Data Harvesting From a Developer's Perspective

cliffski raises some questions about the need for game developers to have some amount of data from the users who play their games. He says, "PC Games connecting to a central server to send information (outside of MMOs) have gotten a (deserved) bad reputation in recent years. The huge outcry about Mass Effect and Spore are evidence enough of that. But in gamers' hurry to prevent intrusive DRM systems and dubious privacy-breaking data harvesting, are we throwing out the good with the bad?" Clearly, some aspects of games could be improved by having a better knowledge of average PC specs or knowing which parts of the games are more entertaining to the users. Input from customers helps to improve almost any product, as indicated by the usage of countless surveys and focus groups. But where do we draw the line between being inquisitive and being intrusive? What can game developers do to prove that the collection techniques or the data themselves wouldn't be abused?

Comments

Re:How about *asking* the user if they want to sha

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

They usually mention such things in the license agreement. Do you read the license agreement?

That's not asking is it? That's telling someone after they've purchased the product that aspects of their system will be monitored. Of course you can take the product back but that's inconvenient. Technically everyone should read the licence agreement but the plain fact is that nobody does, and while that's obviously got no legal standing, if the developers don't want to be hated by everyone using their product they should cut out the sly bullshit and ask in plain and simple English. If the developers really do just want certain info regarding gameplay or system specs I'm sure that enough people would say yes to get a representative sample of users.

Re:How about *asking* the user if they want to sha

[Anaerin]

Of course you can take the product back but that's inconvenient.

It's more than inconvenient, it's usually impossible. Most retailers refuse to take back computer software, especially opened software, as a matter of course. And you would have to open the software to get into the installer to read the EULA (Which, in some cases, you "agreed to" before even seeing it, with phrases on the CD case like "By opening this package you agree to be held liable to the End-User License Agreement contained therein", a so-called "Shrink-wrap" license).

So saying that 'taking back software is an option' is, for most cases, wrong.

Re:How about *asking* the user if they want to sha

[I'll Provide The War]

Speaking from experience I can tell you that an "opt-in" program would never collect enough data to be useful.

Valve would disagree.

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52707

1,728,662 Steam users have voluntarily agreed to participate in their semi-annual hardware survey by having detailed specification of their PC hardware cataloged.

Re:How about *asking* the user if they want to sha

[basscomm]

Is data from over a million and a half samples not useful?

Who's the wiseguy that sent in the half a sample?