Slashdot Mirror
Battlefield 2142 to Bundle Spyware?
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku reports on a Shacknews Post. Battlefield 2142, the new Electronic Arts game, is expected to include mandatory spyware in the retail package. The software will apparently monitor web browser and other computer usage; this information will be used to deliver targeted in-game advertisements. Other popular game titles have included spyware in the past to aid anti-cheating measures. Is spyware acceptable to the public when it comes with a game, or has EA made a PR misstep?"
no
Now, it will have to be rated 18+
Because a game that does something I would never let a game do dang well better be free. Not to mention the computer I use to play it (or whatever system it's on). Because I sure as heck am not wasting good money on this. Yeah, it's a good idea, but I don't need another avenue for anyone to throw their products in my face. I get enough of that already.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
So EA/Dice has a really unstable, memory- and processor time-hogging bastard of an engine that'd barely run well even if it had exclusive hardware access, now they want to run more and really nasty stuff too? They just could have made a new game instead of an overhyped, overpriced and unnecessary mod. That's one more copany I won't be buying from anymore.
This crash was brought to you by Dodge. Buy bigger cars.
Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.
Would you, as a potential customer for Battlefield 2142 prefer to get targetted in-game advertisement or no advertisement at all?
Seems clear to me; as it does not benefit the customer in any way, he shouldn't have to pay (using personal information as a currency) for it.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
I guarantee you there will a line somewhere stuck in the EULA that covers it perfectly.
You can tell I'm an aries because of my ram.
Maybe I'm just naïve, but a firewall should be able to block the program from accessing the internet. Sure, you still have a background process running on your machine, but at least it's not invading your privacy. On the other hand, if it accesses the 'net through BF2142 you're gonna have a problem.
/. story says though, it may be a big PR misstep. If gamers experience lag or their computer crashes because of this new software, there's going to be hell to pay for EA. Therefore, EA better make damn sure their software is bug free and totally unobtrusive. Even then, gaming sites may make such a big deal out of it that they'll back off.
On another note, this trend of adverts in games is becoming alarming. Is this the "next-gen" of ad placement? As the
I hope they do, because if EA is allowed to do this it could set a very bad precedent.
-Parallax
They're all offensive, none more so than one that leaks my personal data to a company just because I bought a VIDEO GAME they wrote? Why should I accept that!?
Seriously, what the hell?
If i buy BF2142, which I won't, then I've already given my share to the developers and anyone else that deserves to get paid. It would be a whole other matter if the game was free, or significantly cheaper, but it's not.
Basically, I PAY lots of money to GET ads, and there's not even a way to pay MORE to get RID of them!
Blog -
is this the starting of the end of privacy?
Actually, this is the end of the end of privacy. Corporations know even more about you than you know about yourself. Welcome to the new world order.
From the actual box disclaimer (linked in another's post) it appears that the software is used to monitor and/or distribute how often the in-game ads are viewed, not the browser etc. This bring a few questions:
a) Does said software run when the game isn't running
b) Does it connect on a specific port or to a specific IP (can I block it)
c) Where is this info located besides in-box. If a user has opened the box, most outlets will not accept a return
d) Can somebody give a working link/email for EA's complaints department
Battlefield 2142 isn't Vista only. How about even trying to find out facts before start rantting about MS's Evil Empire.
How can they justify calling information like your IP Address, website cookies etc. "anonymous data". Unless your at an internet café and enter false info into any websites you visit, obviously IP address and some cookies can be used to personally identify exactly who you are.
Also, they'll need to do a lot more than just bury this disclaimer deep in the EULA to get around Data protection laws in many EU countries. The article states a piece of paper included in the game. Not sure how this works for people who download it though.
Really, though, if they need help in profiling people who bought Battlefield 2142, sell them short Right Now. Advertisements for:
*sci-fi movies, models, games, paraphrenalia
*anything related to the womens. hot pr0n, internet dating sites
*deoderant (more of a public service than an advert, really)
*guns
are good ideas, and will sell
Ads for:
*sporting equipment
*feminine goods/perfumes/etc.
*sunglasses or anything outside-related
*56k modems
are bad, and will not sell.
The preceeding ideas are copyrighted by me, and can be used freely by anyone except the gaming and advertisement industries, who must pay me royalty fees if they wish to take this BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS train of thought out of the station.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
1. Yeah, unplug your computer from the internet. (I'm not kidding)
2. No, single player is limited to 16 bots. (Again, not kidding)
3. Probably not.
4. The kind of security holes that everyone will blame on Microsoft for no good reason.
5. No.
One step beyond what you said - spyware, Steam, etc. have pushed me away from PC gaming altogether, towards the console. I hesitate to say anything in favor of "trusted computing," but since cheating is such a problem in online games, and since open-source games seem to be practically a non-starter, I think it is best to simply have gaming on a separate, locked-down machine that has NOTHING to do with anything that matters - i.e. on a console.
Spend $50
Hell if it has ads on it then I want the game for free. Why should I pay for the game when they will be generating money from ads geared towards me?
Can I bum a sig?
I sure hope you're joking.
Kind of funny you think someone is overreacting over the loss of privacy and actually DOING something about it the day after Slashdot runs an article over hypocritical "say one thing, do another" actions?
Slashdot | Who Cares If Privacy Is Slipping Away?
If you're actually serious, you're part of the problem -- Slashdot is violently pro-privacy, and yet then you get gems like this one that poke fun at people who actually act to do something about it.
Nice.
i am a soviet space shuttle
From that post: "Data will only be gathered from in game. Web browsing and other profiling data is not being gathered."
What data can be collected "in game" that would be useful to advertisement in game?
"The purpose of the gathering is to determine if an ad is viewed by players."
When he says, "viewed by players" does that mean viewed in game, or with a web browser?
I definitely agree. If they're going to try backhanded tricks to get us to buy extra stuff, then we should be able to use backhanded tricks to bypass any purchase related to them, including the original purchase.
And neither do I...
However I do have an issue with information about what I use my computer for (even when I'm NOT playing the game!) being gathered!
If they want to serve me in-game ads... well... blizzard's been doing that for years with Diablo 2 (well when you're on battlenet in-between games at least) and you haven't seen any firestorm of complaints raised there.
It's not the in-game ad issue that ticks me off, it's the spyware.
I thoroughly agree -- this article is nothing but anti-EA FUD. If you read the actual paper that came with the BF2142 box, of which there are pictures around the web, you will find that the shacknews article is clearly incorrect. It even uses quotes around the words "computing habits" when the words are never used on the paper. The paper specifically says that it only collects temporary, anonymous information such as your IP to assist in the "measuring and presentation of advertisements", and it also specifically says that it only records this information WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING BF2142. It also says it does not receive any information from EA to identify the owner of the game. In short, at NO point could you interpret the paper as saying it will record your surfing or computing habits. Obviously an advertising delivery technology must know your IP in order to send you the ads, and it must know when you looked at them in order to charge the advertisers correctly.
The paper, by the way, is clearly a reaction to EU privacy laws. It mentions the EU three times by name, while never mentioning the USA at all.
Have you actually read the disclaimer? It specifically says "in-game". The quote on shacknews omits that, and adds other (scarier) words that aren't actually in the disclaimer. Pure FUD.
Are you outraged at paying $90/month for sattelite or digital cable TV when *GASP* it's full of ads known as "commercials" which interrupt the programs you paid for?
We are one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. Back to you with the weather, Bob!
You're not wrong about the 3rd grade education. I'd put my name to it, but only if I had a gun to my head quite literally. I don't believe he managed 220 signatures. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all the same person.
That said, I think you're very wrong about not just EA but the whole gaming industry. It use to be that you'd fire up a game and your only real worries were having the right hardware, meeting the specs, and making sure the reviews weren't so bad. Now you've got Starforce in demos (eg. lockon), dodgy activation in FSX, and now this spyware? It's getting so that main stream PC games aren't worth playing anymore. It's a headache and a pain doing RESEARCH to see if you've got any hope of the damn thing working. That's my leisure time, not your time to make a profit, that you're eating into. If you make it hell for me I'll simply move on to something more fun. I own a ton of games, some of which haven't left the box because of a lack of time. I intend no buying the best WinXP system I can in the next few months and then sitting out the upcoming Vista upheaval while i make sure of the games I've already paid for.
Finally, I'm guessing you're young and idealistic to make points 4 and 5 above. Do yourself a favour and learn not to do work unless you're paid in cold hard cash. If they can get it from you for free, why should they pay you? You can tell me money isn't everything, but I could take you into a hospital room and show you people that will literally die if they don't get cash. If you plan on having a family (who may get sick at the most inoportune time), or if you yourself get ill, believe me your company isn't going to show you the loyalty you're showing them now. What's more the best game you ever worked on will be a bargain bin dust gathering outdated piece of garbage in 5 years. You sound intelligent enough. I hope you make the realisation that you've swallowed a bunch of corporate baloni hook line and sinker. (Pardon the mixing of metaphors).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer