4 ms·

I credit Valve's Steam for retiring me from software piracy, Spotify for retiring me from music piracy, and Netflix for retiring me from movie piracy. And "the

by glonq 4y ago

I credit Valve's Steam for retiring me from software piracy, Spotify for retiring me from music piracy, and Netflix for retiring me from movie piracy. And "the terrible quality of primetime network TV programs" for retiring me from TV piracy ;)

rektide 4y ago
I have hundreds of Steam games & keep buying there but god damn does it make me sad to have traded first-sale rights for this flimsy access to a catalog with no ability to share or resell. I resisted for so long. But now my library is so big. I feel like half the random games I get are only available on steam or other like services anyways.
paxys 4y ago
And yet all of these same companies are responsible for today's reality where you own nothing and can resell nothing. Converting the mainstream commerce system from simple buying and selling of goods into licenses and subscriptions is the biggest scam corporations have ever pulled on the consumer class.
- sowbug 4y ago
  "And yet" implies an unexpected consequence.
- Clamchop 4y ago
  I do feel we get quite a lot in return from this state of affairs.
- deckard1 4y ago
  Coincidentally, Amoeba records put out a really interesting episode of What's In My Bag? today with Seal[1]. At the end (I linked the timestamp) he starts talking about perceived value of owning an album vs. the digital ether. Really worth a watch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WznlFoMd24&t=915s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WznlFoMd24&t=915s
1letterunixname 4y ago
LOL. Steam can reach in and take games from you at any time. (Ask me how I know.) If you don't have a copy, then all you have is temporary, DRM-encumbered access until they decide to take it away. Then you need trakt, torrent search engines, and plex. ;)
- russelg 4y ago
  If steam is the only DRM applied then bypassing it is extremely trivial.
  - jsmith45 4y ago
    Looking at offline games, yeah. While I havn't looked into it in a really long time, I know it was pretty trivial to bypass 15 years ago, and my understnading is that is hasn't changed much in that time. Valve seems happy with it being good enough that just copying the game folder won't work, and thus pirates must seek out specialized tools. Of course, all of that assumes the game in question even implements the Stream DRM. Which is completely optional on the game developer's side. Many do implement it, since they are pulling in the steam sdk anyway. (Even then it is not strictly needed, I've had steam achievements pop while running a DRM free version of the same game before, because the developer specially wanted that scenario to work. I suspect it also requires owning the game on steam. I wish I could remember which game it was that did this.)
- YurgenJurgensen 4y ago
  Did Gabe Newell break into your house and smash your HDDs with a crowbar? If a Steam game has always-online DRM, it's because the developers chose to include it, not Steam.

by glonq 4y ago

rektide 4y ago

I have hundreds of Steam games & keep buying there but god damn does it make me sad to have traded first-sale rights for this flimsy access to a catalog with no ability to share or resell. I resisted for so long. But now my library is so big. I feel like half the random games I get are only available on steam or other like services anyways.

paxys 4y ago

And yet all of these same companies are responsible for today's reality where you own nothing and can resell nothing. Converting the mainstream commerce system from simple buying and selling of goods into licenses and subscriptions is the biggest scam corporations have ever pulled on the consumer class.

sowbug 4y ago
"And yet" implies an unexpected consequence.
Clamchop 4y ago
I do feel we get quite a lot in return from this state of affairs.
deckard1 4y ago
Coincidentally, Amoeba records put out a really interesting episode of What's In My Bag? today with Seal[1]. At the end (I linked the timestamp) he starts talking about perceived value of owning an album vs. the digital ether. Really worth a watch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WznlFoMd24&t=915s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WznlFoMd24&t=915s

1letterunixname 4y ago

LOL. Steam can reach in and take games from you at any time. (Ask me how I know.) If you don't have a copy, then all you have is temporary, DRM-encumbered access until they decide to take it away. Then you need trakt, torrent search engines, and plex. ;)

russelg 4y ago
If steam is the only DRM applied then bypassing it is extremely trivial.
- jsmith45 4y ago
  Looking at offline games, yeah. While I havn't looked into it in a really long time, I know it was pretty trivial to bypass 15 years ago, and my understnading is that is hasn't changed much in that time. Valve seems happy with it being good enough that just copying the game folder won't work, and thus pirates must seek out specialized tools. Of course, all of that assumes the game in question even implements the Stream DRM. Which is completely optional on the game developer's side. Many do implement it, since they are pulling in the steam sdk anyway. (Even then it is not strictly needed, I've had steam achievements pop while running a DRM free version of the same game before, because the developer specially wanted that scenario to work. I suspect it also requires owning the game on steam. I wish I could remember which game it was that did this.)
YurgenJurgensen 4y ago
Did Gabe Newell break into your house and smash your HDDs with a crowbar? If a Steam game has always-online DRM, it's because the developers chose to include it, not Steam.