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100% habibi, 0% jihadi (Banned) Aug 25, 2023 @ 9:41pm
Gabe Newell was/is right about piracy.
He made a comment years ago saying piracy isn't a money issue - but a service issue. People who spend thousands on a gaming-rig who choose to pirate aren't doing so for money-related reasons. Tonight I discovered he is right.

In addition to Steam - I'm on Game Pass (for PC). Been there for a long time. There is a game I wanted to mod - called Crackdown 3. I was able to find the game's location on my hard drive - which is WAY more obscure than the simple Steam where you just go to Steamapps and choose the game.

Anyway - so I find folders for the game's videos which I actually enjoyed a lot and I thought wow that's so cool I don't even need a tool to extract them they're just all sitting right there in two folders.

Turns out those folders are 100% locked for any kind of editing - so even though I'm admin on my computer - and even though I pay for Game Pass.....I can't access the files. That blows my mind - and it also proves what he said years ago is true - because now I'm thinking about sailing the black seas in hope of finding someone who found a way around this issue. Again - not for money reasons - but for service reasons.
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Originally posted by permanent name:
Originally posted by kilésengati:
Originally posted by 016R35:
It's funny, whereas Steam is a platform that grants simple "right to use" licenses for games and doesn't really give you ownership of those games you buy.

You can't call it "piracy" to get a game by your own means which if you pay for it you don't really get it. Piracy will cease to be a problem when DRM and other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ceases to exist, like on the GOG shop where no game has DRM and what you buy is a copy of the game that is 100% yours.

Technically, GOG and physical media usually also only grants non-commercial, non-transferable, single-use licences. However, there's no reasonable way to enforce those and the files once downloaded are stored on hardware you own (I suppose), giving you at least defacto ownership over these copies.
There are also a fair bunch of games on Steam that come DRM-free. Unfortunately, Steam doesn't offer offline installers for those.

Microsoft automatically backs up all of your files onto their servers for you and has executive control over your os install and the harddrive it's installed on, and by default extension the system itself including other harddrives (has been legally tested, is true in precedent,) so technically those files aren't 'owned' by you. They're just copies of something someone else owns. Either that or microsoft owns everything on every computer.

Thus either microsoft is guilty of piracy or there's a legal gray area where your license is only valid relative to the eula, which itself cannot be enforced in court and is thus enforced through extralegal means.

Meaning piracy itself is a second class crime, something only poor people can be charged with and which large swathes of society are categorically exempt from.
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Showing 1-15 of 56 comments
Tiberius Aug 25, 2023 @ 9:42pm 
Yea that explains why piracy is dead. Oh wait... it isnt
#1
Donald Trump Aug 25, 2023 @ 9:43pm 
Spoiler alert: Gabe Newell is always right :lunar2019piginablanket:
#2
nohuman Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:05pm 
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Yea that explains why piracy is dead. Oh wait... it isnt
It just seems bigger because more people are online, but it's true, online stores as well as movie streaming services took a gargantuan bite out of the piracy scene. It's nothing like it was.

I went to a giant lan party back in the late 90s and had a AAA dev team sitting like 2 tables away from me. They watched me and everyone around pirate our filthy guts out that entire weekend. heh.
#3
talemore Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:08pm 
Bank paid the expenses of production.
They're entrepreneurs. State paid the game.
This is why the idea of 10 000 employees is contradicting if there are 1000 companies and why videogame industry is a closed society.
#4
Tiberius Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:11pm 
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Yea that explains why piracy is dead. Oh wait... it isnt
It just seems bigger because more people are online, but it's true, online stores as well as movie streaming services took a gargantuan bite out of the piracy scene. It's nothing like it was.

I went to a giant lan party back in the late 90s and had a AAA dev team sitting like 2 tables away from me. They watched me and everyone around pirate our filthy guts out that entire weekend. heh.

Until you understand that free stuff is free stuff, theres no point in further discussion
#5
nohuman Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:15pm 
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
It just seems bigger because more people are online, but it's true, online stores as well as movie streaming services took a gargantuan bite out of the piracy scene. It's nothing like it was.

I went to a giant lan party back in the late 90s and had a AAA dev team sitting like 2 tables away from me. They watched me and everyone around pirate our filthy guts out that entire weekend. heh.

Until you understand that free stuff is free stuff, theres no point in further discussion
uhhh ok? I never said it doesn't happen anymore.
#6
nohuman Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:23pm 
hmm maybe I read into this wrong. Though I'm not sure this is a 'piracy' issue as much as a 'cracking' issue.
Tons of games had 'locked' files or some proprietary format. Didn't stop people from modding them though. In many cases, a retail copy vs. a pirated copy would make no difference for this as the files will still be in the same format.
#7
Tiberius Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:41pm 
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
Originally posted by Tiberius:

Until you understand that free stuff is free stuff, theres no point in further discussion
uhhh ok? I never said it doesn't happen anymore.

What stops piracy greatly was mostly govt intervention. Many sites were taken down and ppl were sent to jail.

And denuvo actually works. These days, only one site has managed to crack denuvo. Not to mention, more and more games require online connection which ultimately prevents any attempt to pirate the game.

And the funniest thing is even after we have netflix or steam or kindle, piracy STILL takes more than 20% of internet total bandwidth. Accessibility barely make a dent on piracy
#8
Candyy Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:43pm 
I mean everybody does this for different reasons... There is some becuase of the money, others becuase is not available v:
#9
nohuman Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:47pm 
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
uhhh ok? I never said it doesn't happen anymore.

What stops piracy greatly was mostly govt intervention. Many sites were taken down and ppl were sent to jail.

And denuvo actually works. These days, only one site has managed to crack denuvo. Not to mention, more and more games require online connection which ultimately prevents any attempt to pirate the game.

And the funniest thing is even after we have netflix or steam or kindle, piracy STILL takes more than 20% of internet total bandwidth. Accessibility barely make a dent on piracy
Yeah. You obviously missed the old days. lol. It was more like 80%. Everyone did it.

Everyone and their dog had a warez ftp on their network.
Last edited by nohuman; Aug 25, 2023 @ 10:48pm
#10
HistoricKombat Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:04pm 
Originally posted by Mlal Ji'q Na Hpa:
He made a comment years ago saying piracy isn't a money issue - but a service issue. People who spend thousands on a gaming-rig who choose to pirate aren't doing so for money-related reasons. Tonight I discovered he is right.

In addition to Steam - I'm on Game Pass (for PC). Been there for a long time. There is a game I wanted to mod - called Crackdown 3. I was able to find the game's location on my hard drive - which is WAY more obscure than the simple Steam where you just go to Steamapps and choose the game.

Anyway - so I find folders for the game's videos which I actually enjoyed a lot and I thought wow that's so cool I don't even need a tool to extract them they're just all sitting right there in two folders.

Turns out those folders are 100% locked for any kind of editing - so even though I'm admin on my computer - and even though I pay for Game Pass.....I can't access the files. That blows my mind - and it also proves what he said years ago is true - because now I'm thinking about sailing the black seas in hope of finding someone who found a way around this issue. Again - not for money reasons - but for service reasons.

It is not just Game Pass. If you buy & download any game from the Microsoft Store, those games are locked as well.
#11
Tiberius Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:09pm 
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
Originally posted by Tiberius:

What stops piracy greatly was mostly govt intervention. Many sites were taken down and ppl were sent to jail.

And denuvo actually works. These days, only one site has managed to crack denuvo. Not to mention, more and more games require online connection which ultimately prevents any attempt to pirate the game.

And the funniest thing is even after we have netflix or steam or kindle, piracy STILL takes more than 20% of internet total bandwidth. Accessibility barely make a dent on piracy
Yeah. You obviously missed the old days. lol. It was more like 80%. Everyone did it.

Everyone and their dog had a warez ftp on their network.

Its always fun to talk abt anecdotal evidence like the world revolves around you
#12
secuda Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:15pm 
Yea he was right, provide a better service then piracy and they will buy it. infact they provided so much better service at the time it ended the small physicall sales that existed for PC gamers.
#13
nohuman Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:15pm 
Originally posted by Tiberius:
Originally posted by EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:
Yeah. You obviously missed the old days. lol. It was more like 80%. Everyone did it.

Everyone and their dog had a warez ftp on their network.

Its always fun to talk abt anecdotal evidence like the world revolves around you
Well, to be fair, the 'world' was a lot smaller back then. Pirating on dial-up was not fun. lol.

I remember watching parts of this world come online. Then I would meet them in game and shoot them. Good times. ;)
#14
Paratech2008 Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:22pm 
I find it ironic publishers "lock" / add drm to emulated games so that paying customers have worse gaming experiences than pirates.

I'm glad some emulated games on Steam and GOG don't encrypt ROMs.

I still pay money to get "encrypted ROMs."

But I know I'm in the minority.
#15
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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Off Topic > Topic Details
Date Posted: Aug 25, 2023 @ 9:41pm
Posts: 56
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