This is the backend of a usage statistics system for Neos VR.
- A tracked item is spawned in-game
- Logix on the item gathers various data (item name, item version, etc) and generates a URL for a tracking pixel
- The tracking pixel is loaded, sending a request to the statistics-collector server
- The statistics-collector server logs the request to a PostgreSQL database
| Field | Description | Why it is Collected |
|---|---|---|
| timestamp | Time the item was spawned | Core usage statistics data |
| item_name | Slot name of the spawned item | Core usage statistics data |
| item_id | Internal id of the item (intended to stay static even if the slot name changes) | Core usage statistics data |
| neos_version | Neos client version of whoever spawned the item | Tracking Neos bugs that affect statistics collection |
| world_url | Neos world url the item was spawned into | Removing spam caused by saving my items in worlds |
| client_major_version | Statistics client LogiX version | Tracking rollout of bugfixes in the client LogiX |
| client_minor_version | Statistics client LogiX version | Tracking rollout of bugfixes in the client LogiX |
| cache_nonce | Random number | Not recorded; used for cache busting |
After filtering out various types of bad data, the results of the statistics collector are usage percentage of my items over a rolling two-week window. Actual output from 2021-11-27:
| item | uses | usage percent |
|---|---|---|
| EyeFinder | 332 | 47.8386167146974063 |
| adDragon | 132 | 19.0201729106628242 |
| YeetTip | 62 | 8.9337175792507205 |
| ASMR Brush | 33 | 4.7550432276657061 |
| BootySetterTip | 26 | 3.7463976945244957 |
| Colliderless Gun | 25 | 3.6023054755043228 |
| 👺Tip | 23 | 3.3141210374639769 |
| Feetus Deletus | 23 | 3.3141210374639769 |
| MathGun | 22 | 3.1700288184438040 |
| Performance Graph | 7 | 1.0086455331412104 |
| The chosen perspective | 3 | 0.43227665706051873199 |
| Shitty Laser Pointer | 2 | 0.28818443804034582133 |
| AllocatingUserTip | 1 | 0.14409221902017291066 |
| ColliderFlashTip | 1 | 0.14409221902017291066 |
| ad2dGirl | 1 | 0.14409221902017291066 |
| Hammer of Deactivation | 1 | 0.14409221902017291066 |
Things that surprised me:
- People use my performance graph way less than I expected. Probably not worth working on my planned improvements if no one's using it.
- People use my stupid meme advertisements way more than I expected. At least it was a high-effort shitpost.
- EyeFinder took about 10 minutes to make and is my most-used item, easily beating items I spent hours of dev time on.
I'm runtime in-game. U-runtime if you need my user id. I make tools and stuff. If you want to talk to me about this hit me up in-game, on discord, via email, whatever.
I receive almost no in-game feedback about my creations. The idea is that by gathering usage statistics for the various tools I maintain I can better direct my efforts towards the tools people are actually using.
That's not a question, but sorry I guess? You realize that pretty much anything you touch on the internet is going to have some form of usage statistics? As far as statistics go "item X was spawned at Y time" is pretty light.
No. As per Frooxius in Neos Issue #883 this is not a bug: it is working as intended. Also, this behavior has been known for more than a year, so it's not as if I'm sneaking this in before the ramifications have had time to be fully understood.
No. Neos's Privacy Policy shrugs community content privacy issues off onto the content creators. So here's a generic copy/pasted privacy policy for this application. Enjoy.
No. As of 2021-11-27 Neos's guidelines only restrict tracking users. This application tracks items, not users, and is therefore not covered.
Could this be used to join hidden sessions?
No. The current version does not collect session IDs.