4141

It’s actually NOT WORKING for Civ V. And that’s te gale greatest flaw in my opinion. My friend and I spent many hours on Civ IV (and mods like FFH II), so we were looking to play together again. That was a big disapointment… Especially when you bougth the box (50€!!) for an easier local use intead of steam DL, and you realise that you still have to set up steam and all…

So we’re still spending hours on FFH II… And i still hate steam : more annoying for honest peolple that foe the one looking for a craked game (which already do exists and allows local play, if i am to believe wht i was told… But we are not used that at home.).

4142

If you guys want to play together, then each of you need to purchase your own copy. That’s not a flaw, that’s preventing you from software piracy.

4143

Really? That’s where you want to take the discussion? Why don’t you go start a piracy thread, or dig up one of the many that’s long since died its rightful death? You should be right at home there.

Lilan, as a guy who does a lot of LAN gaming, you certainly have my sympathy. It’s a damn shame the industry has pretty much abandoned us. Time was publishers like Valve and Blizzard were champions of LAN gaming. :(

 -Tom
4144

Well said, Blackadar. Some games explicitly state that you can use one copy for two-player LAN, but many do not. Unless someone here has heard otherwise or someone from Firaxis/2K wants to weigh in to clear it up, AFAIK Civ V is one that does not grant you the authority to do that.

Just following the letter of the law, persay. If you want me to post how to work around such a dillema, I’m sure a little googling will give me the manner in which to accomplish it without downloading any cracks. On the other hand, I don’t want to support piracy. edit - especially when it’s potentially pirating the work of people who post on this board.

4145

Including support for LAN games with software piracy is just rabble rousing. You know who else probably would have enjoyed some sort of LAN support? Hitler. I’m just saying. Can I get a “well said”?

Because of the way Steam works, there’s not a single game on that service that allows LAN games from a single copy, and it wouldn’t work even if the developer wanted it to. Games for Windows and Impulse, on the other hand, don’t lock out this functionality.

 -Tom
4146

That’s simply not true. I’ve managed LAN gaming with several titles (leaving out particulars, but again I’d be happy to share the process by which this is accomplished if it is okay to do such a thing).

PS - As an aside, I much prefer Impulse for what it’s worth: not only do you have fewer impediments to LAN gaming, but the client isn’t needed to load and it works with direct or auto patching, etc… All in all, a much better platform for my purposes.

4147

I do remember a time not that far away that allowed you to buy a game for your family and play it “LAN” without it being called piracy. It’s the casz with Civ IV, Homm V, Borderlands (which she played for less than half an hour…), and many games we like to play together from time to time.

Not having this opportunity is maybe a will, still a flaw. I do earn a living, but i do not want to put that much into a game to play in the same room. Or it has to be one of the greatest game ever, which Civ V is obviously not.

4148

Thanks a lot Tom, for an instant i thougth i were qomz kind of E.T. ;)
Cheers!

4149

There’s no reason to start a piracy thread. The comment stands as perfectly legitimate. Or is there some sort of Qt3 exception to the no advocating piracy rule if it’s just being used for LAN gaming?

Unless the game specifically allows it, then you each need your own copy to play it. While some companies were more supportive in the past, let’s face it - the days of a LAN install are long gone. It’s gone the way of manuals and speech add-on packs. Even in the “good ole days”, it wasn’t always supported. In fact, I don’t remember it being supported in Civ IV. You could get around this by loading up computer 1 with the disk, removing the disk and then loading up computer 2 on local LANs. But if there wasn’t a true LAN install in Civ IV (and I’m truly not sure), then this is software piracy pure and simple. Seems rather cut and dried.

4150

So you’ve engaged in piracy persay, according to Blackadar’s “well said” post.

Also, you’re wrong. Whatever you did to start a LAN version of Titan Quest isn’t supported on Steam. You had to circumvent Valve’s distribution system.

-Tom
4151

Says the guy who introduced the term in the thread.

You know what else there’s no need to start a thread about? DRM. Yet if I call you a supporter of restrictive DRM, guess what kind of thread this will be! But, hey, you’re all gung ho for restrictive DRM that makes local LAN game impossible, so you’re obviously a shill for the publishers pure and simple. Seems rather cut and dried.

-Tom
4152

So be it. If that’s really the case, then I’ll use one of my retail copies from now on (I have two of those, as well). I recall taking the method from TQ’s original forums, but that probably wasn’t the best measure of acceptibility.

4153

Titan Quest pre-dated Steam and the developers and the publishers intended that local LAN games would be supported. I was told so personally by someone who worked at THQ at the time.

However, when it’s purchased from Steam, you have to deal with the fact that Valve’s system inherently prevents LAN games. It really sucks. And it’s absolutely not pure, simple, cut, or dried. Steam distributes games that are supposed to work for local LAN play, but it cuts out the LAN play unless you work around it, at which point some someone will equate it with piracy.

And, yeah, maybe it’s not technically supported by the developers in some cases. And I know the publishers would love for you to buy two, three, or six copies. It’s a tricky issue. When I buy a boardgame or a DVD or a CD, I can have my friends over and we can all enjoy it at my house. Yet the videogame industry has gotten away with expecting me to purchase a separate copy for each of my friends. It really really sucks, since I do this once a week and it’s my preferred method of multiplayer.

 -Tom
4154

Better safe than sorry:

Mommy! Daddy! Stop fighting!

4155

Tom, when you say that Steam’s system inherently prevents LAN games, do you mean something beyond the need to click on offline mode? Because that’s all I’ve had to do when playing Steam games over a LAN with one account in the past.

I would say that Steam doesn’t do anything to support LAN games on one account, but it doesn’t really do anything to prevent them either.

4156

Nope, that’s what I mean. You cannot be logged into Steam to play any of their games on a LAN. Impulse and Games for Windows Live don’t have this limitation.

But actually, now I’m curious whether this works for Valve games, in which case I’m going to feel like a dope for thinking all this time I’ve needed multiple copies to play Left 4 Dead. Can you set up LAN games of Left 4 Dead using this method?

Also, you’re a filthy pirate.

-Tom
4157

I’m in the same boat as you, Tom. I set up a LAN with my friends each week and the way Steam works can be a real detriment to that. I always buy my games from Impulse when I can, but sometimes its just not possible (hi Civ5!). These LANs have generated a lot of sales over the years because people were able to check out the game, have fun with it, and decided they wanted to play it at home as well. Oh well.

4158

Actually, I thought Games For Windows Live didn’t let you log onto the same account from multiple places at the same time either. It’s not something I’ve ever tried, but I seem to remember a Penny Arcade news post complaining about it. Or has that changed?

4159

Thanks for the logical fallacies and inconsistencies. Now let’s get back to the real world, shall we?

I’m not the one who started this conversation. I may have introduced the term, but I’m just calling it what it is.

(presumably they only have one copy since he’s lamenting the fact that he can’t do this in Civ V with Steam)

We all know that Civ V does not have a free LAN client. As such, this is a direct attempt to bypass the 1 license = 1 use model of Civ V and other games. Like it or not, that is software piracy. There’s no two ways around it. It’s not even a gray area. These are posts either describing ways to get around the 1-for-1 model of games with no LAN support or mourning the loss of the ability to do so.

What I’m finding most interesting is your reaction. Qt3 has always been a “no piracy allowed” zone. That’s been the hard and fast rule from day 1. Now that we’ve found something that’s near and dear to your heart (LAN play), you seem to be advocating that piracy is now ok so long as it accomplishes something you want. Really? When you post “And, yeah, maybe it’s not technically supported by the developers in some cases”, you’re simply making the same type of excuses that you’d slam on pirates for making. This is a rather radical departure from your prior anti-piracy stances.

I’m not trying to hound you here, but I am really, really shocked at your reaction. Are you saying that it’s ok to bypass copy protection, ignore the ToS and otherwise manipulate the product to allow more than 1 person to play at a time? If so, it doesn’t really matter if it’s for LAN play or anything else - it’s still piracy. Or are you simply lamenting the loss LAN support in current PC gaming but agree that trying to manipulate Steam (or the software itself) should be avoided because it is software piracy?

4160

Turn it the way you want, facts are here :

You can’t play Civ V LAN with a single copy. And to me this is a flaw for those kind of games. Never told less, never told more.

And more particulary, i never said something looking like “damn they don’t let me hack the game” (which is anyway false since there are actually some existing) nor “damn i’ll have to go through piracy to LAN the game” (which i won’t do anyway, it’s not something i used to do, even back to those old ST’s times when i was young…).

I do REALLY regret that Steam features are killing LAN games. You may not agree, but trust me that there is STILL many plaers who are looking for games being LAN playable. Because you may have children. Or friends. Or spouse. Who could eventually tag along from time to time. And since me and my friend are having good time playing together, yes, we are looking for games we can run LAN without spending 100$. At this price i’ll rather go for a boardgame than a Video game.

And if you ask me : yes, i do regret buying Civ V, partly because of this issue. And it’s probably my fault since i did not look at it before.