since there is no true offline mode ....

[Haqqon]

let's fast forward few years in the future and the game isn't supported anymore and they decide to close servers
what would become of the game in my library ?
i don't want to buy a live service game just so i can't access it later on when i want

[ElDouillo]

If they close the servers, they'll manage to make the game available offline.
But don't worry too much about that, this is not about to happen any time soon.

[Honey Badger]

:salt:

[Cpt BaseballBatBoy™]

Originally posted by ElDouillo:

If they close the servers, they'll manage to make the game available offline.
But don't worry too much about that, this is not about to happen any time soon.

source ? trust me mate

[lynks]

Originally posted by ElDouillo:

If they close the servers, they'll manage to make the game available offline.
But don't worry too much about that, this is not about to happen any time soon.

Mhm. Sure. Tell that to Avengers please.

[Haqqon]

yeah since there is no stated intention of any offline mode plans
it's a hard pass to me
there are hundreds of games on steam i can buy and enjoy and not worry about online servers to access the game

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Yeah, they can decide to close the servers in a year or in a month and your purchase is undone.

Best we can do is not buy it and not support it

[Mapo Doufu]

What happens when steam shuts down? We lost that fight 20 years ago

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by koren:

What happens when steam shuts down? We lost that fight 20 years ago

Then you can still play any game that you have downloaded, that didn't use third-party DRM or always-online

[Mapo Doufu]

Originally posted by Seal of Approval:

Originally posted by koren:

What happens when steam shuts down? We lost that fight 20 years ago

Then you can still play any game that you have downloaded, that didn't use third-party DRM or always-online

Do you install all the games you bought? Also there is DRM, you cannot copy the games for example. If you re-install your PC or if there is a new architecture making the x64 obsolete you will lose access to your games (like if Steam shat down before 64 bits became the norm and made a 64 bits client)

We fighted for it before, just like the drop of physical support for games for the digital only, and its the norm now

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by koren:

Originally posted by Seal of Approval:

Then you can still play any game that you have downloaded, that didn't use third-party DRM or always-online

Do you install all the games you bought?

I have backups of most of my games, yes. Partially because my internet is relatively terrible and it's quicker to reinstall games this way than via download

Originally posted by koren:

Also there is DRM, you cannot copy the games for example.

"There is DRM" what? All DRM is different and not all games have it. Every game from Steam can be copied

Originally posted by koren:

If you re-install your PC or if there is a new architecture making the x64 obsolete you will lose access to your games (like if Steam shat down before 64 bits became the norm and made a 64 bits client)

Use a Steam Emulator or buy DRM-free games. Or back up your OS

Originally posted by koren:

We fighted for it before, just like the drop of physical support for games for the digital only, and its the norm now

Yeah digital is fine though. It's just a different way of distribution. Without DRM it's just as good as a physical release, provided the physical release also doesn't have DRM. But a lot of physical releases actually had absolutely terrible DRM that wreaks havoc on modern operating systems. Overall digital has been much better

You have options, but when a game is always-online, then your options are precisely zero. It WILL stop existing once they shut down the servers and that is simply not a good state to be in whatsoever

[Mapo Doufu]

Originally posted by Seal of Approval:

Originally posted by koren:

Do you install all the games you bought?

I have backups of most of my games, yes. Partially because my internet is relatively terrible and it's quicker to reinstall games this way than via download

Originally posted by koren:

Also there is DRM, you cannot copy the games for example.

"There is DRM" what? All DRM is different and not all games have it. Every game from Steam can be copied

Originally posted by koren:

If you re-install your PC or if there is a new architecture making the x64 obsolete you will lose access to your games (like if Steam shat down before 64 bits became the norm and made a 64 bits client)

Use a Steam Emulator or buy DRM-free games. Or back up your OS

Originally posted by koren:

We fighted for it before, just like the drop of physical support for games for the digital only, and its the norm now

Yeah digital is fine though. It's just a different way of distribution. Without DRM it's just as good as a physical release, provided the physical release also doesn't have DRM. But a lot of physical releases actually had absolutely terrible DRM that wreaks havoc on modern operating systems. Overall digital has been much better

You have options, but when a game is always-online, then your options are precisely zero. It WILL stop existing once they shut down the servers and that is simply not a good state to be in whatsoever

There is options but it is more complicated, its possible to emulate a backend just like you can do a "steam emulator". Anyway its all valid points, knowing that we will lose access when buying a game sucks, especially when the game could be played offline

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Not denying it's unnecessarily complicated for the average user by the way. Though in some respects more technical awareness is simply gonna be a necessity for future generations of gamers and people in general. Even if you buy a game DRM-free from GOG but haven't downloaded it, or even if you buy a DRM-free physical release, then if GOG shuts down or your physical release breaks, you still lose your game. The importance of backups can't be overstated, yet barely anyone practices it

[Mapo Doufu]

Originally posted by Seal of Approval:

Not denying it's unnecessarily complicated for the average user by the way. Though in some respects more technical awareness is simply gonna be a necessity for future generations of gamers and people in general. Even if you buy a game DRM-free from GOG but haven't downloaded it, or even if you buy a DRM-free physical release, then if GOG shuts down or your physical release breaks, you still lose your game. The importance of backups can't be overstated, yet barely anyone practices it

At least with GOG you can download the copy of someone else, can you run a game from steam copied from a steam library you don't own? (not advocating for piracy, just for my knowledge)

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm
They state
"The Steam DRM wrapper is an important part of Steam platform because it verifies game ownership and ensures that Steamworks features work properly by launching Steam before launching the game.

The Steam DRM wrapper by itself is not an anti-piracy solution. The Steam DRM wrapper protects against extremely casual piracy (i.e. copying all game files to another computer) and has some obfuscation"

[BASHIIE]

Originally posted by koren:

What happens when steam shuts down? We lost that fight 20 years ago

Comparing a single game to an entire game-MARKET...?

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Originally posted by koren:

At least with GOG you can download the copy of someone else, can you run a game from steam copied from a steam library you don't own? (not advocating for piracy, just for my knowledge)

Depends on whether the game has DRM or not, and if it does it can be done with a Steam emulator without the need to crack the game itself

I don't advocate for piracy either by the way, just for the right as a consumer to continue using the product license that I paid for without any sort of arbitrary expiration date

Originally posted by koren:

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm
They state
"The Steam DRM wrapper is an important part of Steam platform because it verifies game ownership and ensures that Steamworks features work properly by launching Steam before launching the game.

The Steam DRM wrapper by itself is not an anti-piracy solution. The Steam DRM wrapper protects against extremely casual piracy (i.e. copying all game files to another computer) and has some obfuscation"

It's poorly worded, the game files themselves are not protected and nothing stops you from copying them to wherever you want. I think what they mean is you can't copy them to another computer and run them without Steam being installed and without the account owning the game

But as they say themselves, it's barely DRM. Cracking it is simple, and as I said there are also Steam emulators that can assume the job of the DRM wrapper.

Steam's DRM is also completely optional and some developers opt not to use it at all, so then it's similar to buying a game on GOG anyway

It's also interesting of note that a lot of games on the Epic Games store are also DRM-free, for some reason it's a lot more common than on Steam