Gaming Offline

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

To whom this may concern,

There are many times when a person is not connected to the net. Sometimes we are outside of a safe/reliable network. Sometimes we are just nowhere near the net, ie camping. And it is quite unfair that we are locked out of our games when in offline mode. Especially when we have paid you *Steam* good, hard-earned money for games that have single player campaign options.

I can understand the why's and how's. But in essence, you are limiting long time paying customers access to property they have purchased the rights to use. We could simply just buy a disk, yes. But why should we, when we pay Steam money for games and apps. And it makes it more difficult when more and more games/apps are download only now. The "disk" is fading in use for the vast majority of people. Even a nerd like myself has made adjustments to how I run things.

But back to my qualms. Or qualm as it is. Why does Steam refuse to let us game offline? Why should we have to have a constantly connected security risk running on our machines just to play a sinlge-player game? Why Steam? Why? Are you just trying to bow to your corporate ogres? Are you just aiding and abedding in the gov/corporate data mining/spying that is occuring on a global scale? If so, you have violated laws within my country, that is for sure. But I am not willing to believe that Steam wishes ill intent on it's customers. There is just no way you guys would put US in jeopardy for some illegal action, which is illegally extorted upon Steam by "vested" interest groups, ie gov and big data.

I want the Steam community as a whole to take a long and hard look at themselves and see where we are heading as a community. There is an opportunity laid right in front of our faces to stand up and set a standard. And I for one look forward to the communities input on this very serious matter. A matter of privacy, consumer rights and the very idea of fair and transperant business practices.

I do understand the private rights of a business. It is the business's descision to partake in any endevour they wish to. But at what cost? And at who's expense? Steam gains regardless apperantly. But, we the user base lose in the short term and long term scheme of things. We lose security and privacy at the expense and whim of some corporate and/or government stooge.

Please consider the ramifications of what I have stated here today. Please take a long, hard look at yourselves.

I thank Steam and the Steam community for taking the time to soak in my words here today. And again, I look forward to a positive communication opportunity between us all, business to it's loyal customers and user base.

Sicerely,
Hooligan

[Blaagh]

When there is no network you can start steam in offline mode and if there is no 3rd party DRM on a game it does work offline. Did you even TRY before typing that tl;dr ?

[AN3URYSM]

引用自 JCDenton.male：

When there is no network you can start steam in offline mode and if there is no 3rd party DRM on a game it does work offline. Did you even TRY before typing that tl;dr ?

This does not work for me on any of my steam games. Says internet connection needed

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

I as well, have found that gaming in offline mode is just not happening. Which is why I bring this topic to the forefront where it belongs. In our noses so we can sniff out the stank of the issue at hand.

[Silicon Vampire]

Offline mode works as intended IF you take the time to set it up properly first. I've used it many times (even no notice, Internet outage kind of thing.) but you have to be aware of how it is intended to operate and set it up properly.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555&l=english

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

I have this set up. I am not a novice by any means when it comes to computers. I did not allow Steam to even install in the manner it wished to. Steam is setup with true /root priviledges on my systems. And yes, a couple of DRM included and non-included work. But I have over 40 some-odd games.. Most of which allow for SP and MP. And those games will not work. Steam can fix all of this very easily. And they know this. The ability to play 2% of my purchases when offline does not fix the problem. This equates to nothing for me and many others.

I personally like Steam, but I am not stupid either. I read legislature diligently and I know the scope of reality. Which is why i bring this discussion to our faces so we can no longer ignore it. This is the perfect venue for open and honest communications.

And yes, I can provide links and sources. We are all adults here and there is no further need to hide behind walls of emotion when logic and reason need to stand on solid ground for us to even begin to understand the ongoings in progress.

[Blaagh]

If you want to play offline you have to buy games that do not require you to login/connect to an online-service/server. This has nothing to do with steam. Steam provides a service - the means to distribute and update the files for the game you subscribed(!) for. Steam takes no part in coding the games.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Steam can set standards for devs to follow if they wish to use Steam as a venue. Those devs want to make money.... Steam can make them plenty of money.

As I stated, this is all under Steams controll if they wish to do anything about it. Standards can be set and Steam has a brilliant opportunity to stand out in the gaming world.

[Spawn of Totoro]

引用自 Hooligan：

Steam can set standards for devs to follow if they wish to use Steam as a venue. Those devs want to make money.... Steam can make them plenty of money.

As I stated, this is all under Steams controll if they wish to do anything about it. Standards can be set and Steam has a brilliant opportunity to stand out in the gaming world.

Last time Valve tried to make a demand of the developers, EA left and set up Origin.

Those developers can make just as much money off Steam if they wish to. It isn't that hard to set up a digital store. Look at Origin and Ubisoft for example.

Developers are the other half of Valve's customer base. Think of them as a consignment store. If no one gives them a product to sell, then the user half of their customers has nothing to buy and they don't make money.

As for the games, I don't know about your set-up, but 90% of my games work fine when I set Steam to off-line mode. Even GTA4 and Dark Souls, as long as I have it set to use the off-line account for GFWL. Also, BO2's single player campaign runs fine though too. Then again, I tend to mostly buy single player games.

Developers can choose to set up their games to require on-line access with Steam. That is up to each and every developer and Valve isn't going to force them, one way or another. Valve actually wants developer to have the freedom to manage their games in this, and many other ways. The hope is that Steam will run it's self at some point and developers can add games however and whenever they want.

Valve doesn't have (or want) as much control over things as some seem to think.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Steam is a more reliable platform than the above mentioned. Steam can set a standard as I have said before. There is a reason a lot of us use the other digital options. Because they have numerous flaws. Many flaws to make gaming impossible for many people.

This is again, why I bring this to the forefront. Games like battlefield have lost many players due to flaws and restriction in/on the digital platforms. Steam has not failed it's user base in these manners to date.

I think Steam should speak for itself though. No reason for us to speak for them. But I am sure they are already preparing their valued input:)

Edit: Might I add that EA's games really have gone down hill in general. So have Origins. Valves games have done nothing short of improving. Same for all who contract through Valve.. But and there always is a big one. We are talking about online connections being a serious risk to security and how Steam and it's customers can address it. It is well known that anything that constantly connects online is simply, insecure. I can understand a role-out of constant patches, but there is just no reason they shouldn't code so offline gaming can be done. Online is for when the user allots the machine to go online, not just because the machine wants to go online. We have gotten careless in our use of the internet and I am pointing this out. Security and privacy begins with user controlled access to the net, not machine/software controlled access.

It is time we rethink how much we value our "security" and "privacy".

[Spawn of Totoro]

引用自 Hooligan：

Steam is a more reliable platform than the above mentioned. Steam can set a standard as I have said before. There is a reason none of us use the other digital options. Because they have numerous flaws. Many flaws to make gaming impossible for many people.

This is again, why I bring this to the forefront. Games like battlefield have lost many players due to flaws and restriction in/on the digital platforms. Steam has not failed it's user base in these manners to date.

I think Steam should speak for itself though. No reason for us to speak for them. But I am sure they are already preparing their valued input:)

Yet many still use those other platforms. Battlefield 3 sold really well and was an Origin exclusive. Battlefield 4 was poorly made. Neither success or failure was directly related to Origin, but each game on their own merits, especially as those same restrictions exist on Steam for specific games.

Even on Steam, COD:Ghosts took a huge hit as the game was poorly optimized.

Don't know about other people, but I use all three and all my friends do as some things are either not available on other platforms or it is cheaper on one then the other.

Saying there is "a reason none of us use the other digital options" is not true as it is clear the other options do get used and used regularly. Check the Steam Discussions. There are a few thread with people using other services/platforms. One reason is they are easy to set up.

Yes, it would be Valve's decision, but it isn't one that is likely to happen as it would cause more harm then good.

引用自 Hooligan：

Edit: Might I add that EA's games really have gone down hill in general. So have Origins. Valves games have done nothing short of improving. Same for all who contract through Valve.. But and there always is a big one. We are talking about online connections being a serious risk to security and how Steam and it's customers can address it. It is well known that anything that constantly connects online is simply, insecure. I can understand a role-out of constant patches, but there is just no reason they shouldn't code so offline gaming can be done. Online is for when the user allots the machine to go online, not just because the machine wants to go online. We have gotten careless in our use of the internet and I am pointing this out. Security and privacy begins with user controlled access to the net, not machine/software controlled access.

It is time we rethink how much we value our "security" and "privacy".

Origin is a distribution platform, they don't make games. EA has some decent looking games coming out, the all that is a matter of opinion. Several this year have done good from a commercial standpoint.

Steam is also a distribution platform. Valve has release very few games of it's own. It is other developers who release many of the titles on Steam, as well as sell them on GOG.com, Green Man Gaming and Desura.com.

Steam is a secure platform. The only time you have to worry is if you download something from a fake site and install it. That is where the issues arise. Many have been connected to Steam for years with no issues. If there was an exploit that allowed Steam to be used for something malicious, it would have been know by now and fixed.

For example, I have been on Steam for over 10 years. Every time my computer is turned on, it connects to the internet. There has been no security issues from Stem or any other program I run that has a constant or connection to the internet.

Truthfully, you seem to be worried over nothing.

[Black Blade]

So far with all my games i was yet to hit a game that i can say did not work on offline mode when i play it so, (excluding 3rd party DRM games that are not related to Steam)

So can you maybe name some of these games that you cant get working on offline mode?

[Muppet among Puppets]

Which games?

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Try this. disconnect your net, then reboot your machine. Then tell me what games you can play?

[Black Blade]

ok tested, had no problem running most of the games i try, at least not to start them
Games i tested:
Payday 2 - Work fine
Saints row: The Third - Crash after start, but the game did start so its more likely to be bad installing, also it run First time setup
Tron: Evolution - Work fine, except i was unable to login to GFWL while been on offline mode

All these after turning off the network, restarting the PC, trying to login, going into offline mode, and then playing the games

So did i maybe pick the 3 games that work fine? or did i do something wrong?

[wuddih]

you wasted time to proof something that doesnt need to be proofed of because it is working. that you did wrong.