The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King: Religious and Political. Affiliation in Online Games as Data Protection Issue

Participation in virtual online environments has for many people become a central aspect of their lives. As the distinction between digital and off-screen lives becomes increasingly blurred, and gamification introduces gaming aspects into social inter-actions far away from recreational gaming, questions of personal identity acquire new meaning. But how can we in law make sense of attributes that people acquire in a game environment? Are they potentially sensitive personal information, or are they of no relevance to the outside world? We look at two aspects of online games in par-ticular, in-world religion and in-world political affiliation, to explore this issue