I'm not sure you can call what Hellgate: London does as installing 'spyware', per se. It's certainly uncool, but it does not appear to run
when the game is not running, does not involve bypassing your machine's security in any way, and tells you up-front (if you read the EULA) what it's
doing. In other words, it's not being deceptive about it.
What they do with the data they gather is, unfortunately, less than clear, but its no more information than NCSoft or Blizzard (for example) already have on
their subscribers. It's not sending your personal files back to the Hellgate servers, or scanning your machine for credit card numbers or passwords to
secure sites. It apparently does scan the memory space and basic hardware details... which can be argued to be necessary to prevent cheating -- Steam is a
particularly good (or bad) example of this. But again, it's up-front about it and tells you what it's doing, and does not do it when you're not
actively using the software (the game) that it comes with. I think the big brouhaha is that the EULA wording is particularly broad in this case, AND the
information it admits to actively gathering can be used to construct personal 'dossiers', if you will, that uniquely identify the individual.
Which is naughty, but it's not the same level of naughtiness as true spyware usually entails... if for no other reason than that it only runs when you
activate it yourself (by logging into the game).
(Unless you have information I've missed, that is -- which is entirely possible. If so I'd like to see it. I haven't played HG:L yet...![[Image: smile.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/smile.gif)
)
Anyway, I'd hesitate to call it spyware, or things like it. To my mind, spyware or adware have strong negative connotations (well deserved!) and
shouldn't be used except when it's actually true.
Now, personally, I'm inclined to give NCSoft the benefit of the doubt and assume their in-game advertising won't use the same method. They've
shown a much higher level of respect towards the playerbase than the other publishers out there, at least with regards to CoX. I'm not sure if it's
them or the dev team, but as long as that trend holds I'm not going to raise a fuss.
Just make sure you read the EULA carefully after the ad launch, right?
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
when the game is not running, does not involve bypassing your machine's security in any way, and tells you up-front (if you read the EULA) what it's
doing. In other words, it's not being deceptive about it.
What they do with the data they gather is, unfortunately, less than clear, but its no more information than NCSoft or Blizzard (for example) already have on
their subscribers. It's not sending your personal files back to the Hellgate servers, or scanning your machine for credit card numbers or passwords to
secure sites. It apparently does scan the memory space and basic hardware details... which can be argued to be necessary to prevent cheating -- Steam is a
particularly good (or bad) example of this. But again, it's up-front about it and tells you what it's doing, and does not do it when you're not
actively using the software (the game) that it comes with. I think the big brouhaha is that the EULA wording is particularly broad in this case, AND the
information it admits to actively gathering can be used to construct personal 'dossiers', if you will, that uniquely identify the individual.
Which is naughty, but it's not the same level of naughtiness as true spyware usually entails... if for no other reason than that it only runs when you
activate it yourself (by logging into the game).
(Unless you have information I've missed, that is -- which is entirely possible. If so I'd like to see it. I haven't played HG:L yet...
)Anyway, I'd hesitate to call it spyware, or things like it. To my mind, spyware or adware have strong negative connotations (well deserved!) and
shouldn't be used except when it's actually true.
Now, personally, I'm inclined to give NCSoft the benefit of the doubt and assume their in-game advertising won't use the same method. They've
shown a much higher level of respect towards the playerbase than the other publishers out there, at least with regards to CoX. I'm not sure if it's
them or the dev team, but as long as that trend holds I'm not going to raise a fuss.
Just make sure you read the EULA carefully after the ad launch, right?
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs