Offline mode only works when you have connected to Steam online first, and it only works while steam is running. So if you turn off your computer, say goodbye to offline mode.
I think it will be interesting in this age of authoritarianism how Steam increases their user-specific license agreements to make it virtually impossible to allow someone else to play the same copy of the game. I don't think the current state is going too far, as it doesn't really invade your privacy. Anything else will probably be too extreme.
Remember, the goal of these companies is to make money, and creating static user agreements is just another way for companies like Steam to make money. If we all boycott the system when things go too extreme, we would be able to stop privacy invasion once and for all. WHO'S WITH ME?!
Pretty much this, but the problem is exactly what people think is too far.
I think it's too far to restrict resale, but as it doesn't directly affect me, I grit my teeth and go on.
Imagine in 5 years they use facial recognition to sign on to your account before you play. Too far? Some people will say their picture is all over the internet anyway, so what's wrong with it? Others will say it's too extreme.
Two years later you have to keep your webcam hooked up so only you, not anyone else, can play your game (before it was just signing in, now its the whole time playing). Too far? For some yes, for others, no.
A few years after that, new keyboards detect your fingerprints as a security measure for computers. Now your fingerprints need to match to play, meaning they will also be on file. Too far? Again, some people who lasted this far say it's enough and others grin and bare it.
It is, unfortunately, a question of speed, as well. For me, growing up on an MES and very clearly remembering getting an SNES as a child, I'm very hard pressed to buy anything that doesn't come with a physical copy. My stepchild thinks its normal, however.
Maybe in a few years, more restriction will leave her in my place, but the younger crowd will grow up in a world where that's normal.
If it's only too far, too extreme, for a few people at a time, everyone else slowly gets weened onto the slightly more extreme system, and there are never enough people to stand up at once.
In 1774 in the United States, government was seen as a threat...to those in the government! Jefferson had a messenger and a secretary. The White House staff today is over 5000 people (not all of them involved in politics, but neither of Jefferson's assistants probably were either). It doesn't take long for people to get used to a new norm and for that to be pushed, which becomes a new norm, which gets pushed, etc.
The sad truth is that people are unlikely to make a stand. The demise of Steam is likely to be a similar service that is more user friendly.
I'm against these kinds of services all together.
I'll handle one that is not too restrictive and let's me buy what few things I don't pick up at a store. I'd say Steam is, in fact, too restrictive already, and it certainly doesn't let me buy anything (I tried to buy G&K for a few days before giving up and later seeing it in a store).
