Spyware Makes Baby Jesus Giggle
I see you, you see me
Watch you blowin the lines when you're making a scene
A fundamentalist Christian game based on the popular Left Behind series of books has spyware coming out it's holier-than-thou nethers, according to a story at Talk To Action.
Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a real-time strategy game that puts you in the driver's seat of either the forces of good or evil. But don't run it on the machine where you store your wiccan goat pr0n, because the game comes with it's own little cadre of angel-ware:
It's cutting-edge Israeli technology — a piece of software inserted directly into Left Behind: Eternal Forces, software that cannot be blocked or removed — and without your knowledge or permission, it tracks you. This in-game ad software records how often you play the video game, at what time of day and for how long, what game play areas you visit (like Times Square, Soho, Chinatown, or the United Nations Building), which video ads and product placements you view, where your computer is located geographically, and who you are demographically. It monitors your choices and behavior, collates data, and reports back in real-time to… whom? For what purposes? Do you know?
The first time I talked about LB:EF , I gave it as fair a shake as I could. Rather than focus on the divisive "black vs white" world view that the game propagates, I concluded it will most likely miss the mark for both the normal gamer and LBG's target audience of fundamentalist Christian gamers because it tries to be too many things to too many audiences. Mainstream previewers are more optimistic than I, but apparently LBG sided with me, because they've decided the game can't stand on its own. Instead, like some bizarre Revelation-inspired plot element, LBG will be harvesting the personal information of their customers, and presumably selling that information off to the highest bidder.
I wonder at what point in development LBG decided to leave the golden rule behind.
(Thanks "anonymous reader" for the link.)
June 26th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
The Golden Rule? He who has the gold makes the… no, that’s not it. Is it?
I suppose in the long run they are just trying to help God gather info on who should be raptured.
June 26th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
– Asshat comment removed –
For fuck’s sake, what hole do these people climb out of? Go bug Lum, he never gets this kind of grief.
- Amber
June 26th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Sigh.
The wise never claim they are wise.
Soldier? I don’t think so. Of Christ? Absolutely not. Passing judgement. Damning others. And apparently defending spy-ware.
If you must act this way to prove your faith, then you are going about faith the wrong way.
June 26th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
Spyware is the new tithe.
June 27th, 2006 at 5:11 am
One if by land, two if by CD?
THE CHRISTIANS ARE COMING! THE CHRISTIANS ARE COMING!
I thought God *invented* spyware? Omniscient and omnipresent right? I mean, he knows when you’re sleeping and he knows when you’re awake? Eeep!
That’s the stuff dreams are made of. [If you're Sony... or the RIAA... or the feds... or... *hides* *tinfoil hat*]
June 27th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Go bug Lum, he never gets this kind of grief.
LOL I bet Lum appreciates that.
The problem here is not the Christians, but Fundamentalists who call themselves Christians. They are a powerful force right now, and just like extreme jihadists do not represent Muslims, these Fundamentalists do not represent Christians. The problem with religion is the same with games. There will always be extremists out there who try to hijack the religion or the game for there own personal gain.
June 27th, 2006 at 10:18 am
This kinda stuff is pretty common lately. Steam does this too, and yet people love valve. They even seem proud of their spyware, and share portions of the resulting data with the people who were spied on after they collect it.
And btw Amber, if you are using the latest version of the math plugin (3.1), you can just edit did_you_pass_math_functions.php and change:
var $_no_session_cookies = false;
to
var $_no_session_cookies = true;
and then it won’t require cookies anymore.
If you aren’t using the latest version, upgrading is just a matter of overwriting the two .php files with the new ones.
June 27th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
The problem here is not the Christians, but Fundamentalists who call themselves Christians. They are a powerful force right now, and just like extreme jihadists do not represent Muslims, these Fundamentalists do not represent Christians. The problem with religion is the same with games. There will always be extremists out there who try to hijack the religion or the game for there own personal gain.
Couldn’t have put it better myself, Dave.
@Joe: Okay, looking in to this. Thank you!