Is EA Getting into the Spyware Business? Battlefield 2142 - Now with a Dash of Spyware A few friends of mine were talking last night, and this popped up in our RSS feeds. O yes, and btw, read this as well. It's how to get rid of the spyware. This is unbelieveable. TOTALLY UNBELIEVEABLE. Basically it's all or nothing. Would you believe this? What if The Sims 2 starts being forced to have such advertisements? Let's take Pets for an example, and note this is a TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION!! With pets, it gathers information on what pets sites you visit, or what pets you research the most. On top of that, it starts bombarding you in game with custom advertisement spots for Cat Chow or special shots to rid of ticks and fleas! Can you believe this? I wonder how much ad companies and manufacturers are paying for such information. Makes me feel like I'm ready to faint... I think we need to send a pretty clear message. If EA crosses it, they better know they are gonna feel the wrath of the Sims 2 Community. http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=13049860
Hmmm, my initial thought when I read this is kinda unprintable. Let's stick with $%^&* !!! The day that EA uses this advertising $%^&* in Sims 2 is THE DAY I STOP PLAYING THE GAME. I have already quit the Sims 2 website as a regular visitor but was still annoyed about the introduction of adverts on their site - maybe they are not too intrusive at the moment but they will gradually appear in more prominent places over time, just watch and see. Hello? It's not like EA/Maxis have no revenue - oh wait, they DO have losses apparently. Hmmm, yeah, that's it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me it seems like maybe they are becoming a victim of their own success? Popular games and fans demand more = pressure on employees to meet targets = employment rights issues and lawsuits = losses = make as much money from the fans in as many ways as possible (stuff packs, internet adverts, in-game adverts). I detest adverts of any kind - tv, radio, internet, junk mail, etc etc. It really ticks me off. If I want something, I will go and find it/ research it and get the item/deal I want WHEN I want it. If my internet usage is being monitored to deliver appropriate adverts, you can bet I will kick off about it. How dare they! It's an intrusion of privacy, and an interruption of my internet enjoyment. I have another word for it but it's not appropriate for this forum, but it's kind of related to being forced to do something against your will - ie 'tune in' to an advert when you don't want to - you just want to play the game. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
EA'd I'm not exactly surprised that they're starting to do this. I'm actually more surprised that they (game companies) haven't started doing this years ago. I'm not for in-game advertisements at all as it ruins the fun of anything when you see a huge billboard for McDonalds that is so super-liminal that it might as well slap you on the face with a burger. This also goes for movies (refer to my James Bond rant ). The whole advertisement thing is ticking me off. Most people will buy a product that they need regardless if they've seen the ad or not. If anything, for myself, if the advertisements are annoying it steers me away from the product... So, in other words, if The Sims starts having ads in the games then it's bye-bye for it.
You know if anyone here has the battlefield 2 expansion called Special forces, they also di this, accept they didnt tell us about it. (trust me im a huge battlefield fan)
EA clarifies Battlefield 2142's IGA spyware EA released a statement to Joystiq about the spyware in Battlefield 2142. Statement is as followed. My take? Well, targetting advertisements by region is acceptable in my book. It's a process called Geotargetting and lots of companies do that today, so nothing new. Lots of sites, even WorldSims does that. However the latter, it still sounds like spyware. O yes, and Joystiq seems to be still hovering around this statement. I feel EA is sugar coating the entire incident. No matter how you spin it, it still sounds like spyware. Don't get me wrong here. I'm a big Maxis fan and love their games to death. I just feel this is a poor decision on their development and project managing that ultimately will offend much of their game audience base.
I detest constant bombardment by ads. The only computer game I play is the Sims2. I will not buy any expansion pack that includes spyware or anything similar. Or I will permanently disconnect my computer from the internet (and check up on Worldsims using the old one my son left behind. ) You're right. They will offend their customers and lose them.
