-79
This is half the fucking interweb, right now. JESUS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GIVE THEM YOUR REAL EMAIL ADDRESS. Fucking calm down.
(lemmynsfw.com)
Yes, I realize how much hate I will get for this. I don't give a shit. Seethe away, kids.
The simple reality of the situation is it was a business decision by Sony. They saw this groundswell of potential players to add to their huge database of people to market to, and said "we're getting those email addresses". If I had to venture a guess, the higher-ups at Arrowhead are probably livid and pushed back. They get zero out of this change and they have to deal with the fallout. It's likely part of the publishing agreement.
That said Sony knew this would happen, if probably not to this degree. Maybe they post a solemn jpeg talking about how they "fell short of expectations". Being Sony it's likely that they just ignore the backlash. Their projections say they'll make more money with all that new data than they'll lose on some half-hearted boycott. Gamers are notoriously horrid at sticking to that shit. And you know what? That next battle pass is gonna sell just fine even if the vocal folks don't buy it.
Yes, it sucks and it's reasonable to be annoyed. Yes, many loud people on the internet are acting like a helldiver kicked down their door and demanded a kidney. Yes, only one party gains from this and it's Sony. These things aren't mutually exclusive. No need for argument imo.
See, this is the salient point, right here.
The correct response to this action is "LOL, sure. You can have my protonmail account that I only use to sign up for free shit, anyway."
Checkmate. Internet 1, Sony 0.
But instead, we get all this shit-flinging, foot-stomping, childish nonsense.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, signing up for all the shit they ask us to sign up for, in an ORGANIZED WAY, could actually change the whole situation, for the better. Here's the plan that should be enacted:
Nobody gets screeching mad. Angry people behave predictably.
Everyone reminds each other to ONLY USE THROWAWAY ADDRESSES TO SIGN UP FOR CORPORATE SHIT.
Everyone reminds each other to NEVER ENGAGE WITH ANY MAILING LISTS OR OTHER BULLSHIT THAT YOU GET, ON ANY OF THOSE THROWAWAY ADDRESSES.
Stick to that shit, for EVERYTHING. Don't try and stop people from asking for your stupid throwaway email. Don't threaten anybody with boycotting. Just continue giving out the completely worthless email addresses.
Sooner or later, it becomes apparent that the majority of email addresses that are being collected in this manner are basically worthless.
Consequently, the value of these email addresses plummets, both as a tradeable commodity and as a means of mining further data.
Corporations slowly stop trying to track people via email.