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Valve Takes the Offensive on Warez Users?
Drull writes "It's claimed by a poster on filefront.com that Valve might have released a "Warez" version of Half-Life 2 to monitor and ban those who attempt to use it. This is the news from some guy with a filefront account, so take it with a grain of salt.
If this pans out to be true, Valve could be in serious legal trouble. I totally sympathize with Valve in their efforts to combat piracy, but the moment they toy with other people's computers is when class action lawsuits occur. There are times that you just *can't* take the law into your own hands.
I'll really feel sorry for those people who perhaps used this (if real) file to "no cd" their legitimate versions thinking that they were trying to save themselves some Steam hassle only to hose their system/accounts.
What alternate reality do you live in? I've seen more complaints about Steam and Valve in the past week than ever before. Valve has pissed off plenty of people lately.
Hey, I too hate the RIAA and the MPAA for their jack-booted techniques, but I wouldn't exactly point to Valve as the gold standard.
It took two hours to get HL2 actually up and ready to play on tuesday, even though the installer actually put the bits onto the disk from the CD in under 15 minutes. And now, to actually play the game, in single player mode, it still takes several minutes from the time I click on the icon to start the game before I can even choose to load a saved game -- this time is spent starting Steam, then verifying that my copy is legit.
And then, even when I'm not playing, Steam pops up and sends messages to my screen. So far, they've been related to HL2 and Steam, but how long will it be before Valve is advertising their new game? Or somebody else's new game, available through Steam? Or how about some new energy drink to drink while playing their game?
Don't pretend that everybody likes Steam. It seems clever enough, but really what it is is an advertising, piracy prevention and sales portal. And if you want HL2, to actually *buy* HL2 rather than pirate it, it's forced on you.
IF Valve is, indeed, running such an experiment, it's pretty unlikely that Gabe Newell (or anyone at Valve) would immediately fess up to it to some unknown joker on the Internet - WHILE they're trying to catch people.
:)
:)
However, this is a pretty neat idea - since Valve knows that people are going to pirate the game, the proactive step of CONTROLLING the version that gets pirated by modding it so that they can track it anthen releasing it BEFORE anyone else can do the same pretty much ensures that they'll get the personal info (name, credit card #, address, etc.) of lots of pirates, and then they can choose what to do with that info.
The first option that comes to mind is emotionally satisfying to but a horrible business plan - they COULD use that personal info to PERMANENTLY BAN that person from using Steam/HL2, ever. Although that might make Gabe & crew feel good for a few minutes... they just potentially lost ($50 x #_of_pirates).
The second option, which is BOTH emotionally satisfying AND a good business plan, BUT is ALSO only quasi-moral and barely legal, is to use that personal info to contact the pirates directly and extort^H^H^H^H^H^H encourage them to buy a legal copy immediately, otherwise Valve will turn their info over to the authorities for prosecution. This not only "sticks it to the pirates" but also generates additional revenue (($50 x #_of_pirates) - ($50 x #_of_stupid_pirates)). Heck, if they went the extortion^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H encouragement route, why not "encourage" them to buy the $90 package instead?
The third, and most likely option, would be to turn all of that personal info over to the authorities and make a huge example out of all of them, thus instilling the Fear of Valve into all pirates everywhere, which would hopefully reduce the number of pirates and create a Utopian society for all.
All that said, though, I doubt there's any truth to the story, since, again, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a sting-operation if you TELL EVERYONE you're running a sting!
"It's claimed by a poster on filefront.com that..."
uh huh. well, it's claimed by a poster on slashdot.org that Natalie Portman pours hot grits down my pants.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
"Monitoring warezed HL2 files on torrent networks" is not the same thing as "Valve populated torrent networks with warezed HL2 files."
Gabe could be saying what he did just to put the scare tactics out there. I would think that could be pretty effective, up to a point. It seems to me that Valve had several options for ways to make HL2 a bit more secure than the average release, by way of options like having the HL2.exe check the MD5 on the Steam.exe, and vice-versa, or other you-get-my-back-I-get-yours dual anti-piracy measures. Considering that I got over five years of playtime out of Half-Life and various mods, I think paying for HL2 was a very wise investment, and feel that people who pirate it just need to pay up and stop harming a developer that gave modding the biggest kick in the pants since inception.
.gcf files, nothing executable) and pull some form of identifying mark from the user. If you pirate software, and the company swipes something identifying you personally - as long as it's nothing that could be considered "theft" of data or records - morally, you deserve what you get.
"Let's let people mod our game. And what the hell, we'll buy the leading map editor for our format and give it out for free." iD didn't do that. Everyone else followed Valve's lead here.
The way I would like to see Valve approach this, would be to let people get a taste of the game with the pirated version (maybe the first 1-2 chapters) and then lock Steam down tight, wipe out a few of the required game files (like the
I hope Valve does have some kind of a crackdown in progress, we'll have to see where it goes from here. Gabe never replied to my question about the "post-Steam" future of Half-Life 2, which is my only real concern about the authorization system.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
They have done a solid job and snuffing out pirating while managing to avoid pissing off their consumer base.
Many people are complaining because it took then close to 4 hours to get approval to play the game once they installed it.
Also the word on the street is that you can get the pirate crack for this, and be playing it in less time.
The RIAA and MPAA should take a lesson.
Actually, Valve are the ones taking a lesson from the RIAA and MPAA.
They have done a solid job and snuffing out pirating
Not that solid. The real HL2 was warezed and cracked on November 16.
while managing to avoid pissing off their consumer base.
You can't be talking about Steam, can you?
This is the way companies should protect their IP, not by using the government as their own private band of thugs.
I agree. But I see no evidence that Valve have accomplished anything extraordinary as far as combatting piracy goes. In fact, this sort of terroristic rumormongering probably indicates the opposite, assuming its ultimate source is Valve.
I'm not really getting this... It's easier to patch than to reverse-engineer, so I presume the warez version of the game is supplied with a crack that fakes out the Steam authentication so that it doesn't know it's being tricked. Nobody who is interested only in the single player game will connect to another computer online.
How can they expect to track people? Bittorrent? The only tracking information specified in BT is IP address, and most people have a dynamic IP which can be changed by unplugging their modem for 10 minutes.
And what's the penalty? They're banned from the service they don't need? So what?
It's modded funny because it's funny in the same way that the guy on the corner saying that the government is controlling his mind with a satellite is funny. I went through 2 retail copies that didn't work, then bought through Steam. Took hours to download, decrypt, and get vaguely playable, and I'm going to have to bang on it when I get home tonight to iron out bugs. The game phones home to make sure I'm legal, it demands I be on-line and run Steam to play. I'm a legal user. I jumped through hoops to get this game. And I'm being treated like some JeffK wannabe passing out copies in a shady newsgroup. After HL1, I loved Valve. They took care of their community, supported mods, and only asked for a CD Key. I'm playing HL2 despite Valve. They made a great game, but they're acting like the paranoid shits in the game industry they fought against years ago with their community-building and implicit trust in the users. It's sad, really. Microsoft roots showing, you think?
And in a month, none of those people who complained will care one bit.
Honestly, the brouhaha over Steam and validation on day 1 is ridiculous. Yes, if you bought the game on Tuesday you likely had problems for a few hours trying to validate. Yeah, that's a pisser. However, once you did get it validated you were able to play without any sort of online interaction (unless you were playing online, of course).
These same server problems affect every MMORPG on day 1. They affect every popular game that has online content (e.g., every Blizzard game). Its the nature of the beast. Sure, its a bitch, but a half day of inconvenience for 5 years of gameplay is something most people will overlook. Anyone who was faintly familiar with how HL2 validation was going to be done, especially the geeks at slashdot, should have known that day 1 was going to be validation hell. I knew it, and I'm waiting a few extra days before I buy the game, simply because I don't want that hassle.
How did your 2 retail copies "not work"? Were they just suffering the Steam overload problem that was affecting -everyone- or were they actually defective media? You can't fault Valve if it's the media, and if it's the Steam activation why on Earth would you return it and try another copy? Sounds like you bit your own ass with that one.
;)
The game doesn't demand you be on-line after activation. It does require Steam, but Steam is a PART of Half-Life 2. It's the foundation the game is built upon. That's almost like bitching about having to install libraries on a Linux machine, pointless. And what bugs have you run into? There're damn few bugs for a game with Microsoft developer heritage.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
These same server problems affect every MMORPG on day 1. They affect every popular game that has online content (e.g., every Blizzard game).
The difference, of course, being that in those cases you only have to validate games that are online.
I'm waiting a few extra days before I buy the game, simply because I don't want that hassle.
And you don't think that this is an unnecessary hassle? Why should you have to wait a few days (or any amount of time at all excluding the few minutes of installation) to play a $50 game offline?
Rob
The only people who have problems with steam are people with crummy net connections and people who try to use it when traffic is very high.
I love comments like the parents. This reminds me why I stopped playing CS and DOD online. Some people cannot get good connections even when living in major cities. Also, when you buy the game you should be able to play it as soon as you install it. The whole activation method is useless, and is one reason I'm not buying HL2 right now (and I own a copy of Every Valve game except for Condition Zero) and HL2. As long as people with your sentiment are around though, I can see things will only get worse. The whole selfish, "I got mine. Anyone who doesn't is a dumbass" attitude just reminds me of why PC gaming has gone downhill
Reserved Word.
If this is true, it actually could end up hurting Valve in the end. For instance, lets say someone downloads a copy of HL2 and plays it. In the process, they are banned from Steam. They decide that they like the game and perhaps would like to play CS:Source or DoD:Source, and so they try and purchase the game. Valve, having locked the potential customer out of Steam, will have lost a customer. Now, you're probably saying that people who download games have no reason to buy them, but this is not true, especially in this case, considering that many people buy the game for CS:Source and DoD:Source. I myself first played an illegal copy of Half-Life, but then bought the game because I liked it and wanted to play TFC. This is only considering the fact that Valve could track the users...
Now, how is Valve going to track the user? Look on their computer for a Steam account and ban all accounts found? What if one of their friends had been over playing on their box, logged into steam, and there were two accounts on the machine? Ban both accounts? I know I was showing my friend the CS:Source beta when he didn't have it, I saw my account directory still on his machine last week. What if the user of the pirated software didn't even have Steam? Ban his IP? Not practical due to dynamic IP's. I know, many people have broadband connections with static IPs, but still many don't. Also, if a user owns a steam account, it's a good bet that they have purchased a product, such as HL or CS:CZ. If someone can find in the Steam EULA where it allows Valve to revoke use of a product that a user already owns, please post it in reply to this. Direct quotes only please. So, in summary, this is either bullshit or a pretty stupid plan... I'm betting on the former.
Far from this Steam activation deal encouraging me to buy the game rather than use a warezed version, it's done precisely the opposite. I was going to buy the boxed version of it to avoid the horrors of Steam (have you ever READ the T&Cs for it?), but now it transpires that it's Steam or no HL2 I guess it's no HL2 for me. For starters my gaming PC is not, nor will it ever be, connected to the internet, but that's not the only thing:
One, Valve's LAN-gaming policy is retarded -- you have to apply a month in advance if you want to play a Valve game at a LAN-party, but at the moment it's not enforced. However, all they need to do is disable the "offline play" mode on Steam...
Two, what happens if at some point in the future Valve go belly up? What good then your $60 piece of software?
Three, this is just another step towards some sort of stupid broadcast flag/induce act piece of moronicity.
Four, the only people inconvenienced by this (along with every other piece of product activation ever created) are people who paid for it. People with warezed versions are saved the hassle (and in the case of the CS:Source Emporio release, occasionally get extra features).
So long, Gabe -- I waited years for HL2, but I guess I'll never get to play it now.
This sentence no verb.
Both were issues with the retail distribution cab files. From what I've been able to read on message boards, this is a common problem; the installer basically fails to unpack them properly. That I do blame Valve for-either they failed to correctly develop or correctly test their installer, or they contracted it out to someone who wasn't trustworthy. My problem with Steam? You have to work around an antipiraccy system in order to run a single-player game offline. The irony of having a game where one theme is the oppression and monitoring of a populace by a big-brother type organization phone home to make sure you're following rules is incredible. Bugs? Audio skipping, draw errors, ridiculous load times, and instability. My system is well above minimum spec. (2.8GP4, 1G RAM, 9800Pro, etc). Problems like this shouldn't occur with a flagship product.
The only people who have problems with steam are people with crummy net connections and people who try to use it when traffic is very high. If you use steam on a day that isn't close to a big release day, and your bandwith isn't poop it works just fine.
Awesome. So, your "offline" experience should now be goverened by your online experience, according to you.
So what's next, you think that linux should load slower if you have a slow 'net connection, or windows should crash more if you have cheap internet?
Please, what you're saying is that only people "elite" enough in society to be lucky enough to have a top-grade internet connection deserve to enjoy things like this game.
Get real.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Yeah, won't help for online play, but what kind of idiot plays pirated games online anyway?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
At least Microsoft provided the option of activating the product over the phone.
"Slashdot: Rumors for Nerds. Stuff that may or may not be true."
The RIAA and MPAA should take a lesson. Valve has done a pretty incredible thing.
They reinvented Divx for games. I can still play System Shock 2, despite the fact that Looking Glass Studios shut down years ago. Prove to me that I can legally play HL2 five years from now.
In releated news, due to piss poor QA you HAVE to install Counter Strike if your trying to install HL2 off of the retail CDs. If you dont select Counter Strike (which is on disk five) the installer will look for the final file "hl2.ico1" on disk four and not find it (because its not there) forcing you out of the installer after swapping four disks. If the game wasn't so good I'd be REALY pissed off, as it stands I just take my aggression out on head crabs.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Or better yet. did the right thing and bought the game in advance over steam
Buying over steam had many advantages:
- You instantly got to play CS:S
- You saved a buck or two in some cases
- You money went to valve instead of Vivendi
- You had HL2 preloaded on your harddrive (no cds)
- You could start playing 10 minutes after the game was released
For me Steam was a huge success. Its just stupid to distribute digital data over physical mediums like CDS when there is a boardband internet connection available. After purchasing steam stays incredibly useful. You will never have to search for your f$%^& cds and put them in your drive. If you want to play hl2 online in two years all you need to do is double click the game. You deleted the game ? NO PROBLEM. Steam downloads it for you. You are not up to date ? NO PROBLEM. steam updates you. You don't have the map / mod / whatever ? NO PROBLEM. People need to get used to the idea of steam. yes it might have caused some problems but that was to be expected.Uh huh. And WeSpy4U2.33 is part of Kazaa. ("See, the product doesn't work if you try to bypass the spyware component! We're just trying to enhance your Kazaa experience and make sure you have the latest and greatest we have to offer!")
What happens next, when EA writes its own clone of Steam, without which no EA titles will run? And when Activision writes its clone? And Sony writes its clone? And the MPAA writes its clone and bundles it with Windows Media Player 16.666? And RIAA writes its clone as a part of theyTunes 2.0?
How many of these "online content delivery services" will we have to be running, simultaneously, hoping that none of them conflict with each other, cursing the pop-up ads that come as marketeers decide to "monetize" the desktop, and taking "self help measures" when they see us doing something they don't like?
And how many of them will be as "honest" about not being spyware as Steam might be?
Sorry, but your post is completely untrue. Steam insists on logging online every time you play Half Life. And I'm talking about single player, not multi player. This morning it took me 10 minutes to load Half Life because steam had problems logging in. There is meant to be an offline mode for Steam, but this is only for dialup users. Somehow it automatically detects the internet connection. Am I really meant to fumble around the back of my machine, and unplug the ethernet cable (interrupting whatever else I might be doing online like downloading a large file) just to damn play Half Life?
And on the same note, why should Valve go through 5 years of cost and trouble to design the best game ever made (my own opinion after playing it) only to have it widely stolen and pirated?
I'd much rather have Valve protect their creation via technology than in the courts.
Compare Valve's approach to that of the RIAA / MPAA. I'll take Valve's any day of the week.
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for a sleepy little village in Mexico, Warez sure gets a lot of coverage on the web.
It's the difference between an operating system and a game. Few people rely heavily upon the ability to play a game (and if you do, you've got more problems than just game activation). Inability to re-install an OS on the other hand can be a major problem. If you're stuck somwhere without a phone or 'net access and you need to install XP, you're up shit crick.
Both Microsoft and Valve can decide when to stop authorizing their software (and likely will at some point). Of course the consequences of no longer being able to install an OS are a LOT bigger than not being able to play a 10 year old game. You also have to admit that Microsoft has a much spottier reputation with taking unfair advantage of their monopoly power. Valve doesn't have that reputation, so people are more willing to trust them.
AccountKiller
The worst part is that according to the linked forum, no one says Valve has released a warez version to fool pirates.
End of story, IMHO.
This is the official word:
"We're running a bit of an experiment. We're keeping track of the accounts that do this and will be shutting them off."
Then it's assumed the "experiment" was to release a warez version. The "experiment" can of course be anything, like leaking an invalid key to some IRC channel. But that would be nowhere near spreading a warez version. It could probably mean something else too as "keeping track" is quite ambiguous.
The FileFront guy goes on with
"Therefore, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT participate in these illegal activities as it would only lead to your own harm."
Why, the most common cracked version doesn't even connect to Steam. How would they be able to do anyhting? And if you loose your account, you're free to make a new one. Maybe they ban by IP ranges, but that's risky for dynamic IP's and nothing like that is even mentioned.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
It is very possible for any client on the internet to retrieve the list of connected ips from the tracker. After all, it's just a fancy http server.
Buying over steam had many advantages
I wonder how long it would have taken me to download over Steam on my 26k dialup.
If you want to play hl2 online in two years all you need to do is double click the game. You deleted the game ? NO PROBLEM. Steam downloads it for you. You are not up to date ? NO PROBLEM. steam updates you. You don't have the map / mod / whatever ? NO PROBLEM.
Oops! Valve went out of business and now the validation servers are gone. BIG PROBLEM! Now the only way to play even single player is to download an illegal crack.
If "Valve" releases a bad CD crack, so be it. It's not really from Valve so there's no recourse. If that's what they're doing, I don't see a problem with it. Makes the pirate's job that much harder.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
These same server problems affect every MMORPG on day 1
That's funny. I have bought a number of Blizzard games and I have never, ever, had a problem playing the LAN or single-player components immediately, without having internet access.
What valve did was inconvenience their user's without effecting piracy at all. There are already hacked copies that play without an internet connection floating around. Valve just made the official version (in addition the unavoidably costing money) less functional, and harder to use than the hacked version. And you know what, I'm not buying the game...or pirating it. I'll buy from someone who does not automatically assume I'm a criminal. They won't know or care, but maybe, in time, developers will realize that treating their customers like crap is not OK.
"And you don't think that this is an unnecessary hassle? Why should you have to wait a few days (or any amount of time at all excluding the few minutes of installation) to play a $50 game offline?"
Then DON'T BUY THE FUCKING GAME. Why do people complain about stuff they know they're going to hate, then hand the makers $50 anyhow?
I bought the original Half-Life to play DOD with friends. Then they released Steam(ing pile of DRM ad delivery garbage). For months I couldn't play the games because updates broke video compatibility. Then all of a sudden it worked, for a few weeks, then it broke again with security issues when connecting to other hosts. Then a few weeks later it works again (after more fixes are retrieved). It is a nightmare!
Everyone cries about Circuit City and their failed Divx initive. Steam cries of the same thing. It's an advertisement and upsell delivery system.
After suffering thru Steam, I would chuckle if people cracked the Steam software delivery system, or reverse engineered the Steam authentication system so rouge servers could auth clients on private networks.
I am proud to admit that Steam/DOD/HL started working just in time to deliver ads for HL2.
Warez puppies dissapointed me, they didn't manage to unlock the preload of HL2 or crack the authentication garbage.
Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
They could release a patch or an installer that takes out the Stream activation in the future.
If they don't, so what? You obviously know that there is a possibility that the game won't work in the future. If that is important to you, vote with your wallet. Don't buy the game.
In related news, last night in #teen-chat, cHeRrYbLossOM697 responded to the question "a/s/l" with "200/m/NJ". Although sources have not yet been confirmed, jounalists are now saying that we may have uncovered the oldest living human.
I bought this game, opened it, and it doesnt work because of a firewall i dont control. So i can return it and i'm screwed with a game i cant play! So as soon as i see a pirate version, im downloading it.
Check back again in 70 years (if copyright won't be extended until then) when you can't play public domain Half Life 2.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
Or, if you actually read the source on this, that poster was reading more into Valve's response than was said.
They only said they're monitoring it and responding, not that they'd released it.
It's easy to monitor who's sharing a file on BitTorrent without seeding a single bit, never mind being the original seeder...
I will let you in on a secret: I just returned HL2 to EB and I am downloading the said cracked version. It is the first time ever I am pirating a game. This is my answer to Steam.
Not only the fucking thing did not work, I object to the idea of Steam on principle. I do not care if those morons at Valve figure that they will get rich by trying to chain me down by my balls so that every time they yank the chain, I will have to part with more of my money.
I did my duty as a consumer, I went to the store, bought the thing and followed the instructions. They failed their duty as manufacturer and treated me like a thief and via their extreme "protection" measures not only failed to make their product opearational buy also attempted to violate my privacy and take control of my computer.
I have news for you Valve. If you are going to treat me like a thief, assume that only your time is worth something and mine is utterly worthless, treat me with contempt as your "technical support" isn't, I will resort to one of the remedies available to me: I will do the "thieving" you are accusing me of, because if I am going to get the treatment, I might as well get the benefits.
Oh and by now it is you who ows me money since the cost of your "product" is far less then the expense of my time attempting to make it work. The going rate for my type of services is ~$150/hr and I spend in exceess of 10 hours allready on this crap troubleshooting it. Let it be lesson to you! You just turned someone who despite his view of "Intellecual Property" bullshit was up to now a law-obiding consumer into your dreaded nemesis: a "pirate"! Arghhh mateys!
No more of this nonsense. The gravvy train has ended for you scumbags.
A HL2 torrent released so they can monitor and ban IPs that connect to it? I doubt it, as that's a legal minefield - you don't even need to be a lawyer to see how a smart pirate is going to make Valve look like fools in court by arguing that by connecting to the torrent and, by the nature of bittorrent, sending just one byte of the game down his pipe, they were displaying conscious intent to give him the whole game for free, thus whipping their case out from under them.
.zip full of large junk files with an .exe that just 'calls home' and gets your Steam ID banned? I doubt this too, as all it would take would be for one vindictive hax0r who just got his Steam account wiped to rename the home-calling .exe as something perfectly legal and start serving it up over Kazaa and bam!, anyone who downloads it gets their Steam IDs hosed. I can't see Valve being stupid enough to run the risk of being liable for something like that, even if it's not likely they would be the ones in the wrong in the eyes of the law in that situation - they'd definately at least be seen as irresponsible for making such a move so easy to perform.
Or, as someone else suggested, a
Or there's option C. That this is bullshit scaremongering. My money's on the latter.
And since when did rumours in jumped-up forum posts become news, anyway?
Bad Slashdot.
Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
Indeed...Valve is not the gold standard.
But the geek side of me has to acknowledge that the idea of downloading premium game content over the net versus having to walk/drive to the store is a great advance, and while it may havebeen inevitable, its good to see it actually working today (albeit with some growing pains in the first few hours/days/weeks).
This is exaclty the business model I'd like to see pursued with software, music and movies. It puts the money into the hands of the developers, rather than the publishers, and has the potential to eventually lower prices, if competition is good.
I'd like to see $40 premium games on release day, rather than the push for $55-$60 pricetags, along with knowing that even though I pay $15-$20 less, more money is actually going to the guys who wrote the software.
That would be the The Right Thing.
The likelihood of Acclaim going out of business is what?
The likelihood of Argonaut going out of business is what?
The likelihood of Virgin/Vivendi/Fox being sold to another company is what?
No, you login in Offline Mode, that's why it's there.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
The problem is that 99.99% of the complaints are not in the form of constructive criticism. It's a barely cohesive mumbo jumbo with a lot of "ur" "2" "gay" "faget" and other bullshit. In the off chance the user has refrained from profanity AND put to use their 10th grade writing skills to use, they still manage to fail to offer any sort of constructive criticism. Constructive criticism requires two things; pointing out the flaws and offering possible solutions. Without the later, the entire concept of "constructive criticism" is moot (in this situation); it's not like Valve has a whole SLEW of better ideas just sitting there waiting for us to bitch enough before they implement them. Because that obviously makes sense. [/sarcasm]
Yes, people don't like to have to validate their game. I'm sure there are some people out there who also don't want to have to install the game before playing it, either. And probably even a few who don't even want to have to be forced to play the game; it should just play itself!
I realize those are unfair comparisons, but the bottom line is, Steam is the best thing Valve could have done, both for themselves, and, yes, the consumers. Now the patches are delivered right to my computer. I don't even have to bother looking for them. Could Valve have invested in a wee bit more bandwidth and a few more servers, at least for the launch and the Christmas season? Definitely! But it's not nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be. People, seriously; get a goddam grip. I wasn't thrilled when I had to wait 12 hours for the last 18% of my preload to finish (on a connection that usually gets about 300k/s), but that doesn't mean that Steam, the validation system, or Valve are the anti-Christ. Relax a bit, have a cookie, and go for a walk while you wait.
Besides, it's not as bad as waiting for a Gentoo installation to be finished.
*still waiting for Gnome to finish emerging*
Wow. Here is an even better idea. If you don't like the company, don't play the game. Don't pirate it, just ignore it and go on with your life. The options aren't: buy or pirate. Obviously you failed to realize this. You sit on your side bithcing and moaning how you were inconvienenced. It would have eventually worked, but you decided to over-react. All you wrote was a long ass justification for copyright infringement. Congratulations, your morals suck. The people who worked 5 years on this won't get any of your money...and you are so proud of yourself, that you want them to pay you money. Beyond my comprehension...it's people like you who are the problem.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
trying clicking 'run in offline mode' they put it into steam as an option, for a reason, after all. and steam can also backup your games to CDs or DVDs now (right click, backup, click which games you want backed up, choose .iso size, and it makes'em)
in 1995 people would have called you crazy if you said that Origin would not exist in 2000.
"And on the same note, why should Valve go through 5 years of cost and trouble to design the best game ever made (my own opinion after playing it) only to have it widely stolen and pirated?"
A.) Because it won't "only" be stolen. They'll be successful regardless. The 'legitimate customer' market is actually very large.
B.) Do you really think this won't be cracked, therefore completely thrwarting their 'protection'? Legit customers get bit, pirates don't care.
C.) You don't see the similarity between this and what certain music companies did to protect their CDs, thus rendering them unplayable? That wasn't acceptable, either.
"I'd much rather have Valve protect their creation via technology than in the courts."
I'd much rather buy products that satisfy me instead of turning piracy into a more attractive alternative.
"Derp de derp."
Did you even read more than the first sentence of his post? He said that offline mode doesn't work if you have an active ethernet connection.
My other first post is car post.
I don't really see the wait as a big problem. Sure, I can imagine it's frustrating, but like you say, go do something else while you wait.
The real problem is the lack of future proofing. I can slap in HL1 today, fire it up and be playing without any hassles. Same for Quake, and other games of that era.
But what about HL2? Will I still be able to play that in 5 or 10 years time? Or will the authentication servers no longer be there?
No, it won't stop me buying the game (pay-day is a week away yet), but it is a concern. Nothing lasts forever, but this potentially unecessarily shortens the life of something that could last a lot longer.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
If you even considered paying for it in the first place, there's a darn fine chance you're not a pirate. If you did, then you're one of MANY folks who will support it (or bought an ATI XT card.)
As for single player, of course it will be cracked. Probably already has been, and that's just common with software. I'm not terribly thrilled with having to validate online before playing, but you're gonna be downloading patches, mods, etc. to avoid the starting bugs anyhow, so what does one more wait get ya?
I came to realize long ago that the best way to avoid mass pirating is to provide a reasonable cost. I think if a lot of these companies realized that 12-14 yr olds don't generally have $50-60 to blow, they'd sell a lot more games. $30 is very reasonable, especially in this economy, and they'd cut the pirating down to a very small percentage. More money up front means more pirating, and it's been that way for MANY years. Pirates will not pay, all others provide cash/credit.
-What have you contributed lately?
Think about it a moment. The Internet, as it is designed, is specifically intended to allow the free flow of information to anyone who wants to post or send it. No one who produces IP, be it a software company, music or movie producer, or anyone else, can stop -anything- that can be made into data from being distributed in this manner. What they can do is make it more difficult to do so, while making it easy and convenient to use their software. People will pay for convenience, as has been demonstrated time and again, even if a cheaper or free option is available but more of a pain.
So, the smart company doesn't say "Pirating is theft!" (Most don't see it as such and/or don't care.) Or say "Software piracy is hurting us, we won't be able to develop further games!" (Awwww, you only made $299 million instead of $300 million on it. Don't I wish I had your problem.) What they should say is "Cracked copies may be a pain and may not work. Our version will work straight out of the box." (Maybe even throw in something about how pirated copies may contain worms/Trojans. While that's not too often true, most people wouldn't know that.)
So, what's the problem here? Valve's software WON'T work out of the box, and a cracked copy WILL! They have removed the last incentive there is to purchase a "real" copy for those with any type of computer know-how. Quite simply put, the major misunderstanding that most IP companies operate under is the assumption that computer technology and the Internet are simply going to go away, or will be put under their full and absolute control. The first is unrealistic and the second unthinkable.
Just as they have had to adapt to VCR's, tape decks, CD burners, radio, and every other type of technology invented, they are going to have to figure out how to work WITH the net rather than against it. That may involve some sort of collective licensing scheme (the best solution, to my way of thinking.) It may be to stop licensing each individual copy and instead concentrate on providing value-added support for a fee, such as tech support and customization. It may be to offer copies in an easier and more convenient manner than scouring newsgroups and getting cracks to work. It may be offering webbased services available only to registered users. It may be some combination of all of the above. But one thing's for sure: The solution lies in changing their business model to adapt to technology, not in trying to change technology to adapt to their business model.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
I heard a similar argument this week and, just out of curiosity, tried to install the original Half Life from a perfectly legal CD, a 1.0.0.x copy. Following the standard install path, I reached the point where Sierra Utilities solicitously informed me that it needed to be upgraded to 1.1.1.x, offered me a list of defunct FTP sites, and gave me the Continue and Cancel options, both of which helpfully uninstalled the game without prompting me. Of course there are workarounds, but that's not the point. If they won't keep the update FTP site for the original game up and running, why would they keep the authentication server up for the sequel in 6, 8, 10 years' time?
As soon as there is a cracked version that eliminates the need for a net connection i will be using it on my internet free gaming box, but Valve will not see a penny from me. Im not a 'pirate', i just dont support companies with shit policies.
No. You're a 'pirate'.
If you were serious about not supporting companies with shit policies, YOU WOULDN'T PLAY THE GAME AT ALL.
The single player mode has already been cracked. Multiplayer hasn't and won't be, just like with the original Half Life.
I'm with you, I use cracked versions of software for an extended demo all the time. If I like the program and find value in it, I buy it.
I bought HL2 specifically to support Valve for making such a great game. HL was amazing, and HL2 is even more amazing.
I can't fault Valve for protecting what is theirs, and doing so in a way that has minimal inconvenience to customers.
Lose Weight and Feel Great with Isagenix
Namaste
"A) So as long as Ford sells enough cars to "be successful", they shouldn't make attempts to keep cars from being stolen off their lots or from their factories?"
Uh huh. Because software copying is EXACTLY like removal of physical property. But as long as we're going down incongruous metaphor lane, let's make take this to an even stupider level: Would it be okay for you if Ford protected their cars by causing you to have to call them and seek permission to open the door? What good does that do if somebody can still force their way in?
If you're shaking your head, fine, don't bother hitting reply on that. The metaphor was stupid to begin with. I never said it was okay for people to steal, nor was I rationalizing it. What I was saying was that it wasn't worth hurting the customer over.
"B) Of course it will be cracked. Almost everything gets cracked. But for online gaming, what percentage of those playing the original Half-Life multiplayer were doing so on pirated software? 0%. Authentication works."
Right. Ask Blizzard about BnetD and then tell me again how succesful authentication is. If Half-Life 2's authentication is bad enough (not saying it is, as I'm not afraid to admit I really have no idea.) they could get around the authentication problem by developing their own server for it. It's difficult, not all that practical, but not impossible. (There's a big question mark over my head as to whether anybody can host their own game or if it's STRICTLY being done by Valve. If you're getting the sense that I don't know much about this game, your intuition would be correct.) If you can host your own game, authentication seriously loses its effectiveness in the hands of pirates. If the servers are 100% Valve owned, then I'm willing to concede this point to practicality.
C.) Nothing about this makes it unplayable.
Yet. Most of us have a tale to tell about losing an important element of a game, like the ID#, and having to buy another copy to play it again. History's against you here.
"Derp de derp."
Guess you don't fly much, since the TSA won't treat you like "the law-abiding citizen" you are. Guess you don't frequent to many stores, since they put those security cameras up and security tags on the items, because you want to be treated like "the law-abiding citizen" you are. Guess you never go to the bank, with that security guard, and cameras not treating you like "the law-abiding citizen" you are. Do you ever leave the house?
I'm sure Valve was happy that there was not an illegal release of their game a few weeks or even a few days before the actual release date. (This is with exception to the beta leak, which was unfinished) It is my opinion that Valve has become stupified by other companies as well as greedy (although the greed may have stemmed from VU).
Within hours of the HL2 unlocking there was a warez version available. This version was warez version was then "nuked" as it was found to not work. A fix was later posted that fixed the nuked version of the warez. There was also a way to circumvent the steam login, but Valve finally caught onto that one and now probably logs all people trying to do that. (if that is possible; if you don't know what I'm talking about use google)
What bothers me the most about HL2 is the fact that you have to log into steam every single time you want to play a single player game. If I pay 50+ (US) I better be able to play it without having to do anything special other than putting a serial key in. So what if the game gets pirated. I haven't seen a game in recent years that hasn't been pirated, yet the more popular games still make millions and line the pockets of the game makers/publishers. I am not ncessarily promoting pirating games, but what I am saying is that a game maker shouldn't build their game completely around such protection. It ends up ruining the ease of use with the consumer. This also takes away the some of the ownership of the game. Also, what happens if the steam servers go down for some reason, be it maintaince or something else? Personally I don't like this system of having to logon to the internet for a single player game. As that is what Half-Life 2 is a single player game, yes it has multiplayer capabilities, but at the core it is a single player game. Those are just some of my views of the whole deal.
"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty."
2 minutes to find a no steam crack.
2 minutes to download the crack.
2 minutes to install.
Total time saved from not using steam. 3 hrs. 52 minutes.
You feel better whether you bought it or not.
-Tolerate my intolerance
Perhaps you have heard of former head of Vivendi, Mr. Messier, you see most of Vivendi's money is in the water business, and he went on an acquition spree, but now he is gone, so they could easily get out of the games business. Also perhaps you have heard of Interplay or maybe read about Fallout 3 being sold to Bethesda? Thus this stuff does happen. Or Valve could decide that Half-life 2.5 is the new greatness and no one shall play Half-life 2 online multiplayer any more.
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
What's wrong with this picture?
Nothing at all. You were trying to install the software on a system that didn't meet the requirements printed on the outside of the box, and it didn't work. Big Surprise.
Did you read the system requirements on the outside of the box before you purchased it? 'Cause on mine, it specifically says that an internet connection is required. You can argue that the connection requirement shouldn't be there, but you can't argue that their software didn't work as advertised. Not playing it on principle b/c it says it requires a connection and you don't have one makes about as much sense as not playing it on the principle b/c it requires a better graphics card than you've got.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
The foremost question on my mind is, "Who the fuck would want to copy a ford?!"
The image is a dream, the beauty is real. Can you see the difference?
The 9th District Appeals Court (They are based in WA, which is in the 9th district) decided way back in 2001 that software sales are that, SALES, and not LICENSES. (See this court decision.)
This is an issue that is discussed very often inside the industry, and I was shocked when I heard Valve was going to do it. Required unlocking With a major title, it isn't quite as big of a concern since they'll probably have their servers up for 5 or 8 years.
When smaller companies start doing it (which more will decide to do), and they either fail or have their domain name expire or get hijacked, you can bet there'll be lawsuits following. Especially if the game is considered a sale, since the registration would effectivly block access to an object that the individual owns.
I think the parts of the court decision most applicable is:
Of course, I'm not a laywer so maybe that means something else; It sure seems obviously bad or maybe illegal to me, and the other game developers I have talked to since Valve announced their decision a while back. IANAL,YMMV,ETC.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
And i'm sure valve know about this since the very creator of bittorrent is a valve employee
Is that the people who paid less money to get the game via Steam don't have to have the cd/DVD in their drive. I paid $80 for the Collector's edition (I wanted the DVD), so I get the privilage of being required to have the fucking DVD in my drive to play the game.
Anybody found a no DVD crack for it yet?
Speaking of that I think I'll call Valve right now and about this....
Damn, no phone support; they tell you to go to steampowered.com and there's no phone # there.
I did a domain WHOIS but unfortunately their domain registrations are handled through some sort of third party domain proxy so you can't use the WHOIS information to actually contact the company who really owns the domain. How lame.
Question everything
Now, I don't know what the big deal is but I personally applaud Valve for going this route. They have created an efficient, effective and protected method for digital content delivery. I think Valve is one of the few game studios out there that deserve my money and it really annoys me to to see complaint after complaint about a company taking steps to ensure its success.
Steam has worked flawlessly for me since installing it in april when I got the HL2 coupon with my videocard. In fact I feel that valve is so deserving of my money that I purchased the collectors edition even though I had the game for free. They put alot of work into producing what I feel is one of the best games ever produced if not THE best. If they want to track the pirates, so be it. If they want to mangle the stolen copies so that all the weapons turn into fuzzy bunnies, who cares. Honestly, anyone who has ever downloaded warez(you know who you are) knows that its illegal...PERIOD. Any judge that would allow a lawsuit from a scorned pirate should be disbarred. *whine* I stole the game and they broke it. Whatever....cry me a river.
As for the whining about a slow connection, thats what the retail outlets are for. I may not be able to play a multiplayer game via a 33.6, but I can sure as heck log onto steam long enough to validate my copy.
Complaining about Steam is like complaining about HD content providers that aren't providing an SD equivalent. Steam isn't for everyone. This is the future and as broadband becomes more ubiquitous in the world, Steam and steamlike distribution channels will be more common.
The foremost question on my mind is, "Who the fuck would want to copy a ford?!"
If everybody thought like that, the solution to stopping piracy would be to create terrible products.