this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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In this thread: People that disagree and then turn around and play games they don't truly own on Steam
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My argument against this is that at least I own a license to the game rather than just a subscription. Steam still has and updates games that were made unpurchasable a decade ago. Hell, people still play rocket league on steam.
This is a separate argument altogether. Theres "own physically" and theres "own a license" to. If you own it physically and your physical media corrupts (which happens often to digital discs) did you own it any more than if you had it on steam? It's also illegal to make a copy of a console disc, btw.
What the article is talking about is not even obtaining a license for at all and games just being attached to a subscription
Yup. Physical media has its own disadvantages.
If I scratch a disc, or my house gets robbed, burns down, etc, it's gone forever and I need to buy a new game (or hundreds!) If I have a digital copy, I still have it.
I actually had to contend with this when my house was robbed and I lost all my DS, GBA, Dreamcast, and N64 games.
Plus, this idea that physical media doesn't have DRM is a complete falsehood. Discs and cartridges come with copy protection, region-locking, forced always-online DRM, etc. If that's not digital rights management, I don't know what is!
DRM is not the same as a subscription.
And a lot of games on steam don't have the DRM, you can just buy and keep the game files. I do wish they'd make it clear on the store page or give me the option to filter out DRM games though.
"A lot"
How many? Because I think the actual % might surprise you quite a bit.
Can you play the games by purchasing them and then not having to ever download them using Steam?
The only DRM free games are physical copies, otherwise you rely on a specific service to be able to play, even if it's only once (like with GOG), it's a form of DRM.
Yes, a lot.
Yes.
No. Evidently you don't know what Digital Rights Management is.
If you can run it with no launcher, no software verifying purchase, you can back it up, copy it, distribute it, etc, then it's not DRM.
Wait, what? You think buying a DRM-free game from a storefront is a form of DRM?
Ok then, let's use that logic. Buying a physical game from a shop is therefore also DRM, because you have to buy the game from them.
Proportionally it doesn't look too great
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
`>Can you play the games by purchasing them and then not having to ever download them using Steam?
Yes.`
Tell me how do you buy a game on Steam and play it without downloading it from their servers? 🤔
Wait, *what?* You think buying a DRM-free game from a storefront is a form of DRM?It is, you depend on a digital storefront to have a proof of ownership and to download the game in the first place.
Buying a physical game from a shop is therefore also DRMWhat's digital about physical copies?
That list doesn't have literally every DRM free game, almost every VR game I have doesn't have DRM and they are not on the list.
Downloading a DRM-free game from a web store is not DRM no matter how much you repeat that it is.
It isn't. The files can be copied and distributed any way you like. Same goes for GOG. A DRM-free game is a DRM-free game. It can be copied.
It's still digital. It contains digital data... come on, you can't seriously be unaware of this. Is a digital camera not digital because it stores the data on a physical SD card?
Physical media has DRM too. CDs, DVDs, BluRays, game cartridges all have DRM.
Your argument that buying something means it's DRM is nonsense. Buying something from a physical shop and buying something online isn't different. They both require you to hand over money to get the game files. They're either both DRM or neither are.
Which is the only way you can own and play a game without an internet connection?
That's the only true DRM free and true ownership experience.
You're moving the goalposts again?
Downloading a game isn't DRM.
Yes it is as you depend on the goodwill of a digital platform. If Steam bans you how do you prove that you own the "DRM free" games you've bought from them and haven't simply pirated them?
Why would you need to prove anything? The whole point of DRM free is that you don't need to prove anything, you just run it.
By saying that you want a mechanism for proving ownership, you're essentially saying you want DRM.
If steam bans me, I run the executables that I've downloaded. Same as I would if I pirated it.
Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft can block you from playing your physical media, and yet you claim that isn't DRM, because the data exists on a disc/cartridge, rather than stored on an SSD.
You are showing a fundamental cluelessness of what DRM actually is.
Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft can block you from playing your physical mediaOnly if there's an online component to the game. If I go buy a brand new Switch and a physical copy of Mario Kart, there's nothing Nintendo can do to stop me from playing the game.
Not true. Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo can and do brick peoples systems, e.g. when they're reported stolen or someone modifies their system. You rely on their goodwill every time you use the system or launch a game.
And Switch game cartridges literally contain DRM lmao
Nice job ignoring the rest of my comment.
Tell me, how do you brick a system remotely if it's not connected to the internet? Entertain me, please!
Here in the real world, people connect their devices to the internet. This isn't 2002. People connect their consoles to the internet, and OEMs can control them.
Additionally, a lot of new games won't run on these consoles unless you have an updated system.
I see you again are not only moving goalposts, but you are also ignoring most of my comment.
You going to answer anything? Untangle yourself from all the leaps you've made?
I pirate, and also pay for games I think the devs should make money on. I happen to like bioshock and la noire enough to pay for them on steam, with cracked copies to keep.
Why not buy from a DRM free platform or one where the devs make a bigger share of the profit?
It depends on the game. I also don't want to create many accounts all over the place. I don't think gog has bioshock?
It does.
You literally said in another comment that DRM-free storefronts are still DRM. Which is it?
Still better than the alternative which is 100% dependence on the platform you bought from. Even the backups you can create from Steam require Steam to unpack, if it stops existing or they stop supporting it then your backups are useless.
No they don't, not for the DRM-free games on steam. I can copy the files and run the executable, just as I can from GOG.