3 ms·

You aren't the only one. Steam is DRM with good PR. Much of the goodwill gamers have for Steam is based on misconceptions, rumors, or delusions, particularly

You aren't the only one. Steam is DRM with good PR. Much of the goodwill gamers have for Steam is based on misconceptions, rumors, or delusions, particularly: "If Valve ever goes out of business, they said they'll lift all the DRM for the games I've bought" I've heard that from so many gamers it isn't even funny, it's a widespread misconception and it's obvious horse shit. Maybe Valve has or once had that intention with their own in-house games, but they wouldn't even have the legal right to do something like that for 99.99% of the Steam catalogue. Even for the in-house games, you have to be naive to trust any sort of promise from a commercial software product that isn't in a contract. Notch supposedly once promised that Minecraft would eventually become open source; well that plan evaporated when Microsoft waved a few billion dollars in front of him. Maybe he meant it at the time he said it, but that doesn't count for anything.

andrewzah 5y ago
The question here is: so what? Valve makes a lot of money from the steam store. They’re not going anywhere. There are competitors like gog games that sell them without DRM. You download the games anyways so I’m sure a solution will be figured out if Valve starts to have issues. Steam provides a pretty seamless experience for gaming, and it provides useful services to developers as well. Then you have things like the steam workshop and marketplace. And for minecraft being open source: who cares? Gamers want games that are good and fun to play. There are very few open source games that are actually fun to play.
- cupofpython 5y ago
  > very few open source games that are actually fun to play you found one?? please share
  - jcranmer 5y ago
    OpenTTD?
    - robonerd 5y ago
      OpenRCT2, OpenMW, DaggerfallUnity Granted, you have to buy the game to make use of these open source engines legally. But these open source engines free you from the limitations of DRM, Windows/Wine and run better than the original engines (support modern resolutions, innumerable bug fixes, etc.)
  - andrewzah 5y ago
    Cube 2: Sauerbraten is fun and it uses very little resources. The game and engine are open source. Other than that I can’t really think of anything other than good clones like OpenTTD or crappy clones like minetest. Maybe Dwarf Fortress in the future if tarn or his brother open source it.
- johnnyanmac 5y ago
  >The question here is: so what? Well, the huge dicourse in consoles atm is digital and ownership. There were several scares over the years (some that went through, some that backpedeled) on storefronts closing down and no longer being able to buy older games as a result, in a market where retro gaming is being flooded by scalpers selling stuff at 20x markups. Console players are feeling uneasy with the advent of there being "digital only" variants sneaking back in, and cloud gaming is getting bigger each year. Maybe this is just a cacophony of old fans not getting with the times, but it seems like a signifigant enough sentiment that "so what" seems overly dismissive. >And for minecraft being open source: who cares? older minecraft players apparently. Granted, it hasn't really stopped their creativity and servers, so in practice it doesn't change much. But I wouldn't be surprised in some microfose move years down the line angering that playerbase. Again, an oddly dismissive take for something that has historically happened. It's easy to say "I don't care it's convinent" until it isn't.
cupofpython 5y ago
I agree that promises from these companies mean nothing.. but how much of a problem is this in todays gaming market though really? many new games are free and rely on in-game transactions tied to an account outside of steam There are no restrictions on the games I bought through steam that actually get in the way of me playing them - and there are a lot of conveniences offered like having access to my entire library on any machine with steam installed, or playing the games installed on my machine pretty much indefinitely offline. And being able to verify my game files and have them automatically fixed / updated The games i bought a long time ago and still play have more than earned the money i spent on them anyway. if steam dies and i need to buy them again, i will and i will be happy to. if i cant find them anywhere because the games themselves died, ill make an image of my PC before upgrading it or uninstalling them and play them offline in a VM there might be an itch here or there i cant scratch for whatever reason, but i can always buy a new game inspired by the same genre which is usually more fun than trying to recreate a nostalgic feeling anyway

andrewzah 5y ago

The question here is: so what? Valve makes a lot of money from the steam store. They’re not going anywhere. There are competitors like gog games that sell them without DRM. You download the games anyways so I’m sure a solution will be figured out if Valve starts to have issues. Steam provides a pretty seamless experience for gaming, and it provides useful services to developers as well. Then you have things like the steam workshop and marketplace. And for minecraft being open source: who cares? Gamers want games that are good and fun to play. There are very few open source games that are actually fun to play.

cupofpython 5y ago
> very few open source games that are actually fun to play you found one?? please share
- jcranmer 5y ago
  OpenTTD?
  - robonerd 5y ago
    OpenRCT2, OpenMW, DaggerfallUnity Granted, you have to buy the game to make use of these open source engines legally. But these open source engines free you from the limitations of DRM, Windows/Wine and run better than the original engines (support modern resolutions, innumerable bug fixes, etc.)
- andrewzah 5y ago
  Cube 2: Sauerbraten is fun and it uses very little resources. The game and engine are open source. Other than that I can’t really think of anything other than good clones like OpenTTD or crappy clones like minetest. Maybe Dwarf Fortress in the future if tarn or his brother open source it.
johnnyanmac 5y ago
>The question here is: so what? Well, the huge dicourse in consoles atm is digital and ownership. There were several scares over the years (some that went through, some that backpedeled) on storefronts closing down and no longer being able to buy older games as a result, in a market where retro gaming is being flooded by scalpers selling stuff at 20x markups. Console players are feeling uneasy with the advent of there being "digital only" variants sneaking back in, and cloud gaming is getting bigger each year. Maybe this is just a cacophony of old fans not getting with the times, but it seems like a signifigant enough sentiment that "so what" seems overly dismissive. >And for minecraft being open source: who cares? older minecraft players apparently. Granted, it hasn't really stopped their creativity and servers, so in practice it doesn't change much. But I wouldn't be surprised in some microfose move years down the line angering that playerbase. Again, an oddly dismissive take for something that has historically happened. It's easy to say "I don't care it's convinent" until it isn't.

cupofpython 5y ago

I agree that promises from these companies mean nothing.. but how much of a problem is this in todays gaming market though really? many new games are free and rely on in-game transactions tied to an account outside of steam There are no restrictions on the games I bought through steam that actually get in the way of me playing them - and there are a lot of conveniences offered like having access to my entire library on any machine with steam installed, or playing the games installed on my machine pretty much indefinitely offline. And being able to verify my game files and have them automatically fixed / updated The games i bought a long time ago and still play have more than earned the money i spent on them anyway. if steam dies and i need to buy them again, i will and i will be happy to. if i cant find them anywhere because the games themselves died, ill make an image of my PC before upgrading it or uninstalling them and play them offline in a VM there might be an itch here or there i cant scratch for whatever reason, but i can always buy a new game inspired by the same genre which is usually more fun than trying to recreate a nostalgic feeling anyway