As many know, all PWI games are making it mandatory to install ARC to download and play any pwi game. Read the over 60 page discussion about it on the sto forms and you will find out. ARC installs into your brouser and spys on you from the browser even if no pwi game is being played. This is not anti hack code but spy wear pure and simple. It adds several processes to you pc full time as well. Stay far away from any gaming compony that's stealing your info and reselling it. This has to be illegal. Theirs a lot of talk in the pwi community about a boycott to get pwi to remove ARC completely. Fleets in STo that have survived the pwi buyout and years of gaming are all ready planning to move to other games.
This is as bad as SWG when the 100 thousand patiton was sent in asking sony to not nge and sony did it anyway.
Sorry my English not so good .
lol Illegal? Not a chance, you agreed to the program and its functions. If you don't want to have that program spying on you don't install it, It's that simple.
what do you really expect OP this is not the first company in the asian free to play market to do this and it wont be the last. Chinese companies do not have to abide by our rules here and even if it is deemed illegal or spy wear the chances of anything out of china being stopped is next to none considering how shady their government is. Cryptic was bought out by PWI and there is nothing them , or yourself can do about it. Also a boycott? there has been attempt after attempt to boycott their games because of the ridiculous cash shop prices in all their games but thats the thing. People will continue to play regardless of security or cost if they really enjoy the games. I play neverwinter nightly myself and I get sick of astral diamonds being thrown down your throat for every cost in the game but there is little to nothing I can do about it because thats how these chinese ripoff companies operate. As long as they have people spending 100s of dollars and euro on lock box keys they can really care less if you leave or not, same with installing their Arc gateway to download and play all their games. Which btw you can just uninstall after you download the game and its problem solved.
Idk, if there wasn't an F rating with this company with the BBB for unresolved issues, I might actually trust the company more.... I have steam installed... about all I'll ever trust with browser extenstions, unless your an A rated game company, I treat you as a third party browser extenstion (never trust and install them).
Originally posted by cronius77 what do you really expect OP this is not the first company in the asian free to play market to do this and it wont be the last. Chinese companies do not have to abide by our rules here and even if it is deemed illegal or spy wear the chances of anything out of china being stopped is next to none considering how shady their government is. Cryptic was bought out by PWI and there is nothing them , or yourself can do about it. Also a boycott? there has been attempt after attempt to boycott their games because of the ridiculous cash shop prices in all their games but thats the thing. People will continue to play regardless of security or cost if they really enjoy the games. I play neverwinter nightly myself and I get sick of astral diamonds being thrown down your throat for every cost in the game but there is little to nothing I can do about it because thats how these chinese ripoff companies operate. As long as they have people spending 100s of dollars and euro on lock box keys they can really care less if you leave or not, same with installing their Arc gateway to download and play all their games. Which btw you can just uninstall after you download the game and its problem solved.
Currently pwi terms etc aren't bad(will have to wait and see if they change when arc full hits). Worst Ive read so far are the ones that try to push everyone into washington. Also I think some ppl spend thousands on master keys for lockboxes not just hundreds, but as you said as long as these people keep paying I doubt they'll care(until the pop shrinks so much that even they leave anyhow).
Someone has claimed that PWI is gathering information and selling it using ARC. The person making the claim must have evidence, otherwise they are just spewing nonsense. If they can't provide evidence, then anything they say should be treated with scrutiny. Simple as that.
Let me ask you this, why would a game company want to install a program on your browser when it has nothing to do with the game? If the program doesn't appear to be doing anything, why force people to install it in the first place? Now when you think of possible answers to those questions, "information gathering and selling" is a valid answer and probably the most likely answer. If you have a better answer, I'm willing to read it.
If I had to guess, I'd say because it's a browser plugin that allows you to launch their games from their website.
But that would be silly;
You're right, having a link that activates is silly because it's a security nightmare. If someone wants to play a game they can go to the games menu on their computer like everyone else.
PWI gets a lot of advertisement money from ZEN advertisers, which by the way, PWI even has a program where you do surveys for companies for free ZEN. You can bet that anything they put on your browser is pure adware related and earning them extra cash on your browser habits. Its a grey line of right and wrong, I think its right if they are upfront about it and reward you for it, but I think its completely wrong if you do not want it to protect your privacy. In the end, gamers will have to show how much they care about their privacy once again, just like those on facebook and those who choose not to participate on facebook. Those who post on youtube and those who would never post on youtube. Unfortuantly I was about to download the game again, because I'm a lifetime subscription holder, BUT I care more about my privacy then a game so I will choose not to participate in this. Just like when WoW tried to use REAL ID on us, I stoped playing wow that Day and never, ever touched that game since. A game company must be trustworthy enough to handle your data and privacy as if it was a bank because they do use transactions that affect your bank account and privacy like any other store who sells you a product.
OK first I tried those surveys and they don't always work. I have filled out their forms and either (after asking the same question 4 different ways) they say they don't want me or the thing hangs and I don't get my zen. After spending 10 minutes filling out multiple forms, I deserve something more than "Sorry you're not who we're looking for." Those companies should be up front and eliminate those not part of their target focus group sooner. For all we know, no one is "eligible" and everyone gets the "sorry you won't get your zen" regardless of answers. They just want to collect data for free.
Originally posted by LeGrosGamer How about not playing STO in the first place? You got at least 50 MMO's that are way better then STO in every aspect. I should know because I used to be founder. Got screwed so bad, but that's life, you learn from your mistakes!
Always a viable option, Not sure there are 50 mmo's that are better but there are certainly plenty that are roughly the same.
I can only really name 3 anyway: Guild Wars 2, TERA, and Neverwinter (will probably add Wildstar, Phantasy Star Online 2, and Everquest Next when they release).
Someone has claimed that PWI is gathering information and selling it using ARC. The person making the claim must have evidence, otherwise they are just spewing nonsense. If they can't provide evidence, then anything they say should be treated with scrutiny. Simple as that.
Let me ask you this, why would a game company want to install a program on your browser when it has nothing to do with the game? If the program doesn't appear to be doing anything, why force people to install it in the first place? Now when you think of possible answers to those questions, "information gathering and selling" is a valid answer and probably the most likely answer. If you have a better answer, I'm willing to read it.
Maybe marketing. They could use it to redirect searches to themselves(or those that have paid).
So then what really makes it any different than the cookies and stuff that result in items you have recently searched for showing up in banners for Amazon that we already have?
Originally posted by Roxtarr It's harmless. There's nothing to see here folks. If someone is that paranoid of somebody spying on their computer, then they need to disconnect from the internet.
honestly makes you wonder what people are doing on their computers to be so paranoid in the first place.
Maybe its the fact that they are on their computers that they are so paranoid. Maybe all computers are designed to give off undetectable waves that leave us open to suggestion and make us paranoid/schizophrenic, much like the above conspiracy theory I just made up and in no way actually believe sounds.
You can run sto without Arc . Just go into the Arc folder and find sto folder and look for the sto launcher send it to your desktop. Then uninstall Arc. Just make sure you just uninstall Arc and not the game. It will ask you if you want to do this. Its real easy they just don't tell you about it.
As many know, all PWI games are making it mandatory to install ARC to download and play any pwi game.
I still occasionally log into Neverwinter, I have not been forced to install a thing, nor will I if they make it mandatory. I will simple stop playing their games.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Just curious, but how do you know they are taking your information and selling it? I have ARC installed right now for STO, but it's not running and I don't see any extra processes in Task Manager (unless it's running under one of the "svchost.exe" processes). I see the ArcPlugin in Firefox, but it's disabled now.
At first it seems odd that they would automatically install the ArcPlugin in your browser, but I'm guessing it serves a similar purpose as Origin's browser functionality for launching Battlefield 3.
So back to my question, how do you know they are selling your information? How do you know they are gathering information? Isn't it possible that the ArcPlugin simply ties your browser to the desktop application, allowing you to launch the game from the game's official website?
I'm not trying to argue, I'm just looking for evidence. I'd like to get the facts straight before I join the mob and raise a fuss! If there is evidence to prove they are gathering my info and selling it, then I will gladly uninstall and boycott ARC!
Just curious, but how do you know they are taking your information and selling it? I have ARC installed right now for STO, but it's not running and I don't see any extra processes in Task Manager (unless it's running under one of the "svchost.exe" processes). I see the ArcPlugin in Firefox, but it's disabled now.
At first it seems odd that they would automatically install the ArcPlugin in your browser, but I'm guessing it serves a similar purpose as Origin's browser functionality for launching Battlefield 3.
So back to my question, how do you know they are selling your information? How do you know they are gathering information? Isn't it possible that the ArcPlugin simply ties your browser to the desktop application, allowing you to launch the game from the game's official website?
I'm not trying to argue, I'm just looking for evidence. I'd like to get the facts straight before I join the mob and raise a fuss! If there is evidence to prove they are gathering my info and selling it, then I will gladly uninstall and boycott ARC!
Money
This is some of what I found. Nothing about selling but lots of stuff about gathering. Most interesting is they allow third parties to put stuff in your computer but take no responsibility for what they do with the information collected. So some unknown processes may be from third parties they allowed to have access to your system for monitoring purposes.
"We may also use third parties to serve ads on our Service. These third parties may place cookies, clear gifs or other devices on your computer to collect information, and information provided by these devices may be used, among other things, to deliver advertising targeted to your interests and to better understand the usage and visitation of our Service and the other sites tracked by these third parties. This policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, cookies in third party ads or for compliance with such third parties’ privacy policies or data collection practices."
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Well as for this arc thing I hated, tough to bypass it, you simple need to uninstall it and dele the arc...dll (dont remember the right name sorry) just delete it from the folder of the game you want to play, it's usually on launcher, you just delete it and you can update and play the game normally
As long as the game can be installed via steam, there is no need to use ARC.
And when they remove their games from steam, they remove me as a customer. Plain and simple.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Personally, I have a simple solution for Arc. I stay well away from those thieves at PW. Thus, I have no need to install the piece of junk to gain access to their garbage games.
Personally, I have a simple solution for Arc. I stay well away from those thieves at PW. Thus, I have no need to install the piece of junk to gain access to their garbage games.
Kinda what I'm thinking.
I've noticed that games which originate outside of North America and the EU tend to have an anything goes mentality when it comes to spyware. They KNOW they're outside of any relevant legal jurisdiction.
Trying to remember the name of one of the pieces of crap I installed, but it totally hijacked my browser and modified Windows.
My first reaction was that their distribution process had been hacked and they were inadvertently distributing viruses, but then I had an epiphany :
WHAT IF certain companies, as a business model, are CHOOSING to infect millions of computers, and doing it under a VEIL of legitimacy?
We typically think of the bad guys as being independent outliers hacking, attaching and corrupting systems, but what if the system is corrupt from top to bottom? Food for thought. Be careful who you TRUST.
Personally, I have a simple solution for Arc. I stay well away from those thieves at PW. Thus, I have no need to install the piece of junk to gain access to their garbage games.
Kinda what I'm thinking.
I've noticed that games which originate outside of North America and the EU tend to have an anything goes mentality when it comes to spyware. They KNOW they're outside of any relevant legal jurisdiction.
Trying to remember the name of one of the pieces of crap I installed, but it totally hijacked my browser and modified Windows.
My first reaction was that their distribution process had been hacked and they were inadvertently distributing viruses, but then I had an epiphany :
WHAT IF certain companies, as a business model, are CHOOSING to infect millions of computers, and doing it under a VEIL of legitimacy?
We typically think of the bad guys as being independent outliers hacking, attaching and corrupting systems, but what if the system is corrupt from top to bottom? Food for thought. Be careful who you TRUST.
Maybe you should try reading the terms and p&p for steam(and others, google for instance) sometime. EU laws and US laws on privacy seem to be very different.
For anyone interested the beta terms for arc are on the new website and the do seem to be quite a bit worse than they were before, still not as bad as steam(guessing people don't bother readin their terms) and others, but enough to put me off playing(not a big lose though imo). Will be interesting to see if they get updated again after arc goes live.
As long as the game can be installed via steam, there is no need to use ARC.
And when they remove their games from steam, they remove me as a customer. Plain and simple.
I agree with this. I will stop going back to playing Neverwinter once in a while when ARC becomes mandatory. I place Trions Glyph into the same category, if they make it a mandatory client that tries to act like Steam, I will stop playing Rift and occasionally Defiance when I feel the need to shoot something in the head.
Steam is the only game community service I require, I sure as hell don't need one for each and every single company especially those that are attempting to put a strangle hold on Indie companies by getting them to use their corporate services so they can start taking them over. I will not feed that beast.
As long as the game can be installed via steam, there is no need to use ARC.
And when they remove their games from steam, they remove me as a customer. Plain and simple.
I agree with this. I will stop going back to playing Neverwinter once in a while when ARC becomes mandatory. I place Trions Glyph into the same category, if they make it a mandatory client that tries to act like Steam, I will stop playing Rift and occasionally Defiance when I feel the need to shoot something in the head.
Steam is the only game community service I require, I sure as hell don't need one for each and every single company especially those that are attempting to put a strangle hold on Indie companies by getting them to use their corporate services so they can start taking them over. I will not feed that beast.
You mean like steam?
Whilst I'm not a fan of arc etc. I've never seen anything about them in regards to any other company, as far as I know they are both independant game launchers.
I believe the US Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted at least one case involving software collecting information it had no business collecting so I'm curious to see how the Arc client fares with them.
Though I'd never install it myself anyway. I was in a guild that wanted to try a PWE game and had that horrible Pando Media Booster on my machine for a day or two, surreptitiously chewing up bandwidth and slowing everything down. A peer-to-peer client which runs without your knowledge is not the same as a download manager.
Comments
^this
At least with Neverwinter, you can also just download and run the game client directly if you know the link or find a beta install somewhere.
The problem is that PWI has been pretty clear with their intention to force the use of ARC at some point, for all games.
You make me like charity
Currently pwi terms etc aren't bad(will have to wait and see if they change when arc full hits). Worst Ive read so far are the ones that try to push everyone into washington. Also I think some ppl spend thousands on master keys for lockboxes not just hundreds, but as you said as long as these people keep paying I doubt they'll care(until the pop shrinks so much that even they leave anyhow).
You're right, having a link that activates is silly because it's a security nightmare. If someone wants to play a game they can go to the games menu on their computer like everyone else.
OK first I tried those surveys and they don't always work. I have filled out their forms and either (after asking the same question 4 different ways) they say they don't want me or the thing hangs and I don't get my zen. After spending 10 minutes filling out multiple forms, I deserve something more than "Sorry you're not who we're looking for." Those companies should be up front and eliminate those not part of their target focus group sooner. For all we know, no one is "eligible" and everyone gets the "sorry you won't get your zen" regardless of answers. They just want to collect data for free.
I can only really name 3 anyway: Guild Wars 2, TERA, and Neverwinter (will probably add Wildstar, Phantasy Star Online 2, and Everquest Next when they release).
Since when is Tuesday a direction?
So then what really makes it any different than the cookies and stuff that result in items you have recently searched for showing up in banners for Amazon that we already have?
Since when is Tuesday a direction?
Maybe its the fact that they are on their computers that they are so paranoid. Maybe all computers are designed to give off undetectable waves that leave us open to suggestion and make us paranoid/schizophrenic, much like the above conspiracy theory I just made up and in no way actually believe sounds.
Since when is Tuesday a direction?
I still occasionally log into Neverwinter, I have not been forced to install a thing, nor will I if they make it mandatory. I will simple stop playing their games.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Money
This is some of what I found. Nothing about selling but lots of stuff about gathering. Most interesting is they allow third parties to put stuff in your computer but take no responsibility for what they do with the information collected. So some unknown processes may be from third parties they allowed to have access to your system for monitoring purposes.
"We may also use third parties to serve ads on our Service. These third parties may place cookies, clear gifs or other devices on your computer to collect information, and information provided by these devices may be used, among other things, to deliver advertising targeted to your interests and to better understand the usage and visitation of our Service and the other sites tracked by these third parties. This policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, cookies in third party ads or for compliance with such third parties’ privacy policies or data collection practices."
http://www.arcgames.com/en/about/privacy
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
As long as the game can be installed via steam, there is no need to use ARC.
And when they remove their games from steam, they remove me as a customer. Plain and simple.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Personally, I have a simple solution for Arc. I stay well away from those thieves at PW. Thus, I have no need to install the piece of junk to gain access to their garbage games.
Kinda what I'm thinking.
I've noticed that games which originate outside of North America and the EU tend to have an anything goes mentality when it comes to spyware. They KNOW they're outside of any relevant legal jurisdiction.
Trying to remember the name of one of the pieces of crap I installed, but it totally hijacked my browser and modified Windows.
My first reaction was that their distribution process had been hacked and they were inadvertently distributing viruses, but then I had an epiphany :
WHAT IF certain companies, as a business model, are CHOOSING to infect millions of computers, and doing it under a VEIL of legitimacy?
We typically think of the bad guys as being independent outliers hacking, attaching and corrupting systems, but what if the system is corrupt from top to bottom? Food for thought. Be careful who you TRUST.
Maybe you should try reading the terms and p&p for steam(and others, google for instance) sometime. EU laws and US laws on privacy seem to be very different.
I agree with this. I will stop going back to playing Neverwinter once in a while when ARC becomes mandatory. I place Trions Glyph into the same category, if they make it a mandatory client that tries to act like Steam, I will stop playing Rift and occasionally Defiance when I feel the need to shoot something in the head.
Steam is the only game community service I require, I sure as hell don't need one for each and every single company especially those that are attempting to put a strangle hold on Indie companies by getting them to use their corporate services so they can start taking them over. I will not feed that beast.
You mean like steam?
Whilst I'm not a fan of arc etc. I've never seen anything about them in regards to any other company, as far as I know they are both independant game launchers.
I believe the US Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted at least one case involving software collecting information it had no business collecting so I'm curious to see how the Arc client fares with them.
Though I'd never install it myself anyway. I was in a guild that wanted to try a PWE game and had that horrible Pando Media Booster on my machine for a day or two, surreptitiously chewing up bandwidth and slowing everything down. A peer-to-peer client which runs without your knowledge is not the same as a download manager.
Shifty as.
if i cant play STO without ARC, they will lose another customer
Xfire was a mess too, uninstall