What is BigBlueCup.com and why is the editor dialing home to it?

[-------]

Hi everyone and here is a complete newbie question.
I have just installed AGS Editor to run a trial and see what can be done with it.

In the time it took me to set it up, get the first screen up, start a dummy project and registering here to ask this question, the AGS Editor has tried to connect to port 80 on BigBlueCup.com about 10 times.

My firewall is freaking out and I am relentlessly paranoid about "ET Phone Home" applications, no matter how much Lucas Arts has to do with AGS.

I would like to know a) Why is the editor doing this stuff? b) How do I turn it off? and c) is it meant to submit something special to give you guys user feedback or so?

It seems a little bit to intrusive for my taste.
Fair use in all honor, but fair warning is also appreciated in return.

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to answer my own question and make it painfully apparent to anyone else having these concerns...

1) in the AGS editor, select FILE >> PREFERENCES

2) Locate the box saying "Usage statistics" and un-check (un-tick in the UK) the box.

3) click OK and you're set

[AdamM]

Why, adventuregamestudio.co.uk is the website you're currently visiting. The editor should have asked you about this when you installed it. It's collecting usage information; nothing personal, and it can be turned off if you don't want it. You can read all about it in the help files under the title 'Anonymous usage information'.

[-------]

Thanks Adam, I just filled in the blanks for other users.
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The help file also specifies...

When does it send this information?

The editor contacts the AGS website once a month and sends it these details.

Will games that I make contact the AGS website?

No, only the editor does this.

And in my book I would correct this with saying "until it finds the site or gets to the site it will try until your firewall has pinged enough to drive your def granny angry"



All in good fun.

[AdamM]

The 'blanks' being what you should do if you don't want to send this completely harmless usage information for the long-term benefit of all AGS users. Otherwise you could set your firewall to allow external connections from AGS.

[-------]

I know that Adam and I appreciate that information is most of the time harmless, however some of us developers are restricted from allowing connections to other than controlled or verified portals to our systems or we may find ourselves out of a job sooner than later.

Just thought it would be a good policy to add the note of this activity so one does not have to experience oddities that could raise warning flags later on. Especially since I just spent 24 hours in a row cleaning 40 GB data backups from viruses due to one simple error in a patch on the O/S.

[Calin Leafshade]

I think you're being wayyy too paranoid about anonymous usage stats.

They are fundamentally important when developing applications.. especially without the luxury of a testing team..

Valve collect hardware information from steam so they have a better idea of the hardware that is out there and how to best develop their games.

It doesn't hurt in any way, the install program asks you first and you can turn it off.

If for some reason you can't send that info to CJ then don't.

Also as a point of record.. Lucas Arts has *nothing* to do with AGS.

[-------]

Maybe so, but I feel a little introduction may be in place then.
I may be new to game dev interfaces and have a few interesting ideas on what to do with them in my normal work which involves security and time critical development for use of payment and shipping gateways.
I've done this for the past 15 years now. (so it was surely amusing to see the references on the signup page to "if you're over 16" *laughs)

Working in this field, if I was not parnaoid by choice, I would not get any clients.

As far as the Lucas Arts ref. perhaps I skimmed to fast through the 12 different game engines I have reviewed in the past three days.

As such I consider the matter closed.
Mileage may vary you know, and I will forever consider it good form to "inform the end user" prior to collecting data by automation no matter how much it may help my own interests.

[Khris]

Maybe so, but I feel a little introduction may be in place then.

To quote AdamM:

The editor should have asked you about this when you installed it.

And it does.