@Anthropoid, if you do a version 2 of this poll, it might be good to clarify that it's not only about digi-distribution but the retail version as well.

Where's the "I'd prefer a Steam-only DRM?" >: (

:foodndrink:

Heck no. I'm sorry, I'm no marketing major but I work at JCP and that would be very stupid marketing on their part. Their sales would be a small little bar if crap. I can't see Bethesda doing something that insane.

GTA4 sold very well too and you needed not only a steam account, but also one for the social club.
Though I thought that would kill GTA ...well I was wrong then ^^

I prefer steam to GFWL, however if it has to be through Steam I hope the install files are on the disk in the box and not download only as it will take me about 2 weeks to dl Skyrim if it is indeed the estimated 20gb (I have no source for that)

This, nothing against steam specifically (I can see how someone who likes to download games would like it) but why would I want to install and create an account for something I'm never going to use, since I like physical copies, in order to activate a single player offline game?

If it requires one online activasion and is from then on offline, as in not requireing the internet at all, I'll probably still get it. But if it requires being continuingly online just to play I won't get it.

It's not that you have to be online all the time. It's that you "must" have an internet connection "greater than dial-up and low-speed DSL if you want to play in the next 30 years" for the instillation, after that your good to go. When you install the game, even with auto updates off, steam will auto update the game and will not let you play it till the download is finished "it has to be up to date to work". Even worse is the few "once in a blue moon" games that even if you buy a retail hard disk you must download the whole game over steam "weird huh, although I doubt Beth would do that". So those of us "me included" with no to low speed internet will not be able to play it at all until we can afford a good speed DSL.

It would help if you read some of the thread and understood the discussion before declaring it insane.

Bethesda did exactly this with New Vegas and seems to have money coming out their ears from that release.

Just to let folks know, this is the steam DRM it actually makes the game unique to you more or less.

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/publishingservices.php

I don't see why people hate steam so much other than being forced to join it and it's not like you guys can't use steam as you are all replying to these posts.

I'm still confused as to why people hate steam so much, in Japan(got a friend that lives there) it's all Digital Download, or nearly exclusively so.

these boards aren't a problem for someone with a 56k connection, being forced to dl a huge 1+gb or more over 56k just to play a single-player game that came on a disc, that's a pain.

Japan as a small densely populated country is probably in a different situation than say big ol' spread out America that while has densely populated areas also has areas with very low density.

also I'm really not a fan of some of Steam's features in terms of it being used for single-player games like the forced patching on game installation.

but I don't hate Steam in of itself, Steamworks on the other hand IMO is a bad idea.

I'm a fan of Steam, but as far as Elder Scrolls/Fallout games are concerned I prefer to have standalone retail copies so that I can just jump in and out of the game whenever I want. Plus, it's easier on the modders when there's less subdirectories you have to plow through before you reach the game's data files.

But regardless, I would buy Skyrim. I shall follow it TO THE DEATH! :batman:

Hate steam, people don't hate Steam, they hate to be forced to install a 3rd party application that require online authentication to use their offline single player games.

Also, I buy my games almost exclusively as digital downloads and I haven't bought a single one in the Steam store. Unlike what some Steam lovers believe, Steam isn't the only digital download shop available and others are a lot lest restrictive when it come to install and patch our game.

Don't single us out, I use Direct 2 Drive and GOG as well on top of some other stuff, not piracy mind you like the EA Store and such.


ok, so a 56k connection is a reasonable rebuttal to not wanting to use but I'm pretty sure most of the US has access to some form of High Speed Connection.

A little confused here. Steam as DRM has been proven ineffective, but that's okay because at least they tried. Disc Check DRM has been proven ineffective, and therefore cannot be used. Is there something I'm missing?

As to the share holders, I'd just say "Well we can spend millions of dollars on an intricate form of internet DRM that, ironically, can be easily bypassed by anyone with an internet connection. Or we can put that money back into the project for development/advertising/merchandising."

If it was a recently developed, actively supported disc check function it would suffice. A "simple disc check" the way it used to be done is so out of date that it can't really be said to be a real attempt to protect the product. It obviously doesn't have to be Steamworks as a lot of companies have DRM software that can be licensed, but it has to be something still being supported.

I suppose if you got them to sign off on it ahead of time that would be fine. Unfortunately, the most likely place for you to be saying that would be in court while defending yourself from the lawsuit. Of course, if your company is bringing in enough money the shareholders won't bother you....until things go bad and then they'll sue you.

Yeah, I'm a cynic about investors.

I prefer a no steam version for a single player game with no multiplayer even though I have decent internet. My attitude greatly changed when Australia was charged nearly double for FO:NV compared to the US even though the Australian dollar is at parity with he greenback. This is despite buying from a US site and paying in US dollars.

Steam's prices in Australia are supposed to match the retail price for the game in Australia. Steam is not out to destroy the publishers other distribution channels by undercutting the retailer.

Except during their big sales, of course.

Steam = no buy , i didn't bought civ5 for same reason , it is also boring killing executables and i already had to take impulse out.

One time on line activation is okay for me but securom kind of [censored] is unacceptable .

I will not buy a game if it needs online activation, once or continually. I've easily chosen not to play games due to the publishers use of DRM, which includes F3. I play a game to relax, not to get frustrated over things not working like they should.

I use an off-line machine for my gaming. If I can't play Skyrim that way, I'll just go back to playing Morrowind and The Witcher. Easy as that.

We have reached the 10th page of the umpteenth thread about Steam.

Every possible permutation of any conceivable argument under the sun for Steam DRM or against Steam DRM has already been made. Numerous times.

Some people hate steam, some people love it and some just DGAF. Some fans might not buy Skyrim if it is bundled with Steam DRM, many will buy it anyways.

Please for the love of God nobody start any more threads or polls about this crap.

If you wan't the Bethesda folks to know your opinion, trust me they have already heard it by now.

I will buy it regardless, because Steam is not the evil people make it out to be. Most of the arguments against it fall flat under the lightest of scrutiny because they're underpinned by nothing other than "Steam is popular, and in computer circles popular is uncool, therefore I don't like Steam". Much like the arguments against Facebook. The only genuine reason I can think of people being against Steam exclusive is internet connectivity concerns.

Copy protection, yes. DRM, no. Steam is still effectively locking your key to your account. At any rate, we've really passed the point where any opinion on this board can be read in another Steam thread. ^_^

QFT

If Skyrim is Steam only and you have a 56k connection, but still want Skyrim for PC.... BUY THE RETAIL DISC AND USE THAT TO INSTALL. Yes you have to be online for verification of the install, but that is the case most of the time for games now days.

You can use the disc to install as often as you want.

nope because any huge patch is still mandatory on installation.

waiting for round 2 of this thread :whistling: