5 ms·

Steam is a trap though, no? You buy software, but if you leave, you lose it all. Is that correct? there's no way to retain what you've bought?

vadfa 5y ago
Yes, it's like netflix/etc in that regard.
- ohyeshedid 5y ago
  Steam is not like Netflix in any meaningful way to the end user.
- LegitShady 5y ago
  Its not a subscription service, so that's a strange analogy.
  - TulliusCicero 5y ago
    I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have a subscription service yet. Seems like an obvious way to go, and Game Pass seems to have been fairly successful.
    - nicolaslem 5y ago
      Is Microsoft actually making money with Game Pass? I'm guessing many users just subscribe for a month or two when a new interesting game is released and cancel just after they are done with it.
mdoms 5y ago
What you're saying is absolutely true, not sure why people are trying to bury your comment.
messe 5y ago
It depends. Some games are DRM free, and those can be backed up and kept wherever you wish. I can copy my Kerbal Space Program directory anywhere, for example, and it works fine. I use this to have several differently modded installs.
alex_duf 5y ago
Not if you want to use your software outside of steam, no.
slightwinder 5y ago
There are DRM-free games on steam, but how many people maintain backups of their games? And this is not limited to steam. Most distribution these days on PC is digital, and even consoles moved there. If you lose your account for whatever reason, you will lose them all. Same problem with other content (video, audio, etc.). As long as there is no law protecting the customers from those things, it will remain a problem.
dartharva 5y ago
You can absolutely retain what you've bought: all content is saved in the steam/steamapps/common folder. If you want you can rip those files out and run them separately with cracks or Steam emulators like Goldberg, but the supporting infrastructure and dependencies for games (like multiplayer services, matchmaking, official support) will be lost. Many games prefer to rely on Steam's platform and support for core features by their own design.
pengaru 5y ago
Valve/Steam does not require games distributed through its platform to use their SDK/DRM in any way. It's up to the individual game developers if they set such a Steam a trap. Valve doesn't even give an outright monetary incentive to do it. i.e. Valve's 30% cut doesn't turn into 10% if you link in Steamworks. Though one could argue there's an indirect monetary incentive created by locking away all the platform/social features behind a wall accessed through their proprietary library. But last I checked the DRM aspects of that library could be ignored while using the rest of the platform. It does automatically stay updated though, so they could turn Evil and force DRM @ initialization if they wanted, hypothetically speaking.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
LeoPanthera 5y ago
Steam is not a subscription service so I'm not sure what you mean by "leave".
- mdaniel 5y ago
  Google isn't a subscription service either, and people lose access to their Google account for completely arbitrary reasons, seemingly without recourse. I believe it's the same risk I do make a habit out of using the Backup Games option in the Steam client, but I usually do that more as a caching strategy to save myself the 30GB download in the future than addressing the risk of my Steam account going poof

vadfa 5y ago

Yes, it's like netflix/etc in that regard.

ohyeshedid 5y ago
Steam is not like Netflix in any meaningful way to the end user.
LegitShady 5y ago
Its not a subscription service, so that's a strange analogy.
- TulliusCicero 5y ago
  I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have a subscription service yet. Seems like an obvious way to go, and Game Pass seems to have been fairly successful.
  - nicolaslem 5y ago
    Is Microsoft actually making money with Game Pass? I'm guessing many users just subscribe for a month or two when a new interesting game is released and cancel just after they are done with it.

mdoms 5y ago

What you're saying is absolutely true, not sure why people are trying to bury your comment.

messe 5y ago

It depends. Some games are DRM free, and those can be backed up and kept wherever you wish. I can copy my Kerbal Space Program directory anywhere, for example, and it works fine. I use this to have several differently modded installs.

alex_duf 5y ago

Not if you want to use your software outside of steam, no.

slightwinder 5y ago

There are DRM-free games on steam, but how many people maintain backups of their games? And this is not limited to steam. Most distribution these days on PC is digital, and even consoles moved there. If you lose your account for whatever reason, you will lose them all. Same problem with other content (video, audio, etc.). As long as there is no law protecting the customers from those things, it will remain a problem.

dartharva 5y ago

You can absolutely retain what you've bought: all content is saved in the steam/steamapps/common folder. If you want you can rip those files out and run them separately with cracks or Steam emulators like Goldberg, but the supporting infrastructure and dependencies for games (like multiplayer services, matchmaking, official support) will be lost. Many games prefer to rely on Steam's platform and support for core features by their own design.

pengaru 5y ago

Valve/Steam does not require games distributed through its platform to use their SDK/DRM in any way. It's up to the individual game developers if they set such a Steam a trap. Valve doesn't even give an outright monetary incentive to do it. i.e. Valve's 30% cut doesn't turn into 10% if you link in Steamworks. Though one could argue there's an indirect monetary incentive created by locking away all the platform/social features behind a wall accessed through their proprietary library. But last I checked the DRM aspects of that library could be ignored while using the rest of the platform. It does automatically stay updated though, so they could turn Evil and force DRM @ initialization if they wanted, hypothetically speaking.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

LeoPanthera 5y ago

Steam is not a subscription service so I'm not sure what you mean by "leave".

mdaniel 5y ago
Google isn't a subscription service either, and people lose access to their Google account for completely arbitrary reasons, seemingly without recourse. I believe it's the same risk I do make a habit out of using the Backup Games option in the Steam client, but I usually do that more as a caching strategy to save myself the 30GB download in the future than addressing the risk of my Steam account going poof