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The language about collecting and using data have been in TOSs for basically every online service since the early '00s.
I’m not saying that this is okay. The data that these services collect, which we’ve given them unlimited rights to, has only become more valuable and the incentives for these companies are always for them to gather more data about you.
You can use archive.org if you want to look at older policies from the same company. But, if you pull up any other game with an online component you will see that they all are essentially “Don’t cheat our services or hide your identity, We’re going to collect your data and use it how we want, and you have to enter into binding arbitration” with various levels of detail and verbosity.
I’m sure I believe a lot of nonsense from reading the Internet.
That’s okay, we’re just human. The problem is when people try to ‘inform’ people of things that they ‘know’ from reading social media. That’s how these situations are created, so many people believe this because so many other people believe it and then repeat it as fact without themselves ever checking.
It’s like a feedback loop of ignorance, caused entirely by people who care more about getting social credit for talking and less about saying things that are true.
The point is that the license agreement for this game and others owned by this company didn’t say this shit before, and now they do.
That’s just not true.
Here’s a Reddit user trying the same kind out outrage farming 7 years ago using Take 2’s TOS and implying it allows spyware: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8naopt/take_two_a_spyware_apocalypse/
If you look at Valve’s TOS or any other game developer who has games with an online component, you will see the exact same language regarding data collection. The language being added is to comply with laws, like the GDPR, which requires specific language indicating what data is collected and how it is used.
The data that is being collected is the same as it was 10 years ago. There’s nothing new here, just a YT video that got a lot of views and social media being full of people who don’t fact check anything.
Thats a windows thing so it can put files in “protected” folders like program files
The unfortunate thing about the UAC prompt is that it gives the software permission to put files in protected folders, but it also gives the software root permission so it can do literally anything else without prompting the user. Except, I believe, if it tries to install unsigned kernel drivers, then the user has to click a new prompt… but you can completely compromise a machine with the permissions that users routinely give to executables that they download from the Internet.
They added spyware to it.
No, they didn’t.
Just because something sounds outrageous, doesn’t mean it is true.
Borderlands 2 hasn’t been updated since 2022:
Borderlands - Last updated: 3 August 2016 Borderlands 2 - Last updated: 4 August 2022 Borderlands 3 - Last updated: 8 August 2024
No Borderlands titles include anti-cheat: https://areweanticheatyet.com/?search=borderlands
Here is another person, 7 years ago trying the exact same outrage-based engagement farming strategy of linking a TOS update and implying a nefarious intent: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8naopt/take_two_a_spyware_apocalypse/ It’s exactly the same “Take two is spying on you!!!” content and yet, none of the Borderlands games have added spyware and none have added kernel anti-cheat.
Also, if you read the 2018 and 2025 TOS you will notice notice that the information that they collect in the 2025 TOS ( https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/ ) is exactly the same as it was in 2018.
TL;DR - Just because you read it on the Internet, doesn’t mean it is true.
It is also worth nothing that no Borderlands games use anti-cheat, much less kernel anti-cheat. I’d even go as far as to say that no Gearbox, Take2 or 2k Games use kernel anti-cheat.
This is boilerplate language for games which include an online service component. Publishers often use the same Terms of Service across all of their games, so they include language that is often irrelevant for any specific game.
The only thing that’s different about this is that there are a bunch of bored people who consume engagement farming content, which often make outrageous claims in order to earn money from engagement farming. This “story” is not an actual story, but it is a great example of how a mob can be summoned with some creative writing and a credulous audience.
So…if Steam is running in a Flatpak, and Borderlands is launched from Steam, how much can they even see…really?
Without using exploits to escape the container, not much. A very empty Windows environment with a single game installed, your network interfaces and any directories that the Flatpak has access to (usually just the SteamLibrary directories).
The TOS (https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/) changes are mostly related to data that they collect via their interfacing with Steam and through their website. This idea that they’re requiring you to agree to a root level access or installing a spyware rootkit is just nonsense.
He said it
That not misinformation…
It is misinformation if the things he said are not true.
So, let’s look into the claims.
Here’s the TOS:
https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/
There is nothing about root level access.
In addition, if you look at the patch history for Borderlands 2 on SteamDB, you will see that the last update for the game was 4 August 2022.
So, to be clear:
There is nothing in the TOS that requires you to submit to a rootkit and there is no spyware that has been added. The comment in the OP is simply wrong.
This is what happens when you simply read social media and repeat what you’ve heard without checking to see if you’re spreading misinformation.
No, it’s misinformation and people who uncritically repeat things without verification.
I’ve had the game installed for years and have to manually apply updates, there hasn’t been one. e: I just checked, last update in Steam is dated 2022
All they’ve done is make their TOS universal across all of their games.
e: adding this from last post. TL;DR: People are spreading misinformation
So, let’s look into the claims.
Here’s the TOS:
https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/
There is nothing about root level access.
In addition, if you look at the patch history for Borderlands 2 on SteamDB, you will see that the last update for the game was 4 August 2022.
So, to be clear: There is nothing in the TOS that requires you to submit to a rootkit and there is no spyware that has been added. The comment in the OP is simply wrong.
That model that can parse their artwork had to be developed and refined upon other work.
What you’re describing is fine tuning, not model creation.
You can train diffusion models from scratch, even on home hardware, using open source software. It is well with the capability of Nintendo to do this with their own artwork.
Adobe did, they created their models from artwork licensed from artists specifically for training their models.
There’s no reason to think that Nintendo would use public diffusion models when they can train their own and have a model that more accurately reflects their style.
https://www.protondb.com/app/2651280
Looks like there are various problems with it but it has a Gold rating.
The most common complaint is performance, which could explain the Steam Deck Verified rating. If you’re running a desktop with modern hardware then you’re probably going to have a decent time.
Co-Optimus is a great resource for this.
Here’s their database with a filter showing all PC games that support LAN play:
How can you miss a game with such a banger trailer:
Yes, that’s just extra reasons why the USD is more valuable/more dominant/used as a reserve currency.
The point was that saying Bitcoin doesn’t have actual value because it doesn’t have a military isn’t true. You can see the actual value on any exchange, just like every other currency. The value of a currency is related to its use in trade, even countries without a military have currencies with value.
The fact that the USD is more valuable or used as a reserve currency doesn’t mean that other currencies (including bitcoin) don’t have value.
The military and police is not what gives currency it’s value. A country’s currency is valued based on it’s usefulness in the global economy, not based on how many ships in its navy or planes in its air force.
We know the value of a currency based on the exchange rate to all other currencies, which you can see at any exchange.
Similarly, Bitcoin’s value is based on how useful it is in the global economy. We know the value because we can see the exchange rate to all other currencies on any exchange.
The only real difference is that fiat currency is a database of money backed by a bank, protected by police and the military while Bitcoin is a database of money backed by mathematics and processing power.
It’s silly to argue that Bitcoin doesn’t have actual value when you can simply look at an exchange and see the trade volume and price to know that that isn’t true.
When we’re talking about legal issues, the terms are important.
Copyright violation isn’t stealing. It is, at worse, a civil matter where one party can show how they’ve been harmed and recover damage. In addition, copyright law allows use of the copyrighted work without the author’s permission in some circumstances.
You’re simply stating that ‘AI is stealing’ when that just isn’t true. And, assuming you mean a violation of copyright, if it was a civil violation then exactly how much would the model owe in damages to any given piece of art? This kind of case would have to be litigated as a class action lawsuit and, if your “AI is stealing committing mass copyright violation” theory is correct then there should be a case where this has been successfully litigated, right?
There are a lot of dismissed class action lawsuits on the topic, but you can’t find any major cases where this issue has been resolved according to your “AI is stealing” claim. On the other hand, there ARE plenty of cases where Machine Learning (the field of which generative AI is a subset) using copyrighted data was ruled as fair use:
Google has won two important copyright cases that seem relevant to the AI debate. In 2006, the company was sued by Perfect 10, an adult entertainment site that claimed Google had infringed its copyright by generating thumbnail photos of its content; the court ruled that providing images in a search index was “fundamentally different” from simply creating a copy, and that in doing so, Google had provided “a significant benefit to the public.” In the other case, the Authors’ Guild, a professional organization that represents the interests of writers, sued Google for scanning more than twenty million books and showing short snippets of text when people searched for them. In 2013, a judge in that case ruled that Google’s conduct constituted fair use because it was transformative.
Creating a generative model is fundamentally different than copying artwork and it also provides a significant benefit to the public. The AI models are not providing users with copies of the copyrighted work. They’re, literally, transformative.
This isn’t a simple matter of it being automatically wrong and illegal if copyrighted work was used to create the models. Copyright law, and law in general, is more complex than a social media meme like ‘AI is stealing’.
I think most customers want a fun game that doesn’t cost $120.
I’m not against AI as a tool, but don’t assume people will like your game more if you plaster it with AI art. It’s like coloring your sketch with stickers. The stickers may be good quality, but it will still look like a messy puzzle…
If your game is good and fun even crappy art will sell it (look at touhou).
I’m not quite sure I’m following.
Are you saying that AI trained on the output of humans is unethical, unless those humans are programmers?
Or, as a professional programmer, you understand the limitations of AI in your field so you don’t feel threatened by it while simultaneously assuming, on behalf of another profession, that AI in “artistic” fields is somehow far more capable and an actual threat?
Terrible programmers don’t become professional programmers because they subscribe to Copilot. It provides a crutch to absolute beginners, allowing even the least skilled individual to create some low quality output. For professionals, AI allows for some aspects of existing tools to perform slightly better but cannot replace the knowledge, experience and practice of a human when it comes to applying those skills in novel and interesting ways.
Terrible artists don’t become professional artists because they subscribe to Midjourney. It provides a crutch to absolute beginners, allowing even the least skilled individual to create some low quality output. For professionals, AI allows for some aspects of existing tools to perform slightly better but cannot replace the knowledge, experience and practice of a human when it comes to applying those skills in novel and interesting ways.
Also, screw the independent developer who doesn’t have artists to lay off nor the budget to hire them.
If they want to make a game then they should spend decades learning to program and decades learning to create art and decades learning to create music.
If they use AI to make code or assets then it completely invalidates their work and the fun that I’m having with their game is just fake fun.
The only Real Games are those made by giant corporations with the capital to hire artists, programmers and musicians that can lovingly hand craft the loot boxes for the next major children’s casino.
e: Honestly, it’s embarrassing that I have to add a /s for people to understand
It’s not allowed.
There’s only one opinion on AI allowed on social media: It’s the worst thing to ever happen and produced by stealing from starving child artists. The ouput is somehow simultaneously the worst quality imaginable with no redeeming qualities and also about to put every creative out of a job by next quarter.
The fact that you don’t hold this opinion tells everyone what a horrible person that you are for not knowing the right opinion to have.
Enjoy being downvoted out of the conversation between tech illiterate children who believe everything they’re told and tech illiterate creatives who haven’t found a hyperbole that they cannot employ in their Luddite quest to stop advanced linear algebra