If you want in on this game,
you're going to have to give them a phone number.
Activision isn't my favorite game publisher; you all may have picked
up on that. Except, they sort of are my favorite, because their gaffes
are just so obvious and so much fun to pick apart. So too today.
But this time it isn't because of how their treating their employees (underpaid, bullied, harrassed). Instead, it's actually game-related.
Well, tangentially, at least.
See, the "Modern Warfare II" remake is out soon, and Activision has
announced a new requirement for players. If you want in on this game,
you're going to have to give them a phone number. Specifically, a
"mobile phone number must be linked to your account", one that can
receive SMS messages (so POTS and VOIP land-lines and super-cheap
pre-paid mobile plans are out). And yes, this is for the single-player campaign as well as online (although with recent Call of Duty games,
there's really not much difference; always-online is a requirement for single-player these days).
The stated reasoning behind this decision is - of course - to deter
cheaters. By linking the accounts to mobile phone accounts, Activision
hopes to be better able to slow (or at least identify) cheaters. Its effectiveness seems iffy, though; the game costs $70 bucks already. If
a cheater is so intent on cheating that he's willing to buy a second
(or third, or fourth) copy of the game after his first account gets
banned, the added cost of a new phone line probably won't stop him
either.
Unfortunately, I fully expect this won't be a deterrant for most fans
of the franchise, who will give up their phone numbers with only a
little grumbling. So while I tsk-tsk Activision, I doubt it's going to
affect their bottom line very much. Worse, it will only encourage
Activision - and other publishers - to start demanding phone numbers
for other games and services as well. And while Activision /maybe/ is
only interested in this information for its stated use (reducing
cheaters), you can bet that - once it becomes a common requirement -
other companies will quickly jump on the data-harvesting aspects this
offers. It's not like gamers - who have historically proven to be
spineless when it comes to resisting publishers' demands - are going
to stand up en masse and say, "No".
Anyway, this doesn't really affect me. I don't like "Call of Duty" and
I don't like Activision, so it's not as if I'm going to be giving them
my money or my phone number. But it saddens me to see the industry
move in this direction.
Activision isn't my favorite game publisher; you all may have picked
up on that. Except, they sort of are my favorite, because their gaffes
are just so obvious and so much fun to pick apart. So too today.
But this time it isn't because of how their treating their employees (underpaid, bullied, harrassed). Instead, it's actually game-related.
Well, tangentially, at least.
See, the "Modern Warfare II" remake is out soon, and Activision has
announced a new requirement for players. If you want in on this game,
you're going to have to give them a phone number. Specifically, a
"mobile phone number must be linked to your account", one that can
receive SMS messages (so POTS and VOIP land-lines and super-cheap
pre-paid mobile plans are out). And yes, this is for the single-player campaign as well as online (although with recent Call of Duty games,
there's really not much difference; always-online is a requirement for single-player these days).
The stated reasoning behind this decision is - of course - to deter
cheaters. By linking the accounts to mobile phone accounts, Activision
hopes to be better able to slow (or at least identify) cheaters. Its effectiveness seems iffy, though; the game costs $70 bucks already. If
a cheater is so intent on cheating that he's willing to buy a second
(or third, or fourth) copy of the game after his first account gets
banned, the added cost of a new phone line probably won't stop him
either.
Unfortunately, I fully expect this won't be a deterrant for most fans
of the franchise, who will give up their phone numbers with only a
little grumbling. So while I tsk-tsk Activision, I doubt it's going to
affect their bottom line very much. Worse, it will only encourage
Activision - and other publishers - to start demanding phone numbers
for other games and services as well. And while Activision /maybe/ is
only interested in this information for its stated use (reducing
cheaters), you can bet that - once it becomes a common requirement -
other companies will quickly jump on the data-harvesting aspects this
offers. It's not like gamers - who have historically proven to be
spineless when it comes to resisting publishers' demands - are going
to stand up en masse and say, "No".
Anyway, this doesn't really affect me. I don't like "Call of Duty" and
I don't like Activision, so it's not as if I'm going to be giving them
my money or my phone number. But it saddens me to see the industry
move in this direction.
See, the "Modern Warfare II" remake is out soon, and Activision has
announced a new requirement for players. If you want in on this game,
you're going to have to give them a phone number. Specifically, a
"mobile phone number must be linked to your account", one that can
receive SMS messages (so POTS and VOIP land-lines and super-cheap
pre-paid mobile plans are out). And yes, this is for the single-player >campaign as well as online (although with recent Call of Duty games,
there's really not much difference; always-online is a requirement for >single-player these days).
So
maybe this change was made less to benefit the 'average gamer' and
more to ensure that their lootbox income continues uninterrupted.
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