Aren't you allowed to circumvent DRM for certain fair use cases? Certainly disabling DRM on the single-player parts would fall under that, wouldn't it? Valve would earn respect back by releasing a crack/replacement DRM that uses Steam.
Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
51–60 of 123 posts
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#52There is a broader issue here than just gaming, too. Many high-end applications now have obnoxious DRM/copy protection schemes that require varying levels of Internet connectivity to work. I have asked a reseller about how this operates if the original developer of the $X,000/seat software my business relies on goes under, and they basically laughed my question off, saying that would never happen. I have also, in an…
In theory, if the reseller adopts a 'that will never happen' attitude, then they should be happy to commit to giving you a full refund if the developer does go out of business. After all, if they think it won't happen, what have they got to fear about it? In practice, good luck getting any guarantee, promise or actual refund!
One does not usually go out of business with enough cash reserves to refund your customers. That being said, they should offer some sort of self-hosted open-source promise: if we go out of business, we will release the code for our former customers to maintain.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
In enterprise (and academic) settings a traditional approach has been to let the client run the license server. That's how Matlab works, for example: a network-licensed copy won't start up unless it can "phone home", but typically it phones home to the license server run by the client, on the client's network, not to centralized DRM servers run by the vendor. I know for consumer software things are slowly moving towa…
Theoretically, the bitcoin ledger could be used as a decentralized phone-home.
Or say any other type of crypto-ledger that is not participating in the currently fadish pump-n-dump bitcoin schemes. And I post this comment knowing I will suffer the down-vote rage of bitcoiners.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#54There is a broader issue here than just gaming, too. Many high-end applications now have obnoxious DRM/copy protection schemes that require varying levels of Internet connectivity to work. I have asked a reseller about how this operates if the original developer of the $X,000/seat software my business relies on goes under, and they basically laughed my question off, saying that would never happen. I have also, in an…
In theory, if the reseller adopts a 'that will never happen' attitude, then they should be happy to commit to giving you a full refund if the developer does go out of business. After all, if they think it won't happen, what have they got to fear about it? In practice, good luck getting any guarantee, promise or actual refund!
We actually took legal advice on this at one point, and the bottom line was that we could well have a claim against the reseller (as they were the other party in the actual sale contract) if something unfortunate happened, but that's only worth anything if the reseller themselves is still around. Our major concern here is that software we've paid for that might otherwise be useful indefinitely could be rendered useless because some external system ceased to be available.
This being the case, relying on the ability to sue anyone and get meaningful compensation after the fact seems unwise. Clearly some sort of legal obligation for those selling the software to make arrangements in advance to unlock everything if they go under would be a much more useful guarantee for customers. It would suffice to have a version of the software sold that is identical except for removing all copy protection logic, and require that this be provided to a third party escrow service to be released automatically in the even that the software developer or their agent/successor is no longer providing the necessary services to support that copy protection system.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Theoretically, the bitcoin ledger could be used as a decentralized phone-home.
Or say any other type of crypto-ledger that is not participating in the currently fadish pump-n-dump bitcoin schemes. And I post this comment knowing I will suffer the down-vote rage of bitcoiners.
The only possible reasonable response to this well-meaning comment is to point out that you spell it "faddish".
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#56I don't think the issue is Steam deleting the game so much, since this game had always on DRM and the servers were going down. It makes sense to delete the game rather than dleaving an inoperable game around. The issue is more the always on DRM and the idea that people pay for a game upfront that requires the servers to be running.
It would make more sense if a game that you buy will always run to some extent without servers, or else, if servers are required, then don't charge upfront, and pay for the game with subscriptions that can maintain the servers.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#57I don't think the issue is Steam deleting the game so much, since this game had always on DRM and the servers were going down. It makes sense to delete the game rather than dleaving an inoperable game around. The issue is more the always on DRM and the idea that people pay for a game upfront that requires the servers to be running. It would make more sense if a game that you buy will always run to some extent without…
editors should be required to provide a patch so that the solo part of the game can still be played after the editor consider that the game is no longer and decides to shut down the server.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#58The root problem was them shutting it down because the game client hit their servers and they were shutting them down. Running servers is costly. But game developers should do an update or at least provide a way to turn off multiplayer or allow others to run servers when the game is finished. There isn't really a system for this yet but there needs to be, multiplayer support ends for most games eventually. The good o…
There's a pretty decent system. Self hosted game servers, and a patch to disable the DRM once the official servers go belly under. Unfortunately few developers care enough about their users to do such.
It's not so simple as "few developers care enough". Do you seriously think that there are a signficant number of game developers who just turn around and say "fuck them, they're only our customers anyway"?
It generally comes down to restrictions placed by the publisher. Due to agreements with the publisher[1], the developing company can't just release a patch to disable DRM whenever they want - they are contractually obligated to not release anything without publisher approval. And publishers are very, very reluctant to approve disabling DRM.
[1] Source: contacts and contract work in the industry, and got to deal with the second-hand effects of publisher restrictions myself.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why can't people expect a refund? Why is that a ridiculous expectation?
Because it's in the contract that you agreed to upon purchasing. The only thing you can do is no longer agree to those types of contracts.
So its not a ridiculous expectation, since it had to be explicitly included in the contract.
Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries
#60I recently purchased a game from Steam (Max Payne 3) and after I download the full 30 gig game it tells me "cannot connect to key server". After several emails with their support they inform me that Steam doesn't have enough CD keys, yet they continue selling the game on their website. It has been about a week now and I still cannot even play this game. Plus, not only does that require a Steam account but you also ha…
I keep a library of cracks for games that I own on Steam, it's one way to ensure I have access to what I bought.
It's looking like it will be needed for lots of GFWL games now, too.