well, I wouldn't be so opposed to it so much it if....

1. I was allowed to decide where the game installs via the installer (like a non-Steamed game)
2, I wasn't forced to do the 0 day patch to play the game
3. I was was allowed to decide which patch to update to (I'm the type that likes having a folder of patches for my game)

Sadly, Niven and Pournelle made the classic mistake of trying to explore the aliens' motives, thus instantly transforming them into humans.

But I digress


Am I wrong in thinking that you can't disable auto-updating until you've registered a game on Steam, and so it (effectively) forces at least one patch download, even if you bought a game retail? Some of those day 0 patches are huge, and if your internet isn't good then you have a problem.

And are other popular DRM systems any different?

I'm not sure what you mean by the 0 day patch or why you would be forced to download it, unless there's something wrong with the game that the developer wants to update.

Lastly, you can still download and install the individual patches if the developer releases them.

The day 0 patch is the collection of bug patches put together between a game going gold and actually being released. Yes, it is fixing faults with a game. But day 0 patches can be huge!

Also, no, you can't always download and install individual patches. For some games on Steam the individual patches just don't work, and you have to wait for the Steam updates. Which, on occasion, are much, much bigger than the same individual patches.

I can buy a disc for my PS3, stick it in, and it'll work. Even if I'm in the middle of the Mojave, running my TV off a portable generator. No online needed.

Requiring Online access for a single player, non-online, bought on a physical disc in a physical shop game is conceptually offensive.

Disc check is less intrusive. Or code wheels. Or "find word X, in sentence Y, on page Z of the manual" checks. All of which I'd prefer to requiring Steam. (I'm always amazed at the people who say "It's great, I don't have to insert my disc anymore!" like inserting the disc was some kind of burden or problem. Disc checks are trivial compared to most of the modern crap they've come up with.)

And, as a random aside, the real purpose of tying games to Steam isn't the DRM - the real purpose is to remove all possibility of a used game market. Once that serial # is tied to your Steam account, that game isn't going anywhere. I'm sure they're working on how to make this happen on consoles, too.

For the record, I've got Steam, and I've used it before. It's great for what it does well (digital distribution, especially of old & indie games). But I still think forcing it's use for stuff that doesn't have any purpose being on it is absurd. I certainly don't tie any of my other store-bought games to my Steam account - that'd be incredibly stupid.

Sad as it is, this is the way software has always been designed to work. You don't actually buy any rights to the software itself, you simply purchase a license to use it.
You aren't supposed to be able to resell your software, and you never were. Big companies have always been held to this because they can't avoid it.

For example, if a university like Berkley buys 100,000 licenses to use Windows 7, they are not permitted to resell any of those. If they did, they would be subject to a mega lawsuit.

The same is true for you, except that you can get away with it. Now you can't. I don't really fault game companies for this.

and a PC is needed for PC games, DRM?

Except they've never done that, so technically it's only legal because the system has worked so far. Never in the history have Steam have they ever just "cut someone off" without a reason. Usually if they do you're breaking the rules big time, and have been watched for some time or received a ton of warnings. Worse case scenario Steam someday runs out of money and they servers shut down locking everyone out of their games. I think at some point they were working on a way to get the games to people in the event that this happened, but no idea where those plans went.

While you do have to download the games there is an offline mode once you've already installed and verified the game via a connection.

Actually, they do cut me off on a more-than-daily basis. The updater malfunctions on my system, depriving me of Off-line mode.

Yes, please don't bash Steam. It is one of the few things keeping PC gaming alive.

I love Steam so much that I even imported my non-steam games into Steam.



If Skyrim uses GFWL however, I will seriously consider not buying the game.

If I have to register my game with a serial number with a third party, and can't sell my game when I'm done with it, I will quit gaming.

Actually, they do cut me off on a more-than-daily basis. The updater malfunctions on my system, depriving me of Off-line mode.

I never got a Xbox 360 because I didn't want to have to put us with that Live nonsense.

I briefly considered PS3, until they introduced the PSN.

There is no way I'm putting up with this kind of garbage on the last game machine I have left.

Maybe I should just start making my own games, it's the only way to make sure that I don't get DRM or http://gajitz.com/mario-reloaded-if-super-mario-brothers-was-made-today/.

You can use a 360 and a PS3 without even plugging them into network cables. You know that right?