Valve/Steam on Data-Mining, DRM, and Non-Ownership

[tom2050]

You were actually sufficiently irony-impaired to try make a point about transparency, by cutting their statement about transparency in order to distort it.

I left short quotes I quickly copied and pasted. I implicitly left the links to all of them so you could read it yourself.

For example, this:

Originally Posted by http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/News/130129,valve-boss-lets-off-steam-about-drm.aspx
President of Valve Software Gabe Newell has said that he thinks the DRM on computer games is "just dumb".
...the future of PC games might not just be DRM-less, it might be entirely disc-less.

is good... there is nothing that sounds bad here. You can pick out things and make them sound bad; but the majority of quotes are positive, and their intent is on the good side.

Majorities do not want their demographics mined. Valve does not do this currently, that we know of, but they do plan to do this; they have implied so themselves.

It would have been worse, if I left the whole web page in quotes for each point. You can read, so you can go to the web page to get the whole context yourself.

But, to be fair, I was watching MSNBC at the time I wrote it, so that news program may have rubbed off on me and caused me to inadvertently distort the statement. But, we all know how 'Transparent' DRM is...

 

[Senethro]

Even in offline mode, steam connects to the internet.

Which is fine, not a problem and entirely irrelevant to the question he asked but great job repeating a tired talking point.

And it's not entirely certain how well offline mode works (there are reports that if an update is available, you cannot play the game, even in offline mode).

Yes, thats correct. But how often is an update going to be out thats so large you can't download it in a few minutes?

Given that 2K made steam an integral part of civ5, it's very much on topic. And it's not like there's anything else to talk about anyways.

So why are people who said they're not buying the game talking about it here?

Majorities do not want their demographics mined. Valve does not do this currently, that we know of, but they do plan to do this; they have implied so themselves.

Take me off ignore so you can read my post showing how Valve already data mines and that its a good and even interesting thing.

 

[deanej]

Not a problem? Isn't the whole point of offline mode to be offline? Must have totally missed what offline mode meant then.

What if the update breaks mods? This happened all the time with civ4. You should be able to wait to install an update however long you want. There's no reason to block the game in the meantime. This isn't an MMO.

Just because you aren't buying a game doesn't mean you're not interested in hearing about it. And since steam was the deciding factor for many of us, steam discussion naturally happens.

 

[Senethro]

Not a problem? Isn't the whole point of offline mode to be offline? Must have totally missed what offline mode meant then.

Yes, you have totally missed what offline meant. Let me help you. It means you can play your games offline.

What if the update breaks mods? This happened all the time with civ4. You should be able to wait to install an update however long you want. There's no reason to block the game in the meantime. This isn't an MMO.

I'm sure it'll happen at least once. Without knowing how often updates are planned or Civ5's structure we don't know how big a problem it'll be.

Just because you aren't buying a game doesn't mean you're not interested in hearing about it. And since steam was the deciding factor for many of us, steam discussion naturally happens.

Fair enough, but I hope you don't plan to spend months dissecting why you're not buying this game. The only thing worse than a fan community is an anti-fan community.

 

[Grouchey]

Yes, you have totally missed what offline meant. Let me help you. It means you can play your games offline.

Until you can't:

The Steam client application's files must be updated to allow for the use of Offline Mode. If your game's status is "100% - Ready" but you receive the message "This game cannot be started in Offline Mode" when attempting to play offline, the Steam client application's files need to be updated.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

 

[Senethro]

Until you can't:


https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

But its only going to know that an update has been released if its been online, in which case it should download it anyway. No problem.

 

[Grouchey]

But its only going to know that an update has been released if its been online, in which case it should download it anyway. No problem.

Well that certainly sounds logical. But why do people frequently say that they can't play offline for more than three weeks or so without having to go back on line?

 

[civ_king]

Well that certainly sounds logical. But why do people frequently say that they can't play offline for more than three weeks or so without having to go back on line?

Show me someone other than you or people who are quoting you please, from two different people (you said people not person)

 

[bite]

Moderator Action: I am shutting this thread for two reasons, firstly the original poster edited quotes to makes his argument sound better. Secondly, the response to that poor post went over the line.