BioWare Mines Data From Mass Effect 2

[Atmos Duality]

Is it non-personal? Fine. Mine away. Keep business at business etc.

But as soon as you cross the line into targeted advertising/etc, I stop doing business with you.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Engineer was the least played class? Bah, people just don't see the incredible ability that is the combat drone.

Anyways, I'm not exactly happy about Bioware using player data to make Mass Effect 3, mainly because I think it will have an effect on which dialogue options yield more content. BioWare as said that every choice (aside from the ones that get people killed) are all legitimate ones, so they shouldn't make more or less content for certain paths based on this data.

 

[Erana]

I don't like them getting information such as 80% of players using a male Shepard. I play a female Shepard, and they already shun her as much as possible now.. With that data, they'll have even more reason to.

not really, they could go back and look at why people choose John more than Jane and try to fix it.

OT: I also have a female shepard [have to get a 100% game completion somehow], and I will be VERY dissapointed if a Krogan, Grunt, Wrex, or any new addition for ME3, isnt a romantic choice.

I also have a female shephard. Who'da guessed?

Really, though, I'm generally agianst this sort of behavior, but for companies like Bioware and Valve, I'd be willing to make an exception. Namely, because they're actually using this data to improve the game they care about, not to use it to try to get into our wallets.
Bioware doing this is like... Well, your family member folding your underwear. If it were anyone else, it would be really fucking creepy.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

this is getting strangely disturbing, it started first with Google Streetview privacy violations... then Facebook twitter etc, and now gaming companies...

where are we going with this ?

 

[Wing Dairu]

I think that this is more or less the evolved form of playtesting.
Think about it scientifically. The goal of modern playtesting isn't just to find bugs. It's to find out what parts of the game aren't working or need work. If the company does it all themselves, they have a very limited sample size to work with, and a short period of time.
But if you collect the same data from the player base itself, you have an EXPONENTIALLY larger sample size, lasting a MUCH longer period of time, which allows for a HUGE increase in the reliability of said data.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

I don't like them getting information such as 80% of players using a male Shepard. I play a female Shepard, and they already shun her as much as possible now.. With that data, they'll have even more reason to.

not really, they could go back and look at why people choose John more than Jane and try to fix it.

OT: I also have a female shepard [have to get a 100% game completion somehow], and I will be VERY dissapointed if a Krogan, Grunt, Wrex, or any new addition for ME3, isnt a romantic choice.

Wha...?

I...


Really?


A Krogan?

 

[Winfrid]

PC Gamers are loyal to Miranda cause she got dat ass, and we all know PC Gamers (myself included) love dat ass (Though I really only liked Miranda cause she was useful, i usually brought her along for her team buffs and random biotic usage)
I actually don't really like Miranda as a character, probably cause her accent is bad, and I'm Australian so I'm allowed to say Yvonne has a bad accent

360 gamers are loyal to Grunt cause he's a bro, he got dat broforce, fist bump, YEHHH LETS DO THIS!.... and really, we all know what 360 gamers are like, Right folks? RIGHT!

 

[Caradinist]

I picked a Soldier in ME 1, because i wanted to be the big offensive player (with Shock Trooper specializations and Immunity to tank), and let my teammates fill in role for "lockpicker/hacker" or "Biotic". If my five playthroughs have taught me anything, it's that you cannot rely on your teammates to go on the offensive.

The rules still applied in ME 2 (With the exception of required lockpicker), I want to be the person who can deliver the kill shots, because in the end, you can deliver the punch needed that your teammates cannot. Just because you pick the default class, does not make you mindless automatically.



The list where people on the X-box completed playthroughs up to 23 times i feel bad for. Because PC has the nifty save game editor to find every piece of dialogue and choice, and they have to reload like nobody's business.

 

[w00tage]

It's called the End User License Agreement. You acquiring the game gives them permission to do this.

And I maintain that EULAs are and will always be a load of horseshit. What I meant was that they could have presented us with some sort of opt-out, or even better, opt-in alternative.

Such as a free game for letting them watch you play. Like all reputable companies have been doing for pretty much ever - help them improve their product, they give you some for free.

I swear, there's probably like 3 or 4 Armani-suited cockroaches skulking around the halls of power in the game industry, and they're the ones doing all the evil sh8.

 

[Corven]

Well, they can at least look at what parts of games their customers like, instead of something along the lines of "Oh look people bought our game, lets make a sequel exactly like it"

 

[lacktheknack]

Ugh... Whilst I kind of understand why they do it, I'm not quite sure I like it... Couldn't they at least have asked for permission first?

They did. Your suggestion is invalid.

 

[Fensfield]

Miranda? Whyyy?

I mean.. ugh, Miranda is one of the worst character models I've ever seen - and a somewhat flat character to boot (at least by comparison to the rest of the crew).

I mean that jaw.. it looks like.. good lord I don't know what it looks like, other than ruddy lethal. She looks like she could bite through steel!

Also, Engineer least played? Weird, I can't seem to get myself out of that class.

 

[koichan]

Wow, now i thought my ME2 choices were unusual, this confirmed it.

Though my amusement of the warp + throw combo from the vanguard class leading to enemies pinging off walls and off into the distance may have been slightly related to this

 

[lacktheknack]

somewhat sinister bros. biowear big brother.

Well, they DID ask permission when you installed it...

 

[Winfrid]

EULAs are there to be read, not skip and click okay
/doesn't read them anyway

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't like them getting information such as 80% of players using a male Shepard. I play a female Shepard, and they already shun her as much as possible now.. With that data, they'll have even more reason to.

I don't think they needed any more reason. It's already a no brainer that games are male dominated, especially things like shooters and science fiction. And a huuuuuuge number of guys don't want to play as a girl. Therefore....

 

[Jark212]

I think I know why PC players did Miranda's loyalty mission.

Too see this:

Spoiler

In skin-tight black leather.

Just sayin'...

Oh God... I hope they didn't catching me spending large amounts of time staring at her, umm, assets, or always choosing her and Tali for almost every mission except for Tali's loyalty mission (Legion is cool)...

 

[Mekado]

I could swear to god they changed the patterns of the bypasses (safes&doors) about 3 weeks-1 month ago.I knew i wasn't crazy and the cerberus network wasn't the only link to the internet this game has.

Anyone else noticed the patterns are different ?


...please say yes