Is the Steam DRM just a one-time verification check? Or is it much more?

Senethro said:
Offline mode means what Steam wants it to mean, its their service.
Click to expand...

So, if somebody sells a car to you and then delivers a bicycle, you won't have a chance, because "car" means what this guy wants it to mean?
 
Commander Bello said:
So, if somebody sells a car to you and then delivers a bicycle, you won't have a chance, because "car" means what this guy wants it to mean?
Click to expand...

Poor analogy. That would be fraud and we have laws against it. Steam clearly describes Offline mode as allowing you to play games offline, not a tinfoil hat mode to be safe from the kilobytes.
 
Damn, this is still going on. I'll explain it in short again: when in offline-modus you don't need an internet connection after the initial activation. There. THAT'S IT. I don't know why the hell everyone is still talking about steam still pinging when you use offline mode while online (what's that about?). It's completely irrelevant to anything. I've never known a forum which drew trivial stuff out like this. 17 pages and somehow people are talking about bicycles being cars. Do any of you people realise this discussion literally repeats itself at least TWO times per page? It's freaking ridiculous.
 
Sterf said:
Damn, this is still going on. I'll explain it in short again: when in offline-modus you don't need an internet connection after the initial activation. There. THAT'S IT. I don't know why the hell everyone is still talking about steam still pinging when you use offline mode while online (what's that about?). It's completely irrelevant to anything. I've never known a forum which drew trivial stuff out like this. 17 pages and somehow people are talking about bicycles being cars. Do any of you people realise this discussion literally repeats itself at least TWO times per page? It's freaking ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Its a long setup to a joke. The punchline will be when they all buy the game anyway come Sept.
 
Commander Bello said:
To the first sentence I agree. My effort would be to either go to the TV studio or provide their team with electricity (maybe drinks and snacks as well) at my place and to be prepared (in terms of having prepared my speech and so on) for the transmission.

But you would agree that under the assumption of having been granted the chance of having "air time on the tv" it would be "strange" if the transmission would be switched on and off by something/somebody about which I do not have control when I was told not to be on the air?
Click to expand...

I see what you are trying to do...but the analogy really doesn't work. The point remains that you have to take responsibility...whether that be
  • blocking access by the software you don't trust using a firewall
    or
  • arranging with a TV station for a guaranteed air time
    (which would mean having a signed enforceable contract guaranteeing you that uninterrupted and unedited air time. Without that contract the air-time still belongs to the station and you are at their mercy...as often happens when pre-recorded interviews are cut to present the impression the TV station wants)
 
Commander Bello said:
So, here we have the first one who clearly states that even if a certain software products offers an so-called "offline mode", I do not have the right to choose if I will allow it to access the internet.

Any followers of that opinion?
Click to expand...

You are reading too much into my answer. I answered the question asked, not perhaps the one you meant?

If you have no license agreements in place then you can chose. As soon as you enter into a legal contract then you really should be sure what you have purchased and or agreed too.

As an aside, I do have steam, and know, thanks to my temperamental ISP, that I can play games when not hooked up to the net.

However, that is not the point I was trying to make. I was just observing that we all enter into agreements about software without always reading the many pages of fine print. I just often click agree and get on with it.
 
Senethro said:
Its a long setup to a joke. The punchline will be when they all buy the game anyway come Sept.
Click to expand...

*rimshot*

Yeah, to be honest we should make a thread where everyone who says they're not going to buy the game can /sign so we can enjoy pointing it out to them after September.
 
mjs0 said:
I see what you are trying to do...but the analogy really doesn't work. The point remains that you have to take responsibility...whether that be
  • blocking access by the software you don't trust using a firewall
    or
  • arranging with a TV station for a guaranteed air time
    (which would mean having a signed enforceable contract guaranteeing you that uninterrupted and unedited air time. Without that contract the air-time still belongs to the station and you are at their mercy...as often happens when pre-recorded interviews are cut to present the impression the TV station wants)
Click to expand...

Sorry to have to put you into the same boat as the others, but you are answering questions which have not been asked.
(...) when I was told not to be on the air?
Click to expand...
That, in my example, was the analogy to Steam's so-called "offline mode".

I know, now somebody wants to jump out of the bush and tell me that Steam has never excluded the option to establish internet connection while the software runs in the so-called "offline mode".

Yet, they are nowhere stating that they shall be allowed to do so, either.
Therefore, it is the common understanding of the term "offline mode" which is important to decide what Joe Average will expect the software to do.
To me the whole thing is near to unadvertised, unheralded, yet intentional behaviour and that is something, which in the context of possible - unannounced - changes of the privacy policy is not acceptable.

In our German forum we are discussing this topic as well and have been told, that allegedly this "seems" to be a bug within Steam. In case this would be true, anybody appreciating Steam should be glad that a heated debate finally will lead to the correction of such a bug.

But no, people who allegedly don't have any connection to Steam as company are whining about people pointing out such behaviour of the software.
Furthermore, they are repetitively avoiding a simple answer to the question, which I have stated a lot of times now: Does a user have the right to choose which software on his computer (especially one which is offering a so-called "offline mode") shall establish internet connections while technically being connected with the internet?

Answers which were given on the whole topic of the so-called "offline mode" range from "misusing technical features" to "disallowing Steam to check for validity of accounts".

Actually, this is quite confusing. But they may have their reasons and don't want to tell us, which is fine for me. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
 
No, I'm for not being silly. Steam has a functional offline mode. It briefly contacts the local Steam server in less than a kilobyte shortly after being turned on.

Boycotting a game over the kilobyte is silly, as is invoking such lofty concepts as rights etc.

Why don't people care about significant stuff like selling us an almost complete game and then overpriced DLC of the remainder?
 
No, I'm not pro- either of them. I think Steam is the least bad solution to a variety of problems and offers services I'm interested in which add value for me.

Also when are you going to make me my own unit?
 
Senethro said:
Also when are you going to make me my own unit?
Click to expand...

You have not been deemed worthy enough yet to get a unit of your own.

Question: Would you defend a Civ 5 that required internet to play and to uninstall the game from your hard drive (as well as to install as is now)?

I do, and therefore I have started a petition for them to change it with a poll. I want massive amounts of DRM (non-intrusive of course) everywhere in Civ 5 to protect it from the evil 2nd hand market and from the paranoid pirates (as stated in the petition itself). :)

------------------

Defending Internet to Install... but not defending Internet to Uninstall is hypocritical.
 
tom2050 said:
Didn't answer the question... you and Chalks are sooo Pro- Forced Internet to Install the game, that means you should also be Pro- Forced Internet to Install the game and Play the game?

There is very minor difference between the 2.
Click to expand...

If you think there is a minor difference to a one time internet connection for years of uninterrupted offline play and constant connection requirements, then why are you even attempting to make this point?
 
Some of these are problems of developers, some are publishers and some are consumers. They have been discussed at length already, probably in this thread.

DRM
Content delivery (Steam store, downloads)
Integration of online functionality (Steamworks makes this easy for devs)
Anti-cheat (Probably not applicable to Civ)

The significant one for me is content delivery. I buy something on Steam and its all installed, patched, bugfixed and ready to go next morning. No hassle. Easier than piracy, as easy as console gaming.
DRM from the consumers point of view is always negative. I don't find the restrictions imposed by Steam to be very problematic. I find them less problematic than CD-keys, discs, dongles, Always-Online-DRM, codewheels, etc.
 
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