"We Own You" - Confessions of an Anonymous Free to Play Producer

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by TheWindBringeth, Sep 18, 2015.

  1. TheWindBringeth

    TheWindBringeth Registered Member

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  2. Palancar

    Palancar Registered Member

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    I am not a gamer, but that was still a scary read in many ways. Thanks for posting it.
     
  3. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Interesting, thanks for sharing.
     
  4. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    The trend in Gaming is "Online Only" games, one has to ask oneself how are making enough money to buy a server and people to run them as well as a user forum.
     
  5. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    Very interesting article, straight from the " Horses Mouth " so to speak .... thanks for posting it .

    Depressing reading ? ... certainly .
    Surprising ? ... sadly not.

    FWIW , I am also not a gamer , but I'm sure similar strategies are used in many internet scenarios.
     
  6. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    Very interesting article, thanks!
     
  7. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    They sell your demographics, statistics, your profile. The product is not the game, it is YOU. How can they mold you to their whims, ahem, play their game and buy IAP.
     
  8. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    Another hyperbole as always. Doesn't mean that they own you when they try to make you buy IAP using what they believe is your personal info with varying levels of accuracy and success.

    Gaming the system isn't particularly difficult either, the only real threat to privacy are for the low-hanging fruits as usual.
     
  9. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    That is not the only thing they sell, they try and sell you accessories for your gaming, that could be software like equipment or service like better chat system. I don't do online gaming, cheaper that way but I can read their forums and read just what they charge for.

    There are Trojans that seal your passwords and other nasty things.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2015
  10. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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  11. TheWindBringeth

    TheWindBringeth Registered Member

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    I don't think there is any doubt about that. However, computer games are virtual contexts which can be created, and function, in any way the developer chooses. Players can be put into situations which are impossible to duplicate IRL. Players will allow themselves to be put into situations, and will stay within situations, that they never would IRL. As long as a situation somewhat fits with the theme of a game, players won't question it.

    If we had a diverse panel of genuine/frank experts on stage, and asked them: What can be learned about a person through in-game experiments/tests, that can't be learned (or would be more difficult/expensive/less-reliable to learn) via traditional forms of data collection and analysis, I wonder what they would say?
     
  12. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    No sorry, besides linking to a Trojan is against TOS. Its just something that happened try to correct but kept on re appearing :(
     
  13. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    So much for rich text editors... Anyhow, you could link to info about it, but I guess not.
     
  14. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Hmm. What this guy is writing is - you can sell things to people if you convince them they want it or need it - and you do it online.
    Nothing new here. If anything, it just highlights the standard human behavior.
    As someone who is blind to ads, I wonder about people who actually might get convinced.
    If anything, any notification or ad only builds my resistance and spite.
    How does it work? What is the thought process behind the decision making?

    Mrk
     
  15. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Good thing I don't install proprietary F2P games.
     
  16. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I also hate all of these gaming platforms like Steam and Origin, what happened to the days when you could just download demo's. Obviously, this was invented to make it easier to spy on you.
     
  17. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    The spying part.. That's only a means to an end.

    All this IAP and internet-connection-required stuff just reeks of using games as a conduit through which your money is supposed to flow from you to them. They even paint the insides of the tube so that whales are more likely to swim through it.

    I'm from the old-school and can see these tubes miles away. And that's a good thing.
     
  18. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Remember how games could be played offline, or how the developers used to make really good games because they couldn't update them and so they had to completely test them before putting it fo sale? :-*

    These days developers push terribly unstable and half-finished games. I hate this.
     
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