There is an intersection between F2P and AAA, you know. TF2, StarCraft II, LoL. Most online-only competitive games. Even Nintendo's Splatoon is sort of here, despite costing $60. They all mine metrics; wouldn't you, if people's gameplay was going through your servers?

And that's ignoring MMOs. I don't think anyone can say WoW isn't "AAA".

I don't think mining metrics itself is a bad thing. As a player of primarily online competitive games like Counter-Strike or SCII, there are certain metrics that I want devs to keep track of, like average game length, which units/guns/etc. are used most commonly (may indicate an issue with game balance). I think data about the game is useful to the devs and ultimately the players, since it can influence improvements to the gameplay experience. I'm sure that the data being kept by many F2P games is well beyond what I would consider acceptable or necessary, though.

I guess you're right. I prefer single-player games, so I'm mostly unaffected.

But there's less of an incentive to mine data and go whale-hunting when you are paid up a flat fee (whether up front, or regular subscription) by your customers.

Of course, it's all software and can change at any moment.

True but with DLC and the catalog that more and more of these studios have (aka EA), I'd wager this is becoming more regular and more likely. I think for subscription-based games, it would be even worse.

Imagine that you lament on Twitter "I just don't time to play X as much as I'd like!" and then someone else pops up and asks "oh, have you fought Y? Did you find [unique drop] yet?" Then next time you're in the game, you get that special drop.

All of it appears to be unconnected and random but odds are you'll go back to that person to celebrate and be hooked again.

(This is an off the cuff scenario, the actual scenarios are probably way more mature.)