Bad news guys....

[Droideka88]

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/centipedes ... 207955.php

Isn't it a little surprising that EA would go this far?

[arty]

are you sure that stuff is even true?

[CarbineImpulse]

http://www.battlefield.ea.com/battlefie ... 01906.aspx

Battlefield 2142 and In-Game Advertising


The in-game advertisement is respectful of players' privacy: it never accesses files not directly related to the game, and it does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, gameplay behaviour or surfing history. As it is an integrated part of Battlefield 2142 and not a separate program, it only runs when the game is running.

Because BF2142 delivers ads by region, the IP address of the player is used to determine the region of the player and helps serve ads by region and language; for instance, a player in Paris will be presented with ads in French. Note that this IP address is not stored on the advertisement server and is not repurposed for other uses.

A unique ID number is anonymously assigned the first time the player joins a Battlefield 2142 online game. It is stored locally on the PC but is not linked to any personal details.

The in-game advertisement gathers what we call "impression data", such as location of the billboard in the game or duration of advertisement impression. It helps see how many people have seen an ad - but not who has seen it.

We are also conscious that the advertisement shouldn’t distract the player from the overall gaming experience, so all ads fit in the unique environment of each level in the game. The content of the ads is also controlled to ensure that no offensive content is displayed in Battlefield 2142.

We all hope that this explanation will address recent concerns on the advertisement in Battlefield 2142. See you on the Battlefield.

- The Dice Live Team

Perhaps people posting on the linked site should have been directed (and read) this first. I don't feel that the ads take anything away from the game, which I'd thoroughly recommend to all!

[Droideka88]

are you sure that stuff is even true?

I found this from another forum I go to usually. So yeah.

[JabbaLovesLava]

Ads in the game? That's pretty messed up. Funny how far advertising companies go

[CarbineImpulse]

How many ads do you see when you're out walking the streets? loads. It takes nothing away from the game and isn't intrusive, as far as I'm concerned if there's something that says Coke or Pizza Hut etc... blown the crap out of then that just adds (pun intended!) to the realism of the game. Personally I'm too busy killing scum to stop and admire billboards, but if companies want to pay for in game ads then that's up to them, personally I think there are better ways of spending money but there you go. Perhaps if companies are paying to have ads in games then the games themselves may become better supported and more stable. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to happen, ultimately inevitable I guess, but if I ever see Vader in game wearing the Nike swoosh then :evil:

[Precise_Moon]

It is nothing new product placement i suppose.You see it all the time if you notice in films and TV programs so why not do it in games.The thing which is annoying is that they will be getting a load of dosh for this and this will not reflected in the price of the game on the high street.So what if the mech walkers are made by Ford,tanks by Vikars and the footware by Nike it still not doesn't affect the game

If your a bit concerned and do not the software to react to spyware.This is a free spyware download which i use,just run it and it will fix spyware

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html

[Silent_Decimator]

indeed it is cofirmed, but please keep in mind they collect info based on IE's cookies, so unless you have got somethin to hide, then theres nothin on, i haven't used IE at all, so it's pretty empty for cookies, and i haven't seen anything.
remember, that EA probably has directed the "spyware searcher" to a Def folder where IE is located, use Mozilla, Opera or anythin else, the program, will not find it, because it wasn't programmed to do it.

[Lord-Bandu]

There is no spyware in BF2142, period. End of story. There are (or will be ads) that use your IP address to determine which country you're in - so you don't get English ads in France, and French ads in the UK/USA, etc. That is the only thing they use your IP address for - Punkbuster and the Bf server track a LOT more than that in regards to IP addresses.... just ask any admin who has banned someone

The ads ingame (which are not even up yet), simply track how long they've been looked at. Just like google tracks how many times each ad is clicked. This is no different from the existing stat system if you think about it. There are no scanning of internet cache, favorites, etc. Doing so would 1) be very ineffective 2) highly invasive, and 3) cause lag.

While ingame advertising sucks imho, it was bound to happen.. Look at football/soccer - the jerseys have ads right in the front. Look at TV, magazines, radio, etc. All have ads.. it was just a matter of time.

The paper should've explained more thoroughly. Here is all that is gathered:

1) Ip address - to choose which ads to display 2) unique ID number randomly generated (like PB ID) 3) how long/often each shown ad is viewed

The only information actually sent back to the server is #3, and that is for revenue chargeback. For example - if they have a Nike ad billboard in one part of the map and a Coca Cola billboard on another, and people spend 3X longer looking at the Nike ad - they will be charged more than Coke... If that makes sense....