Saw a review regarding Take2's privacy policy

[Nitrate Dioxide]

There was a review against buying the game from a man named DarkWaiter.
I intended to post a comment there but Steam has a thing against 1000 word comments.

I want to start a conversation about data collection so here's my two cents.

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So let's get down to brass tacks, 2K is not stealing your data, they are collecting it. And they cannot do this without your consent. Now this can be sleazy such as having a toggle which the user is not made aware of that is by default toggled on. However, it is required that the user be made aware of this fact be it in the Privacy Policy or in the game proper. This explains things such as purchases, hardware, console ID, etc. But how are they getting your phone number? These are the things that a lot of people don't understand when they're giving express consent.

I don't know about you, but I don't remember XCOM or any game really for that matter. Asking me for my phone number, or gender, or mailing address. These are the kinds of thing you the consumerneed to give a company during some form of account creation, etc. Most of the time, this is entirely optional. And if you expressly give a company your information it can use that information as it sees fit. After all, if you didn't want the company knowing why did you just tell it yourself?

Now most people would take a look at this and say "I don't care if they're stealing or collecting my information, I don't want it sold." And this is a very valid concern. In Take2's privacy policy it does state that they can, and will, sell your information. But one thing I'm certain most people miss (and this is in every privacy policy) is that upon request, the company will (and is required) to delete their collected information AND opt you out of selling your data. Don't believe me? It's right there in the very same Privacy Policy.

"Deletion Request. You may request that we delete the personal information that we’ve collected from or about you, although there are some reasons we will need to retain information, such as to complete a transaction for you, to detect and protect against fraudulent and illegal activity, to maintain for internal purposes, to comply with a legal obligation, or to exercise our rights.

We will respond to your access and deletion requests within 45 days, unless we require additional time, in which case we will let you know.

Opt-Out Request. You have the right to opt out of Take-Two’s sale of your personal information to third parties for their commercial purposes. This means that if you opt out, going forward, we will not share your personal information with such third parties to use for such purposes unless you later direct us to do so.

To opt out, please click on the Do Not Sell My Info link on our site footer (and available here) and follow the instructions on that page. To opt out of online personalized advertising more broadly, please see the opt-out options identified in the Manage Your Account, Communications, and Data section above.

So yeah, it's not so cut and dry, companies can and will harvest your data to sell for marketing. But when one can opt out so broadly is that a bad thing? Targeted ads help people find deals and products they wouldn't otherwise. And data collected from games can help developers figure out what changes need to be made for a better experience (although they'll probably still make the worst choices anyways.) And for those of us who don't want all of our data being sold there are options.

I appreciate the concern man, as long as someone is skeptical it can make great change, but not every company is Facebook.
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People's thoughts are welcomed, do not discount someone because their opinion is different. Feel free to tear me a new one for being wrong but remember all views should be at the very least tolerated.

[jackpelon7]

Hello, precisely for these reasons, sometimes having a pirated game is safer than buying it even if you risk your life by cracking a game to prevent large companies from negotiating with your data.

Since I bought my first game on steam I always knew what would come of it with these video game companies and take my precautions, however, because they are large companies they always have an outlet and a way to access your data and there is no way to avoid it at the same time. long your data will belong to them and they will make money with it.

What you can do is adapt and continue your REAL LIFE, have children, work, get sick from something and age as healthily as possible until the time comes to die eternally.

Do not let your lives be governed by video games, REAL LIFE is much more important than that of a video game, so whatever the video game companies do, do not allow them to take over your freedom and your life.

You decide if you buy a game but you have to know that some companies profit from your data, hopefully we won't find a company like Facebook that sells your life for millions.

Remember Your private life is to have control of your freedom and your existence here while you are on earth ...

[Ayearepee]

The obvious counterargument is that, if I've paid money to a company for a service, I don't expect to get adverts on top of it. I've already handed over my cash.

For all its faults Apple is at least consistent about this - they expect you to pay hand-over-fist for their hardware, but in return they don't preload their laptops with trial versions of spurious registry cleaners and update management software etc.

The counter-counterargument is that without the revenue from data collection games would either cost twice as much or would be much less ambitious, to which the counter-counter-counter argument is that e.g. No Time to Die cost $200m to make, but at no point did Danjaq or Sony ask me to give them their telephone number. If Hollywood can do it the video games industry can as well.