1mo ago

Game forces you to accept selling your info to vendors before you can use it

If you hit "next", the consent window opens again and if you refuse any of them, you get put back at this screen so you're stuck in a loop.

This shitty practice is even endorsed by Google, as they are promoting this game to try out and earn points.

Edit: game is called Jewel Gold Empire: Match 3 and it's from some Korean company it seems: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.penta.empire.google

Obviously I uninstalled it immediately after

52 comments

If you're in the EU, this is illegal. Consent has to be given freely for it to have legal weight. That means, it cannot be tied to the performance of the service, unless providing the data is strictly necessary for providing the service.
I guess, they get away with it, because no one cares enough to sue a shitty game.
- I am, but what can I do? Try and reporting it via the obtuse methods of Google to have them investigate themselves seems pointless
  
  The only thing that's pointless is doing nothing.
  Now, I'm not arguing that fighting against this is worth your time. I'm making more a semantic argument that hopelessnes and apathy only allow things to get worse.
  Also, fuck this game. Don't play it.
  
  Report them to your national privacy authority.
  Assuming you are living in the EU, your country will have that.
  
  I mean, if you do want to do something about it, reporting it to your regional data protection officer would be the first step. Then they'll contact whomever is responsible for this game and tell them to change it or get sued.
- Here's how you can report it.

Looks like a shitty, generic game

Name and shame

WHAT. GAME. IS IT.
Or don’t waste everyone’s fkg time Jesus
- I originally didn't want to include it to not give them any publicity, but a lot of folks seem to agree with you so I added a link to the OP

Well this is a step up from when they were doing it anyway and didn't have to tell you.

So don't play it?

"We value your privacy"
That's what makes it worth invading.
- I might have to copy this one liner and spam it everywhere. Omg.

This goes against the GDPR.
- There is no GDPR outside of EU.
  
  So they don't sell in EU? Or disable the dialogue only there?
  
  Which speak to the bigger problem of why don't we have this globally? Why hasn't the US had the legislative balls to implement and enforce an equivalent law? For a culture that is so paranoid about personal information, it's just such a massive mental gap.

I don't think I've had a mobile game on my phone in 10 years, are there any actual decent ones? They all look so generic.
- Indie PC games that charge money for a mobile port. I have stardew valley, binding of Isaac, balatro, slay the spire, monster train, on my phone. (Several are included with Apple Arcade, though I would definitely not subscribe to Arcade if it weren't included with my other stuff. Also I personally wouldn't play stardew or Isaac without a controller.)
  If it's "free" it's almost always obscenely abusive. (There are a handful of exceptions, including some open source ones, but I couldn't name any off the top of my head.)
  
  If it’s “free” it’s almost always obscenely abusive. (There are a handful of exceptions, including some open source ones, but I couldn’t name any off the top of my head.)
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.chris.sgtpuzzles&hl=en-US
  No data collected, no extra permissions needed... just the games.
  
  Binding of Isaac on mobile sounds incredibly frustrating
  
  I heard balatro is super fun maybe i'll give that a go!
- Well there is stardew valley.
- Unciv is a FOSS clone of Civilization 5, great stuff.
- Sure there are, they are just hard to find on the official stores. I use mini review (website or phone application). https://minireview.io/
  
  thanks!
- I like playing Pocket City 2, Slay the Spire, and Balatro on mobile.
- There are some decent ones like chrono trigger, halo, and twisted metal. Or did you mean without an emulator?
  
  Ya just generic phone games, I haven't touched them since jetpack joyride. Actually the last game I played on my phone was pokemon emerald on my ipod touch emulator lol, I'm pretty behind the times.
- The only mobile games I play are Luck Be a Landlord, Ascension, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, and lately the new Pokémon TCG.
  My favorite of them is Ascension. I love that game so much.
  
  Doot for ascension
  
  I gave shattered pixel dungeon like 30 hours. Fuck that game. Items are impossible to equip. Potions are 100% random. Bosses wreck your shit. I literally never got an upgrade in like 30 runs. Literally nothing was equippable.
- I really enjoy Mini Metro. I’ve been addicted to Dots for years, it’s the very best digital fidget.
  I paid for a Need for Speed game some 8 years ago and that was pretty OK for a few hours.
  A Dark Room is also really good.
  That’s about it, to be honest. If you want to pick up a controller, there’s a decent library of older PC or console games that run on phones now - emulators are also an option.
- To Arms!
- Maybe Geometry dash(paid version)

The other option should just be uninstall.

What was on the "Next" screen? Seems like you could decline on the next screen that would have the options and such
- As stated in my post, hitting next would bring back the consent window and if you rejected any of the hundreds of vendors, it would bring you back to this screen again.

enhancing your gaming journey
I see that and the only enhancement I'll get is a refund

They sure do value privacy, it's worth a lot to them to sell it. Maybe they should have written "your privacy is valuable to us". Extra points for throwing "gaming journey" in there, lol.

That's not consent, that's quid pro quo! They value the money they get by exposing your privacy to vendors.

YMMV but if you just leave the game on this screen for like a few minutes and uninstall the game in a few days, Google might still give you the points.

Here's how you can report it guys.

Show us the next screen.

52 comments