ABOUT Penguin Domination 🐧

Spyware in games? No thanks!

The group focuses on raising awareness and protecting against the collection and tracking of user data through analytics, spyware, crashlytics, advertising, and tracking cookies in games and game clients. A practice that often occurs in the digital world without proper consent. The aim is to support individuals by providing resources and tools to protect their privacy in the rapidly evolving digital technology landscape.

Goals

Responsible Data Analysis by Developers:
It's demanded that developers deactivate analytical services in games by default. The activation of the services should only take place after the consent of the user (opt-in) in order to provide information.
Functional Opt-Out Options:
Opt-outs must be effectively implemented. In too many cases, these options either do not work at all or only partially. It's demanded that users have full control over their data from the beginning, including a transparent and functional opt-out option.
Transparency Obligation on Product Pages:
Before purchase or download, it must be clearly and understandably communicated whether and what analytics services, trackers, or other mechanisms are active in a game or software – this in the respective national language, to avoid misunderstandings and information barriers.
Commitment to Data Minimization and Transparency:
Customers have the right to know what data is truly needed and which services are involved. Clear and honest communication from developers is essential to build trust and protect the privacy of users.
Honesty from Developers and Publishers:
It's demanded that developers and publishers must always be truthful about the actual behavior and data practices of their software. Misleading customers about how their software operates, especially in terms of data collection and usage, undermines trust and violates principles of transparency and respect for user privacy.

What does the group offer?

Reviews and analyses of spyware and background connections in games and game clients.
Information about companies that collect and use data.
Ad blockers with guides for about 1800 games and programs, including links to these tools.
Discussions on privacy and current events.
Resources for enhancing personal privacy and protection online.

Content Censorship on Steam and External Linking

Content on Steam may be censored. In such instances, reviews are available externally. Please visit Review Overview[www.gameindustry.eu].

False Positives?

For FAQs regarding false positive please visit the help section:

Key Resources / Repository

Project Website[www.gameindustry.eu]
GitHub Repository[github.com]

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POPULAR DISCUSSIONS

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RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

[EN|DE] Revision of the FAQ | Überarbeitung der FAQ

18 November - ペンギン | 8 Comments

Hello everyone

I'm currently working on clearing out the FAQ and giving the whole thing a more modern, clearer and more user-friendly design.

I would therefore like to ask you which points you think are missing on the site, which are unclear and which you think should definitely be addressed there.

Looking for suggestions for this. Perhaps some of you have ideas or comments that could be included.

Link below

DE

Hallo miteinander,

zur Zeit wird daran gearbeitet, die FAQ auszumisten und dem Ganzen ein moderneres, übersichtlicheres und nutzerfreundlicheres Design zu verpassen.

Daher möchte ich euch fragen, welche Punkte ihr auf der Seite vermisst, welche unklar sind und die eurer Meinung nach unbedingt dort behandelt werden sollten.

Hierfür wird nach Vorschlägen gesucht. Vielleicht hat der ein oder andere von euch Ideen oder Kommentare, die aufgenommen werden könnten.

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URL: https://gameindustry.eu/faq/

Regarding New "Helpfulness System" on Steam

14 August - ペンギン | 3 Comments

Announcement Regarding New "Helpfulness" System on Steam

As of August 14, 2024 a new review section, known as the "Helpfulness System" has been implemented on Steam. This system categorizes certain reviews as "Funny" based on Valve's definition. The intention behind this change is to help buyers focus on essential content, as the new category includes now everything from ASCII art to one-liners which are filtered out.

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/news/app/593110/view/4326355263805583415

This setting is automatically enabled and affects all reviews in the "Summary and Most Helpful views". In short, it filters the "Key Content" sections, where potential buyers typically look first and often exclusively.

For many users, this feature has been long-awaited and can be seen as an advantage, as it spares them from having to sift through content that is not truly a review, but rather unqualified opinions and rants, silly comments or other irrelevant material.

However, for those whose reviews are unintentionally categorized as "Funny," this change is a inconvenience, as it may cause valuable information to be overlooked.

I have already outlined in a guide why pre-set filtering and the categorization of product reviews can be considered problematic, using the "Review Bombing" phenomenon as a case study.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168673698
As a reviewer and curator of critical and investigative content, I already found the introduction of the "Review Bombing" label challenging to accept. Because all published content was already downgraded there. Similarly, the settings were also enabled by default and additionally hidden in the account settings.

Now, with the introduction of the "Funny" filter, all reviews within this group are also labeled as "Funny," rendering them invisible in both the standard and negative views.

Did you find the announcement helpful or have you perhaps fallen victim to the ‘Funny’ filter yourself and how do you use the system? Then post your opinion on what you think.

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STEAM CURATOR

Penguin Domination 🐧 reviews

"Everything about spyware, analytics, telemetry & tracking in games and gaming platforms. Cross-system with further information and filter lists to protect your privacy. Multilanguage."

Here are a few recent reviews by Penguin Domination 🐧

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320 Comments

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ペンギン

10 Nov @ 1:45am

@Escape From New York
1. Albion Online?

2. If that were the case, it would have probably been revealed by now, but NVIDIA receives a lot of telemetry data, as well as an overview of which programs are launched, insights into user and system behavior and hardware details.

Escape From New York 30 Sep @ 2:58am

Nvidia DLSS? Do you think some games are using compute power from users GPU to rent out to AI companies?

Escape From New York 30 Sep @ 2:57am

Hast du Albion schon bewertet?

ペンギン

15 Aug @ 12:07pm

Dank für den Beitrag M.D. Geist
Sehe in Tests und Stichproben keine Abspielprobleme in dem Zusammenhang mit jnn-pa.googleapis.com und für Änderungen auch kein weiteres Feedback bekommen. Nutze den Fox in der neusten Version, aber keine seperaten Adblock-Addons. Vermutlich zickt da eins rum? Wenn, würden da mehr Rückmeldungen helfen.

Aber wenn es bei dir dadurch gelöst wurde, doch wunderbar

Einträge dazu sind unter

- GameGuru Classic
- Google API
- Ubisoft Connect | UPlay
- Merchant of the Skies
- Conan Exiles
- Spacebase Startopia
- VRoid Studio

ペンギン

23 Jul @ 7:25am

To address a question from Wanderer in February 2023:

The full version of Wo Long has been tested not long ago. Multiplayer runs through the Steam servers, and Nvidia DLSS attempts to connect to the internet. NVidia service can be disabled. Connection data is available as usual on the project website. Nothing else was found in the product.

myxlmynx 18 Feb @ 3:27am

Wollte nur mal ein Danke da lassen für die Arbeit die du/ihr euch damit macht. Ich konnte dadurch noch mehr Kram blocken.

Und selbst wenn man etwas nicht blockt weil einem die Funktionalität zu wichtig ist, trägt sowas trotzdem dazu bei, dass man als User überhaupt mal eine Übersicht erhält oder sich eine halbwegs informierte Meinung zu bilden kann, da man ansonsten ja im Dunkeln steht. Es ist leider industrieweites Problem ohne funktionierende Regulierung und ohne relevante Folgen für die Firmen, dass proprietäre Software (inklusive Spiele) viel zu viele und detaillierte Daten rausblasen an alle möglichen Stellen.

Im mobilen Bereich kann ich GrapheneOS mit NetGuard Pro empfehlen für granulares Blocking. Als Betriebssystem sollte man generell immer etwas quelloffenes verwenden (Linux oder Open Source Android).

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