook, Google & Co. [...] The game is saturated with irony, anyone interested in the economy of the online data trade should definitely risk a look."
PC Games - one of the most important German gaming magazines
Media & blogs, social media, exhibitions, conferences & awards: Data Dealer has already received some amazing feedback. After thousands of hours of development that´s really cool!
The German demo release in 2012 was a big success. Data Dealer was featured on national TV and radio broadcasts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and covered by tabloids as well as in several prominent high-profile newspapers. Data Dealer has also received several prizes, including the “Paedi” – an important German e-learning award – and a jury award at the Austrian National Prize for Multimedia. Furthermore Data Dealer has been exhibited at the Austrian Ars Electronica Center – which hosts one of the world´s most prominent festivals in digital arts. Data Dealer won the French e-virtuoses Serious Games Award 2013 and the Games for Change Award 2013!.
Since the English demo release in May 2013 we´ve received feedback from all over Europe, the US and from many other countries. Hellyeah!
Media, Blogs & Social Media
Satirical PRISM-Inspired Game Lets You 'Play God' With Personal Data
By Anita Li. "What if you had control over millions of Internet users' personal data? Players of a new game called Data Dealer can experience that first-hand by running their own 'Smoogle' and 'Tracebook,' while collecting and selling user data."
▶ Mashable
A Game That Plays With Private Information
By Betsy Morais. "Data Dealer, which is intended for players ages eleven and up, aims to change their online behavior."
▶ The New Yorker
Play The Part Of A Nefarious Data Dealer And See Our Privacy-Free Future Up Close
By Ben Schiller. "You would probably be shocked to find out how much marketers and companies know about you from the information you put on the Internet. In this new award-winning game, you can see what it’s like to try to grab and monetize people’s private data."
▶ Fast Company / fastcoexist.com
Legal? Illegal? Whatever – Data Dealer Offers Up Privacy Awareness In Great Gaming Style
By Lee Munson. "You don't care about information security or data privacy because they are boring subjects spoken about by geeks and old men with beards. But you SHOULD care and you should have fun learning about the risks posed to YOU. So play Data Dealer and learn in a very different way."
▶ Security-FAQs
Creating a Data Empire (with Uncle Enzo and Steve Sneak)
By Sam Pfeifle. "Will this game be successful in educating people about how data is used? Almost definitely."
▶ International Association of Privacy Professionals
Be a dirty data dealer!
By Charles Arthur. "This game is just like real life!"
▶ The Guardian
Privacy? Screw that.
By Rebecca Bowe. "Privacy. It’s heating up as a focal point for activists, and evidently some of them have slick graphic design skills"
▶ San Francisco Bay Guardian
Data Dealer: Just a Fun Game About Mining Personal Information
By Andy Cush. "Ever wish you could see the other side in the massive dance of privacy violations, data collection, and all-around snooping that characterizes our life online today?"
▶ Animal New York
Screw Privacy: English Version of Data Dealer Launches
"The game mixes gameplay about surveillance, personal data and privacy with some witty humor and some mild mockery of the world's biggest online destinations."
▶ GamePolitics.com
Another stub: Data Dealer
By Roberto Plankton. "A game that wants something. It wants you to be aware of your actions [...] an entertaining read as well, satire-heavy and a little silly from time to time [...] I think that deserves a hug."
▶ destructoid.com
Upping the game
By Marija Skundric. "Like most good ideas, Data Dealer came about as an accident. And like most good ideas, the one behind Data Dealer is deceptively simple: a game where you can amass and sell…personal data."
▶ inventures (AT)
Farmville for personal data awareness: Turning data marketplaces into a game
By Thomas van Manen. "These kind of ideas and projects are key to creating privacy and personal data awareness"
▶ Recorded Future (NL)
Today's Webtip: Data Dealer
By Dave Dempsey. "A group from Vienna has decided to turn privacy abuse into a game. Not a standard desktop game, mind you, a Facebook game. Oh the irony!"
▶ FM4 (AT)
Data Trafficking as Facebook Game
By Michael Leitner. "A small development team in Vienna is drawing attention to a social game that trades with data [...] the players are entertained and enlightened."
▶ futurezone (AT)
ALSO FEATURED BY
- Ian Bogost (Author "Persuasive Games")
- Liberation Technology (Stanford, US)
- Higher Education Information Security Council (US)
- Instructional Technology Council (US)
- Open Rights Group (UK)
- O Plano B (Portugese)
- Cyberspace Aylağının Günlüğü (Turkish)
- Dijital Oyun Kültürü (Turkish)
- HUHHUH (Dutch)
- OLDaily E-Learning News (Steven Downes, CA)
- European Digital Rights (EDRI)
- Stop the Cyborgs
- The Barefoot Technologist (Becky Hogge, UK)
- Bruce Sterling
- Polygon
- Gameranx
- Serious Games Society
- Balderdash
- domain.wire
- Tactical Technology Collective
- Post Media Lab
- Ars Electronica Center
- Brut
Since autumn 2012 the further development of Data Dealer has been funded by the Creative Agency of the City of Vienna Departure, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture and the Internet Foundation Austria, owner of nic.at.
