You know, I'm seriously beginning to doubt the abilities of many in the games industry to successfully organise a piss up in a brewery. At the very least everyone seems to be getting alcohol poisoning these days. EA, ever happy to be a popular target of gamers ire so long as they continue to spend millions on rehashed Sports Title 2007, has done it again by including spyware in Battlefield 2142.
Apparently the monitoring software traces your internet habits and reports back to base for the purpose, we would suppose, of aiding in-game advertisers to target their wares. No personal information will be divulged about you, except of course your entire digitally connected life and, if the coppers come knocking, your traceable IP address. Is there nothing sacred anymore?
The Greater Good of in-game advertising will no doubt rule the day, and I daresay Battlefield 2142 will not be the last AAA title to carry monitoring software as we realise Massive's vision of a digital world filled with the same crap we see in our real one.
I'm beginning to seriously wonder if EA bosses do in fact let out an evil "Mmmmuuuuuaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaa" whenever this sort of thing is revealed; or whether or not they honestly say to themselves "What's all the fuss about?" Malicious or just idiots, you decide.
Comments (12)
does this mean that if we look at porn the futures bleak landscape will be
cratered and smoke covered play houses?
Posted by Anonymous | October 18, 2006 6:09 AM
Posted on October 18, 2006 06:09
Dice have "issued" a denile - this same thing has just blown up on our gaming
forums.Quote:Originally Posted by [DICE]CKMC View PostThe information that is
gathered is specifically related to the ingame ads themselves and not anything
personally related to you.There is no additional spy ware software installed
secretly to your machine./quoteSo I guess they are just monitoring which adverts
you look at in game? Panic over?Val.
Posted by ValorSL | October 18, 2006 6:23 AM
Posted on October 18, 2006 06:23
[DICE]CKMC, my web cookies are not related with me ?
Posted by Anonymous | October 18, 2006 8:29 AM
Posted on October 18, 2006 08:29
Malicious or just idiots, you decide.I say might be a bit of both:)
Posted by Anonymous | October 18, 2006 9:57 AM
Posted on October 18, 2006 09:57
Malicious and idiots if you ask me. They ain't getting my money. I would urge
people not to give them yours as well.
Posted by DirtNapDonor | October 18, 2006 2:37 PM
Posted on October 18, 2006 14:37
Another game that won't be seeing my dollars.Maybe the Crackers will weed that
out of the pirate copies. Would serve EA right.
Posted by Anonymous | October 19, 2006 3:58 PM
Posted on October 19, 2006 15:58
it kinda makes me sick....if they think they should be allowed to track what we
look at when we are not playing the game....when we are on our own free
time...and use that information to collect a database about us gamers...i just
get the feeling of George Orwells 1984...
Posted by themunkfromme | October 20, 2006 1:07 AM
Posted on October 20, 2006 01:07
it kinda makes me sick....if they think they should be allowed to track what we
look at when we are not playing the game....when we are on our own free
time...and use that information to collect a database about us gamers...i just
get the feeling of George Orwells 1984...
Posted by Anonymous | October 20, 2006 1:07 AM
Posted on October 20, 2006 01:07
If I'm going to give out my infomation to unknown third parties, shouldn't I at
least be paid for it? At least the game should be cheeper. Here's a great
thought, how about give me the option to buy the game version with spyware for a
discount and the good version for full price.
Posted by Anonymous | October 20, 2006 2:12 PM
Posted on October 20, 2006 14:12
The game still seems to be popular. Considering how Battlefield 2 was a buggy
disaster, but still sold well (understatement) I don't think this will really
get to EA.Let's face it BF2142 is only an upgraded Bf2 engine set in the future.
At least it seems that EA fixed most of the bugs.Unless the game doesn't sell or
someone sues EA for this they will keep on doing it. And I am sure there will be
plenty of uninformed individuals buying this.
Posted by Anonymous | October 26, 2006 7:11 AM
Posted on October 26, 2006 07:11
What arrogance! BF servers are handled by the community, paid for by the
community. And I am guessing this BF2142 is not a free game. You pay for the
game, and you are left with advertisements. They ain't getting my money either.
And why the need to track the internet habits? Buyers of BF already falls to
quite a specific community. It is not like they play sims for an hour and switch
to BF, after choosing the right perfume for their spouses online.
Posted by Anonymous | October 31, 2006 3:55 AM
Posted on October 31, 2006 03:55
What arrogance! BF servers are handled by the community, paid for by the
community. And I am guessing this BF2142 is not a free game. You pay for the
game, and you are left with advertisements. They ain't getting my money either.
And why the need to track the internet habits? Buyers of BF already falls to
quite a specific community. It is not like they play sims for an hour and switch
to BF, after choosing the right perfume for their spouses online.
Posted by Anonymous | October 31, 2006 3:56 AM
Posted on October 31, 2006 03:56