7.4.2 ads jumping straight to google play store

/SSR/ Tichy

Not sure that this is intended behaviour - sending the player out of the game?

Shan

Could you elaborate a bit more?
I watched 2 ads on my motorola and was not taken out of the game.

/SSR/ Tichy

Didn't get than again so far - will report when/if that happens.

[10F] Unnar

Yup, two ads (both for the same game) did this to me this morning. The ad finished and opened the play store on its own.

DavideBooks

I've had this happen twice with different ads. It is not all ads, but some. I took a screenshot of the second when it took me to the play store. I don't remember the other, but I am.sure it will happen again.

DavideBooks

This just happened again. I took a picture this time. It is the same game as once before, but a different ad for that game. (On an unrelated note: the two couples depicted in these ads need some couple's therapy.)

I will not blame the player for my mistakes

Experiencing this as well on android.
Also sometimes when clicking the close button, it'll take me to the playstore anyway.
I need to use androids back button to close the ad and get my rewards.

Can't say for certain if it's on all ads.


Belgium

Shan

Can you try to identify which network the ads doing this are from?
This sounds like an issue on the ad provider's side or ad creator side so there might not be much we can do about it but I can bring it up.

DavideBooks

How do I identify a network?

cmdrworf

Same happening for me on some ads.

[10F] Unnar

Isn't AdColony, in my screenshot above, the ad network?

Shan

Unnar wrote: »

Isn't AdColony, in my screenshot above, the ad network?

For you, yes.
It would be nice to confirm if it is the same thing for the other ads doing this.

Like I said, it is not something we can control however.

/SSR/ Tichy

Here's a ad that pulled me out of the game. Can't see what ad network that is though...

Thats were I ended after watching the ad:


Task switch showed STT and the original ad running:


Of course the STT app then restarted and I had to watch another ad, at least that one worked.

<TGE> Darxide

Ads now are full of fake close buttons (the X button) which tapping on takes you to a 3rd party website or the app store. And then for your effort, you're given "Ad view credit blocked by limit" on every single ad view now. They're worthless.

Cuttysark

This is really strange. I don't seem to have any problems on my Android app. I did the update from Google Play on the 1st day. Might it be an iOS problem? (or steam or FB for that matter)

Banjo1012

Cuttysark wrote: »

This is really strange. I don't seem to have any problems on my Android app. I did the update from Google Play on the 1st day. Might it be an iOS problem? (or steam or FB for that matter)

I’m not experiencing this on iPhone

Cuttysark

.... I STAND CORRECTED! I am now getting the "Ad view credit blocked by limit" message also! Just started this evening. (not getting the multi-ad/Play store syndrome yet ... TG!)
@Banjo1012 : don't worry, it will come after you too! The Corona Virus plague of the STT Universe!

What a flippin' royal pain in the rump!!! Why can't they test these things before they 'turn and burn 'em' into an update??? Grrrrrrrrr

Welcome to TP folks! Where Advertising Bucks are King!

Sisko's Self-Sealing Stembolaya [FF]

What’s been happening to me since the update is an ad will end, you click the X and it goes back to the same screen as before where you have to click “watch ad” again like nothing happened.

I figured out when this happens you have to wait like an extra 30 seconds after the ad says it’s actually over now, like they are trying to trick you into exiting early so you have to watch more ads

Phantum

I am getting the same thing with some adds taking me to the play store when I try to click on close add. I thought it was just that they had made the close icon so small it was hard to click it and instead you click on the background to get taken to the play store. Some of the adds have no timers visible.

I think that adds should be limited to a small icon that takes you to the play store or an external site. They should not be allowed to have a touch anywhere on the screen take you to an external site or even the play store. This is dangerous if a malicious add decides to install malware or something when you touch the screen instead of taking you to their external site.

Captain Q

Similar to what others have experienced above, I've been brought out from mid-ad into Google Play Store. My phone was actually on a stand and not in my hands when it happened.

I wonder if there may be some relation to another issue I reported on (https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/15738/bug-behold-then-game-ends-up-making-a-choice-for-you)? This sounds like phantom touch/mouse-clicks are being generated?

[DCC] bebe has Badgey

These are three ads that are about to make me stop watching ads entirely. As others have said, the new ads take you to third party store (if I wanted to go to the store, I'LL decide that - thankyouverymuch!) and they do not honor volumee settings. On top of that, no indication of which ad network they are from.

Hamsters2

Went to 7.4.2. Without me touching anything ads are taking me to google play store. When get out, stt relaunches. I was shocked to see this thread and yet a forced upgrade? What the heck! I enjoy this game but not going to go through frustration/worry every time I adwarp. I hope you get this resolved quickly. I'm on android.

Phantum

Something has changed with the adds recently. They never used to be so obtrusive or take you places you did not want to go. They never used to be longer than 30 seconds. Now they are longer and try every trick in the book to take you to an external site.

/SSR/ Tichy

Found one culprit today - Adcolony
Spinning wheel was there for 2 minutes, then the ad loaded. After finishing it opened up the play store (without any interaction from me).

Captain Q

Phantum wrote: »

Something has changed with the adds recently. They never used to be so obtrusive or take you places you did not want to go. They never used to be longer than 30 seconds. Now they are longer and try every trick in the book to take you to an external site.

Yup... there's also the trick where the ad runs 30 seconds, then goes to the end where you see a new countdown anywhere from another 10 - 30 seconds before the "x" will pop up.

When you click on it, it is like gambling because you don't know if the "x" that shows up is the real close button, or if it will take you into the app store or tries to open a web page.

I'm glad my default browser on my phone is firefox focus, where js and tracking are turned off. I think it would be prudent for others to do the same so that they can't be hijacked inadvertently.

Shan

So I've inquired about the issue where the ads reportedly is opening the app store without interaction.

There is a theory that some of these ads show you a page that mimics the app store.
And looking at the last screenshot from Tichy, that seems to be true for some of them, as there would be no ad network name/logo if it truly was the app store page being presented.

However that might not be the case for all of them but to look into this more we would need additional information such as:
- platform
- country
- your advertising identifier
- the network
- and what would be really helpful would be a video showing that the ad does indeed open the app store

I understand not wanting to share country/ad identifier on a public forum so PM me instead.

Thank you!

Banjo1012

Shan wrote: »

So I've inquired about the issue where the ads reportedly is opening the app store without interaction.

There is a theory that some of these ads show you a page that mimics the app store.
And looking at the last screenshot from Tichy, that seems to be true for some of them, as there would be no ad network name/logo if it truly was the app store page being presented.

However that might not be the case for all of them but to look into this more we would need additional information such as:
- platform
- country
- your advertising identifier
- the network
- and what would be really helpful would be a video showing that the ad does indeed open the app store

I understand not wanting to share country/ad identifier on a public forum so PM me instead.

Thank you!

That does make sense to me as well. Reason I say that is because if it were routing me to the App Store I could swipe out of the App Store and back into the game but I don’t have that option. The App Store never opens so I go back into the game only to find the phony App Store page. Which is actually more annoying because now I have to close the game out and re-open it

/SSR/ Tichy

Shan wrote: »

- your advertising identifier
- the network

Well for me it hasn't been a fake store, as you could see in my task list a few posts up the google play store is opened and the game still showing the original app.

Nonetheless, I installed a screen recorder and will try to record the ads.
What is meant with advertising identifier and network?

Shan

Network: there are different networks serving ads, Ad Colony is one for instance - but there are many more. Every ad should show a symbol that can be interacted with, and opens a pop up with information about the network.

Here's how to access your ad identifier on android

– Android devices – To find your Android Ad ID (called Android Advertising ID), open the Google Settings app on your Android device and click on “Ads.” Your Android Advertising Identifier will be listed at the bottom of the screen.

Captain Q

Shan wrote: »

So I've inquired about the issue where the ads reportedly is opening the app store without interaction.

There is a theory that some of these ads show you a page that mimics the app store.
And looking at the last screenshot from Tichy, that seems to be true for some of them, as there would be no ad network name/logo if it truly was the app store page being presented.

One way to verify this is to check your app store history in myactivity.google.com. If an ad opens your store, it would be logged.

For example, there's a log entry showing:

"Visited Lucky Day - Win Real Money
Details • Google Play Store"

That corresponds to one of the ads that auto-opened the app store on my device.

Zombie Squirrel

Today i experienced the same issues on my amazon devices(Fire HD8), plus that if an Add successfully kicks in, there won t be any other Adds(after the cooldown) until i do a full restart of my device, and even thats a hit and miss.