Go pirate it and live your best life.
Comment on Steam is basically a PC gaming monopoly, so why isn’t anyone mad?
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
I’m “mad”. Their business model should be illegal. If you buy a game you shouldn’t be chained to their platform.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Steam is not the problem when it comes to DRM. Steam offers a service, it’s the publishers who choose to use the always-on DRM.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Yes and no. When Valve first released Steam, there basically wasn’t anything like it. It was only for Valve games, it was required, and was basically always on DRM.
However, that also ended up saving PC gaming as a market and as a whole, because piracy was actually so rampant that publishers were looking at other options (consoles). So, when Steam as a platform showed being extremely successful at enforcing copyright protection but by offering the service of syncing your saves and letting you download the games you owned QUICKLY and repeatedly, basically eliminating the need for physical media, other developers eventually wanted in, and Valve eventually let some indie games on, which was a MASSIVE boon to their sales, too.
Then, other publishers wanted in, then they wanted their own digital distribution platforms, but then those platforms sucked and nobody wanted to use them, and those publishers whined a whole bunch (nobody seems to be able to figure out that you can’t do predatory shit and that you have to offer BOTH a desirable game AND a desirable platform, and those that have, realize it’s a lot of work and just go with Steam).
So, it’s not so much that Steam/Valve is the problem, it’s that they’re such a good solution, and that is hard/expensive to compete with. It’s not exactly simple, but it’s not exactly complicated.
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
You can publish on Steam without DRM. I don’t really know what point you are trying to make.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
I pirate for demos….but once I buy on Steam it’s more than irritating, and sometimes makes my games unplayable, when Steam is required to play.
Urm…I’m not an activist…I just want there to be reasonable anti-trust so you don’t have to go through a bunch of bullshit to play a game you own.
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Not sure what you mean. You should be able to download games on their storefront elsewhere?
RamenJunkie@midwest.social 2 months ago
Yes. Thats how GOG wrks, for example. Everything is DRM free. I even have a script that downloads it all.
That said, a LOT of Steam is actually DRM free as well.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
I’m not sure what you mean…once you’ve purchased a game on Steam…you have to play it using Steam…a platform that needs to be working for you to play your game.
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
That’s a common misconception.
Many games are DRM free and run without Steam. This even includes Valve games such as Half-Life 2.
Here’s a list: pcgamingwiki.com/…/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games…
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
I wasn’t aware of that because I don’t own any games on that list.
Allero@lemmy.today 2 months ago
This. One reason I’m reluctant to purchase games on Steam is how impermanent it really is.
You buy a game in Steam, you can’t play it without Steam. Should Valve decide to cut you off or just stop existing, your games are gone. And switching to another platform leaves you trapped to play your previously purchased titles on Steam or buy it again.
dev_null@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
You buy a game in Steam, you can’t play it without Steam
That’s not true though. For many games, after you installed it you can even uninstall Steam or copy/backup the game to another computer without Steam and play it forever. Yes, many games have DRM that will prevent you from doing that, but that’s the game developers doing. Steam does not have any DRM by itself.
Allero@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Steam does not have any DRM by itself
It does, and the default practice is to enable it, even when DRM-less versions are available elsewhere. It might not be as fancy as Denuvo, but it is there and it doesn’t allow you to run games without also launching Steam.
dev_null@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I am aware they offer a feature. It is up to the game developer to include it though, Steam does not force DRM onto anyone.
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
But Goldberg emulator has been widely and easily available basically forever and they’ve done nothing to try to stop people from using it or shutting it down. People are also able to add pirated games to their steam library and run them without fear of banning or retaliation on platforms like SteamOS or the steamdeck. Without being able to launch (pirated) games from within steam, using proton or gaming on Linux at all would be much harder.
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
This is not just a Steam issue, I have games I bought and will never be able to play because of DRM. Until laws change, this won’t change.
Allero@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Indeed, Steam is just one culprit - yet culprit nonetheless.
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Culprit in what way? It’s the developers and publishers that put the DRM on the games, not Steam.
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
That’s not an issue with Steam that is an issue with consumer protection and copy right laws.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
It’s definitely as issue with Steam. Once you purchase a game you can’t just launch it…you need to launch it through their platform. I don’t want to have my internet connected and Steam updated just to play a game.
Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 2 months ago
That’s only true if the publisher chooses to use DRM.
MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 2 months ago
A meaningless distinction when none of the games you bought can be launched without Steam.