seaturtle @ seaturtle @lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Joined

2 yr. ago

IMO Steam is only "pro-consumer" in comparison to some of the really nasty DRM schemes out there. In recent years they've done a bunch of annoying things, including:

• making it harder to access older versions of games
• gradually changing the fundamental operation of the Steam client to become browser-dependent for everything (it used to be a much lighter and faster application that ran using their own code before it became basically Chrome)
• basically orphaning the Steam skins feature with update after update successively breaking more and more things (related to the above)
• making it harder to use older versions of the Steam client (okay, this might be hard to avoid technically, but still)

And of course, it's still basically DRM-agnostic for any additional layers of DRM, such as and including Denuvo. As well as having no convenient way to just turn off updates, which means that if you don't take your own precautions and a bad update got installed, well, good luck.

To be fair, Steam's own DRM is still relatively light (compared to some other schemes), and it sometimes does technically have DRM-free games (if Steam acting as a downloader doesn't count as DRM), and it offers tons of cheap games, but all of these features (or better, such as DRM-free installers) are easily available from various competitors. Steam's main attraction these days, frankly, is its selection, with a bunch of games that can't be bought elsewhere. which is a sort of market dominance that it only maintains by virtue of already being big.

"Count Dracula rises but once every century, and my role is over. But if I were to resurrect him, the battle would last for eternity!" - some asshole named Richter Belmont

"We own everything", basically. All they want is for them to control how everyone else does things.

Also, a hearty "fuck you" to all those folks out there (I've run into them before) who claim that publishers should get to have absolute control over how consumers use stuff they put out.

Ahh, good ol' price discrimination.

zing

Well, it's not too surprising; if people are like that, and AIs learn from people...

It sounds like bluffing.

In other words, it could very well be complete and utter bullshit.

Videogame Piracy, no-install % WR strats

On the contrary, I think the incentive would be for Unity to let the pirated install keep existing because that would mean more money they can extort from developers/publishers.

An admirable sentiment.

The fact that a game is Steam-only is good enough reason to pirate it.

Yeah, YouTube was better when it was a bunch of amateur cat videos.

I always knew that funding the internet using ads wasn't sustainable in the long run.

You can add literally anything, and all Steam does is launch the executable you specify. And maybe take screenshots if you use the overlay.

Valve could actually look through the games people have added and do some sort of major crackdown, but for better or worse they seem to have left this alone. Still, though, I'd consider it a vulnerability, and I also recommend against using Steam because Steam is basically DRM. (Yes, this varies by game and can be argued over. But it still definitely tries to lock you into using it, one way or another.)

replied to wrong comment, oops

(The comment previously posted here is now at https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/1259716 )

Hot take: the internet was better when it was simpler like that.

Ah, I see.

Well torrenting is also P2P but people generally recommend VPNs for that.

If it has Denuvo it's basically asking "please, get a pirated version if you want this, because the official version sucks".

I would hope that's the case, but as I mentioned in another comment, I've actually seen a case where a Denuvo-addled game was cracked, then the cracked version stopped working at some point (seemingly after a certain calendar date or a certain time after installation, because it definitely wasn't based on in-game progress), necessitating an updated crack.

The game is Shining Resonance Refrain, if you're curious.

Maybe the new crack actually succeeds at really defeating the DRM? Who knows. (Though I also remember it saying something like you gotta skip a certain cutscene or else it'll crash. But, let's say we excuse that.)

And I've seen Steam fanboys on the Steam forums who insist that the rumors of performance problems are baseless. They can go pleasure themselves with rusty cacti.

• Saving files for offline enjoyment/no dependence on internet connection.
• More player and playback options: easier rewind/fast-forward, chapter controls (for many releases), etc.
• Fewer ads/pop-ups/phishing/etc. nonsense (depending on how effective your browser's adblockers are)
• Often, choice of subs and dubs. Generally better ones than the generic DVD release subs. And sometimes, even commentary tracks.