Non Steam copy of a Steam exclusive game

[Deleted3507349User]

Game developers know that any DRM they impose will be cracked sooner or later. The idea is to make it later (they shoot for at least a month after release). The longer is takes, the fewer sales they lose to the pirates.

[saadus]

And the more sales lost because of the DRM.

[tamha]

And the more sales lost because of the DRM.

 

I used to think this. I even wrote thesis in college on how DRM damages consumer trust in the developers, how it doesn't actually prevent piracy, and how some forms of DRM were so aggressive they actually damaged the end-users machines.

 

I don't believe that the Steam DRM on Skyrim does any of these things, well, except for actually preventing people from trying to pirate the game. Which comes up when they try to then modify their game, since generally they can't. My response for that? "Go buy the game, and support the makers of it."

 

I was annoyed at first when the DRM required that my husband and I both own a copy of the game, as many single player games we will just share between us. In the end though, we still bought a second copy of the game, and quite happily play concurrently. Before we did that, we just took turns as to who would play. The Steam DRM isn't a model for DRM boycotting, it will not damage your computer by it being there, and a lot of users will already use Steam to download games. This primarily ensures that we get the updates right away, how is that a bad thing?

[Skyviper086]

Now here's a interesting scenario. Some years ago I bought two games made from Atari Act of War: Direct Action and Act of War: High Treason. These disk were bought at Big Lots and Amazon respectively. Now (to my surprise) Steam owns the titles. Actually it made by another but published by Atari so says wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_War:_Direct_Action

 

So would that be different? Having a non steam game prior to it being a steam game?

 

 

EDIT: Why can't we call steam (like you can with certain microsoft products) and get it validated that way? Internet in the sticks isn't the best service. AT&T drops my online service like they do my phone calls ... frequently and at the most inconvenient times.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Skyviper086

[fore]

I've made an interesting observation which makes me believe that steam (=legal) users are much more versatile than pirates. Or maybe that NMM doesn't get along with pirated installations either.

 

With the FNIS generator tool I got really frustrated about the amount of posts with simple installation problems. Most of them basically like "I have the half-T as well. Any help?". Then it's like pulling teeth out of people who often haven't even looked into the description. So I added a lot of checks and list a lot of file information in the log file. And I added a warning "Generator not run from a legal (Steam) Skyrim installation directory". For this warning I check for appropriate registry entries, not directory names.

 

The result: I get much less help requests now. Which of cause can be the result of NMM being much more stable now. But for the rest I have a standard response, requesting the log file being sent via pm. And from the last 10 or 12 users I made this response, noone has ever come back.

 

Coincidence?

[ginnyfizz]

Ummm...in my case as regards FNIS, where I have not one but TWO legal copies of Skyrim (a digital download AND a physical disc, and yes I can produce my Amazon order history as well as the Steam one), NMM didn't get on with a totally legal installation either - when I patched to 1.8 and tried to download the updated FNIS, NMM for some reason downloaded the wrong version. I was clicking on the correct version to download but it wasn't what I got. So yes, NMM did go through a phase of tantrums but seems to be a lot better now.

[fore]

No ginny, you were one of those with legit problems, apparently caused by NMM. And I'm glad I can help in these cases. And your log didn't show the piracy warning either.

 

I'm just sharing my experience that a small piracy warning, with no negative effect on the result, can so much reduce the number of help calls. :)

[whismerhill]

The retail version of Skyrim has everything you need to play it, you just need to connect to Steam to validate it. Problem is, it'll try to download all the updates. I suppose people out in the stick would be better off waiting for a GOTY finalized version with all updates included.

 

You can most likely forget about ever seeing an official non-Steam version. Thank piracy for that.

that has got absolutely nothing to do with piracy

 

steam doesn't halt piracy, even if you own the game I welcome you to do some searches, since being informed is not illegal in itself

it is perfectly doable to pirate most steam games, the only "problem" that those people may have, comes from non AAA titles that get frequent updates & crack teams might not keep up with the flow of updates ...

 

popular games like skyrim though ... it's all available for those willing to work toward that goal.

 

nope the fact is, all games tend to move to internet distribution models (even future console might move to exclusive internet distribution for games)

because more money goes into the developer/editor pocket (even with steam getting their cuts) when you buy a game online & download it, rather than when you buy a game at retail

 

As I remember it, Stardock CEO, was saying that they made around the same amount of money on internet compared to retail, despite selling a lot more retail copies (around 10x more retail copies)

now obviously this is a special case since Stardock is distributing their own games online with their own digital distribution platform (so no cuts for another platform like Origin or Steam ...)

 

even so it gives an idea of how things work

Edited December 3, 2012 by whismerhill

[rpsnow]

just tonight i was in the chatroom after a long time away from nexus, and what did i see, somebody got kicked cos they blatantly admitted to piracy of oblivion using lack of money as there excuse. sadly it seems to be a growing trend.

sorry, still getting used to the changes, i meant to post this under bben's comments on piracy.

Edited December 22, 2012 by rpsnow

[kaseywolf878]

there are many ways to get around the not having steam and stuff etcetc but there is also a lot of people who have made games free (aka no purchase just a download) and also cracked updates and stuff for skyrim as from whaty ive sseen looking into this they have all the updates cracked and able to be installed manually (as if it where a mod) only issue is from the video on youtube they said u have to install them in order if u dont then you have to reinstall or some such and start over cause it wont work right and aparently the same for fallout 3 as for if its against the law idk if it being GIVEN not sold is or not pirates are there for those people who are poor and cant afford to pay 60$ + for a game they would most liklly only play a year then toss away i commend the pirates for there efforts and skill at doing most of what they do and if it where such a big deal people like skidrow would have been taken down and then that mistrious hacker organazation (idk there name) would crash all the gov sites again

 

im just saying i dont hate pirates though it may be illigle to sell it what are the rules for the free versions? i honestly dont know cause i havnt went that extensive into my reasurch on this subject

 

If you had done any research you would have quickly found that we do ban for advocating piracy. Banned

Bben46

Edited February 6, 2013 by bben46