Hi everyone, so i have a few questions to this because I am stressed out over this. I see many people asked similar things but they dont answer all my questions. I have already debloated my pc and got rid of much spyware as I can. I also use a firewall to block spyware but have no vpn.
Should I use a vpn? I heard of many cases where people got doxxed by some toxic players and it was actually really easy for them to do it. And also, some like steam wont even let you make an account with a vpn, is there any way to bypass this?
I already know what emails to use but do i need to use aliases? I dont know if it really matters since the email is just for gaming accounts anyway.
Many launchers like steam and epic have tons of data collection, would using a seperate user account on my pc help this so it cant collect anything from my personal user accounts?
What about voice chat should I just avoid it at all costs? I dont mind not using it but i would really like to sometimes bc people use it more than chatting. Would using a voice changer help?
i really appreciate some help on this, i sound a bit paranoid. thanks for any help and sorry for my bad grammar was in a rush
A VPN isn’t usually necessary while gaming. Much of the time, other teammates don’t have access to your IP, and in the cases where they do, it’s going to show your approximate (not exact) location. In my case, it pinpoints an area in a city, but not the exact address. In one case, I had my IP tell me I was in a different state.
Aliases can help with data that shady game companies sell so they build less of a profile on you. From what I know, epic games and steam don’t really publish email addresses, so it isn’t really going to get you doxxed. If you are paranoid, consider having an email address that is not linked to a phone number for your gaming account (they could get part of your phone number using “recovery methods”)
A separate user account could help keep the gaming spyware away from the rest of your stuff, but it might be inconvenient if you want to use something like discord.
I don’t think voice chat is going to get you doxxed, but if it doesn’t make a difference to you, don’t use it.
In general, if you don’t want to risk being doxxed, try not to provide any personal information (aside from your IP which is hard to avoid). That means no phone numbers or credit cards. That way, even if you are hacked, they’re unlikely to get your real name and address from a gaming account alone.
Other security advice is also assumed (stuff like don’t click on sussy links, don’t install weird zip files from the internet, check file extensions before you run the file)
I’ve answered this to the best of my ability with the answers that you provided.
I think the best advice is to compartmentalize. You could either dual boot or only use your gaming computer for gaming. The end goal is to have an isolated space where no other use besides gaming is mixed in. This is why I’m personally a fan of consoles as it helps me compartmentalize my gaming.