@olddadgamer: I believe this might be a Japanese thing and possibly certain PAL regions. We see it as "X" from the English alphabet, they see it without a language association. It's just a shape, like the square, triangle and circle buttons.
If it's really just to collect player data for potential improvements to the game, why not make it an opt-in choice? Enough people would do it you still get your data and the game isn't broken for those who want/have to play offline.
@tbird7586: He's been the Don Mattrick of Sony from day one. He hasn't done that level of damage yet, but a similar output of incompetence and bad decisions.
I know I'm cynical, but my initial reaction is this is how they can justify making single player games always online. They know a large contingent of players hate it, but now they can horseshoe it in via this value-added "experience". Maybe it will actually be worthwhile, but I don't have any interest from what I've heard so far.
Hoogovens' comments