According to a new document provided to The Guardian by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the NSA has been sending virtual undercover operatives into online gaming platforms like Second Live, Xbox Live and World of Warcraft, since at least 2007.

The agents were deployed to monitor chat rooms and to root out secret terrorist cells that might be hiding in these online environments to pass on information. They even went as far as to attempt to recruit tech-savvy gamers to their cause.

Not only were they collecting chat logs and user data, they were also operating as an online gamer-snooping czar, assuring that their teams didn't accidentally target each other. Blizzard was unaware of this breach.

Historically, people connected with Al-Qaida to government backed Chinese hackers and Iranian nuclear scientists were found to have been using Xbox Live, World of Warcraft, and other gaming platforms.

We guess you're really not alone, even in an online gaming world.

[The Guardian, via Forbes]