[Gadgets360] Civilization VI Steam EULA Changed to Allow for Data Collection

JackCY · Feb 18, 2019

In other words some corporate paper pusher saw that they could sell data for a large sum and decided to add data collection to a product they are responsible for. If a program is connecting to the internet, such as a single player game... it's very safe to say that the online connection is used for data collection and tracking.

All that can be done at this point is the way of laws and regulation, requirements and forcing fines on companies who do not respect it.
Not everyone wants to be a free test subject, games nowadays often launch at high price only for an incomplete beta version that barely works and collects all data possible. Long gone are the days when a game launched and it was actually finished are fairly in working order because it was getting burned onto hard media which obviously are hard to "patch" next week with an update.

I have nothing against people giving negative reviews on products that in some way disappoint them, be it in gameplay, quality or changes to licenses and other things. Companies are too used to getting 5/5 stars for "trying and not delivering".

1Kaz · Feb 18, 2019

Ceadderman said:
Steam data collects for the express purpose of keeping track of your hardware.

How do you think they compile the usage chart that are user accessible? They didn't get that with a wild guess. They got it by tracking every aspect of their customers hardware usage.

It's nothing new. Shoot if you're using Windows 10 this shouldn't alarm you. Steam also tracks your OS to segment for the results as well. Linux, Apple iOS, Windows... whichever you use will be displayed as they are compiled. I wouldn't sweat this either.

~Ceadder :drink:

Except you can choose not to participate in the steam survey. I don't participate because the steam survey sends a list of every program installed. Want to know my hardware so you can suggest games that run on it? Sure. Want to know every thing I use my computer for? No thanks.

I also don't use windows 10....

UltraMega · Feb 18, 2019

This seems like something that should be a much bigger story. This is really the tip of the iceberg if it this means it's going to be, or already is the default for all of Take Two's games. This needs a larger lens focused on it. Gaming publishers should not be in the commercial data mining business. It's one thing if they collect some anonymous data for their own internal purposes to help support their games, but this is clearly just data mining and selling for a standard data mining profit.

Perhaps we need to call on the digital distrobutors to ban this kind of behavior on their platforms. If there were one store that needed to gain traction (like the epic store) and decided to ban data mining practices on their platform, that would definitely make me wan't to use it.

Snyderman34 · Feb 18, 2019

I wonder if this is added to Red Dead Redemption 2 as well, if it's already added to GTA V

HeliXpc · Feb 19, 2019

its 2019, every company is collecting data.

speed_demon · Feb 19, 2019

^ What gets measured gets managed.

Defoler · Feb 19, 2019

UltraMega said:
This seems like something that should be a much bigger story. This is really the tip of the iceberg if it this means it's going to be, or already is the default for all of Take Two's games. This needs a larger lens focused on it. Gaming publishers should not be in the commercial data mining business. It's one thing if they collect some anonymous data for their own internal purposes to help support their games, but this is clearly just data mining and selling for a standard data mining profit.

Perhaps we need to call on the digital distrobutors to ban this kind of behavior on their platforms. If there were one store that needed to gain traction (like the epic store) and decided to ban data mining practices on their platform, that would definitely make me wan't to use it.

Everyone wants to be in the information industry, because today, that is where the big money is right now.
The big developers for PC/consoles, have started to feel that the market revenue is starting to slow down for the last 5 years. So they need more sources of income in order to increase their own revenue outside of just creating games, which can take years to develop.

So moving into information, it adds another source of income, and another layer. One of the applications I see in those data mining, is inputing real ads into games. Think of a coca cola "old fashion" commercial in RDR2, or a virtual commercial in cyberpunk, targeting your favourite drink or energy drink, etc. And connecting personal data from a game with data gathered from facebook, google, etc, they can really target all sort of ads to you.
This also adds up with other options. Think about the option of the main character in his home, making coffee as the story progress, making its favourite brand of your country's local brand, talking how good it is, or drink tea if you personally prefer tea over coffee. It can be developed pretty easy but it can impact game story and your awareness very directly.

So while you don't like it (neither do I), they are in the business of making more money, and that is another layer of money, which can basically be more profitable with very little work to be had in terms of development.

DNMock · Feb 19, 2019

Age, gender, location, and hardware configuration - Ok, I can see that. If they were just getting that so they can get a better idea on the demographics of their user base over multiple games that becomes handy information so they can better fine tune a game for whatever the target audience is.

Not saying I'm happy about it, but I can live with it.

The rest of that info has nothing to do with improving their products and is absolutely just to sell to the highest bidder and is completely crossing the line. Just because I bought your game doesn't mean you can browse through my personal pictures then call me to tell me which one is your favorite...

ToTheSun! · Feb 19, 2019

DNMock said:
Age, gender, location, and hardware configuration - Ok, I can see that.

Yeah, it's not really problematic. It's just one more layer than the old ASL chats on IRC.

Rhadamanthys · Feb 20, 2019

Was on the verge of buying Civ VI soon, for I heard positive things about the new addon (gameplay wise). Now I won't. Take note, 2K/Take Two.

Diffident · Feb 20, 2019

I also thought about buying it since the new DLC had day-1 Linux support.

Liranan · Feb 23, 2019

Now I need to find out to which IP's this data is sent to so I can block them. I do not give my consent to this data collection as this was not part of the original GTA V EULA, which isn't valid or legal where I am anyway.

Dhoulmagus · Feb 25, 2019

This is not the first controversy surrounding Civ VI, just last year they got review bombed for including an adware/ad tracker (I forget the fine details) called Red Shell that set everybody off. This was later removed. Now they pull this.

I still play Civ IV and V but have yet to purchase VI, and likely won't at this point.

The game industry is in a serious state of peril when all of our favorite developers have to rely on these parasitic publishers to get their content out. On the flip side, it's quite difficult for a low budget game to make any headway, and so we stay stuck.

8051 · Feb 26, 2019

How are they going to get a photo of the user who accepted the EULA? Scan your computer for all jpeg, jpg and gif files?

I've been thinking of making a gaming only rig that has no personally identifiable information on it and a separate CentOS rig w/Secure Linux for everything else.

Does GTAV engage in this kinda data mining?

venom55520 · Feb 28, 2019

I AM NOT CONDONING PIRACY...BUT!! This is why some people pirate games. The pirates at this point get a better product than paying customers who have to deal with Trojan horse BS these publishers keep selling. At this point, I only buy games from Nintendo, Sony, FromSoft, CD Project Red, and a couple of others I'm forgetting. That list grows smaller and smaller every day. (obviously I don't pirate anything)

[Gadgets360] Civilization VI Steam EULA Changed to Allow for Data Collection

JackCY

1Kaz

UltraMega

Snyderman34

HeliXpc

speed_demon

Defoler

DNMock

ToTheSun!

Rhadamanthys

Diffident

Liranan

Dhoulmagus

8051

venom55520

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