Watch Dogs, an action adventure title that revolves around ubiquitous computing and hacking, has caused quite a controversy today when users on the game’s site had their email addresses leaked. In its promotional alternate reality game, Watch Dogs asked players to sign up on the site to get updates on fictional scenarios taking place in the game world.
Ubisoft has created this alternate reality game based on a character by the name of Joseph Demarco who is the owner of the futuristic art gallery, dotconnexion. Ubisoft directed users to sign up for dotconnexion updates via the Watch Dogs website.
Kotaku reported today that they were alerted via dotconnexion updates that Mr. Demarco has died mysteriously, the update reads:

“It is with great regret that we inform you that Joseph Demarco passed away in a tragic, yet unexplained accident. Being one of the most important philanthropists in the local digital art scene, his demise has left a deep void in the community. Out of respect for his friends and family, the dotconnexion exhibition will be cancelled. Sincerely yours, The dotconnexion Team”
The sender responsible for the email messages about Demarco added the user’s addresses to the Cc as opposed to the rather more appropriate Bcc. Many are speculating that this could have possibly been on purpose to the nature of the game, but it appears that only 1000 or so addresses were leaked. The sender seemingly corrected himself/herself having only leaked addresses that occur early alphabetically, by the time the sender reached “I” and “M”, the mistake had been corrected.
The Verge has reached out to Ubisoft for a comment but nothing has been said as of yet. We wouldn’t put it past Ubisoft to use this “leak” as a marketing and publicity ploy and it certainly fits the game’s profile, but is this taking game immersion too far?
Craig Hunter – who has written 1178 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Craig Hunter is a main contributor for the Jace Hall Show and has been an avid gamer for over 15 years. He also freelances for a number of websites and magazines covering mobile products and emerging technologies.

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