I just got my post deleted and had an argument with a moderator on the Paradox Interactive forums due to me mentioning that I might torrent another copy of Europa Universalis 3 : Heir to the Throne due to being unable to play it properly on Steam.
He told me that I wasn't allowed to talk about "pirating" on their forums, otherwise I'd get banned. I informed him that it was, in fact, not pirating and was a perfectly legal method as long as I had that license (the CD key).
Here's the message he sent me:-
There will be no discussion on this. The Paradox forum has a zero-tolerance policy regarding piracy, and any mentioning of torrenting a non-legal copy is forbidden.
You have bought the game via Steam, so your license ONLY applies to the Steam game you get via YOUR Steam launcher.
So, essentially, I've not bought a license, I've bought the ability for Steam to distribute this to me as long as their service chooses to. Now, this doesn't stand up, because I've read the Steam EULA and seen nothing of the sort in it. As soon as I have that CD key, I'm basically scot free.
The way I see it, this guys argument either fails in two ways:-
- Every time we buy something, we're buying a physical copy of it, even if that physical copy is on the Steam servers / our hard drive. This means that companies aren't defended by the copyright theft laws and pirating is ALWAYS legal.
- Every time we buy something, we're buying a license. That license allows us to access the product in whatever way we like. Software companies ARE defended by copyright theft laws, but torrenting something you own a license to isn't illegal.
EULA's never hold up in the court of law, anyway.
What do you guys think of this whole ridiculous mess?