...people installing the newly released Hellgate: London demo have noticed that the game includes adware, advertising that is integrated into software. Here's the pertinent section of the license you have to agree to abide by once Hellgate is installed onto your system:This is the exact reason I did not buy Battlefield 2142 from EA. This is another reason I will never buy, own, or care about Hellgate: London. Don't get me wrong, the recent Hellgate demo didn't exactly win me over, but it didn't completely kill my interest in the game either. However, the coffin is closed now.
The Software incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated ("Massive") that enables in-game advertising, and the display of other similar in-game objects, which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and replaced during online game play. As part of this process, Massive may collect your Internet protocol address and other basic anonymous information, and will use this information for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising.
Vote with your wallet gamers, say no to Hellgate: London.
Ads? Oh boo-freakin-hoo. Do you similarly ban all TV watching? Drive blindfolded so you won't accidentally look at any billboards? Eschew the radio? Who cares, man. It's a great game, and the game is what matters. Not what some snobby blogger thinks.
ReplyDeleteBig deal, they swap out some textures. They can collect my IP address to transmit (send) me the textures? ohhh, scary.
ReplyDeleteGranted, I wasn't thrilled by the demo, but I really don't think in game advertising is all that bad. Heck, I would love to shoot & blow up Coke machines and what not!
Thanks for pointing out the reasons I DO NOT want advertising in my games.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the ads that I mind, but there better be a trade-off. (no ads for paid subscribers, and then free people can get new content by agreeing to watch ads)
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the problems I have with EAs implementation. They offer no extra value to the paying customer. It is extremely irritating in a game like BF2142 where THE PLAYERS are footing the bill to host servers on which EA makes money. In Hellgate's case, there better damn well be no advertisements for paying subscribers.
ReplyDeleteAnd regardless, this is still a system that is "unknown" and collects data for a company to make money off of me. That is a big fucking NO in my book.
Also, it is getting harder to track this little devil through the collection of studios that EA has working for them.
I can't say no... the Engineer, Evoker, and Guardian have me by the short and curlies... oh well.
ReplyDeleteYeah... I gotta agree with Bildo. I'm pretty anti-adware and generally hate it, but the gameplay has me hooked hard enough that I can't resist buying it. I'm having a terribly difficult time restraining myself from my engineer in the beta so I can play him when the game goes live.
ReplyDeleteBut yes. It would also be ridiculous if people who are paying $10/month are also subjected to advertising they can't opt out of. If that's the case, I won't be subscribing for long.
ill pass based on the screenshots alone. yrrch!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'm really interested in is to see how this whole subscription content/free content/expansion content goes.
ReplyDeleteLikely there will be no "free content" but can a non-subscriber just pick up an expansion set and play all the goodies that subscribers have been playing all ready?
Or will subscribers get their own content and expansions will just add more for everyone, in which case subscribers are screwed in my opinion. (Unless they get expansions for free)
And I'm pretty sure non-subscribers can subscribe, get the new content, and then stop playing and just play the new stuff offline. (Got to subscribe to play the new content online) In which case, will your character carry over to both online and offline? Will it be like in Diablo how you have 1) Offline characters, 2)Online character, and 3) "open" characters both offline and online.
I'm curious as to how they will be making the information secure for your character in offline play and then be able to play online without people cheating.
I don't believe there is offline play? If there is, the game can't work online without the major threat of hacking.
ReplyDeleteWorth noting, is that if this agreement refers to the ads placed in the subway stations, I don't see much of a problem... infact I'd go as far to say that they add to the atmosphere. I'd rather see ads with more flare (read: fake Londong 2047 ads), but seeing posters and whatnot in the central hubs is kind of cool... just a bit silly that they're for a Hellgate: London comic book.
ReplyDeleteAnon.
ReplyDeleteYou are a entitled to your opinion but I'm with heartless on this one. The reason DVR's are so popular is we can avoid the mind numbing commercials.
I go to video games to escape reality. Any game that inundates me with real world ads is DOA.
But then I bet you like spam too....LOL
There IS an offline play component, I believe.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I'm also curious how the new content is going to work with subscribers... I mean, if I can wait six months, subscribe for a month, and access all the same content that subscribers who have been paying for six months already can access, that's REALLY not fair to them.
On the other hand, if I have to pay the difference or something (like, $60 to "catch up" to them), it's not going to click with many players.
The game is completely single player, just like Diablo was. 30-40 hours of gameplay. You can go online and connect to a world server and play for free just like Diablo did running around with people or alone killing stuff. You can also pay $10 a month and get special perks in the same online environment.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, this is a stand alone game. It can store your characters in its online vault, like Diablo did but I'm assuming there is also locally stored characters for the single player version.
The in game ads are posters on the wall of a subway, just found em :)
ReplyDeleteOH NOES MY GAME IS RUINED!