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Software EA, IGA Respond to Tracking Battlefield 2142 Gamers
Marcus Yam (Blog) - October 18, 2006 5:25 PM

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36 comment(s) - last by Drexial.. on Oct 19 at 10:14 PM

While it may not be as bad as suspected, gamers may still view the advertising technology as invasive

Following the public outcry over the in-game advertising technology found in Battlefield 2142, Electronic Arts has issued a response to clarify some of the confusion. Apparently, the information collected by IGA Worldwide tracks only information found within the game itself. Here is EA's statement:

The advertising program in Battlefield 2142 does not access any files which are not directly related to the game. It does not capture personal data such as cookies, accountlogin detail, or surfing history.

BF 2142 delivers ads by region. The advertising system uses a player's IP address to determine the region of the player, assisting to serve the appropriate ads by region and language. For instance, a player in Paris might be presented with ads in French. The information collected will not berepurposed for other uses.

Battlefield 2142 also tracks "impression data" related to in-game advertisements: location of a billboard in the game, brand advertised, duration of advertisement impression, etc. This information is used to help advertisers qualify the reach of a given advertisement.

While this may alleviate some privacy concerns, it does not change the fact that the potential buyer of the game is not made fully aware of such a system until the notice is found inside the box. Below we have reproduced the exact text found on the disclaimer:

The Software may incorporate technology developed by IGA Worldwide Inc. ("IGA") (the "Advertising Technology"). The purpose of the Advertising TEchnology is to deliver in-game advertisements to you when you use the Software while connected to the Internet. When you use the Software while connected to the Internet, the Advertising Technology may record your IP address and other anonymous information ("Advertising Data"). The Advertising Data is temporarily used by IGA to enable the presentation and measurement of in-game advertisements and other in-game objects which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and changed during online game play. The Advertising Technology does not collect any personally identifiable information about you, and EA will not provide IGA with any of your personally identifiable information. The servers used by the Advertising Technology may, from time to time, be located outside your country of residence. If you are located within the European Union, the servers may be located outside the EU.

By installing and using the Software, you agree to: (i) the transfer of the Advertising Data to servers located outside your country of residence and, if applicable, outside the European Union; (ii)the collection and use of the Advertising Data as described in this Section; and (iii) the delivery of advertising and marketing content by the Advertising Technology. IF YOU DO NOT WANT IGA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, OR TRANSMIT THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, DO NOT INSTALL OR PLAY THE SOFTWARE ON ANY PLATFORM THAT IS USED TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET.

Since being connected to the Internet is essential to the Battlefield gaming experience, gamers who already purchased the software without knowledge of the advertising technology are left with few options. For further explanation and justification of in-game advertising, read Gamasutra's interview with IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend.

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Pay for ads?

By rockyct on 10/18/2006 7:34:55 PM , Rating: 5

I think the biggest issue is the fact that we would pay $50 for a game that has a significant ad presence. I bought BF1942, Vietnam, and BF2 but I am holding out this time. No way am I going to pay more than $20 for this game.

RE: Pay for ads?

By Acanthus on 10/18/2006 7:38:39 PM , Rating: 3

Amen, im not paying full price to beta test for them anymore, hell they dont even have BF2 working right yet after a year.

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RE: Pay for ads?

By captchaos2 on 10/19/2006 8:58:32 AM , Rating: 2

If they put ads in a game, then I won't pay more than $15 for it. Otherwise I'll hop into the nearest tank and blow away the signs before I go after the other team. How long before we see a cheat or patch released to block the ads?

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RE: Pay for ads?

By JarredWalton on 10/19/2006 4:18:32 PM , Rating: 2

Too bad the signs aren't destructible. :(

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RE: Pay for ads?

By GhandiInstinct on 10/19/2006 2:29:23 PM , Rating: 1

$50 for a minor expansion with ads and spyware? I'd rather jump into molten lava!

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RE: Pay for ads?

By Knish on 10/19/2006 3:05:40 PM , Rating: 2

Ah, so you're a world of warcraft fan.

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RE: Pay for ads?

By One43637 on 10/18/2006 7:54:51 PM , Rating: 2

quote:

by rockyct on October 18, 2006 at 7:34 PM

I think the biggest issue is the fact that we would pay $50 for a game that has a significant ad presence. I bought BF1942, Vietnam, and BF2 but I am holding out this time. No way am I going to pay more than $20 for this game.

ditto, i wouldn't even consider getting this game if it wasn't so cheap for me. (20USD)

i find the logic used to price this game, or any other game that receives significant revenue by showing me unwanted ads, for the same price of comparable games that without ads ludicrous.

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RE: Pay for ads?

By BigLan on 10/18/06, Rating: -1

RE: Pay for ads?

By Wwhat on 10/19/2006 12:02:18 AM , Rating: 2

They continuesly feed new ads, therefore they get a continues income from the ads, so your statement is illogical and unfounded.
If a player plays it as much as he does BF2 then the'd get 50 dollar per player easy in revenue.

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RE: Pay for ads?

By ogreslayer on 10/19/2006 7:45:55 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah, and honestly I was gonna pick up the game this weekend. O enjoyed it slightly more then BF2. But this combined with my already huge dislike of EA(aka Video Game Satan) and their management of the franchise. Means no purchase from me; especially at the price.

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Changes in the Agreement

By thilde on 10/18/2006 9:44:18 PM , Rating: 2

This industry is famous for changing the terms of an agreement as it suits them. What prevents EA from redefining this agreement in a few months to allow them collect whatever information they want to.

RE: Changes in the Agreement

By TheShniz on 10/18/2006 9:58:10 PM , Rating: 2

And WHY can they not simply use the location as entered into the Windows registry?!? If their sole concern was localized marketing, then why be so evasive and underhanded?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

This is still a threat as it opens up the door and gives them an avenue to do even more sh*ttiness! Simply unneccessary and uncalled-for!!!

I smell some stank a** bullsh*t!

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RE: Changes in the Agreement

By BudgetGamer2006 on 10/18/2006 10:09:38 PM , Rating: 1

They mean localized marketing in a couple ways...
1: like what you said.. of geographical locations.
2: I believe they collect data and localize the content to something the user is responsive to.. like car ads.. or more game ads. etc

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RE: Changes in the Agreement

By darkfoon on 10/18/2006 10:23:17 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
And WHY can they not simply use the location as entered into the Windows registry?!? If their sole concern was localized marketing, then why be so evasive and underhanded?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

They need to collect more localized data, because Windows doesn't know what state you are living in (at least, last time I checked it doesn't).

It's sort of like how I keep seeing Sonic (fast food) ads on my TV, when there isn't a Sonic restaurant within 100 miles of where I live. It bugs the crap out of me to see advertising for products THAT I CAN'T BUY! I suppose EA doesn't want people playing their games to see ads for Roth's IGA when they don't even live near one and such.

No, I don't condone their actions. Who knows what ads will look like in 2142, so unless they can make them look all futuristic, they won't make gameplay "more immersive" as they claim. On the contrary, they will make the game less immersive, because companies like intel, AMD, Microsoft may not even exist over 100 years from now.

I hardly game ever at all, but now I know that I will NEVER buy an EA game, ever. Not even Spore (unless they guarantee it wont have ads. One can't deny how cool Spore looks)

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RE: Changes in the Agreement

By Wwhat on 10/19/2006 12:05:50 AM , Rating: 2

they collect "impression data", what is that suppose to mean really, their explanation leaves soemthing to be desired.

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RE: Changes in the Agreement

By Wwhat on 10/19/2006 12:10:34 AM , Rating: 2

Like the statement "duration of advertisement impression", they clearly don't need to poll how long they put the ad on there so what is that?
The whole thing stinks to high heaven, why didn't they simply just feed those bilboard in, instead of making it even worse than that already is.

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RE: Changes in the Agreement

By Houdani on 10/19/2006 11:09:37 AM , Rating: 2

By "impression data" I read that to mean they collect information regarding:

>> how long the player had the ad on their screen
>> was the reticle was pointed at the ad (but not shooting at it), meaning that ad was "impressive"
>> so on and so forth along these lines

I wouldn't put it past the ad pimps to correlate the IP address of the gamer with a list of IP addresses collected by advertiser's websites. For example, if you see an ad for pepsi.com within the game and then later go and visit pepsi.com, then you've just dropped a huge dose of "impression data."

Yay! *grumble* *grumble* *grumble*

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By Brainonska511 on 10/18/2006 7:32:02 PM , Rating: 3

So if the warning is within the box, are you allowed to go and return the software if you don't agree to it (after opening the box and discovering the warning/license agreement)? I doubt stores would be taking back boxes of opened software if you don't agree to the license agreement.

RE: ?

By Mazzer on 10/18/2006 7:57:35 PM , Rating: 4

How many people will take it back anyway? They bought it because they wanted to play it. Sure they are a little mad but I doubt there is going to be a mass exodus. People are always going to complain about EA did this or that but they still will go out and buy EA's software. Every year when they release the same game with a few new features, slap another number at the end, and call it a game people run out buy it in masses. Want to make EA stop destroying what could be marvelous games? Stop buying their stuff! Make them sit back and rethink their strategy.

Now I have heard people say that this will help cover development costs, but hahaha is EA doesn't need to make their stock holders any happier. Maybe a smaller company who is starting up and just spent millions developing a next gen game engine might need this, and I would support that! EA just release the same old thing with some new textures. Woohoo.

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HOSTS

By FightingChance on 10/18/2006 8:25:50 PM , Rating: 3

I am curious; SWAT 4 featured a similar system that would auto-populate posters in-game with advertisements and also record how long you would look at them (the 'impression'.) By adding 4 IP's for the media company's servers to your HOSTS file, you could effectively block the requests for more ads. Can this same method be used to defeat the advertising presented here?

RE: HOSTS

By Missing Ghost on 10/18/2006 9:43:38 PM , Rating: 2

it can't see any reasons why this wouldn't work. You can also block it at the firewall level if your firewall can block outgoing connections based on the IP address.

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RE: HOSTS

By xFlankerx on 10/18/2006 9:44:55 PM , Rating: 2

Forum babble was saying that ad data might come from EA's master server.

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they tested it out and it worked

By raphd on 10/18/2006 10:57:16 PM , Rating: 2

EA already tested the ingame advertising and it worked. How many ppl actually bought the game from EA downloader? isn't the advertisement to do that when you first load bf2? i see a new add there everytime there is an addon.

BF2 Special Ops was cheaper. And better then 2142. Also no lame ads after you've already paid $60 for it.

RE: they tested it out and it worked

By JazzMang on 10/19/2006 12:01:36 AM , Rating: 2

I still spite EA for rushing BF2 to market, only to have the players be the beta testers for them... except we paid money.

Get the game right or don't release it. At this point, I kinda like the 3DRealms motto 'When its done.'

I guess time will tell...

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RE: they tested it out and it worked

By Topweasel on 10/19/2006 10:54:21 AM , Rating: 2

I am willing to go with a happy medium, the Quake 2 days where things got patched but almost everything worked. Its alot better then waiting 9 years, thinking its completely dead and forgetting about it, then you hear they are using a new engine , and your next reaction was "I thought it was dead, but now they are re-doing it completely, WTF".

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I smell BS!

By Scalptrash on 10/18/2006 8:43:24 PM , Rating: 2

EA has made hundreds of millions of dollars on the Battlefield franchise, but yet they are still greedy enough to have in-game ad revenue. Plus, if they are collecting ANY data, they will collect as much data as possible. Also, when does this data collection take place? During gameplay? They still don't know how to streamline packets and this will make it worse.
Our BF clan, as well as several others that I know of, are boycotting 2142. It is nothing more than a mod/expansion to BF2 and a poor one at that. Should have been $30 max, more like $20.
We will patiently wait another year and more, due to the ever present delays, for BF3. Brand new engine, finally, destructable environments, finally and DX10 quality. That is if the Battlefield series hasn't been dethroned by then, which is completely possible with several competitors coming soon.

RE: I smell BS!

By Alpha4 on 10/19/2006 1:50:02 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
That is if the Battlefield series hasn't been dethroned by then, which is completely possible with several competitors coming soon.

Team Fortress 2, anyone? ;)
Good point scalptrash.

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Why does a security update need removed?

By BladeVenom on 10/19/2006 5:40:55 AM , Rating: 2

If the spyware is really so innocuous, why do you need to remove a Windows security update to get the game to work properly?

RE: Why does a security update need removed?

By sweetpants153 on 10/19/2006 8:02:05 AM , Rating: 2

Not sure what you're talking about here... Just installed BF2142 last night on a fully patched XP Pro SP 2 machine and it ran like a charm.

I did run into a snag because I didn't have a DVD drive so I made an image, dumped it onto a networked share and mounted it from there... (installation worked great, if you tried that with BF 2 it wouldn't work)

I'm not really concerned with the in game ads... honestly.. I haven't noticed the ads, I'm too busy paying attention to the person in front of me, my squad, etc.

Hell, I didn't even know about the ads until I read this article... now I guess I will have to look for them..

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LAME

By FXi on 10/18/2006 11:21:30 PM , Rating: 2

As of now I won't touch EA software at all.

This is an idiotic abuse of the customer. Time probably to phone up a few lawmakers and get some heat on EA's legal department. This is frankly an unacceptable business practice. And clearly they warned no one, so they knew perfectly well they were pulling a bad move.

RE: LAME

By michal1980 on 10/19/06, Rating: 0

If I'm going to beta test . . .

By Spacecomber on 10/19/2006 8:50:35 AM , Rating: 2

I might as well be doing so with a community developed mod, rather than something I have to pay a bunch of money for. This controversy about how they are going to deliver advertising in Bf2142 is just the latest reason to be wary of purchasing this title. (Did anyone who played the BF2142 title feel like they were being given a look at a finished product?)

I have to give EA credit for making some effort to provide support to the mod community, by spot-lighting various mods, since I think this is more likely to be the source of content that will keep the BF2 series interesting to me and maybe continue to grow it.

Point of Existence 2 continues to hold more promise and interest to me than BF2142, at least at this time. I also find myself going back and spending more time with some of the expansions that I picked up along the way, such as Special Forces and Armored Fury, since the direction that the main game has taken - which seems like a kind of erosion or degradation of the game play, over the course of the various patches - has become less and less enjoyable to me.

Adds delivery method

By RMSe17 on 10/19/2006 10:53:09 AM , Rating: 2

Are the adds piped through the connection to the game server, along with game data, or are they piped in through a separate connection, and integrated by the client?
I would assume it is the later case. If that is true, it would be really easy to block with a firewall rule.

Ehhh

By deeznuts on 10/19/2006 12:44:49 PM , Rating: 2

If it is only doing what they are saying they're doing, that doesn't bother me. Everytime I'm looking for porn there are ads with "girls from xxx" meaning same girl, different city for all the different IP addresses. So probably every site we go to is looking up our IP address and adjusting their ad a bit. This is the new direction, we'll probably have to get used to it.

The problem is not ads

By m 8u5 746 1 on 10/19/2006 2:41:33 PM , Rating: 2

I'm not thrilled with the idea of paying $54.11 for an advertising engine to be installed on my computer. That stinks. Lets just say I'm grimly resolved to the fact that in game ads are coming.

The problem is not so much the ads but the direction the data is flowing. If they push ads down into 2142 that is marginally acceptable. If they send "...other anonymous information" upstream, that is totally unsat.

Assurances about their current privacy policy are meaningless as they can be changed without notice, and their data security could be breached at any time.

I am not paying them money to track me for profit.

in game ads new?

By Drexial on 10/19/2006 10:14:22 PM , Rating: 2

apearently people havent played ea games ever. you think they plastered ads in sports games and NFS:U/MW for free? EA and other companies have been receiving revinue from advertising for a decade. its just that this new level alows them to receive continuous revinue because the ads are through a cyclical system. this setup should alow EA to offer games at half their price if not lower. ive complained about paying $50 for games that you pay monthly to play, this concept is beyond that.