Gabe Newell was/is right about piracy.

[🍹🌞🍉2001 SUMMER vibes]

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.

[Tiberius]

Publicado originalmente por EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:

Publicado originalmente por Tiberius:

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. ;)

10-20years ago, you prolly also didnt have disposable income

[nohuman]

Publicado originalmente por Tiberius:

Publicado originalmente por EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:

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. ;)

10-20years ago, you prolly also didnt have disposable income

Closer to 30. Pretty sure I got on in 96 or so. That's when Q2 came out and I was trying to play it with a flight stick.

[Tiberius]

Publicado originalmente por EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:

Publicado originalmente por Tiberius:

10-20years ago, you prolly also didnt have disposable income

Closer to 30. Pretty sure I got on in 96 or so. That's when Q2 came out and I was trying to play it with a flight stick.

Yea the time when you didnt have disposable income

[nohuman]

Publicado originalmente por Tiberius:

Publicado originalmente por EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:

Closer to 30. Pretty sure I got on in 96 or so. That's when Q2 came out and I was trying to play it with a flight stick.

Yea the time when you didnt have disposable income

Yes, that is true, poor as ♥♥♥♥ I was. Not the people that I was around tho. One guy was a millionaire and ran porn sites off load-balanced consumer cable modems. (it was cheaper than a T1 lol) He too had a warez server. Sometimes he ran game servers too. That's just one example.

[nohuman]

The rise of online gaming and those games requiring a cd-key to play online also put a good dent in it.

[Γαῖα]

While the governments and internet providers played whac a mole (funny how no one has got around to reclassifying the game due to it violent connotation), these pirate sites still to this day proliferate (cut off the head of a serpent and two grow back).

It was i feel the unscrupulous nature of some people to plant dangerous stuff inside said advertised files and a serious lack of know how on the part of the majority of users at the time to circumnavigate the pitfalls that had led to a lessening of privacy.
Thing is even in its heyday, it didn't bankrupt the various firms like they claim. Those that stood to gain still had the nice houses, swimming pool and fast/luxury car. Piracy of products is far older than the internet and it never ended trendy names that still to this day prevail.

So piracy is about money but just not from the culprits Gabe Newell suggests.

[Ulfrinn]

There are other reasons I see people pirate games, and I'm not going to fault them for any of it. If you do it because you don't feel like paying the money for a game that is actually available, then that's theft.

However, when companies try to push it on people for downloading games that AREN'T made available, full of buggy DRM that destroys the experience, services that block modding on single-player games, people who already bought the game elsewhere, etc, then I think there needs to be fewer restrictions against them.

For example, I own like 5 copies of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Three of them are physical cartridges I've acquired, one in 1993 when I got a Genesis, and two included with other consoles I've purchased, as well as a copy of it on Steam, and the Genesis mini. I've bought the game 5 times on three different platforms, every single copy using the same ROM, but by law it's illegal to download it. That doesn't seem right.

[☎need4naiim☎]

And moreover;

IF piracy had been totally prevented by governments, those games coming from big companies would have been even more restrictive (just an online connection or an account in some portal WOULDN'T have cut it) than today.

Two kind posters asked and wanted to learn about my Dream in another topic after i couldn't write it due to an evident dangling sword over my head here. I answer them from here; i won't just share it, <inshaallah> i will ACHIEVE it.

The reason why i didn't write this post there but here, is a cryptic sign.

[kilésengati]

Steam isn't without flaws, but he was absolutely right about piracy being a service issue.

[Crazy Tiger]

So OP missed the memo that Microsoft encrypts the games that are offered via their store, and thusly also GamePass? That's a known for years now.

[Tazor]

My biggest problem is game ownership. When it comes to "buying" something on a digital platform you don't own ♥♥♥♥. Blizzard has proven they are willing to go above and beyond in order to enforce this. Twice. With Overwatch 2 and Warcraft 3 reforged.

Not even 20 year old games are safe from corporate interference. Your only option is an offline backup.

GOG is the only exception to the rule.

[Blumberquack]

Publicado originalmente por Crazy Tiger:

So OP missed the memo that Microsoft encrypts the games that are offered via their store, and thusly also GamePass? That's a known for years now.

Not everyone uses Microsoft's store or game pass, I remember getting a free month of game pass, trying Bug Fables and really liked it! Once the free month was over I bought it on Steam and looked to see if I could move the save data to the Steam version... nope lol

[permanent name]

the homeless guy wants 2 quarters to wash my windows instead of 1.

service issue.

anyway the number of times this has been repeated means it isn't really gabes opinion. it's the industry's opinion, and they're using him as a human shield.

[🍹🌞🍉2001 SUMMER vibes]

Publicado originalmente por Crazy Tiger:

So OP missed the memo that Microsoft encrypts the games that are offered via their store, and thusly also GamePass? That's a known for years now.

why do they do that???

[permanent name]

Publicado originalmente por Mlal Ji'q Na Hpa:

Publicado originalmente por Crazy Tiger:

So OP missed the memo that Microsoft encrypts the games that are offered via their store, and thusly also GamePass? That's a known for years now.

why do they do that???

so that you cant play the games without their platform.