All quiet on the Western front is it ?
Source: 1
This has already been mentioned several times about two week ago.
Here…
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1641464&postcount=66
As well as here…
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1644628&postcount=292
And some other places as well.
Both of these threads are still on the front page.
Yes. A piracy thread. We don’t have any of these. Here’s every analogy Cliffski can think of just to save us a few pages:
NO, there is no specific post about this very sentence from your god. You think it’s meant to be some passe phrase. I think this very phrase should be discussed to death. Here is Gabe Newell, a god to 75% of you, saying that DRM promotes piracy and you all do is gloss over it as if it’s just another regular sentence. This quote is priceless. But let’s not kid each other - it’s not discussed because it is earth shattering. For all intents and purposes he’s agreeing with the pirates. My God, here is Gabe Newell, your god, and he agrees with the pirates. I’m sorry, but this surely does deserve it’s own specific thread. Not a general piracy thread, rather, a Gabe Newell says that DRM promotes piracy.
And why aren’t you all linking to statistics that show how many torrent downloads of Saint’s Row 2 and Dawn of War 2 and F.E.A.R. 2 have been downloaded so far ? All three new games that use Steam exclusively. So many of you always maintained that Steam was unbreakable.
I’m holding back tears.
Who are we, that holds Gabe as a god?
And why is it earthshattering? People has been saying this for years… and we’ve debated it for years in numerous piracy threads.
Good, bad or indifferent. I don’t know.
I will say this though: beyond ANY doubt, one thing that DRM and unique reg codes has lead to is a steady decline and outright lack of used PC games available to purchase in my local stores.
The supply has dried up - and noticeably. People would sell them to the store if they could - but the retailers at both EB Games and independents, who once did a brisk business in used PC game sales are trying to get out of it and don’t want to buy them anymore. The hassles are too great, customer product returns are too significant and, in general, the revenue gathered from used PC game sales just isn’t there. The unique reg codes have succeeded.
But succeeded at what? You have to wonder.
Meanwhile, core retail on new PC games dwindles and shelf space has essentially vanished at my local EB Games for new PC game products. There is a section behind the counter where they sit and that’s it. And it’s a pretty small section guys. The large independent game store nearby? Same deal - with an even smaller new section and an owner who just wants to sell console titles because they are far less hassle to sell and move faster.
Is this good for PC Games sales, overall? I don’t know.
Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t. The developer and businessman in me nods and says “good”.
But the player in me? The player in me has a PS3 and 2 Xbox 360s and is sad that there just are vey few PC games out there and available that I want to play - new or used. And my game money goes mainly for console games. I have 6 gaming PCs and they are pretty much sitting idle in my home right now - more or less across the board. I buy one or two new console games a month and a TON of used games for those systems. 3-4 (sometimes more) a week.
PC? New or used. None since Xmas.
Sad.
A god to me? Not so much. DRM or not, I just like piracy! YARR!
All those who promote Steam.
Random people, yes. Gabe Newell ? …never this, before.
Look here. Up to now Steam isn’t a big deal. You all know about it because of what we “do”. Ask the average Joe walking down the street what Steam is and he will probably answer “water in the form of vapor”. As for 20 million accounts ? Get real. How many have been used in the last month ? Maybe that would be a more accurate number. I have around 20 accounts myself. Am I alone in this ? I very much doubt it. And what of the countless banned accounts ? Do you count them in the quoted 20 million Steam users ?
Now that Steam is perhaps gathering steam (pun intended) with many more mainstream games using it exclusively, you will get real results in how effective it really is at protecting content. Not very at all. In fact it would only take a working keygen to bankrupt Steam. That’s why I know as fact that the real scene groups are paid to not release a working Steam keygen.
All those who promote Steam.
Slow down, new guy. You don’t want to blow your wad in the first week.
I have around 20 accounts myself.
Why? I’m asking genuinely here as I don’t have a steam account myself (primarily a Mac guy at home).
That’s why I know as fact that the real scene groups are paid to not release a working Steam keygen.
If they had a working keygen, they would release/anonymously leak it. Don’t kid yourself.
Interesting statement at the end there about keygen-makers getting paid off. I mean, it’s patently a bit silly, as EpicBoy points out, but has it ever been mentioned anywhere, or is that statement a purely anecdotal, conspiracy theory kind of thing?
Also, intentional or not that’s got to be up there as a contender for worst pun ever.
What I find ironic is that a lot of people who buy games that insist they use Steam (recent examples include Dawn of War 2 and Empire: Total War) see it as an intrusive type of DRM when forced on them.
Well, for every game I get I create a new account. That way should I want to …gasp… sell/trade the game, I can. No doubt some of you will boil in rage. Feel free.
Many people do this. There is a secret 2nd hand Steam market if you know where to look. (Craig’s list even has a code word for them just like hookers do.) Several of my games are purchased from others, and some traded. That’s primarily, how I know when anyone touts the total number of created accounts in Steam as the number of actual users as nonsense and absurd. Even if you don’t buy my spiel, ask Gabe (as if he’ll tell) how many accounts are banned or dormant for more then 6 or 12 months. I intelligently estimate the actual active Steam users to be around 7.5 million - a far cry from the recently boasted 20 million.
I’ll address this later as I may need to type hundreds of words to explain it satisfactorily. Alas I need to retire for the night - the Sandman is nigh.
Huh. I feel kind of stupid, but this has never occurred to me before. Very interesting. I had no idea there was a second hand market for Steam games.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in quite some time. Kudos.
I’ll address this later as I may need to type hundreds of words to explain it satisfactorily.
There aren’t enough words to explain that. Pirate groups would take Valve’s money and then leak the keygen. Unless you’re implying that Valve is making monthly payments or something in which case I can’t even begin to imagine what color the sky is in your world.
Is that in keeping with the Steam ToS/ToU?
What frustrates me is when a person with a legitimately purchased copy of a game is forced to resort to hacking/cracking/keygens in order to play the game they purchased. Admittedly, I haven’t heard a story about that in a while, but still…
Well, for every game I get I create a new account. That way should I want to …gasp… sell/trade the game, I can. No doubt some of you will boil in rage. Feel free.
Unless you’re using a unique credit card and information for every account, Valve knows who you are. When they choose to ban you, don’t come crying.
I’ll never understand why some people can’t just admit a point and continue discussion from there and would rather explode into barely intelligible rants.
Pretty sure that selling accounts is against the ToS, so if they find you you’ll probably have to get a new address and card to use steam.
“There is evidence anecdotally that DRM is increasing piracy rather than decreasing piracy.”
I’m pretty much a diehard anti-piracy guy as you can see from the current P&R thread on this topic. Despite that I can’t seem to find a way to get worked up about this quote from Gabe, in fact I’d say that I completely agree with him. Perhaps I’d modulate his words slightly to say ‘a certain kind of’ DRM is helping to increase piracy, that would be the kind of DRM that inconveniences users and gives them nothing in return. I doubt he would say ‘Steam increases piracy’ for example which is a very sophisticated form of DRM with knobs on.
Heh “knobs on”.