STeam

[phoenix182]

To answer the initial question - No, Steam is not physically required, but it is 'legally' required (using the modern, loose definition of law and justice). I don't use Steam, and never will. Therefore when I buy a game that requires it I immediately hack it to operate without any form of DRM (well, I seldom do the hacking myself, but I obtain them). If you are unable or unwilling to participate in such things then yes, you will need Steam. While the later patches were meant to require Steam to operate, those have been hacked as well. There is no such thing as protecting software. It cannot be done.

[scot]

For people who care about sharing with friends and buy everything virtually well I guess steam is fine but there are those like me who prefer physical copies and install the game whenever we want without needing third party programs and accounts.I hate steam even though I have to use it for new vegas and skyrim and it´s worthless for people like me but I also understand the use for people who buy everything from it and care about it´s features. Edited December 14, 2011 by scot

[SaintAnon]

Cant stand it because the only access to the internet is dial-up which will not even log in 90% of the time and means even if i do get on how am i going to download the massive files they give you most the time?

 

Haven't got to mod a Beth game sense Fallout 3, all because of steam...

[urbex]

Oh, nexus, so much misinformation.

 

So is steam necessary for me to play skyrim?

I dont know nothing about computers. My boyfriend sets the game up for me and i just play it.

 

So I was wondering if i have to go through steam to access skyrim and why they would do it that way.

 

I mean, you goto steam homepage and it looks like a damn department store. oh wait, it is. i already bought the game. i just want info now.

wheres their mod page they spoke of. am i really that blind that it took me 20mins of looking through the page and still ive found nothing?

 

THank whichever gods for the nexus because i think i would give up on beth if it wasnt for you guys. thank you so much for your constant help and support and humanity.

 

 

but back to my question - is steam necessary and why. (sorry for my frustration - oblivion seemed easier)

Uh, you're browsing a website designed to market games. You're not even using the client that launches the game. And yes, if it took you twenty minutes and you still didn't find the green install steam button atop every web page, you are blind.

 

 

Steam is necessary--they made it that way to slow down pirates. You don't need to enter Steam to start the game, but it must be active in the background. Also, I think the 'mod page' isn't implemented yet. I think it's still mostly the Nexus for mods. Oblivion was simpler, but if they made Skyrim the same way they'd lose millions of dollars of profit because of people leaking their game, so it's unavoidable for a modern pc game.

 

This thread is wrong on all accounts.

 

First, Skyrim had a pirated version the FIRST DAY it was released. Steam did nothing to stop or even slow it down. Second, when Skyrim shipped you only needed to register through Steam. After that you never had to keep it running. The second 1.1 patch completely screwed that up. Now Steam is 100% required to run Skyrim unless you somehow managed to get your hands on that other version of 1.1 before they patched it. If Skyrim was made the same way as Oblivion you'd still have the same number of sales for the simple fact that Skyrim was available illegally on day 1. Steam has done nothing but force broken patches and piss off customers. All this DRM they keep using has never done a thing to stop Piracy while at the same time its screwing over legitimate buyers.

Yup, DRM is ridiculous, I mean there are groups of those bastards who compete with themselves on who releases the illegal version first, there are hundreads of them while theres just a few working on DRM, they should stop, because they are screwing legitimate buyers, they should make something like Red Studio did, I mean their game The Witcher 2 sold 1 million copies but had 4 million ilegal ones downloaded, that's ridiculous but even after this they said that they won't make DRM, and instead gonna try to make some bonus stuff or something like that for legitimate buyers (dunno how that work) and also try to give awareness to customers/gamers and why they should buy it legitimate, and I mean that's cool, another example is the new serious sam, wich has a very different type of DRM wich is quite funny lol, if the game detects that it's pirated there will be an unkillable crab following you arround at every stage, attacking you, being annoying, that's another nice way to do it, oh and just a correction, it's more ridiculous than you think, Skyrim hadn't a pirated version just only in the first day, it was available 1 day BEFORE release, pretty damn ridiculous if you ask me

As apposed to the console versions, that were released over a week before release.

STEAM IS NOT DESIGNED TO STOP PIRACY, BUT PREVENT PRE-RELEASE CRACKS.

Skyrim wasn't cracked pre-relase, the game was just released in Australia a day earlier.

The Witcher is a successful game because it's great and backed by great developers that care about their customers, and support games post release with free DLC. Unlike Bethesda.

The Witcher 2 was released with DRM initially, however it was removed after serving it's purpose of preventing a pre-release crack.

 

Skyrim hadn't a pirated version just only in the first day, it was available 1 day BEFORE release, pretty damn ridiculous if you ask me

 

LOL, really?

 

About the Witcher, I really don't understand how or where they get those number of pirated copies downloaded statistics from. Especially when its only through torrents can you pirate a game of that size. Torrents do not give you any kind of statistics of how many completed copies are downloaded.

FTPs, third party filehosts, private trackers- I'm sure the number of pirated copies greatly exceeds four million. However, the number of lost sales is probably expodentially lower. After all, most pirates enjoy having games sit on their hard drive over actually playing them.

Also, see above, Skyrim was not cracked per-release.

come out of anonymity, and let me shake your hand. you are absolutely right, steam is useless, they only want a piece of the pie. if they cant, they put an 'illegal' stamp on it

And the nonsensical post of the day award goes to...

 

Thank you for all your replies and opinions.

 

On my skyrim box, nowhere does it say 'requires internet access' or anything of the sort. I wonder how people with no internets get this done.

 

I think if I had no internet connection- sorry- "no internets", I'd have larger problems than my hardware demanding video game not activating.

 

oh and just a correction, it's more ridiculous than you think, Skyrim hadn't a pirated version just only in the first day, it was available 1 day BEFORE release, pretty damn ridiculous if you ask me

You are a little off - the pre-release pirate was on the 360, and nearly a week before official launch.

A system without proper DRM.

 

 

Steam barely has any advertisements or marketing. Nowhere on the library tab is there any advertisements, and the only time they pop up is from time to time when you exit a game or start up the client. Aside from that, it's about as marketing free as these things come.

Yeah it's a f***ing STORE app, damn right it's ad free -_-

app

Get. Out.

Edited December 14, 2011 by urbex

[OBtech]

I only have dial-up as broadband is not nor will likely ever be available where I live. I bought Skyrim and installed it at a friend's house on November 12th so that Steam could connect and patch up. Now when I start my PC, the Steam prompt comes up and I tell it to work offline. I can play Skyrim all I want. I have a backup of my original Steam (Skyrim) directory, and I am using many mods that I have gotten from Skyrim Nexus. However, I tried to install the Nexus Mod Manager so I could use it to install mods the easy and reliable way, same as with Oblivion, but No... It won't install unless you have a broadband internet connection. So I am sure before too long, when everyone starts doing OMOD's again, I will no longer be able to use mods since I can't use the mod manager.

 

One other thing. I could go to a friend's house and patch up Skyrim, but I am worried if I do, I will no longer be able to play with Steam offline. Is this correct? Am I doomed to play the broken original Skyrim from now on due to my inability to get broadband internet?

[spikies]

Sorry guys, don't want to bother anyone, I just don't know where else to complain about Steam, I'm very pissed up about Steam, I think is unfair to not allow me to play unless connected to Steam...That is why I bouth the box version in the first place. I think I'm going to give up on the game, I hate evrytime I can't play because the Steam Cloud can't sink.

[BloodwolfeAK]

It is bad enough we are forced to have Steam, but now Steam doesn't work either. What really, really sucks is that not only I cannot play Skyrim, Steam has polluted virtually all of my favorite games so now I can't play ANY of them....FO3, Civ, Oblivion.....thanx Steam, you suck. And wtg Beth for saddling us for this one too.

[Shantih]

One other thing. I could go to a friend's house and patch up Skyrim, but I am worried if I do, I will no longer be able to play with Steam offline. Is this correct? Am I doomed to play the broken original Skyrim from now on due to my inability to get broadband internet?

 

No, it won't be a problem and you'll still be able to play with Steam offline. Consider backing up your files if you want to go back to the previous patch however. Also check the forum to decide if this is the right time for an update (patch 1.2 caused many issues that 1.3 is supposed to have fixed).

 

On a personal note, I am no friend of any Software that makes "must" out of a "can". I would like Steam a lot more if I were not forced to use it. (I would like to repeat, this is my personal opinion.)

 

I think this is very simply and eloquently phrased. :thumbsup:

 

The problem with Steam is that it can't prevent piracy and it has more disadvantages than perks for players who don't order their games from their store, don't collect achievements or simply don't care about the Steam social network.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Shantih

[Gabrielxoxo]

Urbex, you should get off your high horse and quit judging people from behind your monitor. I admitted to not being knowledgable about these things, is there really a reason for you to put me, and most other posters, down? We were exchanging information as people do on forums, no need to get rude and superior.

 

I would like to thank all of you again for all the answers. And thank you for informing me on how the game DOES NOT work without INTERNETS(yes its a Bush-ism)

 

 

To those who say that gaming has been like this for years, i think youre wrong. i got oblivion when it came out, i did not need to patch it. it did not have all kinds of bugs in it - controles were great, quests worked, dragons didnt fly backwards. oblivion gates did what they were supposed to.

 

IMO Beth released too soon (like a teenage boy) and now we all get to pay the price.

 

Thank you as well for the tips on steam. if i didnt have to use it i wouldnt. I didnt buy skyrim from them, i dont plan on buying any other games. i dont want them to keep track of my achievements, this isnt wow. im sure someone will come up with a mod to do that for me, i dont need to be attached at the hip to some company i dont want to support. My boyfriend begged me just get the cracked version, and had i known that was the way to avoid steam, i would have listened. But Noooo I had to be righteous and say something stupid like 'well if i dont BUY it, how will they know that i want them to make more!' yes ignorant i know but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

but thanks for all your time and your ranting, its good to know im not the only one in this position.

[nosisab]

Steam reached a new level of abuse to me today... when I open it I see in my library a game I'm not minimal interested, ready to be installed for play the weekend and whatever happens afterward... Well, I did not ask for it, I don't want it, I want not anything insinuating subrepticiously inside my machine. Some may find it wonderful that Steam is so "caring" for their users... but is not like I see this kind of marketing.