6 ms·

Telemetry on Zelda: Breath of the Wild

63 points by akyuu 3y ago

ShamelessC 3y ago
> It is currently unknown when or if these reports are actually sent.
- rideontime 3y ago
  Isn't that comment specific to the Wii U?
  - ShamelessC 3y ago
    Oh indeed it may be?
esperent 3y ago
Doesn't basically every AAA game do this now? I've seen recent posts giving extremely detailed statistics about the choices players made in Baldur's Gate 3 and Jedi Fallen Order. I was surprised that nobody seemed bothered by it. Here's the Fallen Order one: https://www.reddit.com/r/FallenOrder/comments/13xldf8/star_wars_jedi_survivor_gameplay_stats_infographic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FallenOrder/comments/13xldf8/star_w...
- lyu07282 3y ago
  I assume the devs use it to prioritize bug fixes and to learn what game design works/doesn't. Knowing the % of players having difficulty with a dungeon etc. I don't see any harm in that, it could improve their next game. It's not like it's used or useful for targeted ads or something. You can opt out the analytics in the bg3 launcher btw.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    It's only bad because you don't know where else that data is going. Are companies selling your gaming activities to others who will use it to determine dexterity, intelligence, memory, distractability, psychology, sexual preferences, etc. Gaming offline as much as possible might be the best way to protect yourself, but is also pretty limiting since some games offer desirable online content
    - getwiththeprog 3y ago
      Yes, the testing of reflexes, timing etc, could be sold to insurers to effect their prices. It is interesting with Captchas that ML is faster than people now. I wonder how many people like me intentionally mis-time their input? Note also that offline gaming still can send cookies via OS when the OS detects IP connection.
      - HWR_14 3y ago
        To what kind of insurers and where? Car insurers already get people to install spyware to observe their driving patterns, and can probably get it straight from the car company soon if not already. That's better than a one or twice removed guess.
        Sayrus 3y ago
        Exactly. If they are buying it from one source, you can bet they'd buy it from another even if only to ensure the data they bought is accurate. That's also more datapoints that can be used to model the effects of being distracted or being ill on your reflexes. What if your country bans such data collection in cars? Luckily game may still collecting and selling this while the loophole is being closed so you win years if not a decade of data.
      - 3abiton 3y ago
        What ML libraries are you using for captchas?
- XCSme 3y ago
  Why would anyone be bothered by it?
  - esperent 3y ago
    Personally, I don't like the normalization of my every action being spied on by huge corporations. If it was just going to be used by the devs to fix bugs, _and_ it was either opt in or very obvious opt out, I'd be ok with it. But fixing bugs is only one tiny aspect of why these corporations want to track you. And as far as I can see, there's no way to opt out at all short of blocking IP ranges with a PiHole.
    - XCSme 3y ago
      But in my opinion, this is just blaming the tool and not the company. It's the company's fault that they use the data for "bad", when they could use it for good and to improve the product. Even without the data, they could simply test random hypothesis and see the outcome that maximizes profit, in the process of which the end-user my "suffer" even more than when analytics are being used.
  - danielheath 3y ago
    Because data is being collected about them without informed consent, and without any basis to believe the collectors interests align entirely with their own?
    - kkarakk 3y ago
      Every game informs you about telemetry in the EULA nowadays. It doesn't even do it in complicated jargon it literally says "we collect data on the way you play - agree or disagree?" You have to agree or disagree before starting the game and if you disagree it disables the telemetry completely. If people don't like to read and spam accept then it's their fault edit: there is EULA for nintendo switch
      - mid-kid 3y ago
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago
  Early in the BG3 beta the devs put out an article complaining that everyone was playing a white guy. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/2896336186738209915 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/2896336... Now if you are required to play as some character that looks like yourself to feel "represented" is that surprising? > Don’t forget to read the EULA ;) Perhaps the GOG release can run offline.
  - cassianoleal 3y ago
    > Now if you are required to play as some character that looks like yourself to feel "represented" is that surprising? I'm not sure what that means. Isn't this an RPG? As in, Role Playing Game? You're supposed to play a role, not feel represented.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Imo it’s because the character creator is not so good. There’s very few face choices and each one feels real world ethnically specific. The fantasy species racial options are very jarring. The halflings and gnomes are goofy. Note that none of the provided characters are gnomes or halflings. You know ahead of time that you’re going to be wandering around with a group of largely classically attractive tall humanoids. The tieflings and Dragonborn look so jarring that it’s hard to imagine casually imagine picking them unless you specifically planned on it ahead of time. If your planned headcanon is to look like someone that people take somewhat seriously it feels like your respectable looking options are drow and human.
  - ziml77 3y ago
    That is a bizarre misrepresentation of what they were saying. They're just surprised that people are making themselves a generic person instead of using some of the options that add more fantasy elements to the character. Though I'm not sure why that's surprising to them. If you look at WoW for example, the distribution of race selection was always heavily biased towards human (followed by the next closest to looking human, the various elves). I guess most people are looking to make their character a self-insert. I find that boring in a fantasy setting, but I'm not going to say people can't do as they please with their characters.
tacker2000 3y ago
Is there actually a way to get the AllPlayTime value? Funnily enough, it isnt shown anywhere in the normal menus is it?
- gaudat 3y ago
  It shows up in Ryujinx's debug console. Let's hope there's a way to copy your save to the emulator. And without Nintendo finding it out and banning your console.
  - extraduder_ire 3y ago
    I'm sure it's kind of beyond their remit, but I hope the EU eventually mandates being able to get your data off of consoles. Even if you can't put it back on there, it'd be a huge benefit. If your switch is hackable (all are, but some new ones need a hardware mod) you can copy user and system (animal crossing only, ATM) saves off the console using lockpickrcm/tegraexplorer without even booting the device. I used this to get my saves off a corrupted SD card that had my emunand on it.
- spiffytech 3y ago
  The Switch's user profile screen shows each game's play time in 5-hour increments.
  - rmilejczz 3y ago
    I believe it only goes up to 200, at which point it just says 200+
    - spiffytech 3y ago
      My profile entry for Tears of the Kingdom says 215 hours.
pomatius 3y ago
Hence why I only play 90's games...you know, when the industry was actually good

63 points by akyuu 3y ago

ShamelessC 3y ago

> It is currently unknown when or if these reports are actually sent.

rideontime 3y ago
Isn't that comment specific to the Wii U?
- ShamelessC 3y ago
  Oh indeed it may be?

esperent 3y ago

Doesn't basically every AAA game do this now? I've seen recent posts giving extremely detailed statistics about the choices players made in Baldur's Gate 3 and Jedi Fallen Order. I was surprised that nobody seemed bothered by it. Here's the Fallen Order one: https://www.reddit.com/r/FallenOrder/comments/13xldf8/star_wars_jedi_survivor_gameplay_stats_infographic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FallenOrder/comments/13xldf8/star_w...

lyu07282 3y ago
I assume the devs use it to prioritize bug fixes and to learn what game design works/doesn't. Knowing the % of players having difficulty with a dungeon etc. I don't see any harm in that, it could improve their next game. It's not like it's used or useful for targeted ads or something. You can opt out the analytics in the bg3 launcher btw.
- autoexec 3y ago
  It's only bad because you don't know where else that data is going. Are companies selling your gaming activities to others who will use it to determine dexterity, intelligence, memory, distractability, psychology, sexual preferences, etc. Gaming offline as much as possible might be the best way to protect yourself, but is also pretty limiting since some games offer desirable online content
  - getwiththeprog 3y ago
    Yes, the testing of reflexes, timing etc, could be sold to insurers to effect their prices. It is interesting with Captchas that ML is faster than people now. I wonder how many people like me intentionally mis-time their input? Note also that offline gaming still can send cookies via OS when the OS detects IP connection.
    - HWR_14 3y ago
      To what kind of insurers and where? Car insurers already get people to install spyware to observe their driving patterns, and can probably get it straight from the car company soon if not already. That's better than a one or twice removed guess.
      - Sayrus 3y ago
        Exactly. If they are buying it from one source, you can bet they'd buy it from another even if only to ensure the data they bought is accurate. That's also more datapoints that can be used to model the effects of being distracted or being ill on your reflexes. What if your country bans such data collection in cars? Luckily game may still collecting and selling this while the loophole is being closed so you win years if not a decade of data.
    - 3abiton 3y ago
      What ML libraries are you using for captchas?
XCSme 3y ago
Why would anyone be bothered by it?
- esperent 3y ago
  Personally, I don't like the normalization of my every action being spied on by huge corporations. If it was just going to be used by the devs to fix bugs, _and_ it was either opt in or very obvious opt out, I'd be ok with it. But fixing bugs is only one tiny aspect of why these corporations want to track you. And as far as I can see, there's no way to opt out at all short of blocking IP ranges with a PiHole.
  - XCSme 3y ago
    But in my opinion, this is just blaming the tool and not the company. It's the company's fault that they use the data for "bad", when they could use it for good and to improve the product. Even without the data, they could simply test random hypothesis and see the outcome that maximizes profit, in the process of which the end-user my "suffer" even more than when analytics are being used.
- danielheath 3y ago
  Because data is being collected about them without informed consent, and without any basis to believe the collectors interests align entirely with their own?
  - kkarakk 3y ago
    Every game informs you about telemetry in the EULA nowadays. It doesn't even do it in complicated jargon it literally says "we collect data on the way you play - agree or disagree?" You have to agree or disagree before starting the game and if you disagree it disables the telemetry completely. If people don't like to read and spam accept then it's their fault edit: there is EULA for nintendo switch
    - mid-kid 3y ago
Am4TIfIsER0ppos 3y ago
Early in the BG3 beta the devs put out an article complaining that everyone was playing a white guy. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/2896336186738209915 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/2896336... Now if you are required to play as some character that looks like yourself to feel "represented" is that surprising? > Don’t forget to read the EULA ;) Perhaps the GOG release can run offline.
- cassianoleal 3y ago
  > Now if you are required to play as some character that looks like yourself to feel "represented" is that surprising? I'm not sure what that means. Isn't this an RPG? As in, Role Playing Game? You're supposed to play a role, not feel represented.
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Imo it’s because the character creator is not so good. There’s very few face choices and each one feels real world ethnically specific. The fantasy species racial options are very jarring. The halflings and gnomes are goofy. Note that none of the provided characters are gnomes or halflings. You know ahead of time that you’re going to be wandering around with a group of largely classically attractive tall humanoids. The tieflings and Dragonborn look so jarring that it’s hard to imagine casually imagine picking them unless you specifically planned on it ahead of time. If your planned headcanon is to look like someone that people take somewhat seriously it feels like your respectable looking options are drow and human.
- ziml77 3y ago
  That is a bizarre misrepresentation of what they were saying. They're just surprised that people are making themselves a generic person instead of using some of the options that add more fantasy elements to the character. Though I'm not sure why that's surprising to them. If you look at WoW for example, the distribution of race selection was always heavily biased towards human (followed by the next closest to looking human, the various elves). I guess most people are looking to make their character a self-insert. I find that boring in a fantasy setting, but I'm not going to say people can't do as they please with their characters.

tacker2000 3y ago

Is there actually a way to get the AllPlayTime value? Funnily enough, it isnt shown anywhere in the normal menus is it?

gaudat 3y ago
It shows up in Ryujinx's debug console. Let's hope there's a way to copy your save to the emulator. And without Nintendo finding it out and banning your console.
- extraduder_ire 3y ago
  I'm sure it's kind of beyond their remit, but I hope the EU eventually mandates being able to get your data off of consoles. Even if you can't put it back on there, it'd be a huge benefit. If your switch is hackable (all are, but some new ones need a hardware mod) you can copy user and system (animal crossing only, ATM) saves off the console using lockpickrcm/tegraexplorer without even booting the device. I used this to get my saves off a corrupted SD card that had my emunand on it.
spiffytech 3y ago
The Switch's user profile screen shows each game's play time in 5-hour increments.
- rmilejczz 3y ago
  I believe it only goes up to 200, at which point it just says 200+
  - spiffytech 3y ago
    My profile entry for Tears of the Kingdom says 215 hours.

pomatius 3y ago

Hence why I only play 90's games...you know, when the industry was actually good