Battlefield 2142 Adware?

wolfman

Anyone bought this yet? What do you think of it?

I've read various claims about the ingame advertising. Is this just done via what you look at/do during the game?

Or does the game actually scan your computer for browser history, cookies etc... and display adverts in the game based on that.

I don't mind the former, although find the latter a step too far.

Lawbag_2

I think what they mean by in game advertising, is billboards on the sides of cars, buildings etc... rather than the normal pop-ups

wolfman

Ah yeah I know that. But how do they define what is shown on these billboards etc...

From what I've read there seems to be two opinions:

1) It's defined purely by what you do within the game. So the adverts are only defined by the game.

2) The game actually scans your machine for cookies, browser history etc... and defines what adverts to show based on this.

My problem lies with the second method if it's true, which I'd deem a breach of privacy. It'd certainly make me consider whether to buy the game or not.

R0CKY

It's not No.2

The sort of data they mine is what advert you looked at and for how long. That info is recorded along with regional information gathered by IP i.e. not personal data.

cdbrown

This is from a gaming site
"When you open the box, a big slip of paper falls out first, preceeding any discs or manuals. The slip of paper says, essentially, that 2142 includes monitoring software which runs while your computer is online, and records "anonymous" information like your IP address, surfing habits (probably via cookie scans), and other "computing habits" in order to report this information back to ad companies and ad servers, which generates in-game ads."

So it won't actually go back into what you have done previously, but will monitor your online habits once installed - very scary.

wolfman

Ah so it is number 2.

See now that's a bit much in my opinion. I don't mind adverts in a game, it's the monitoring of your habits that I don't like. And who's to say it won't get hacked or misused like the Sony rootkit did.

cdbrown

mmm looks like they are all trying to cash in now - will they sell the games cheaper considering the income is coming from advertising instead of purely from the sale of the game. It'll probably end up causing problems with spyware checking programs as well.

wolfman

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7315/igavy2.jpg

The sentence at the bottom made me laugh. Basically says if you don't want to be hit with monitoring of your internet activities, then not to install the game on an internet ready pc.

Which is basically a joke given that the game is mainly an online multiplayer game.

I guess it's probably not much different from what google do though. Still annoying though as it's something you actually install.

R0CKY

wolfman wrote:

Ah so it is number 2. .

No, it is not. I am against what they are doing but let's get the facts straight. The quote taken from an unamed website above is incorrect.

"records "anonymous" information like your IP address, surfing habits (probably via cookie scans)"

That is absolutely NOT what the EA notice says, anybody that can read can see that for themselves by looking at the well distributed scan.

No where do they say they are recording surfing habits or scanning cookies. Rubbish like that only weakens the case against any kind in game ad delivery because it is not factual.

So, just to be CRYSTAL clear on this, here is the word direct for the game publisher, EA.

"it never accesses files not directly related to the game, and it does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, gameplay behaviour or surfing history."

Cdbrown was quoting from a forum post on a gaming news site - the user got it wrong.

cdbrown

So when you are playing the game - this tool in the background records your IP and other Advertising Data. The advertising data is used by IGA to upload temporary in-game advertising. By running it you agree to allow the Advertising Technology to send Advertising Data to their servers. I wonder what they mean by Advertising Data and where from the computer it is getting it from?

wolfman

R0CKY wrote:

That is absolutely NOT what the EA notice says, anybody that can read can see that for themselves by looking at the well distributed scan.

No where do they say they are recording surfing habits or scanning cookies. Rubbish like that only weakens the case against any kind in game ad delivery because it is not factual.

Well to be exact, it doesn't say very much at all. It's very vague. It could mean or do anything.

R0CKY wrote:

"it never accesses files not directly related to the game, and it does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, gameplay behaviour or surfing history."

Where's this quote from? And why can't such detail be included on the slip of paper with the game? By installing it you're agreeing to what is written on the bit of paper, not a quote.

Given the lack of detail I'd just like to see confirmation of what it does exactly. I'm sure someone out there is taking it apart as we post, and running traces, logs etc...