Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries • Hacker News Board

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#71

Post by joveian » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 10:51 AM UTC

Ygg2 wrote: post #37

tomphoolery wrote: post #6

No refunds? Really?!? The guy who sold me my bong has a better fucking return policy than that.

Just go to GoG.com they offer refunds AND they have a wide selection of old and indie games.

GOG does have a few games with DRM even though they advertise as 100% DRM free. They have also sold games that phone home, although I don't think they have sold any that have phone home DRM. They are more reliable than anywhere else I know of, but do have some amount of false advertising.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#72

Post by Semaphor » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 10:54 AM UTC

markeganfuller wrote: post #48

girvo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which, interestingly, is why one of the head developers who worked on Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (the MMO, that was quite enjoyable) wants the debug dev version cleaned up and release: It removed all the online content, and just let you take a character through the entire world, all offline. He wants to do that, as a way of preserving the world. It might not have the content, but its something, and an interesting ta…

Got a link? That sounds interesting.

Some googling turned up his blog post: http://shinytoys.org/blog/war-in-a-bottle

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#73

Post by K0nserv » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 11:15 AM UTC

shangaslammi wrote: post #61

The article claims incorrectly that the game had 18 single-player missions. The FAQ linked from the article is for the game "Order of War". "Order of War: Challenge" is a completely separate, multi-player-only game that had its servers shut down and was removed from Steam. The original "Order of War" is still available ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/ ). In addition, the "Challenge" add-on was given free to…

It is a non issue for Steam, as such they have no ground to remove the game from users library.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#74

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 11:19 AM UTC

interstitial wrote: post #53

warfangle wrote: post #38

Earlier 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.

[deleted]

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#75

Post by izzydata » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 11:21 AM UTC

And this is why I'll never feel comfortable paying for a full priced game from a digital download. Until they can sell it to me in a digital format that allows me to own it and have complete control over it in whatever way that I want I will either not play the game, pirate the game, or get a boxed copy.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#76

Post by mandelbulb » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 11:48 AM UTC

shangaslammi wrote: post #61

The article claims incorrectly that the game had 18 single-player missions. The FAQ linked from the article is for the game "Order of War". "Order of War: Challenge" is a completely separate, multi-player-only game that had its servers shut down and was removed from Steam. The original "Order of War" is still available ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/ ). In addition, the "Challenge" add-on was given free to…

The issue at hand is that Steam removed something from the users library. Usually people consider anything on his computer to be his property, no matter at what cost it was purchased. While I don't know whether that was as claimed the first instance of content removal or whether under the terms of service any content is only leased it is certainly a wake up call. It is especially concerning if you bought your games for a very similar price as at a store.

So, in short, the issue is that Steam apparently has the right to remove content from their clients' libraries.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#77

Post by Havoc » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 12:04 PM UTC

Silhouette wrote: post #8

There 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…

Apparently GabeN commented on the forum a couple of years back that they would remove the DRM if Valve goes under & that they tested the patching already. I can't seem to find a good source for that though.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#78

Post by hatu » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 12:07 PM UTC

aerique wrote: post #67

shangaslammi wrote: post #61

The article claims incorrectly that the game had 18 single-player missions. The FAQ linked from the article is for the game "Order of War". "Order of War: Challenge" is a completely separate, multi-player-only game that had its servers shut down and was removed from Steam. The original "Order of War" is still available ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/34600/ ). In addition, the "Challenge" add-on was given free to…

I don't know this game, but if for example Blizzard would shut down the World of Warcraft servers you could still play it on private servers. Same for a lot of other MMOs that do not have their official server anymore like Star Wars Galaxies and Earth & Beyond. People can still play these on private and / or emulated servers.

Don't you need some kind of a cracked version of the game for that? I don't know if you can play on private servers with a Steam version of a game anyway.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#79

Post by 67726e » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 12:12 PM UTC

hatu wrote: post #78

aerique wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know this game, but if for example Blizzard would shut down the World of Warcraft servers you could still play it on private servers. Same for a lot of other MMOs that do not have their official server anymore like Star Wars Galaxies and Earth & Beyond. People can still play these on private and / or emulated servers.

Don't you need some kind of a cracked version of the game for that? I don't know if you can play on private servers with a Steam version of a game anyway.

It probably depends on the game and how they store server information. For instance, if they hostname for the server that broadcasts available game servers is sitting in a .ini file, you don't need a crack. If it was a hardcoded string in the binary, then you would. Of course some games may also employ other mechanisms to restrict what/where you can connect to, but in a lot of cases I've seen it is a matter of pointing to an IP with a server running.

As an example, Counter Strike: Source stored the servers in a human readable file and you could add alternative servers in the config file without a problem.

Re: Steam Removes Game 'Order Of War: Challenge' From User Libraries

#80

Post by randallsquared » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 12:14 PM UTC

hatu wrote: post #78

aerique wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know this game, but if for example Blizzard would shut down the World of Warcraft servers you could still play it on private servers. Same for a lot of other MMOs that do not have their official server anymore like Star Wars Galaxies and Earth & Beyond. People can still play these on private and / or emulated servers.

Don't you need some kind of a cracked version of the game for that? I don't know if you can play on private servers with a Steam version of a game anyway.

In 2007, at least, you could play WoW on a private server merely by changing your config file to point at that server; no crack was necessary. It probably was not worth Blizzard's time to shut down this configurability.