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[Orb]

Sees Steam Anger Thread and jumps right on in

-Rant-

Well, that was fun. Anyway, I know that as of 6-ish months ago, when I had dial-up, you can not play a game in offline mode unless its fully updated. Which is completely ridiculous. But eh. It might have changed since then. It probably hasn't.

But yes, if all you're games are updated, you can play Steam in offline mode and won't have to bother connecting to Steam.

However, if you have to register a new game, you have to put Steam back in online, and download all those patches...eh.

[DrKillPatient]

Since getting into GNU/Linux and the free software and open-source community I've completely shunned DRM and proprietary components in general. I now run a nearly fully free setup on my desktop, with the exception of DF and a few other independently developed but nonfree programs. The gain in freedom and flexibility is huge in comparison to the loss of some proprietary components. I can transfer every bit of my data-- even my whole OS-- from one computer to another, and the only things I have to worry about is hardware compatibility and hard disk space. I often get in over my head with the technical aspects, though, since I'm not used to having so much control. I figure it's a good learning experience regardless.

...I wonder whether a product would make more money with or without DRM. I'd say without, since DRM'd products get cracked almost instantly anyway (negating the scenario of "I can't get it illegally, so I'll just buy it"), and many people I know would not buy a product or would get it illegally if it has DRM.

[ECrownofFire]

There was an indie game that had around a 90% piracy rate. When they implemented a few basic anti-piracy measures, they gained around 1 sale per 10000 pirates (the other 9999 either quit playing or switched to a different method for pirating it).

[Pnx]

I think the big reason they like to force you to use Steam to download a game when you've bought a CD is because that way the CD key only works once, and you can't buy a used copy.
Used copies are of course lost money for a publisher, and frankly I'd rather people pirated games than buy used copies.

[DrKillPatient]

I think the big reason they like to force you to use Steam to download a game when you've bought a CD is because that way the CD key only works once, and you can't buy a used copy.
Used copies are of course lost money for a publisher, and frankly I'd rather people pirated games than buy used copies.

Must be something along those lines. If removing DRM is profitable because it actually decreases illegal downloads, it would be gone completely in the interest in profit.

[ECrownofFire]

I think the big reason they like to force you to use Steam to download a game when you've bought a CD is because that way the CD key only works once, and you can't buy a used copy.
Used copies are of course lost money for a publisher, and frankly I'd rather people pirated games than buy used copies.

Must be something along those lines. If removing DRM is profitable because it actually decreases illegal downloads, it would be gone completely in the interest in profit.

I'm refusing to try or pirate any game with stupid DRM... (Not that I'd pirate any game in the first place, but it's the thought that counts)

Unfortunately, this means I miss out on SC2, D3, and others. But fuck Blizzard anyway. They were only a good company up until they decided WoW was at all a good idea.

[Bohandas]

I too have almost completely washed my hands of mainstream computer games. Screw them, I don't need them anyway, you can get plenty of perfectly good independently made games for free legally, (and you can get plenty more for under a couple of dollars dollars each). Today's mediocrity is yesterday's marvel; a lot of the games on Kongregate, Armor, and Newgrounds today are more sophisticated than games that would've cost forty or fifty dollars a decade or so ago, so why pay when you can wait?

[penguinofhonor]

I'm getting annoyed at how surprisingly glitchy steam is being with its DRM - my Sonic Generations game has just stopped working, giving the "this game not available" error. And when I try to get into offline mode, it says I can't because it can't connect to the server. Duh. That's why I wanted to enter offline mode.

This is probably going to convince me to get a hard copy of Skyrim instead of getting it on Steam. Basically, I'm on my way to becoming a stodgy no-mainstream-games dude like the guys above me.

[ECrownofFire]

I'm getting annoyed at how surprisingly glitchy steam is being with its DRM - my Sonic Generations game has just stopped working, giving the "this game not available" error. And when I try to get into offline mode, it says I can't because it can't connect to the server. Duh. That's why I wanted to enter offline mode.

This is probably going to convince me to get a hard copy of Skyrim instead of getting it on Steam. Basically, I'm on my way to becoming a stodgy no-mainstream-games dude like the guys above me.

Skyrim requires Steam though. It's basically either console or Steam. And the lesser of those two evils is definitely Steam.

And I never said no mainstream games, I said no stupid DRM. Steam isn't really stupid DRM. Signing in to verify my games every once in a while is fine by me. It's the always-online shit that's really dumb.

[Putnam]

You do know that you don't need Steam running to run Skyrim, right?

You can just double-click the EXE and it will run regardless of Steam's approval.

[ECrownofFire]

You do know that you don't need Steam running to run Skyrim, right?

You can just double-click the EXE and it will run regardless of Steam's approval.

It's the same thing with most games on Steam, actually.

[Putnam]

You do know that you don't need Steam running to run Skyrim, right?

You can just double-click the EXE and it will run regardless of Steam's approval.

It's the same thing with most games on Steam, actually.

New Vegas certainly doesn't allow it, oddly enough.

[penguinofhonor]

... where does one go about finding the exe files for their steam games? They're well hidden.

[Sensei]

Interesting, since Skyrim certainly forces you to use steam to install it.

At any rate, why obfuscate like that? I'm pretty confident that a lot of piracy deterrent is just obfuscation- there will always be a cracked torrent somewhere, but it's a lot more bothersome to use a torrent than just copying that floppy. But in the case of paying customers, sometimes just running the game can be an annoyance.

Of course, alternatively, publishers are just myopic and actually don't realize how easy it is to torrent something. It is, of course, really tough to say.

I do like resale, though. Or at least I don't like anti-resale measures. With every other medium (books/movies/whatever) you can lend something to your friend, or resell it. I think that limiting that in games kind of puts the medium at a disadvantage to other mediums. What's especially weird is when you have a frontend/DRM that's mean to have only one person playing a game, but a game that's clearly designed to have save files for multiple different people.

See also: Lack of 4-player one-unit games (for consoles, of course). Someone with a say in game development seems to think that taking this feature out will sell more copies and better online multiplayer, but games that do feature it seem to be best sellers.

[justinlee999]

Our only solution is to hope that gog.com can secure more new titles and still stay to its strict no DRM scheme.
In the meantime, update Steam whenever it has an update, as well as game updates, you can then play Steam games while offline, but really, Steam should be able to do better than that.

Or you can just cut all the crap and torrent the game, and if it is good, buy it on a digital retailer and continue using the cracked copy.

But most people wouldn't bother buying and just play the cracked version for free, so what the hell.

Also simple DRM wouldn't hurt, hilarious ones are even better, but any DRM that requires you to be online when you don't actually need to is automatically bad.

For example, if you decide to play multiplayer in a game, the game detects whether you have a legit CD key, and the server could have another wall of detection that detects if you have a legit CD key, assuming that the owner of the server doesn't want pirates playing on his server.