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Valve ban advertising-based business models on Steam, no forced adverts like in mobile games
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this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2025
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Related: https://timsh.org/tracking-myself-down-through-in-app-ads/
Unity games on mobile send your location to Unity servers every couple seconds through the Unity ad network.
Things you can do:
I just deny most mobile games the network permission, though obviously this doesn't work if you actually need any internet access (and I don't think all devices give you control over that permission)
I just don't play games that have ads (most of the games on my phone are from F-Droid).
I've had a hard time finding quality games in there. Outside of Shattered Pixel Dungeon they are few and far between. I still agree with your take though, because fuuuuck mainstream mobile games.
I made a rare dip into the play store recently and tried to just get the hill climb racing game or a similar one. I played them as web games years ago and liked them and wanted to play them again. All of them are so riddled with ad garbage they are unplayable. Even the lego one was stuffed with "buy gems or your progress is nonexistent" and other garbage tactics.
Every game I get in there is a disappointment. The Netflix games started out solid but I feel like they are going to change to more standard mobile junk eventually.
I can vouch for Luanti (formerly known as Minetest), Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection, and RetroArch.
Edit: added links
Right on, thanks for the direct links. I'll definitely try them out.
My pleasure.
You're not wrong. F-Droid would benefit greatly from having some sort of curated "best of" list, especially for games.
That said, here are some I think are reasonably quality:
F-Droid has Lato, which seems to be in the same genre. It's pretty polished in terms of having a nice graphical style and music, but IMO doesn't quite make the list above because the gameplay seems a little simplistic compared to e.g. Hill Climb Racing. Still, worth a shot if you're looking for that sort of game.
That's an excellent list, thanks for sharing all that. I'll be sure to check them out. I wish FDroid at least allowed some kind of user rating system to make this a little easier but I can understand some reasons to not include that function. If there's no rating system there's no raring abuse lol.
F-Drlid games definitely aren't always the greatest, but I have been recently having a lot of fun with Feudal Tactics.
Awesome, that's for the rec! I'll be sure to check it out.
I didn't see that permission when I looked for it
Probably custom ROM only
Yeah, I have the option on graphene