There is a new spyware program being put in the files of tons of games - General

https://youtu.be/nIQ3HhAMcQg Article:https://www.pcgamer.com/red-shell-analytics-software-causes-privacy-uproar-over-a-dozen-developers-vow-to-drop-it/ List of Games: Games which used Redshell which removed or pledged to remove it (as of June 18, 2018): Elder Scrolls Online (Pledged to remove it ) Conan Exiles (Pledged to remove it ) Ylands (Removed it ) Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?! (Removed it ) All Total War games (Pledged to remove it ) Warhammer: Vermintide II (Pledged to remove it ) Dead by Daylight (Pledged to remove it ) Battlerite (Pledged to remove it ) AER Memories of Old (Pledged to remove it ) Magic the Gathering Arena (closed beta, not on Steam) (Pledged to remove it for now ) Secret World Legends (Pledged to remove remains of it ) Hunt: Showdown (Pledged to remove it ) Omensight (Pledged to remove it ) Ballistic Overkill (Pledged to remove it ) Games still using Redshell according to community reports (as of June 18, 2018): Civilization VI Kerbal Space Program Guardians of Ember The Onion Knights Realm Grinder Heroine Anthem Zero Warhammer 40k Eternal Crusade Krosmaga Eternal Card Game Astro Boy: Edge of Time Cabals: Card Blitz CityBattle | Virtual Earth Doodle God Doodle God Blitz Dungeon Rushers Labyrinth My Free Farm 2 NosTale RockShot Shadowverse SOS & SOS Classic SoulWorker Stonies Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation War Robots Survived By Injustice 2 Trailmakers Vaporum Robothorium League of Pirates Doodle God: Genesis Secrets Skyworld

good thing the 3 games i have on that list are currently removing it.

Why in the hell does 'AER Memories of Old' have it It's a very short and pleasant walking sim, what kind of marketing does it need Online games make sense, obviously, but some of these just don't make sense

You fuckers bitched at me when I said this game was spyware in the Take Two TOS thread. Who's laughing now?

I thought KSP had it removed?

I don't own any of those games. I guess I lucked out. We have to keep on their asses for this shit so they don't put it back in under any other name

Those lists are pretty out of date. In most cases you can just delete redshell.dll and redshellsdk.dll and you're good. Only game I know of where that isn't the case is Quake Champions, but I believe they already removed it.

It still very well need marketing to generate awareness and sales. It tracks things like referrals so devs know if, for example, Youtubers actually help or hurt sales. Anyways, game data are important to developers because they can identify which features are more popular and statistics to aid their future decisions. I've seen devs defend RedShell as it simply is another anonymous data analysis that got blown outta proportion because everyone loves a good witch hunt. Is it a spyware? Perhaps it is, and it is a powerful, frightening word. Users should have an option to opt out of any data collection, not just this, that should've been the appropriate course of action. However, many devs are taking the safe route and outright removing Redshell so they can get off "the list". Soon, another with a different name will just emerge from the shadows. Like many things, banning isn't always the best solution.

or just tell the people buying your product you've got software tracking their usage, no one likes finding out later they've been unknowingly contributing to data mining..

As a precaution whether or not you do have/play those games listed, you can block its communication so that they won't be able to receive your info by adding these to your hosts file in Windows at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts 0.0.0.0 redshell.io 0.0.0.0 api.redshell.io 0.0.0.0 treasuredata.com 0.0.0.0 in.treasuredata.com

You reminded me of a website. Using a Hosts File To Make The Internet Not Suck (as much) Even has redshell on there to block it, too.

Isn't this in violation of GDPR, especially since there's no clear warning of what data is collected and why? Some enterprising lad could extract a hefty fine from the companies involved.

So there's a large chance that I'm fucking retarded, but what kind of data does it even collect?

Red Shell It depends on how much you trust them over whistleblowers.

I cant believe it's blocking goatsee

Lol for fuck's sake, I've been playing so much ESO in the past couple months too

Quake Champions also used Red Shell, but it has since been removed as of the 26th of June. Source (Official responce from the developers)

Aw man KSP what happened to you.

The list in OP isn't entirely accurate - Vaporum at least had it disabled prior to GDPR, and then removed completely. cool game btw.

They took 2

So I'm wondering: This is definitely adware, but what if you made a game and you did want to measure what social media site is responsible for your playerbase? Are you just SOL because what you're asking for breaches privacy laws? Should they have been more transparent about what's being collected? Made it opt-in?

Thanks, just added all that shit to the hosts file on my new computer.

Lot of commotion for a small user stats service. I guess with GDPR every game should technically have users agree up front whether they want to send anonymous statistics, but you can bet that almost every game out there will be asking for that permission then. If it's not Red Shell, plenty of devs build their own system (hell, Unity games collected hardware stats by default).

I was going to buy Civ6 DLC's but when I saw it had red shell I uninstalled the game and bought different games.

Just a quick heads up - KSP removed Red Shell in their 1.4.4 patch, on June 21st.

I'm not a fan of being tracked, which is the explicit purpose of this program. If they want to take a system diagnostic or measure how the game runs that's fine, as long as it's an option. I don't mind them measuring that. Leaving a stamp on my machine so they can tell if seeing an ad caused be to buy their game is no okay, it's an invasion of privacy even if they're not looking at my personal information. It's also breaking GDPR rules so if they have it active in Europe they need to shut it down before anyone reports them.

What if we don't really care what data's being collected and have a stern zero tolerance policy on any collection whatsoever? Something like this can be the most benign piece of software ever written with the intention of collecting data but I don't want it running on my machine. If I want that data out I will bloody well give it out, and I'm so sick and fucking tired of companies trying so hard to steal it. What I buy, where I buy it from, and who I buy it are my business and my business alone.

Having actually looked at the data provided to game developers by Red Shell I see absolutely no issue with the data collection. It's less of spyware than Google Analytics.

If it's so benign then why don't they fucking ask? I'd gladly click yes if given the choice, but non-optional makes it a hard no for me.

You'll have to ask them won't you