I'm wondering what the current thinking is on shareware programs that automatically connect back to a server.

In particular I would like my program to connect back every time the program is launched. The program would send the version being used and the license key being used. I would of course not send any of the users personal information that they have entered into the program.

At the moment my license scheme is very weak and I would like to know how much this is hurting my sales. I'm also just curious to see how many people actually use the program.

This seems reasonable to me, but maybe some people would not agree. So is anyone else doing this kind of thing? Where do you inform the user about it? Should the user be able to opt out?

Thanks,
Jesse

Blizzard Entertainment came under major fire when it was discovered that they made their games anonymously report system specs of the computers they were running on. From then on, they put a check box into their patch installers which lets the user opt out of this (which I guess means that you have to download a patch before they'll try to get your system specs). Anyway, I personally don't mind them getting my system specs but some people apparently do.

If you want to do something similar you have to make sure you let the user know about this, and let them opt out of it if they want to. The way Blizzard justifies it is by saying something along the lines of "knowing our users' system specs helps us make a better game with more accurate system spec targeting" which was enough for me to allow them getting my specs, especially since they're 100% anonymous.

My first thought is that modem users wouldn´t like to connect to the internet just because they want to use your program.

This is probably what every program will do in the future, but as things are know, I don´t think that I would buy a program like that, it would have to be an outstanding program. Maybe it´s just me who is a bit paranoid...

But during installation i guess that it would be okay to let the server verify the serial being used and maybe even let it create a unique keyfile for that machine (preferably with something like RSA encryption so that the client just have one key, which means that crackers can´t create a key-file-generator, not in a simple way...)

That way you have a simple way to ban a serial on the server and people can´t copy the game to their friend (because of the keyfile).

You better tell the customer that (s)he will need an internet connection during setup or have an alternative way.

I think that this approach could be acceptable from the customer point of view, but I might be wrong.
Perhaps it´s better to not use a keyfile in the beginning and see what reactions you get on the server-verify-part.

make sure that you are *very* clear about any sort of connecting-back info. Not just buried somewhere in an EULA, but can't-miss-it-clear. otherwise you will get the flak campaign from hell when someone notices and posts what a jerk you are all over slashdot. :)

as an end-user... I would be uncomfortable with the program reporting back on my usage, yes. of course, my other half is enough of an irritable geek that he'd probably try to trace what server it was connecting to and simply block our connection to that server. Don't ask for more details. :) now, if you could find a way to spin it into something that is positive for the *consumer* - and no, 'preventing piracy' is not enough reason to be positive to the consumer, that's slang for 'annoying the heck out of me and trying to prevent me from using something I've paid for' in many people's opinions - you might have a better chance.

Not sure what incentive you could offer that they wouldn't expect to already get from having paid for a copy. Online play, obviously. Access to special help files / cheat codes?

From the developer side I can definitely see wanting to get your hands on as many usage statistics as possible, but that doesn't prevent me from being unhappy about a program 'spying' on me.

If no internet connection was active then I would just silently skip this ping back to the server. So the program will still work fine with no network connection and it won't start-up your modem unless it's already active.

I'm more interested in percived privacy issues. And in what other people are doing.

Thanks,
Jesse

Just include an auto-patching program and say if they want to get the updates automatically they have to be connected to the internet and give them the opt-out checkbox for whatever information you want from them.

I have been planning an auto-update feature for the game. You could then alternatively put it in automatical mode or manual mode. When updating the full version the registeration information would be included, and maybe some machine specs for statistics. I plan on jumping up a big dialog box telling of the alternatives when the program starts.

In general I think most users (including me) are quite happy with autoupdating or similar features. If the autoupdate collects some explicitly named information I don't really have a problem with it. But I think the idea here is to embed the statistics in an otherwise useful service (autoupdating).

I plan on using SOAP for the library, possibly gsoap as underlying library.