Battlefield 2142 and its built in Spyware.

**DeadJonas190** · 24-Oct-2006

Apparently they are using spyware to target which in-game advertisements should be put on in-game billboards. Here is the article from 1up.com

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3154522

Gamers Wary of Battlefield 2142's 'Spyware'
Mechanism for tracking in-game ads causing a backlash.
by Patrick Klepek, 10/19/2006
31 of 31 users recommend this story.
Battlefield gamers beware: by opening a copy of Battlefield 2142 and participating in a game requiring Internet access, you're agreeing to have Electronic Arts and one of their in-game advertising associates, IGA Worldwide, study you. A printed disclaimer provided with the game states the game will be monitoring "advertising data" to determine what ads are serviced to individual players.
What if you don't want to become part of EA's little lab experiment? The publisher recommends you "do not install or play the software on any platform that is used to connect to the Internet." Kind of defeats the purpose of playing Battlefield 2124 in the first place, thought, doesn't it? And there doesn't appear to be an alternative solution.

Once word spread to the Internet, gamers -- mostly due to not having enough information -- labeled the software 'spyware' and EA went into damage control mode. Their public relations department passed along a company clarification that states Battlefield 2142's advertising data "does not access any files which are not directly related to the game" and "does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, or surfing history." So, no, surfing a bunch of car websites doesn't mean Ford ads will start appearing, but if you watch one already in the game long enough, that's a different story.

Gamers might be upset with EA's approach, but does their practice fit the definition of spyware? According to Wikipedia:

"In the field of computing, the term spyware refers to a broad category of malicious software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation without the informed consent of that machine's owner or legitimate user. While the term taken literally suggests software that surreptitiously monitors the user, it has come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party."
The key terms here are "malicious," "subvert" and "informed consent." EA says monitoring is needed to provide the correct in-game advertising to gamers based on the region their IP address is located and "impression data" related to location of a billboard in the game, brand advertised, the amount of time the gamer viewed the advertisment and other factors to help their paying advertisers understand how their ads are being viewed in Battlefield 2142.

We still have questions about how this system works, though, but EA could not provide 1UP with answers on-the-spot. We should have answers sometime today or tomorrow. In the meantime, however, gamers are livid. You don't have to look past the 1UP boards to understand the backlash this move has received from gamers:

"This has nothing to do with Demos or Pirating. This is LIVE spyware, OWNED BY EA that is going to be included in the final release of the game. They are doing this because they want to have targeted ads for you in game. This is going to bite them in the ass so hard." -- Omega_X, 1UP boards
"I doubted some people when they said EA was bad a while ago, I'm really believing it now. This is getting ridiculous..." -- kungfu_zombie, 1UP boards

"Why the hell would they do this?" -- MAXX, 1UP boards

"&something like this is more than enough reason for me to not buy a product." -- Dj_Lushious, Futuremark boards

"i was on the fence on whether to get this or not. now i'm definitely not gonna pick it up. this is heinous." -- shpankey, NeoGAF "Not like it will matter, but I am now personally boycotting EA. This is just complete crap, anyway you slice it." -- moku, NeoGAF

And let's not forget this quote from the original announcement declaring EA had signed with IGA:
"The agreement with Massive is a first step in a detailed strategy for serving advertising in a seamless format that doesn't disrupt game play," said Chip Lange, EA's VP of Online Commerce, in the announcement release.
So, the question remains: is this spyware, or are EA simply keeping their advertisers informed? Is there a difference between the two?

I don't think I will buy this, especially since I saw it in the store earlier today with a sticker that said "Online registration required to play."

**Danny** · 24-Oct-2006

EA are the ****ing devils of the gameing world, there games are shoddy, and if its "ea-BIG!" you know its gonna suck.
they mke movie tie ins and such just for cash there games aint made to entertain ,just to sell so the fact that there doing stuff like this makes me think the next fifa game you play will have subliminal messageing in it...well more than there allready is.

and yeah i havent bought an ea gme since harry potter way back in 2000.

ea sucks and its big spenders on ads that get hard working little known games companys making games like eternal darkness and the like going into liquidation before they can get origional and creative new games out to the public, but what the hey at least you get another sport game with a higher digit than the last on...

**MinionZombie** · 24-Oct-2006

There's apparently a way around it, but I can't remember what, involves thing's you probably should technically talk about on a VBB forum though. Indeed, when I heard about this I thought - what a load of bullsh*t - for one it's set in the future 2142 - how would adverts for today even fit.

In-game advertising is like eyeball rape. You are forced to see it and you can't get away from it - think of Airwaves gum in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - *sigh*, great game, but those ads annoyed me big style.

I can smell a gamer backlash coming.

**LouCipherr** · 24-Oct-2006

Me too. they never pulled this kind of stuff with BF1942, BF:V or BF2.. now they're going to try with BF2142? That sucks.

I guess that means we'll be playing it off-line, eh MZ?

LC

**p2501** · 24-Oct-2006

correct me if i'm wrong here. but the game requires online registration to play, yes?

now i'm assuming that online reg is just the user inputting a Keypass into the game so that the game is then "uinlocked" and rendered playable. having siad that, wouldn't a priated copy of the game with a KeyGen program bypass the need for this online registration?

further i know my software firewall allows me to block individual appliacions and processes from accessing the net. so with these two things combined it should isolate and eliminate the probelm.

correct?

**LouCipherr** · 24-Oct-2006

The game is unlocked and playable as soon as you enter your cd-key into the game, you don't have to register to activate the game - just to activate your account so you can play online.

The problem is, if BF2142 is anything like Quake4 and other games of the like, a keygen won't let you bypass the online registration.

With these games (like FarCry and Q4 for example), for every copy of the game on the shelves in stores, each serial # is actived on their servers and is considered 'legit' - If you don't have a legit copy, your keygen'd serial # won't be on their list of valid copies on the market you're... well.. screwed - and you can't play online 'cause your keygen'd serial # isn't listed on their servers as valid.

There have been a few games out there where you could get around the registration process and the cd-key stuff, but it's VERY rare nowadays, and it's getting more and more difficult to fool the online servers.

Not that I know anything about all of this.

LC

**MinionZombie** · 24-Oct-2006

Indeed, if/when I get it I'll be playing this bitch offline.

And what if all you ever looked at online was porn, would ads for your favourite fetish appear in-game? Somehow I think there'll be a class action lawsuit or something against EA for this spyware - because that's exactly what it is. Nobody is asking for these ads, it's spying on what you're doing to target you - therefore it's completely underhanded and EA should be anally raped by a lawyer for such unbridled cheek.

Bastards...

**LouCipherr** · 24-Oct-2006

Hmmm, well MZ, now you made me reconsider. If I'm gonna see pin-up naked chicks during the game 'cause I surf porn all the time, BF2142 might just be the game for me!

**p2501** · 24-Oct-2006

**MinionZombie** · 24-Oct-2006

ROFLBATTLEFIELD

Excellent...

**DeadJonas190** · 27-Oct-2006

Originally Posted by LouCipherr

The game is unlocked and playable as soon as you enter your cd-key into the game, you don't have to register to activate the game - just to activate your account so you can play online.

The game box itself says "Online registration required to play" in the lower left corner. Without registering it online, you can not play. They are forcing people to go online with the game to play it just to target people for ads. I don't pay for a game that give me advertisements, but on the other hand if it keeps the online play free I would not be opposed to it if it were spyware free. The spyware is the reason I will not buy it and this will be the first Battlefield I will not own and I love the series.

**MinionZombie** · 27-Oct-2006

Geez, you mean it's kinda like Steam with HL2? You MUST online register even if you're just going to play single player and never go online!? Geez, if there was ever a reason to download this game, this is it...

F*ckin' EA, the idiots are alienating their fans. And what about people who having gaming machines nowhere near an internet socket, or for people that don't wish to connect their gaming machines to the internet?

**LouCipherr** · 27-Oct-2006

Originally Posted by DeadJonas190

The game box itself says "Online registration required to play" in the lower left corner. Without registering it online, you can not play.

Ok, now THAT is unlike Q4 and others of the like. At least with those you can play single player offline and enjoy yourself.

This reminds me of City of Heroes - you can ONLY play online, and that, my friends, is abig steaming pile of dog sh*t. Screw EA, I won't be buying this game, and that really pisses me off 'cause I've bought every game in the BF franchise so far. Bastards.

Way to alienate your fan base you idiots!