EULA for GoG EA releases gives consent to data mining

DaveO

Rear Admiral
I saw the following part in the EULA...

EA and its affiliates may collect and store non-personally identifiable data including your Internet Protocol Address as well as game play and software usage statistics. If and when you access online features and/or services (if any), this data may be transmitted to EA. EA may use this information to improve our products and services and may share anonymous data with third parties.


Sorry buckos, but if I wanted to be data mined or have ANY of my data shared you'd have to pay me a monthly fee.
 
I never was a fan of Privateer's online mode anyways. It was always to nonexistent for me.
 
Even if the EULA is copy-pasted, I'd still be wary. EA does monitor the forums they created, so I'd not put it past them to do the same for other forums. Good luck though tracking every forum on the planet. :p
 
This kind of thing is to see whether people like the Calorie Counter or the Kickball Challenge mode more in Kinect Sports so they can decide which mode to create more content for in a future update. It has absolutely zero bearing on a game like Privateer (or any old Origin game rereleased over the service).
 
Here is the text from what I believe to be EA's Software End User License Agreement from GOG which provides for "data collection" from offline use:
2. Consent to Use of Data. When you play this game offline, EA and its affiliates may collect and store non-personally identifiable data including your Internet Protocol Address as well as game play and software usage statistics. If and when you access online features and/or services (if any), this data may be transmitted to EA. EA may use this information to improve our products and services and may share anonymous data with third parties.

While EA's data collection and usage (if data is ever actually collected and used) may be harmless, I'm pretty sure that this license term is more restrictive than the 1993 original.
 
Again, there's no online mode from which to transmit data, and there's no mechanism for it to collect any. What you're buying is an ISO of the disc and a self-contained DOSBox launcher for it. It applies to all games, including modern ones where this is common. As much fun as this subject is, it's 100% irrelevant to the Origin back catalog and today's Wing Commander news.

5671b8e2fbbcca5cd953b4bcaf28465260a5bdab.jpg
Did you guys notice the AWESOME icon for the game? I really hope the rest of you guys are out there checking out the fun stuff and playing Wing Commander Privateer!
 
We're just so many levels from this mattering.

ONE - it's an offline DOS game from 1993. No matter what the boilerplate says, it is not measuring IP or software usage statistics.

TWO - not only is it obviously a generic EULA that doesn't apply here, GOG has /specifically said that/.

THREE - None of this matters in the first place. No one in the world really cares whether or not EA knows how much you play Privateer. Except maybe us, who actually REALLY WANT EA to know that people are playing Privateer. Not that they can, because.. see step one.

It's just a complaint for the sake of complaining. If you people feel the need to immediately try and suck the joy out of anything good happening then you're in the wrong place.
 
If you have a problem with data mining, then I highly suggest you move to Pluto. Every government "data mines" personally identifiable information without consent or warning, and they can, will, and do cause more damage than just using it for marketing demographics.

By the way... GOOGLE. ;)
 
Even if the EULA is copy-pasted, I'd still be wary. EA does monitor the forums they created, so I'd not put it past them to do the same for other forums. Good luck though tracking every forum on the planet. :p

Ugh stop being dumb and download and enjoy the damn game.
 
Again, there's no online mode from which to transmit data, and there's no mechanism for it to collect any. What you're buying is an ISO of the disc and a self-contained DOSBox launcher for it.

It would still be possible in theory that the downloader itself collects data and sends it to GOG or that the ISOs of the old games have been patched to collect this information. Quite unlikely and surely found out soon by your 'friendly' anti EA hacker group.
So IMHO yeah, be careful about such things, but here the danger is probably non existant. If anyone downloaded already we could even do a file compare to be sure.
 
So what if it does? Give me your slippery slope here. So what if it collects the anonymous information the EULA implies?
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Sounds like somebody isn't familiar with EA's murder everyone who enjoys our products policy.

But wait, if that's the case, then how does EA keep finding customers for the EA Sports series....oh wait....nevermind
 
Hopefully the lazily copied EULA will be eliminated and one with the actual terms will be released. If there is no movement on this from EA's side, how can people make an informed decision on whether to buy the game?
 
Hopefully the lazily copied EULA will be eliminated and one with the actual terms will be released. If there is no movement on this from EA's side, how can people make an informed decision on whether to buy the game?

Now this is just silly. Hell, I'm downright tinfoil hat about this kind of thing, and this is the most innocuous one I've seen in a long time. If you're reading this much into a EULA as straightforward as this one, you should really start being worried about products with *NO TERMS AT ALL*.

Or you could just disconnect your internet - I can guarantee you, it will not impact your gameplay experience in this slightest.
 
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