Using Zwift without sacrificing privacy
July 11, 2020 6:37 AM Subscribe
When I started registering the Zwift app, it very clearly stated it will share my name, location, age, gender, weight, height, and heartrate with other users riding the same virtual course. If you use Zwift, is there a way to opt out of this, other than lying?
I have always wanted an indoor bike that I could play games with. (Seriously, where is my bicycle controller for Mario Kart?) Zwift looks to be closest to this ideal, but their data policy is terrible. Are the gender options just male/female? Is the location field free text, allowing me to get away with, say, "Luxemburg"?
I have always wanted an indoor bike that I could play games with. (Seriously, where is my bicycle controller for Mario Kart?) Zwift looks to be closest to this ideal, but their data policy is terrible. Are the gender options just male/female? Is the location field free text, allowing me to get away with, say, "Luxemburg"?
Best answer: There is supposedly a way to make your profile page private so that your age, height, and past activities / current experience level is hidden, and so that people can't "fan mode" you. I've seen it on a very small number of riders (I have to click on a rider's profile page so I can give them a thumbs up, and it's not allowed on these private profiles).
That being said, I can't clearly find the settings for it and it doesn't seem to be a priority for Zwift, so I wouldn't count on it being well implemented or working for the long term.
posted by meowzilla at 12:46 PM on July 11, 2020
That being said, I can't clearly find the settings for it and it doesn't seem to be a priority for Zwift, so I wouldn't count on it being well implemented or working for the long term.
posted by meowzilla at 12:46 PM on July 11, 2020
Best answer: Fundamentally, the problem is that the data is in their hands once you sign up, and unless you live in a country with robust privacy guarantees (like EU-countries that fall under the GDPR), even if there's a way to opt-out now, you don't really have a guarantee that they'll respect that opt-out in the future, especially with a disclaimer like that. The only way that you have any guarantee of privacy at all is if you don't share (accurate) information with them in the first place.
posted by Aleyn at 11:11 AM on July 12, 2020
posted by Aleyn at 11:11 AM on July 12, 2020
Response by poster: Thanks for the detailed information! It's refreshing for a privacy warning to err on the side of being overcautious. Horrifying that a fitness company is using BMI for anything. Everyone gets a best answer!
posted by JawnBigboote at 5:28 PM on July 13, 2020
posted by JawnBigboote at 5:28 PM on July 13, 2020
Just to be clear, they're not using BMI for anything. They're using your height to calculate wind resistance and your weight for figuring out how many watts it takes to get you up a hill.
posted by bowbeacon at 12:33 PM on July 14, 2020
posted by bowbeacon at 12:33 PM on July 14, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
Your gender, weight, height, age and country flag will be shared in the Zwift world and be visible to fellow Zwifters.
It doesn't say location - it says "country flag" here. My profile does not have a location text field. The flag is prominently displayed next to your name in the game world. It's not enforced in any way. Lots of people have fake names. I don't see any reason to put my full name either.
The gender, weight and height are used to generate your avatar in Zwift. The avatars are not very diverse though: How Zwift Sizes Your Avatar’s Body. There's some effect on drafting/air resistance with height/weight but it's probably subtle.
The gender does have an additional effect as there are women-only rides and races. I don't think you can change your gender after account creation.
My Zwift profile has my age and height prominently displayed. There might be age-restricted rides or categories. I don't believe that age affects your speed.
Weight has an important effect on the game as it affects climbing speed. Heavier riders go up slower and go down faster, and have more air resistance. Racing categories are based on watts (power) divided by weight (kilograms), and anyone with too much time on their hands could go into "fan mode" (watch other rider) and calculate your weight. I don't believe it is prominently displayed in the game directly. Heart rate is also displayed while in fan mode. You can choose not connect a heart rate monitor to Zwift as it's not used for speed calculations.
Lying about your weight ("weight doping") is a thing in Zwift but it's generally mentioned in a cheating-the-racing-categories discussion, where changing your weight can allow you to race in a different category than you should be in or be faster on a hillier course. But it's only for racing. There is also ZwiftPower, which is an opt-in website that attempts to reduce cheating by introducing some additional measures and algorithms. It also prominently displays your weight and heart rate, but it's opt-in and only a minority of riders use it.
There are some sticklers on Zwift who will complain about accuracy and demand that everything you enter in your profile be accurate so that the game calculates your speed correctly. However, you'd have to be blatantly cheating for people to actually notice. There are people who are much, much stronger than the average Zwift rider both in real life and in the game so lying about your weight would not be all that noticeable.
posted by meowzilla at 9:03 AM on July 11, 2020