Slashdot Mirror
Valve Cracks Down on 20,000 Users
An anonymous reader writes "Valve have disabled 20,000 steam user accounts belonging to users who have been caught using a pirated version of the game, or have attempted to use a cdkey to bypass the securom protection found on the retail version of the game. The Steam Forums have been swamped with people now claiming they are unable to play, many claiming they have had their accounts disabled for no reason. A Valve spokesman says, 'The number of people who actually had bought HL2 and used the CD key cheat was VERY small. VERY small. Most people just tried to rip off the game and not bother buying it.'" People are discovering that when you buy any product that is subject to "activation", you haven't really bought anything.
Coz the version i got is repacked and works sans steam. No auth, no connection needed. I can still play even if valve decides they dont want me to, or they go under in a few years. Im buying the retail this weekend, but dont think ill give up the copy i got from a certain famous bittorrent site
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
Valve realizes that the immense popularity of their games would not exist if it weren't from the free advertizing it gets from kids around the world who pirate their stuff. Loses over half of player base, causing the game to suffer in the long run.
Meh.
...because on 17'th of january (next day after hl2 release) there were couple of home made releases of HL2 that didn't even need inet connection to play hl2, working 100% 0.k. It had couple of problems with AI which where solved adding ai_disable 0 in autoexec.conf.
Anyway if I buy this game ill still play pritaed copy because i don't like the idea of playing SP game that requires internet connection and CD inside my drive that makes more noise than diesel cars. I have doom3 special edition and i play "RELOAdED" group warez release because it came out before i could buy the game in stores. Buying some game is like a "thank you,i like your product" to the software group. Warez makes lots of sence.. imagine you buy the game and you don't like it, but you have already paid 50 EUROs or so. Yes i know there are demos but wait.. doom3's demo was released like 1 month after retail game and hl2 doesn't have a demo too..
Well anyways all this banning and steam stuff doesn't work agaist piracy.. now all this guys that got banned will download cracked versions and will keep playing as they did before and will "hate" valve / steam even more. There is no way to fight piracy, it will always exist.
Fucking a fat girl is like riding a scooter... it's fun 'til someone sees you.
Yes, it's called alt.binaries.cd.image.games.
Enjoy.
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Can you have Valve wipe your butt while you're at it? Can you please try to bitch a little more, I don't think you whined quite enough there.
If you bought the game and agreed to the EULA (it's really not that difficult to understand if you actually READ it, it is in English and not as 'lawyereez' as people think) then you should know that you can't just give it to your friend and say "Hey this is a great game, here!" and use YOUR ACCOUNT to install it. With the system Valve has here, you WILL get busted. Reminds me of what MS tried to do with XP, but failed miserably at and didn't do anything about the pirated versions they KNOW about.
Hats off to Valve for getting it right
Try not to be surprised when you break the rules you DO get in trouble, that's life and that's how society works. Deal with it or become a hermit like all the other 'rebels' from the '60s
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
What the hell do you expect them to do then Michael? Is Valve just supposed to put up with tens of thousands of people playing their game without paying for it?
For me, the solution is simple. They are offering an ephemeral product, not a tangible one. Charge less. Around $10, I'd buy it, and not give a crap about any de-activation technology Valve wants to use. For ten bucks, it's no big deal. But for fifty bucks, I expect to be able to play the damn thing whenever and wherever I want, whether Valve still operates Steam or not, and whether I have a network connection, or not.
Edith Keeler Must Die
They could find a lot of better ways. Pirated versions exist (or will exist) that bypass Steam entirely. These tactics delay widespread piracy by a few days; they don't prevent it. One way to stop people from stealing your product is to stop screwing your customers.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
They shut down the WON servers about 2 months after they got steam working properly. Get a steam installer and use your cd key from your original HL disk to play. Valve doesnt owe you for your own stupidity and ignorance.
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
Ethics? No Excuse? Who cares?
I dont want to pay, so i will copy it if i want too..
Actually, i dont do games, so i dont care about this particular software, but the attitude holds. I used to care, but with the way the giants ( software, entertainment media, etc ) are treating us 'consumers', I no longer give a damn. Pirate it all. To hell with them.
---- Booth was a patriot ----