5 ms·

A nice way to solve this would be for steam to require all games provide a drm free version to valve and in the event where the DRM breaks and the publisher is

A nice way to solve this would be for steam to require all games provide a drm free version to valve and in the event where the DRM breaks and the publisher is gone steam will replace everyones copy with the drm free version. Although these days I don't think valve is really in the position to demand such a thing.

Moru 7y ago
You don't own the things you buy on steam, it's more like renting. When the game stops working, you loose the right to play it.
- wokkel 7y ago
  That's what valve says. Luckily not everything in their nonsense license agreement is enforcable as a judge recently ruled: https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-steam-valve-used-games-eu-law https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-stea...
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    But then a German court ruled otherwise, so the jurisprudence doesn't seem to be clear yet?
    - wokkel 7y ago
      I cannot find a source for that. Care to share?
      - tremon 7y ago
        Not sure about Germany, but here's a thread about the French court decision: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/steam-forced-to-authorize-the-sale-of-second-hand-games-in-france.1503124/ https://www.neogaf.com/threads/steam-forced-to-authorize-the...
      - BlueTemplar 7y ago
        https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rules-against-rights-to-resell-steam-games/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rul...
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    Ok, so it seems to be that : 2012 EU ruling : "software is a good that can be resold" 2014 German ruling : "games are not just software, but also "art"(?), they can NOT be resold" https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rules-against-rights-to-resell-steam-games/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rul... 2019 French court ruling : "Steam accounts are just software(?), they can be resold" https://www.nextinpact.com/news/108209-ufc-que-choisir-vs-valve-justice-consacre-vente-doccasion-jeux-dematerialises.htm https://www.nextinpact.com/news/108209-ufc-que-choisir-vs-va...
- autoexec 7y ago
  my solution is to buy games on gog when i can and save a cracked copy of any game I end up buying on steam. best of both worlds really. When it works, the minor sacrifice of my privacy isn't too high a price for the deals and convenience Steam offers, but when it fails (and I've been locked out of my steam purchases once already) it's nice to know I can still play the games I paid for.
  - baroffoos 7y ago
    I am left split between choosing between gog which support drm free games but seemingly don't give a shit about linux and valve which allow drm but literally have multiple people dedicated to making linux gaming better. Recently a valve developer submitted a patch to linux which fixed a regression in a logitech gaming device driver. None of that has anything to do with valve and yet they pay people to do it anyway. For now at least I will be sticking with valve and if for some reason my access ever gets cut off I will pirate a copy of every game I owned.
    - shakna 7y ago
      > gog which support drm free games but seemingly don't give a shit about linux I'm curious why you say that. I only run Linux games these days, and most come from GoG. Most tend to have quite good support, and I've had bugs I reported get patched.
      - nottorp 7y ago
        Actually there are a lot of games on GoG that don't include the versions for the lesser platforms even when they're available on steam. They're also behind on patches, and sometimes it matters. I still have GoG as my preferred store, because Steam needs a little competition to stay honest. (No, Epic is not competition.)
        shakna 7y ago
        That's less GoG and more the company publishing with them, if I understand the process correctly. Game companies aren't great at making sure they've added artifacts for all platforms, across all the publishing platforms. Even on Steam different platforms often lag behind each other, and they make the process dead simple.
BlueTemplar 7y ago
"A nice way to solve this would be for the governments to require all software provide their source code to them in the event where the source code is lost before the copyright expires." (And also be legally liable to replace all copy-protected goods for no fee other than the cost of manufacturing a copy for the duration of copyright.) There, fixed that for you. ;)

Moru 7y ago

You don't own the things you buy on steam, it's more like renting. When the game stops working, you loose the right to play it.

wokkel 7y ago
That's what valve says. Luckily not everything in their nonsense license agreement is enforcable as a judge recently ruled: https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-steam-valve-used-games-eu-law https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/19/20874384/french-court-stea...
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  But then a German court ruled otherwise, so the jurisprudence doesn't seem to be clear yet?
  - wokkel 7y ago
    I cannot find a source for that. Care to share?
    - tremon 7y ago
      Not sure about Germany, but here's a thread about the French court decision: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/steam-forced-to-authorize-the-sale-of-second-hand-games-in-france.1503124/ https://www.neogaf.com/threads/steam-forced-to-authorize-the...
    - BlueTemplar 7y ago
      https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rules-against-rights-to-resell-steam-games/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rul...
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Ok, so it seems to be that : 2012 EU ruling : "software is a good that can be resold" 2014 German ruling : "games are not just software, but also "art"(?), they can NOT be resold" https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rules-against-rights-to-resell-steam-games/ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/10/german-court-rul... 2019 French court ruling : "Steam accounts are just software(?), they can be resold" https://www.nextinpact.com/news/108209-ufc-que-choisir-vs-valve-justice-consacre-vente-doccasion-jeux-dematerialises.htm https://www.nextinpact.com/news/108209-ufc-que-choisir-vs-va...
autoexec 7y ago
my solution is to buy games on gog when i can and save a cracked copy of any game I end up buying on steam. best of both worlds really. When it works, the minor sacrifice of my privacy isn't too high a price for the deals and convenience Steam offers, but when it fails (and I've been locked out of my steam purchases once already) it's nice to know I can still play the games I paid for.
- baroffoos 7y ago
  I am left split between choosing between gog which support drm free games but seemingly don't give a shit about linux and valve which allow drm but literally have multiple people dedicated to making linux gaming better. Recently a valve developer submitted a patch to linux which fixed a regression in a logitech gaming device driver. None of that has anything to do with valve and yet they pay people to do it anyway. For now at least I will be sticking with valve and if for some reason my access ever gets cut off I will pirate a copy of every game I owned.
  - shakna 7y ago
    > gog which support drm free games but seemingly don't give a shit about linux I'm curious why you say that. I only run Linux games these days, and most come from GoG. Most tend to have quite good support, and I've had bugs I reported get patched.
    - nottorp 7y ago
      Actually there are a lot of games on GoG that don't include the versions for the lesser platforms even when they're available on steam. They're also behind on patches, and sometimes it matters. I still have GoG as my preferred store, because Steam needs a little competition to stay honest. (No, Epic is not competition.)
      - shakna 7y ago
        That's less GoG and more the company publishing with them, if I understand the process correctly. Game companies aren't great at making sure they've added artifacts for all platforms, across all the publishing platforms. Even on Steam different platforms often lag behind each other, and they make the process dead simple.

BlueTemplar 7y ago

"A nice way to solve this would be for the governments to require all software provide their source code to them in the event where the source code is lost before the copyright expires." (And also be legally liable to replace all copy-protected goods for no fee other than the cost of manufacturing a copy for the duration of copyright.) There, fixed that for you. ;)