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Is the Half-Life 2 EULA Illegal?
Ant writes "Many people are having problems connecting to the Steam servers to play Half-Life 2, and now the legal agreements that surround a purchase of Half-Life 2 have been examined. The German Consumer Association has found that the packaging on Half-Life 2 is misleading. In a report made following complaints from the public, they said that the mere listing of an internet connection under the 'other' category in system requirements did not accurately describe the true extent of the internet tie-in with the game, and ordered Vivendi to amend the packaging and untie Steam from HL2 or face a hefty fine."
The "mere listing" of an internet connection as a requirement IS misleading, and not just for the reasons they mention in the article. I made the mistake of trying this with my aluminum-line, out-in-the-boondocks 26.4k connection. I returned the (opened) software to the store and told them the system requirements were misleading. Internet Connection!=broadband
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Usually, something like that implies that the internet might be needed to activate the game or to play online. However, in the case of HL2, you have to continuously remain connected even when playing the single-player game. Therefore, the packaging is misleading.
What it doesn't say is that you will have to sign a second EULA (the Steam one) as well as having an internet connection.
I'm tired of people saying you can't play Steam games offline. You don't need the internet to play Steam games, you just need the internet to authorize the games and unlock them. I unlocked and updated HL2 on a 56k modem. When I am not connected to my ISP through my 56k modem, and I run Steam, it asks me if I want to run Steam in offline mode. When I confirm that I do, it allows me to play all the Steam games offline including the single player Half-Life 2.
Right click on the game in Steam and choose 'do not keep this game up to date' in the drop down box on the window that appears. Simple really. This will allow you to play the game in single player mode with no issues at all.
1. No, it doesnt, if you dont start Steam while the system is connected to the internet. When you put Steam into offline play, it writes a token to disk with a 'check by' date. Steam checks this when its online, but removes the token before it discovers if the auth servers are up or not. The token does not expire on its own - I have a system that has had HL2 on it since it was released, and hasnt been connected to the net since the week after it was released, and it is still allowing me to play single player.
2. Correct, Steam removes the offline play token before it manages to get a response from the Auth servers. This is most definately a bug.
3. *shrug* There are currently bugs in Steam, it should allow an authed install of HL2 to run if it cant contact the steam servers - expect Valve to rectify this pretty soon. Its a tradeoff - I dont have to mess around with CD/DVDs that have the potential to get scratched, i can visit a friend and have games download to play on his PC without carrying said media around. There are many positives to Steam as there are negatives - I for one am currently pleased.
A note: When you first auth your HL2 install through Steam, you are assigned a 'content server' which also acts as Steams authentication server. Any interactions you have with Steam will be through this server or its deputies, so its possible for your particular server to be down while others are fine.