Data Backup Digest

Retro video games are booming as of late. From vintage cartridges to brand new, retro-style products, there’s just something fascinating about those 8-bit graphics that have kept players coming back for decades. What nobody ever could have expected, however, is that Twitter would develop their own retro-inspired video game.

Twitter Has a Video Game?

Before you get too excited, this isn’t exactly the next AAA title. As mentioned, Twitter’s new game is in the 8-bit style of the games of yesteryear. However, there’s a bit more than meets the eye.

Entitled “Twitter Data Dash,” the game puts you in control of a dog named Data as you navigate through various levels that are filled with elements from the Twitterverse – including annoying direct messages, advertisements, trolls, and more. If you haven’t guess by now, the game is truly poking fun at the overall Twitter experience.

But there’s another reason behind the development of Twitter Data Dash, too. Its primary purpose, according to developers, is to summarize Twitter’s privacy policy in a fun and exciting way. Unfortunately, according to critics, the game totally misses the mark.

Not only is the game buggy, but it can be downright confusing in some instances. For example, the first level challenges you to avoid all of the cat-based advertisements in your way. But it’s unclear how this is supposed to reinforce anything within Twitter’s privacy policy.

It also misleads players about some of Twitter’s data collection policies. If you manage to work your way past one of the many cat-based advertisements, as mentioned in our earlier example, it gives the appearance that the ad is gone for good. In reality, bypassing an ad on Twitter’s messaging platform doesn’t mean that the ad is gone. In most cases, it’s still collecting data as it runs in the background.

The controls of the game are also a bit confusing. Since the jump button is currently mapped to the Up key on your keyboard, it can be a bit tricky to control your character. Moreover, the controls feel too loose – making it difficult to control Data the dog with any amount of precision.

Moving to the second level, a water level, and Data the dog is tasked with swimming through a literal sea of DMs. Again, this is misleading since it really has nothing to do with protecting your data. While it shows you how to block and filter certain DMs from ever reaching your inbox, it does very little in the way of securing your personal data on their site.

While there are a plethora of early complaints regarding Twitter Data Dash, it’s ultimately meant to be a fun and lighthearted experience; and it definitely succeeds in that. There’s no indication as to whether or not the development team at Twitter will try to fix the bugs and improve the user experience or even if they’re working on a sequel. However, for those who want to peruse Twitter’s new privacy policy, this is probably the most entertaining way to do it.