When did everything become such a massive data grab?<p>It's nearly impossible for me to use any modern game or software without giving away more and more data - even when I've already paid for the damn thing.<p>There are attempts to grab data at every stage, every turn, often by multiple parties.<p>I remember when I could double click a game's icon and start playing within two minutes.<p>But recently, I bought GTA 5 on PC and my user flow looks like this:<p>- Sign into Steam
- Sign up for GTA 5 "Social Club" (even though I don't want to be "social" or play online)
- "Verify" I'm not a Robot before signing in. If that fails, I have to click on little images for Google.<p>My single "one click" experience has turned into a "three click" experience with multiple sign-ins and attempts to grab even more data.<p>Why can't modern software simply respect me and understand that I just want to do stuff, not deal with a gazillion sign-ins. I don't want to give you any more information about me. I don't want to be a little monkey clicking away at squares in your ML algorithms. I don't want your newsletter.<p>I just want to use my damn computer and I want all your sign-up forms, pop-ups, and "social clubs" to get the hell out of my way.<p>- A frustrated user
Yes, that multiple-step launch experience sometimes present in Steam games is absolute dogshit.<p>With a Ubisoft game that one owns in Steam, it's possible that clicking it will in-fact launch an entirely different application, uPlay, which is itself a large-scale clone of Steam, and the game is launched from that.
Because you keeping buying/using their products and clicking "Agree" to their EULAs.<p>If you don't like it, divest yourself from it.<p>What good is complaining if you still show up to feed on their pastures?