First bad thing to say about Steam since HL2

[darthsloth74]

Dark0ne: I'm a little confused by your problem. I use 3G mobile broadband myself and it works like a proper internet connection for me. I installed Skyrim and activated it through Steam for a very small amount of mobile credit cost. Once done I put Steam into offline mode and I never have to go on the net until I want to download an update etc. Of course go into individual games settings and make sure you select do not update this game automatically.

 

If your are installing all your Steam games again that would be rather expensive via Mobile broadband and any online games like Eve will eat your credit in minutes. My solution was to take an external drive around to a friends house, install Steam to the drive and all my games. When you take the drive back home Steam will want you to verify your password/username etc, they send a verification code to your email. Once you've confirmed that, you can go into offline mode no problem.

 

Steam is annoying I know but its an evil I put up with. ;)

[Dark0ne]

Mobile 3G where I am is like a proxy, and you don't get given your own IP address, you share your IP address with many people. Steam needs to be able to directly contact you through an IP address (this is nothing to do with having a dynamic/static IP). That's why it doesn't work.

 

The issue is that, obviously, I'm offline and I don't care about that. But why can't I play my Steam games in offline mode without first logging in and setting Steam to offline? It's just dumb.

[darthsloth74]

Yes that is dumb but thats Steam for you. Its the dawn of DRM hell and regarding 3G I guess its different depending what area you're in I suppose.

[Halororor]

Hmm, you don't have anyone close by with a wifi connection or a friend with adsl you can use? Or do you mean it needs to log into Steam first every time you want to go into offline mode?

[cooltrickle]

The issue is that, obviously, I'm offline and I don't care about that. But why can't I play my Steam games in offline mode without first logging in and setting Steam to offline? It's just dumb.

 

You're completely right about offline mode but I wouldn't call it dumb. Somebody at Steam made it work this way deliberately. That makes it worse than dumb.

 

The consequence of an offline mode that requires you to be online to enable that "option", means you are effectively tied into a periodic activation scheme. Strangely, most game publishers that *openly* try to enforce daily or weekly internet activation for their games get their teeth kicked in by angry gamers. But for some reason Steam, which in effect is using periodic game activations, receives no such attention.

 

I think gamers are being slowly weaned off discs so games can become download-only. I wonder how many "options", we'll have then? We don't really have them now with mandatory periodic activations and forced updates... oh yeah, I forgot crippled retail discs.

Edited January 11, 2012 by cooltrickle

[Halororor]

You're completely right about offline mode but I wouldn't call it dumb. Somebody at Steam made it work this way deliberately. That makes it worse than dumb.

 

The consequence of an offline mode that requires you to be online to enable that "option", means you are effectively tied into a periodic activation scheme. Strangely, most game publishers that *openly* try to enforce daily or weekly internet activation for their games get their teeth kicked in by angry gamers. But for some reason Steam, which in effect is using periodic game activations, receives no such attention.

 

Did you even read through the thread or did you just jump in to state your unfounded 'opinion'? A lot of us, including me, don't need to have an internet connection to go into offline mode. I can plug my PC out now while Steam is in online mode, take it to a friend's house without internet, and enter Steam offline mode.

 

I think gamers are being slowly weaned off discs so games can become download-only. I wonder how many "options", we'll have then? We don't really have them now with mandatory periodic activations and forced updates... oh yeah, I forgot crippled retail discs.

 

Show me which games have 'crippled' disks?

[RitualBlack]

Steam is about as flexible as one could ask for. Game files are very accessible (just the other day I was taking a look at some odd world models), there is an off-line mode which works for some, many games have CD activation, and you are never 'forced' to update. My version of GTAIV is 1.04 because that had the most mods released for it. They also sell games for a fraction of what they cost in stores, sell some classic games, and give away free stuff. Unfortunately PC games being sold in stores is becoming increasingly rare. Very few places still carry computer games, and those who do almost never carry used/classic games. The last place I saw a used PC game in a store was a Gamestop clearing out all there used PC titles for $1 per game. That being said, I don't really use CD's all that much anymore anyways. If you have a bunch of friends who want to install a game on steam to play with you than you can just download it once and pass it around on a USB 3.0. You can transfer 14gb of games in the background in around the same time it takes to install Skyrim from a disk. Steam also lets you back games up on a CD to install from at a later date and the company is gaining nothing from people downloading off their servers except maybe a bandwidth bill :tongue:. I find steam to be a great service that works well most of the time and without them it would be unlikely that the PC would be doing as well as it is, with consoles being cheap to buy, easier to us and over advertised.

[sendo75]

Educate me then, how does Valve make more money from Steam, apart from game sales? They don't rent servers, they don't charge download fees, they don't charge you to play the game, they don't charge you a subscription... Valve makes no money past the sale of the game, unless selling DLC, which also counts as a sale.

The main point is the direction it is heading and its motivation behind it. Nosisab has given a well written opinion on the matter but you chose to be skeptical as is your right to be. I am only stating my opinion to balance your relentless defensive stance on this thread.

 

Its not hard to believe Steam is trying to mine information on gamer profiles. Scanning or logging your activites in the backend when you are connected. Monitoring game play statistics for their market analysis to better formulate how best to maximize sales or profits. Or even selling these information to game companies who are depending on market research. Targetted advertising is also not too far fetched. All are means to achieve more profits while testing how much the consumers are willing to put up with.

 

If consumers can be pacified with ineffective and inconvenient anti-piracy measures, then it is not hard to imagine more ridiculous measures in the future.

 

I am unsure how you can claim that they do not make money past the original sales, how can you be so sure unless you have audited their financial records? Do you even expect such information to be available to the public? It wouldn't be in their interest to truthfully reveal their profit margin for sales of digital copies. In fact, I don't even believe claims of losing money to piracy, less insane profits is more likely. Since there are no available trustworthy facts, everyone is free to believe whatever sounds logical to them.

 

Just because you have to be online/activate your game online doesn't mean they're suddenly going to start charging us per hour for games we bought. Just listen to how absolutely ridiculous that even sounds.

Ridiculous indeed but no reason not to implement it if customers are easily misleaded, imagine the $$ in their eyes. Regardless, the example given was not a claim of facts but speculation of what might happen. It may not evolve exactly as what was speculated but it won't be too far off if it did.

[Ghogiel]

I am unsure how you can claim that they do not make money past the original sales, how can you be so sure unless you have audited their financial records?

collected market trend data. user data. distribution contracts. adverts and promotions. it's all directly contributing to their net worth if not direct income.

[Halororor]

Yes, but they are not taking a cent more from my wallet past the game sale, unless I pay them for extra content. Whatever money they DO make after the sale does not come from me.

 

As for targeted marketing, the only time Steam targets its marketing at me is when it tells me there is new content available for a game I own. That's it. If Steam shares my user data with any third-party companies, it's for research purposes only, which I don't mind at all.

 

Besides that, Steam is the biggest digital distributor out there. They rake in the money by the truckload. I highly doubt they're suddenly going to start resorting to draconian practices to make more money, especially considering that they're notorious for having frequent sales in which games go for absolutely, ridiculously low prices.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Halororor