Steam now tells gamers up front that they're buying a license, not a game
Steam now tells gamers up front that they're buying a license, not a game
Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game.
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So if I download a pirate copy, I'm in the clear because I purchased a license.
Doesn't GOG provide the games without copy protection? Doesn't that mean you can actually back up your installed games?
In any case, these services should allow their customers to download a digital copy of an ISO or an installable package of the game so it can be saved as a backup and installed independently.
drm is optional on steam, plenty of games are just binaries you can backup like any other. Not that it helps much with the games that do use it…
Is there a way through steam to see your owned drm free games (or in owned)?
The steam store page of a game should to tell on the right sidebar if
- it uses 3rd party DRM
- or online-only restriction
- or requires 3rd party account sign-in
All of these are marked in a visible yellowish frame below the steam-feature list.
If it uses DRM that is not 3rd party, I think that means it uses Steam DRM, which is not common in my experience. This one is also kind of easy to patch out, or at least it was the last time I did so which was years ago
Yea, I thought gamma was talking about steam games that don't have steam drm. Aka drm free steam is still a drm and unless I'm dumb most games have steam drm.
I don't think so. most often you just need to put a steam emu's dll besides it, and that's because most games are not coded to handle when steam was not installed. when a game has steam drm, you have to use an additional program that modifies the game's executable. so far I only had to do this once
I know steam has an option to add non steam games to the launcher so you can see and launch through it. Iirc it's at the bottom left of the games list.
steam enhancement suite might have it?
So if I download a pirate copy, I'm in the clear because I purchased a license.
Nope since the copy of the software was obtained with someone else's license. That said this would be hypothetically impossible to prove in court so 🤷
Circumventing DRM is questionable since I think it's illegal to distribute but not own. So let's say you have a CD installer for the Sims and download a crack exe to launch it without the CD. You are in the clear but the host for the download is not.
GOG or backing the game up yourself is the only way around this.
Yeah moving forward I'm going to buy on GOG.
It's already legal to download backups in certain jurisdictions, for example in France.
Also, it's very undocumented but you can actually generate an offline installer for a copy of a game you own on steam. It will still require steam and to be logged in in offline mode with an account that has a licence, of course, but it is a thing you can do.
Interesting. I'll check that out. There's a few games I would like to keep a backup of just in case.
When you buy on GOG you really get the game, you can (without needing a launcher) download installers without any trouble and you can do whatever you want with them. Want to put a bunch into a pen drive and share with you friends? No problem. Want to install them on a device with no Internet connection? No problem. Want to back them up for whatever reason? No problem.
EDIT: People telling me its not legal, its not about being legal or not, its about having the power to decide to do whatever you want.
You still buy a license from GOG like with any piece of software. It’s just that you get the files without DRM. You can’t resell those files like you could if you truly owned the game.
This isn't actually true.
Gog isn't 'piracy is strictly legal' there is still a license attached to the software that can have restrictions.
Oh cool! I didn't know they went that far.
I'm buying from GOG from now on.
Gog has the same language, check section 2.1 of their user agreement.
https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/212632089-GOG-User-Agreement?product=gog
Maybe, but they provide the software without DRM and with the option to get an offline installer.
(I just learned Steam does that as well apparently but with extra steps.)
Would you mind sharing these extra steps?
I haven't figured them out yet 😅