this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Privacy

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There is no question over the last 10 years the quality and production level of Chinese developed games has seem to sky rocket. Many of these games even being free to play. But honestly I haven’t played a single one. For the same reasons I refused to download TikTok.

China is a well known surveillance state. I worry downloading and playing these games especially on a PC or mobile phone would just be a huge privacy risk.

Am I being to paranoid ? Are there some regulations I’m not aware of that might protect me anyway ?

I feel like I’m missing out on some really high quality visually striking games because of it

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[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 hour ago

Do you not trust American made games?

[–] BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 4 points 40 minutes ago

I should not say crazy so much as racist. The idea of a westerner calling China a "well known surveillance state" without irony is farcical. What exactly are you worried will happen?

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 3 points 30 minutes ago
[–] _lunar@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 0 points 57 minutes ago

But not just China...

[–] dwt@feddit.org 4 points 1 hour ago

I would say you are not paranoid, but the reasons you have equally apply to non Chinese Games and social networks.

So to be consistent, either not play Games and get off of social networks, or do it.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

China isn't any more of a surveillance state than the US and Europe already. Why would a Chinese game be any worse than the ways you're spied on by people that can actually do something with your data? Wherever you live, assuming it isn't China, your data is already being collected by people far more capable of doing something about it if they found something they didn't like, and far more interested in doing so.

Let's face it, the CPC almost certainly doesn't care about you, and it would be better for the PRC to have your data than your local government and corporations, that do care far more about you. I don't see why fearing a developing socialist state so much makes any sense.

[–] AlHouthi4President@lemmy.ml 5 points 33 minutes ago

My question for the yankees who worry about "Chinese technology spying" on them: Can the CPC send death squads to your house?

[–] Marasenna@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I hate liberals so much it's unreal.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Im not meant to harbor hatred in my heart, but here we are living in the hater multiverse. When in Rome...

[–] redrumBot@lemmy.ml 31 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Am I being to paranoid ?

No, you are not enough paranoid if you don't have the same or worse concerns about games developed in western countries. e.g. five eyes alliance.

[–] arcterus@piefed.blahaj.zone -5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think this is true for all games that access the internet. However, it seems an especially large number of Chinese games that make it to the West require an internet connection to function. Sometimes it makes sense (multiplayer mechanics, gacha, etc.), sometimes it doesn't at all (some relatively popular single-player RPGs with no online play require a connection just to make a save file, for example).

This is just to say I understand people being concerned if all they see are these Chinese online-required games everywhere when they can also find some random completely offline game made in America, Europe, Japan, etc. just as easily (or even a game with an optional online mode that can be disabled without the game breaking).

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 hours ago

Western games do this tol, though, even where it doesn't make sense to. It isn't a China specific thing, and China has less of an ability to do anything malicious with that data than your local governments and corpos.

[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 5 hours ago

China isn't going to spy on you any more than American games. Not saying they won't, but like, you have a phone? That's more of a privacy issue by itself than almost any game you could play.

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 hours ago

It's crazy to trust any closed source software.

[–] asdasd201@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Are you also concerned over the Western states surveilling you from the games?

[–] Lenins_Dumbbell@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I have a feeling this person has never considered doubting Western countries. Whether they know it or not, it's the result of Western exceptionalism. The average Westerner believes their countries and institutions exist for good, and their enemies are inherently evil

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 hours ago

The efficient propaganda, when the lambs can't even say they were fed with it their entire lives

[–] GasMaskedLunatic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

The Chinese government should be no more a concern for privacy than any other government. The only one worse than any other for you specifically is the one in which you reside, which would be able to make the best use of that data. The only exception is if you're a dissident or target of a foreign country.

Security and economic contribution are a different beast.

[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Worse for an western gamer that big western companies logs their data, than that China do it, in China nobody gives a fuck of personal data from western users. Different for Chinese gamers.

[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 30 points 8 hours ago

There's always the risk of spying if a game requires an internet connection, no matter who published it, but unless you plan to be in China later on, there's not much that Chinese companies (or authorities, if that is of concern) can do with the data collected on you.

I suppose some company could sell that data back to a US firm in a roundabout way. Anyway, take what I say with a grain of salt since I've hardly played or looked into any games requiring an internet connection.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 5 hours ago

Crazy to game on anything you trust with important data in general. Same for internet browsing-in-general though. Good Luck.

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 13 points 7 hours ago

Yes you are crazy. China doesn't give a shit about you, if they really want your data they can just buy it from your government or one of the many corporations that are all verifiably spying on you and selling your data.

[–] redparadise@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 8 hours ago

Um no, any propreitary game with an internet connection and privileged access to your computer can and will spy on you, your goal should be sandboxing, limiting permissions and information access and using a zero trust policy.

What country a proprietary application is from doesn't matter, any private company can and will spy on you for profits, be it Chinese or American, even better if the courts are corrupt and run on cash.

The US can just as easily launch a centralized surveillance campaign, and likely does through the NSA, do not trust any proprietary application just because it's from a "civilized" or "developed" country, they are but the same as long as they are chasing profits.

[–] Aria@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 7 hours ago

Steam used to upload your whole resolver cache to Valve (So they could sidestep things not showing up in history when you use private-browsing). And they're mandated to share everything they have on you with the NSA. So if you're coming at this from a "I'll trust Steam but not Wukong" angle, then yes, you are unreasonable. If you're coming at this from a "All these private Chinese companies have insane privacy policies and send me hundreds of cookies, I'm not trusting anyone they work with!" angle then that's completely reasonable. Closed source software is never safe, and capitalism doesn't reward treating your customers well.

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 9 points 8 hours ago

I remember when tiktok was being advertised as something to fill the vine vacuum and it looked cringe as hell and just obvious spyware and I thought there's no way anyone would install that.

Here we are.

Also it's hilarious that Microsoft were finally on a winner with vine and they just scrapped it.

[–] chelly__1@lemmychan.org -3 points 3 hours ago

Yes. They're state-sponsored propaganda, but unless you can identify legitimate security risks, you're just operating on "feelings."

[–] unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth -5 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

Honestly, this is probably not the best instance to ask this question on. It is well known for downplaying or outright denying anything negative the Chinese government does. If I were you I would ask elsewhere if you want more nuanced answers.

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 1 points 19 minutes ago

Anything's possible when you make shit up

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I disagree pretty heavily with this, you're more likely to see invented fantasy on other instances and more nuanced reality on Lemmy.ml when it comes to China.

[–] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip -3 points 2 hours ago (3 children)
[–] BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 2 points 37 minutes ago

Ah yes, very nuanced

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 hours ago

I don't see how that's funny

[–] gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] arcterus@piefed.blahaj.zone -2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

This is kind of proving his point tbh.

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 1 points 17 minutes ago

Go ahead and try explaining how, I could use a laugh

[–] m532@lemmy.ml -3 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Paranoid? No. Racist.

If you were really paranoid, you'd trust no games, regardless of origin country.

I don't know what led you to believe this person is racist, but this is a massive leap in logic. There are plenty of reasons a person could be wary of the Chinese government that don't involve them hating the race of its people. Please be more considerate in the future.

[–] dabu@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Chinese government uses all tools at its disposal to broaden their range of influence in tech, including tracking and monitoring. Avoiding products backed by chinese government doesn't make one racist, the same as avoiding products with NSA influence doesn't make one anti-american.

[–] BrainInABox@lemmy.ml 2 points 35 minutes ago

Only avoiding Chinese products while giving NSA ones a parse does make them racist though

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml -2 points 7 hours ago