Will Bethesda release a stand alone version ?

[DragonJTS]

TC is right...........Steam sucks. Just because it requires you to activate and register a game you've purchased. When you buy a car or washer, you don't have to register them with a third party service provider so you can drive them or wash your clthes in them. I can see it if you purchase the game from them, but not when it''s a store bought copy.

 

You have to register your car with an insurance company.

 

And not too many people are worried about washers being stolen.

[revelationjp]

TC is right...........Steam sucks. Just because it requires you to activate and register a game you've purchased. When you buy a car or washer, you don't have to register them with a third party service provider so you can drive them or wash your clthes in them. I can see it if you purchase the game from them, but not when it''s a store bought copy.

umm, you have to register your car with 2 other parties. dept of motor vehicles, + insurance. And have you ever tried to get warranty work done on a washing machine without registering it?

[PurplePigeon]

You have to register your car with an insurance company.

Yeah, but you can choose an insurance company that you want to register your car with. Besides, this insurance contract exists for a reason: the insurance company will pay money if something happens to your car. Moreover, you are not prohibited to sell or give your car to someone else, while you cannot detach a game from Steam account.

 

Besides, a computer game is not a car.

 

It's not like I'm complaining about Steam. I've bought FONV on Steam, so nothing has changed for me. But I don't like current trends in copy protection systems. I really don't like them. I don't like them so much that sometimes I even think about stopping playing copy protected games completely (or even all proprietary games).

[DragonJTS]

Besides, a computer game is not a car.

 

Exactly.

 

Then your argument is invalid as you can't compare steam to an insurance company.

[revelationjp]

All games have some sort of copy protection, and really, Steam is one of the least invasive that i've seen. It doesn't hide itself and F with your registry like securom. It's honest about what it is: an often obnoxious, sometimes helpfull utility that trys to sell you stuff. We're going to see this more and more often, because too many people like to pirate games. Myself, i tell off the people i know who pirate, rather than a company whose: #1 minds i can't change, and #2 are simply trying to protect thier investment.

[PurplePigeon]

Then your argument is invalid as you can't compare steam to an insurance company.

But then your argument, to which I was replying, is also invalid.

 

I just wanted to say that one can't compare a computer game to a car. But even if one can, Steam is not an insurance company.

[PurplePigeon]

We're going to see this more and more often, because too many people like to pirate games. Myself, i tell off the people i know who pirate, rather than a company whose: #1 minds i can't change, and #2 are simply trying to protect thier investment.

Unfortunately, these schemes do not stop pirates. Cracked versions come with no Steam and no protection. This may actually lead to an opposite effect, namely "better than legal" problem: people may pirate the game simply because they don't want to cope with all the limitations.

 

I'm not promoting piracy. On the contrary, these are my thoughts on what causes people to pirate games.

[frank lee]

Well here's an issue with steam to consider, Not everyone with a computer is connected to the Goddamn Internet!

 

99% plus of the people here in this board are, I have been for the last ten months since I paid a small fortune for a satellite connection to my remote mountain village. But not everyone is.

 

Had FO3 been 'steamed' then I would have got to play it sometime around February 2010. Software companies that assume we all live in urban conurbations with broadband should wake up and smell the skinny triple latte! We do not all live in LA!

 

To be fair, this argument applies to pretty much every major PC game released in the last three years or so, with a few notable exceptions.

 

Not just games most major applications now! Yea, so sit in your damned air-conditioned California offices and whine about software piracy when anyone outside of the first world has to be the local equivalent of a millionaire just to register the f**king thing online!

 

Sorry this is something that bugs me, I've said my piece I'll butt out.

[revelationjp]

We're going to see this more and more often, because too many people like to pirate games. Myself, i tell off the people i know who pirate, rather than a company whose: #1 minds i can't change, and #2 are simply trying to protect thier investment.

Unfortunately, these schemes do not stop pirates. Cracked versions come with no Steam and no protection. This may actually lead to an opposite effect, namely "better than legal" problem: people may pirate the game simply because they don't want to cope with all the limitations.

 

I'm not promoting piracy. On the contrary, these are my thoughts on what causes people to pirate games.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying they work. Securom didn't work, neither will steam or the other online verification systems. My point is that If some people didn't feel the need to steal others property, there would be no need for locks on the doors, so to speak. A determined burglar can get into your house regardless of wether or not you lock your doors. But you know that the doorlocks WILL keep the casual crackhead from walking on in. You don't complain about having to carry your housekeys, do you? That's because you're used to it. Doesn't make it right, but it makes it easier.

[PurplePigeon]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying they work. Securom didn't work, neither will steam or the other online verification systems. My point is that If some people didn't feel the need to steal others property, there would be no need for locks on the doors, so to speak. A determined burglar can get into your house regardless of wether or not you lock your doors. But you know that the doorlocks WILL keep the casual crackhead from walking on in. You don't complain about having to carry your housekeys, do you? That's because you're used to it. Doesn't make it right, but it makes it easier.

Sure. But in case of computer software:

 

1.You are not breaking into someone else's house. You are breaking into your own (rented) house. Security at the entrance are adamantly refusing to let you in without a special pass which you for some reason must obtain from an office which is in another town, but it's already midnight and you don't want to sleep on the street. So it's possible that you'll resort to finding another way in.

 

2.One determined burglar can show the way to enter to thousands of casual crackheads.

 

Actually, same discussions as this one have already happened many times on the Internet.