Just adding my voice here. Last game I left with the feeling of being insulted was mobile strike. Ads everywhere unplayable past a certain level if you didn't pay up or get crushed with ads.
Those walls terrify me. How do they know if you played this or that ? How much code is there only to slow your phone, drain your battery and send personal usage data to god know where in order to know if you managed lvl20 in some bad ripoff of a once popular game?
Please remove this ASAP, in the meantime, I'll refrain from watching ads and even if there is an offer for my favorite character, I'll pass.
Creating this discussion for feedback for the Offer Wall that should go live later this week, for android and iOS only.
*links deleted so I could post*
;
I will update this thread once the feature goes live.
These "offers" have a huge chance to sell personal information. I know I had bought ONE thing through an offer on a game and that email suddenly started getting TONS of spam. This is just awful. I'm assuming its administered through "tapjoy" or similar? Customer service is a joke. Once I decided that would be a spam account I started doing other offers. And very often they would ask for proof, and receipts weren't enough. They make you jump through so many hoops. And always use that same email on purchases...
I just pick the simple ones that say "open the app" and have no issues. I just remove them once i get inboxed my loot. I will keep doing those as I find them. I'm not interested in investing my time and effort reaching milestones in other games to get the dilithium.
But those surveys...they need to be banned. Too many red flags to count. All of your complaints about these are definitely warranted.
Fleet Admiral - Dazed & Confused 🤸🤸🙃 We are still waiting for Enterprise B, the Delta Flyer, and a Runabout! We should also have a TNG season 1 red shirt LT JG Worf, and a "Far Beyond The Stars" DS9 episode crew collection!
I tried to use the offer wall and was only frustrated
Tried to do a survey and did a 5 min survey to link me with other surveys. Spent another 5-10 mins on that survey just to be kicked off saying this survey is not compatible with you and got no rewards. I won’t be revisiting the wall again
I tried one survey. It took me something like 6 survey trys (3 anime ones in a row where I wasn't a good fit, you think you might know that from the first) before it took me through a LONG survey for 44 dil. That was a waste of 60 minutes for 44 dil. And every one of them took my demographic info. And dropped cookies on my device. For one reward.
This is really not the way. I just looked at my Apple account to see what I've spent on this game in the last 6 months. I'm averaging $far too much a month as it turns out. VIP 0 to VIP 13 in that 6 months...
That will become $0 with these offer walls.
I'm sure my $x a month means nothing. But every drop in that bucket...
Now I am really upset. I once again clicked one offer and then checked the privacy settings. There is an endless list of permissions and most were checked. I unchecked them but I do not even know if by submitting I agree to the ones that are "essential". TP please clarify!
Even worse, you can't easily check this in Apple devices. How predatory.
This is akin to a bear and a beehive. A colony of bees flies into a new area of the woods where a bear lives and decides to build a hive. The bear knows if it sticks its hand into a beehive, the chance of getting stung is nearly 100% but there is a small, potential reward of getting some honey while having to deal with painful, multiple bee stings for a while. The bear doesn't have to do it, but was curious to see what it could get if it took a chance to get some of that honey.
People commenting here about the wall here presumably read the the thread about the wall before it went online. Some chose to ignore it while others decided to take the risk. I assume most people who have used the internet in the last 25 years have gone to a website and have seen the same surveys and similar things on the wall in pop-up ads for the chance to enter get something free or get a gift card to be used at ____.
I think the user base of the game or at least the ones who post here tend to be people with some intelligence. They know about pop up ads, phishing, malware, etc. If you click on a link to take you to a third party website, you're probably asking for trouble especially since what this wall is should be pretty obvious. Anyone with a modicum of commonsense and internet awareness knows not to give out real personal information on online sites like these for the hope of getting "something for nothing".
Was this a bad idea on TP's part? Yes. Do they need the additional revenue at the expense of potential PR cost? Maybe. Complaining about something that you know is wrong and you made the personal choice to do engage in its use, the onus is on you. Nobody had to click the free dilitihium button to see those offers to continue to playing the game.
If that button was pressed and brought you to that page to see what the offers were, but you didn't click on the any of the offers and tracking info and other things were installed on your mobile device, I would have a problem with that. If you willingly decide to click on one of those offers for the chance of some free dilithium, you probably had a good idea that you were getting yourself into something. Self-responsibility is something that seems to be lacking these days. You're responsible for your own actions.
So now there are a bunch of upset and angry people threatening to leave the game after investing a lot of time and possibly money into something for a few years. If it starts the downfall and the shutting down the game because of some people's poor personal decision, that is sadder than TP adding the wall to the game in the first place.
Interesting points, I agree that there is certainly some individual responsibility here, if people are trying offers, sure, they probably have some level of “maybe this is a bad idea” going through their head.
However, TP can’t even respond here and say that the tracking mechanisms are only activated when those offers are clicked on. We are two days in. It is a huge problem when we can’t get a response to indicate that our data is still safe, provided that we don’t tap/click on “free dilithium”
More than that, you seem to be taking a stance that everyone playing this game is a responsible adult. Which is shaky ground to be standing on, as I can promise you that there are many, MANY players that are children.
The offer wall is predatory at best. It has no business being in this game.
As I mentioned, I agree it was poor decision by TP to add the wall. I agree with you on the children using the game aspect and a "warning must be 18 or over to enter" button must be clicked to engage in these offers could have been put in, but those are essentially for liability purposes only. Go to any website of a beer or a liquor company and it requires you to enter your date of birth. That is something a person of any age could enter truthful or false info to get in. A parent should be monitoring a child's online activity and teaching him/her what not to do online like giving out personal info, immediately closing pop ups, not clicking on banner ads, going to porn sites, engaging with strangers online in a game like Fortnite, etc. A child can easily find these things on the internet as well.
A you must be over 18 doesn't cut it in the EU, you cannot collect information from children under any circumstances.
If children use the pay wall and enter their details TP will be fined under EU laws, again you cannot collect information on children.
Most of these offers are a labyrinth of questions and malware websites for a dewdrop of DIL. The non-free offers are mostly getting bonus dil that's around market value for buying something or donating to a charity. I've seen this before in other mobile/facebook games. Most are duds or not worth it.
With many thousands of dilithium on the line with these offers, that has insane potential to be abused. That is my primary concern at the moment and I hope that next week's overview will address that, or soon thereafter.
That's the only reason I went public with it on this forum. Sad that one must resort to such measures in order to get the attention the issue needs.
That's also an invitation for people to stop contacting me asking how to do it. If you've interacted with me for 5 minutes in the past, you should know that I'm not going to tell you. The point is to *end* the exploit, not more widely share it.
But if everyone knows how to exploit it then it's not an exploit anymore and since TP will lose their money they will fix that as soon as possible.
Well, it is still an "exploit". Not every player has the glitch. It's kind of like TP adding a new feature during an Event that directly advantages only players on certain platforms......
Kinda like the offer wall only allowing downloads of apps on android but not Apple...
I just pick the simple ones that say "open the app" and have no issues. I just remove them once i get inboxed my loot. I will keep doing those as I find them. I'm not interested in investing my time and effort reaching milestones in other games to get the dilithium.
But those surveys...they need to be banned. Too many red flags to count. All of your complaints about these are definitely warranted.
Unfortunately the app ones aren't available on iOS.
Now I am really upset. I once again clicked one offer and then checked the privacy settings. There is an endless list of permissions and most were checked. I unchecked them but I do not even know if by submitting I agree to the ones that are "essential". TP please clarify!
Even worse, you can't easily check this in Apple devices. How predatory.
My screenshots are from Safari on the iPad, directly from the provider page.
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
Most of these offers are a labyrinth of questions and malware websites for a dewdrop of DIL. The non-free offers are mostly getting bonus dil that's around market value for buying something or donating to a charity. I've seen this before in other mobile/facebook games. Most are duds or not worth it.
There's some decent ones on android, I've earned over 7000 dil now by playing other games and I've spent maybe 10 bucks. The surveys are the only ones I've found sketchy.
Btw even EA seems to have understood that these surveys are a bad idea. Here is a comparison from a different game vs. STT:
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
Well that's interesting, I just got a spam phone call from Carphone Warehouse...I never get spam calls...
But STT has no access to your phone number, does it? This might be an incident.
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
Well that's interesting, I just got a spam phone call from Carphone Warehouse...I never get spam calls...
But STT has no access to your phone number, does it? This might be an incident.
No I'm probably overreacting on this but it's highly unusual for me to get anything but work calls. This one came from Germany and tried to sell me an Iphone 11...
Well that's interesting, I just got a spam phone call from Carphone Warehouse...I never get spam calls...
But STT has no access to your phone number, does it? This might be an incident.
No I'm probably overreacting on this but it's highly unusual for me to get anything but work calls. This one came from Germany and tried to sell me an Iphone 11...
Although correlation =/= causation, the timing is incredibly suspect.
And something that a safety course instructor once told me and the rest of our class multiple times comes to mind: we can always be safer. Now, that was in the context of avoiding slips/trips/falls, electrical issues, bloodborne pathogens, and the like in a workplace setting, of course, but there’s no reason it can’t apply to security of personal identifying information as well.
Well that's interesting, I just got a spam phone call from Carphone Warehouse...I never get spam calls...
You re aware, that many „spam phone operators/companies“ use random phone number generators and dial until they hit something? Doesn t mean ur number leaked anywhere, or did they know ur name or other personal data?
But STT has no access to your phone number, does it? This might be an incident.
Depending on your mobile network, your phone number can be forwarded as a value to websites if you navigate via your mobile, I've no idea with regard to apps though.
Why are some of the same exact offers (games) awarding different amounts of dilithium to different people?
Play the same game to the same level, but some people get a lot more dil for it.
That could be a research thing. "We got X people to pick this one at 500 dil, Y picked this other version at 800, no one picked this still other version even at 1000." Then you can see if your ads make any difference.
So, pull back, take a deep breath, pause and reflect. Like @Prime Lorca [10FH] said, we may not get the word from on high until later this week. Let’s be cool, y’all.
This is my first post, to be honest I never needed to come here before. I got a great Fleet ingame with awesome people and I really enjoy playing the game!!
Even though I literally never pay for games, I like Timelines so much that I do get the best deals offered at times. Its truly an awesome game in the Star Trek universe and certainly the best mobile game Ive ever played.
That being said, I want to sign a petition to remove the offer wall! Even though I was exited about it at first, the promotions are mostly scammy. The games promoted are often designed to require you to pay to get anywhere or play for really a lot of time. The surveys have already been discussed and the privacy situation is a catastrophe!
I find this offer wall a serious devaluation of this great game! Youre putting it up there with truly the most scammy smartphone games and offers out there.
@Shan - Not wishing to cause you any further personal grief on this matter, but this state of affairs is now not only worrying, it is also starting to anger.
Can you let us know please if there is an ETA on the deliberations of the Privacy team?
This is my first post, to be honest I never needed to come here before. I got a great Fleet ingame with awesome people and I really enjoy playing the game!!
Even though I literally never pay for games, I like Timelines so much that I do get the best deals offered at times. Its truly an awesome game in the Star Trek universe and certainly the best mobile game Ive ever played.
That being said, I want to sign a petition to remove the offer wall! Even though I was exited about it at first, the promotions are mostly scammy. The games promoted are often designed to require you to pay to get anywhere or play for really a lot of time. The surveys have already been discussed and the privacy situation is a catastrophe!
I find this offer wall a serious devaluation of this great game! Youre putting it up there with truly the most scammy smartphone games and offers out there.
I find myself in the exact same position. I’ve played daily since 2016 (I believe), invested a great deal of my time into this game. When life is life.. I know that this is one constant I can control.
However, the offer wall is something I feel I cannot (by playing the game) support. TP have introduced some cool features that the game needed. I understand the transition period was always going to be bumpy, with new things tried and shelved or kept based on feedback (or lack of monetary support). But this offer wall must be done away with.. it goes against the sense of safe community we have forged here.
The lost of Datacore and others (I applaud and whole heartedly support) could be just the beginning.
hi thanks for the reply, no adblockers on my phone. maybe im not looking in the correct place in the game but i checked all over the various sections and dont see any button for offer wall. i mean ive been reading some pretty bad things about it so now im curious what its all about.
i just rechecked the dilithium section and i dont see it
hi thanks for the reply, no adblockers on my phone. maybe im not looking in the correct place in the game but i checked all over the various sections and dont see any button for offer wall. i mean ive been reading some pretty bad things about it so now im curious what its all about.
i just rechecked the dilithium section and i dont see it
You're seriously better off waiting until TP make an official announcement about the Offer Wall but, if you're dying to try it out, the obvious question is if you have updated the game?
The Guardians of Tomorrow Protecting the Galaxy's Future from Itself
Fleet Admiral
Comments
Those walls terrify me. How do they know if you played this or that ? How much code is there only to slow your phone, drain your battery and send personal usage data to god know where in order to know if you managed lvl20 in some bad ripoff of a once popular game?
Please remove this ASAP, in the meantime, I'll refrain from watching ads and even if there is an offer for my favorite character, I'll pass.
These "offers" have a huge chance to sell personal information. I know I had bought ONE thing through an offer on a game and that email suddenly started getting TONS of spam. This is just awful. I'm assuming its administered through "tapjoy" or similar? Customer service is a joke. Once I decided that would be a spam account I started doing other offers. And very often they would ask for proof, and receipts weren't enough. They make you jump through so many hoops. And always use that same email on purchases...
Edit: yep. Just what I thought.
But those surveys...they need to be banned. Too many red flags to count. All of your complaints about these are definitely warranted.
On apple, we don't get install a game offers as that's a TOS issue with Apple. Soooo... this is not only unbalancing by country but also device.
That sounds really messed up...
I tried one survey. It took me something like 6 survey trys (3 anime ones in a row where I wasn't a good fit, you think you might know that from the first) before it took me through a LONG survey for 44 dil. That was a waste of 60 minutes for 44 dil. And every one of them took my demographic info. And dropped cookies on my device. For one reward.
This is really not the way. I just looked at my Apple account to see what I've spent on this game in the last 6 months. I'm averaging $far too much a month as it turns out. VIP 0 to VIP 13 in that 6 months...
That will become $0 with these offer walls.
I'm sure my $x a month means nothing. But every drop in that bucket...
Even worse, you can't easily check this in Apple devices. How predatory.
A you must be over 18 doesn't cut it in the EU, you cannot collect information from children under any circumstances.
If children use the pay wall and enter their details TP will be fined under EU laws, again you cannot collect information on children.
Kinda like the offer wall only allowing downloads of apps on android but not Apple...
Unfortunately the app ones aren't available on iOS.
There's some decent ones on android, I've earned over 7000 dil now by playing other games and I've spent maybe 10 bucks. The surveys are the only ones I've found sketchy.
But STT has no access to your phone number, does it? This might be an incident.
No I'm probably overreacting on this but it's highly unusual for me to get anything but work calls. This one came from Germany and tried to sell me an Iphone 11...
Although correlation =/= causation, the timing is incredibly suspect.
And something that a safety course instructor once told me and the rest of our class multiple times comes to mind: we can always be safer. Now, that was in the context of avoiding slips/trips/falls, electrical issues, bloodborne pathogens, and the like in a workplace setting, of course, but there’s no reason it can’t apply to security of personal identifying information as well.
You re aware, that many „spam phone operators/companies“ use random phone number generators and dial until they hit something? Doesn t mean ur number leaked anywhere, or did they know ur name or other personal data?
Depending on your mobile network, your phone number can be forwarded as a value to websites if you navigate via your mobile, I've no idea with regard to apps though.
Why are some of the same exact offers (games) awarding different amounts of dilithium to different people?
Play the same game to the same level, but some people get a lot more dil for it.
~· Fly with the Subspace Eddies! ·~
That could be a research thing. "We got X people to pick this one at 500 dil, Y picked this other version at 800, no one picked this still other version even at 1000." Then you can see if your ads make any difference.
That is awesome cool!!!!!!!
🖖🏿🖖🏽🖖🏼🖖🏻🖖
This is my first post, to be honest I never needed to come here before. I got a great Fleet ingame with awesome people and I really enjoy playing the game!!
Even though I literally never pay for games, I like Timelines so much that I do get the best deals offered at times. Its truly an awesome game in the Star Trek universe and certainly the best mobile game Ive ever played.
That being said, I want to sign a petition to remove the offer wall! Even though I was exited about it at first, the promotions are mostly scammy. The games promoted are often designed to require you to pay to get anywhere or play for really a lot of time. The surveys have already been discussed and the privacy situation is a catastrophe!
I find this offer wall a serious devaluation of this great game! Youre putting it up there with truly the most scammy smartphone games and offers out there.
Can you let us know please if there is an ETA on the deliberations of the Privacy team?
I find myself in the exact same position. I’ve played daily since 2016 (I believe), invested a great deal of my time into this game. When life is life.. I know that this is one constant I can control.
However, the offer wall is something I feel I cannot (by playing the game) support. TP have introduced some cool features that the game needed. I understand the transition period was always going to be bumpy, with new things tried and shelved or kept based on feedback (or lack of monetary support). But this offer wall must be done away with.. it goes against the sense of safe community we have forged here.
The lost of Datacore and others (I applaud and whole heartedly support) could be just the beginning.
Do you have an adblocker running on your device? That might be preventing the free dilithium button from showing up.
i just rechecked the dilithium section and i dont see it
You're seriously better off waiting until TP make an official announcement about the Offer Wall but, if you're dying to try it out, the obvious question is if you have updated the game?
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