So You Have To Login To Steam Now?

[Chippy]

Only a short while ago I could start steam in offline mode. An option came up and I selected it. I might have to login once in a blue moon, but online wasn't necessary. Now you have to login or save your password (which I wont do) and then select offline mode.

So technically all that stuff about not having to be online is bullshit now isn't it?. I live in the countryside and we sometimes don't have the net for days, so if I can't access the intenet, then I can't access the games.

I have about 50 odd games with Steam - so I suppose the day is coming where I can write them off...

 

[Ereshkigal]

 

[Vic]

I pirated the games I own on Steam for that reason.

 

[Melcar]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

 

[The Decline]

You should still be able to do that. Sounds like a setting changed or a credential was deleted.

 

[racofer]

Not my problem.

 

[Roguey]

Offline mode works fine for me, it never tells me to log on.

 

[Zeriel]

As far as I can tell offline mode was changed to just set you "offline" in friends list. But I'm not sure this is exactly the case. It just appears to be the way it works now. That's what happens when I click "go offline" now. It used to reopen a completely different client.

Regardless, it has always been the case if you actually want to keep your games you should download a pirated version to save. Steam has never been "safe" in this way. Companies can remove your access to their game at any time, as famously noted in that video editing software case. It's also happened to some games.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

 

[Zeriel]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

 

[Late Bloomer]

It works fine though.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

you own the piece of plastic the game came on, you never owned the contents on that piece of plastic.
people who think there's some ~special magic~ because a game is on a DVD instead of your hard drive are fucking weird

and it's not the EULA, it's called copyright law

 

[Melcar]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

you own the piece of plastic the game came on, you never owned the contents on that piece of plastic.
people who think there's some ~special magic~ because a game is on a DVD instead of your hard drive are fucking weird

and it's not the EULA, it's called copyright law

I think you are confusing things. Maybe you mean owning the source code and actual assets. With those you can do as you please with a piece of software. That's "true" ownership. However, with commercial software that's never the case (maybe some exceptions exist). If this is what you mean, then no, we can never really own software unless it's open source and you are right. Most (commercial) software and media have some sort of license/copyright to protect trademarks/patents, that encumber the assets inside said software/media.
When you buy physical (usually anyway) you do buy a license to use the particular software/dedia that's on that psychical device, as is, and never should expire. You can reproduce said software anywhere and at any time, as many times as you want with no restriction. It's your copy and no one can infringe on your right to use it. This is what most here mean by "owning" their software and/or media.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

you own the piece of plastic the game came on, you never owned the contents on that piece of plastic.
people who think there's some ~special magic~ because a game is on a DVD instead of your hard drive are fucking weird

and it's not the EULA, it's called copyright law

I think you are confusing things. Maybe you mean owning the source code and actual assets. With those you can do as you please with a piece of software. That's "true" ownership. However, with commercial software that's never the case (maybe some exceptions exist). If this is what you mean, then no, we can never really own software unless it's open source and you are right. Most (commercial) software and media have some sort of license/copyright to protect trademarks/patents, that encumber the assets inside said software/media.
When you buy physical (usually anyway) you do buy a license to use the particular software/dedia that's on that psychical device, as is, and never should expire. You can reproduce said software anywhere and at any time, as many times as you want with no restriction. It's your copy and no one can infringe on your right to use it. This is what most here mean by "owning" their software and/or media.

You said it yourself, you do not own the software, you are licensing it. What you own is the instance of that license.

When you buy physical (usually anyway) you do buy a license to use the particular software/dedia that's on that psychical device, as is, and never should expire. You can reproduce said software anywhere and at any time, as many times as you want with no restriction. It's your copy and no one can infringe on your right to use it. This is what most here mean by "owning" their software and/or media.

There is absolutely zero difference between so-called "physical" and digital purchasing here. Download the game, put it on a DVD, it's the same damn thing.

I can already hear the "b-b-but the DRM!"
you know how many games I bought with secuROM back in the day? That shit doesn't even work anymore!
I have plenty of games on physical media that flat out do not work because of the DRM they're bundled with, but people insist upon constantly telling me how much better physical media is/was. Really? C'mon. Shit, I have games from the 80s I lost the fucking crude DRM pamphlets that they came with and I have to go look it up online just to be allowed to play it or else they stop working midgame when asked.

People thinking they're now uniquely being fucked instead of always being fucked are flat out wrong.

 

[JBro]

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

Companies can't forcibly uninstall your game off of your harddrive, either. Any vulnerability of non physical is now a vulnerability of physical. We're all in the same boat.

 

[Melcar]

Buying physical or downloading that same software is fine, as long as it has the same license and the buyer has no restrictions on how the can reproduce said software on the machine they want. DRM is fine as long as the buyer has the key with him (it's not an online authentication server for example). If you lost the key then it's on you.
The issue here is companies keeping the key and being able to remotely prevent the buyer from using the software he supposedly bought.
And when people say "buy physical" they usually mean media like movies and music.

 

[Metro]

Only a short while ago I could start steam in offline mode. An option came up and I selected it. I might have to login once in a blue moon, but online wasn't necessary. Now you have to login or save your password (which I wont do) and then select offline mode.

So technically all that stuff about not having to be online is bullshit now isn't it?. I live in the countryside and we sometimes don't have the net for days, so if I can't access the intenet, then I can't access the games.

I have about 50 odd games with Steam - so I suppose the day is coming where I can write them off...

People here have been preaching about how you'll never be able to access your games on Steam for like 20 years now... so... maybe in another 20 they might be right.

 

[Metro]

You own nothing. Why aren't you happy?

you've always licensed software, people thinking it's different because it's tied to a platform should start reading before they buy

This is an absurd argument, companies never had the ability to come to your house and take away your hard copy just because the game was packaged with an EULA. It's fundamentally a matter of capability; when a game is provided entirely online or uses an online service just to exist, companies are much more able to do this, and will.

Yeah... back in the glory days where games were physical... and I basically lost all of the ones I owned since then due to moving/disinterest/whatever. Amazing, though, I still have access to shit I bought on Steam 15+ years ago.

 

[Melcar]

Any day now.

 

[gaussgunner]

 

[anvi]

Steam is so janky. Why is there a pop up when it first loads? Who on the planet doesn't know that everyone hates pop ups? Also why does it need to be shut down and updated every 2 seconds, and can't they do that in the background automatically? Lazy primitive fuckers! Also the dev video hijacking the game video on store pages is stupid and annoying. Luckily all the games are indie crap so I don't need to use it much.

I think Steam is a glorified Kazaa.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Why is there a pop up when it first loads?

because you have it enabled

 

[Late Bloomer]

Also the dev video hijacking the game video on store pages

When you have Steam open, in the upper right hand corner where your username is, click it
Select account details
From there on the left hand pane select Preferences
Scroll all the way to the bottom and check this box.

 

[Ba'al]

Yeah... back in the glory days where games were physical... and I basically lost all of the ones I owned since then due to moving/disinterest/whatever. Amazing, though, I still have access to shit I bought on Steam 15+ years ago.

I basically lost access to my Steam account because I forgot the password...
Amazing, though, I still have my physical copies I bought 15+ years ago.

 

[†††]

Companies can't forcibly uninstall your game off of your harddrive

...yet