Don't claim it is a free trojan
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
69 points (70.2% liked)
Games
39217 readers
1736 users here now
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Authorized Regular Threads
Related communities
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
- !gaming@Lemmy.world: Our sister community, focused on PC and console gaming. Meme are allowed.
- !photomode@feddit.uk: For all your screenshots needs, to share your love for games graphics.
- !vgmusic@lemmy.world: A community to share your love for video games music
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
- !AutomationGames@lemmy.zip
- !Incremental_Games@incremental.social
- !LifeSimulation@lemmy.world
- !CityBuilders@sh.itjust.works
- !CozyGames@Lemmy.world
- !CRPG@lemmy.world
- !OtomeGames@ani.social
- !Shmups@lemmus.org
- !VisualNovels@ani.social
By games
- !Baldurs_Gate_3@lemmy.world
- !Cities_Skylines@lemmy.world
- !CassetteBeasts@Lemmy.world
- !Fallout@lemmy.world
- !FinalFantasyXIV@lemmy.world
- !Minecraft@Lemmy.world
- !NoMansSky@lemmy.world
- !Palia@Lemmy.world
- !Pokemon@lemm.ee
- !Skyrim@lemmy.world
- !StardewValley@lemm.ee
- !Subnautica2@Lemmy.world
- !WorkersAndResources@lemmy.world
Language specific
- !JeuxVideo@jlai.lu: French
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
We should have the Lenny version of a subreddit where we just post what games are free this week
We have one
What's it called
Signing up for revolution
It also requires root level access and is listed as such in their TOS.
People seem to not understand how TOS works. The game exe does not request admin permissions at all. There is no kernel level anticheat. It does not install Battleye or EAC or anything of the sort.
The TOS is not specific to this game. It just means there is at least one game by Take Two Interactive that requires this (though when I skimmed through I couldn’t find mention of it).
The game has not been updated since 2022 and I highly doubt it will get any more.
How do terms of service give them root level access?
EDIT: For the record, I've been playing through this whole series in the middle of when they rolled out these EULA changes, and I wish them the best of luck in getting root access to my machine, but I promise you they didn't get it via Proton.
It doesn’t, installing the game does. The terms of service just let you know that you are willfully infecting your computer with spyware.
Then I suppose the loophole is to play on Linux.
Not in general. Typically, games with kernel level drm or anticheat just didn't work at all.
Borderlands 2 specifically has a native Linux version though, and it may or may not abuse this fact. It isn't run in a sandbox-like environment like Windows games that run through proton, but according to protondb it does run through proton? In any case yes, it's probably better than running it on Windows.
Edit: looks like running through proton is recommended, as saves aren't interchangeable (wtf?) and at least some dlc just doesn't work with native version (wtf do).
Are you running it as root for some reason? Cause if you are not running it as root, it doesn't have root access, absent some kind of major security flaw in Linux.
No of course not, but if it's run under proton/wine it doesn't even have access to any normal files. When it's run natively it does (documents and all that). I'm not saying it's doing anything with this, or even that it would make sense.
Yes, support for Borderlands 2 continued long after it was clear that Steam Machines weren't taking off, which means it's on a newer version than the Linux native one that Aspyr ported. You can still run the Linux native version, but if you want to play with your Windows friends or just get access to all the DLC, you need to run it through Proton.
I wouldn't even give them the storage space tbh...just makes other people think it's ok because they can claim 'big yuge numbers of players'
It's Borderlands. They already had that claim. I don't feel good about it, but they made this change after I'd already started this trek. It's one more data point that gets me closer to only buying games on GOG, but I'm not all the way there yet. It's definitely nefarious that it's all good and legal to change the terms of the thing you bought after it's already been sold to you. However, I also don't see any evidence yet that it's actually getting root level access to your Windows machine other than someone's summary in a review, which is not exactly direct from the source.
By indicating that root access is required to play the game, and that you agree to this by agreeing to the TOS. Without agreeing, you can't play the game.
The TOS doesn't give the game executable magical powers to do things it wasn't written to do.
I don't mean to be disrespectful when I say this, but I can agree that gravity pulls things up instead of down and it won't make it so. I just skimmed through the EULA and didn't find anywhere that it said it needed root level access (though maybe I missed it), nor did the executable take any action to try to do so.
I'm not seeing anything about that level of access either. Only time I'd see a game need root level access is if it had anti-cheat but I'm not seeing any anti-cheat services mentioned anywhere.
Add it while it's free, worry about root later. :)
I'm going to try it on my Steam Deck, I just naturally assume they already have root access.
Be warned, these games have turned into literal spyware. Installing them gives 2K/Gearbox root access to your computer and collects a ridiculous amount of info.
But can they if you are using Linux to run it?
Technically, yes. WINE/Proton aren't sandboxed so it would be possible to pull some information at least. I've heard people install the flatpak version of Steam to isolate network calls using flatseal, so that's one workaround potentially.
NOTE: I'm just talking about generic data collection. The DRM/anti-cheat stuff could flag you as using Linux and then the game just refuses to run. I know the new ToS talked about banning VMs so maybe they lump linux users into that (at least for online play).
Even on MacOS?
Yes everyone go and claim your free spyware so whiny bitchford can data mine your PC.
Out of the loop. What did gearbox do that time?
The reason its free is because they added a data miner with root level access.
The game executables haven't changed. All they did was add a generic TOS. That doesn't magically give the game the capability to get kernel level access.
You are forced to agree if you want to play it, this is how shady companies operate. Now that you have agreed to it there is nothing stopping them from adding it in an"update".
If you think a shady ass company like epic wouldnt do that you are very naive.
So you agree that saying "they added a data miner with root level access" was a false statement?
I agree youre a pedantic
Good thing 🏴☠️'d copies exist of before the malware.
But how do you play with friends again
Hitachi
But wait, does it even work anymore?