Steam Is Down (steamstat.us)

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Posted by msmash on Friday December 23, 2016 @05:05AM from the outage-report dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The entire Steam domain seems to be down for everyone. The websites and Steam clients won't connect. No word from Steam on Twitter or Reddit about the outage. The status page of Steam as well as third-party monitoring sites have confirmed the outage. A tweet from an unofficial Steam Status page says, "100% of #Steam connection manager servers are still down."

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Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by The-Ixian · 2016-12-23 05:08 · Score: 5, Informative

The gaming holiday DDoS's are becoming a xmas tradition.
I like the justification of "you need to be spending time with family"... as if pulling a gaming service offline is going to make anti-social gamers decide to go to their number 2 option of hanging out with family...

--
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
1. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 05:13 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ... decide to go to their number 2 option of hanging out with family...
  My number 2 option is masturbation. Hanging out with family is number 7 tops.
2. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Oswald+McWeany · 2016-12-23 05:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What about masturbating with the family?
  I think "masturbate with the family simulator" is already a game on steam.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
3. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Oswald+McWeany · 2016-12-23 05:34 · Score: 2
  
  Too many people trying to download "Masturbate with the family" simulator at once.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
4. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by SumDog · 2016-12-23 05:56 · Score: 2
  
  Well you can still play it if you bought it previously. You just can't sync your save data.
5. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 05:58 · Score: 2
  
  This is why reliance upon external servers and requiring an internet connection just to run software is stupid. I'm happily playing games that I bought from gog.com because I actually own them.
6. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by tepples · 2016-12-23 06:00 · Score: 2
  
  Or if your copy of the Steam client has lost the receipts that enable offline play of games that use Steam digital restrictions management. Early on, the only way to save receipts was to choose "Go Offline" while both your Internet connection and the Steam servers were running. Later, receipt caching was drastically improved, but I still occasionally read anecdotal reports that the client might lose receipts if it crashes.
7. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by sexconker · 2016-12-23 06:14 · Score: 2
  
  Steam sales haven't big a big thing for the past 2 years now, or whenever they stopped doing the flash sales / daily deals / etc.
  Those deals are what drove traffic - everyone would sit on the page refreshing when the next deal was about to pop up. Steam stopped doing them because people simply waited for the shit they wanted to be offered in one of these deals, then bought other shit at the very end of the sale. This meant higher sales but lower revenues. People felt pressured to buy the daily deal because it was a time-limited offer at a deeper discount. So that title got more sales but ultimately, lower revenue. Further, with people being conditioned to wait for daily deals, they ignored the rest of the sale during the week because they were hoping for things to be priced lower during a daily deal. The regular sale items got ignored as a side effect.
8. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by mukinrestak · 2016-12-23 06:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Man, I get tired of this "neo-nazi" boogeyman. Every time you flap your yap to smear folks as being Nazis, you are doing an incredible disservice to each and every victim of the actual Nazis. Show some damn respect, for yourself, if not for anyone else.
9. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by JackieBrown · 2016-12-23 07:06 · Score: 2
  
  The point is to keep linking the word nazi with alt-right to legitimize that word. Then to expand alt-right to mean everyone not on the left
10. Re: Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 08:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Or are you doing the exact same thing Steam users can do?
  
  Apparently they cannot.
  Sorry, but the ability for someone to rescind your right to play a purchased game indefinitely into the future is NOT the same as being temporarily unable to buy a game to begin with.
  Once I buy the game from GOG, no server problem, remote de-activation, going-out-of-business, or other issue can prevent me from playing the game I bought. The same cannot be said of online DRM-ed games.
11. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Sarten-X · 2016-12-23 09:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I'm going to have to disagree.
  The groups that get the neo-Nazi label are the ones promoting Nazi propaganda, ideals, and methods. There are groups actively using the swastika symbol as an identity and using Hitler's writings as a doctrine. They advocate the same racial cleansing the old Nazis did, and the same totalitarian fascism. They get the name neo-Nazis, because they only differ by being more recent.
  No, the label is not disrespectful to victims of the Nazis. Rather, what is disrespectful is to immortalize the Nazis by granting them some kind of unique status as the gods of oppression and death. By insisting that nobody today could compare to the Nazis, we further distinguish the Nazis as being something special, more powerful than mere mortal humans. In effect, declaring the Nazis as an untouchable evil would grant them status as a superior race, exactly as they wanted.
  That would be disrespectful. That would undermine the victory of World War II. That would be an incredible disservice to each and every victim of the actual Nazis.
  I'm not going to do that.
  I'm going to continue to declare that any group that tries to act like the Nazis are neo-Nazis. I'm going to continue to treat them as humans; no more and no less. I'm going to continue to do what I can to ensure that the horrors of the Nazis are always presented as a mundane evil that got out of control, and I'm going to continue to teach that every person, everywhere, has that same capacity for evil, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or economic status. They also have the same capacity for good, and it is the active choice to work toward that good that makes someone worthy of a unique place in history.
  
  --
  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
12. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Oligonicella · 2016-12-23 10:05 · Score: 3
  
  And you sir should learn that "elements of" is a bullshit argument as those elements could be shared by large swaths of humanity, good AND bad. Not every element of Nazism was evil, just the overall package. So yes, slapping Nazi after neo is a blatant attempt to link whomever with those who killed people.
  It's very similar to claiming that Trump supports the KKK because they support him even when he's publicly stated he doesn't.
13. Re:Ah, I was wondering when it would begin by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 11:25 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Enough with the DNC lie-list already. Provide proof of your libellous claims, or shut the fuck up.
  There's no alliance with any white supremacist groups, nor elevation to prominent positions thereof. The bullshit you hear about Bannon on CNN is a prime example of "fake news". Stop believing every lie they feed you.
  The Left has repeatedly demonized white people ("position of privilege" anyone?) and Christianity. They don't get to play holier-than-thou on these topics.
  What violent thugs running around attacking opponents? There have been many documented acts of the Left doing just that, and many CLAIMS by the Left of the Right doing this which turn out to be false flag hoaxes. Go look up the multiple cases of muslim girls who lied about being attacked by "islamophobic white males", the black guy who burned down his own church leaving a message on the side trying to pin it on Trump supporters, numerous bogus claims of "hate crimes" that have zero evidence behind them. It goes on and on. The Left has ZERO credibility on this.
  What is this shit about camps? Got an actual quote from Trump or his cabinet about this?
  Slowing down immigration and vetting who we let in after 50 years of massive immigration and resulting problems is not "xenophobia", it's common sense after half a century of insanity.
  Big Lie? LOL, go look at the Left with CNN, HuffPo, DNC, etc all spouting "the Russians did it!" if you want a prime example of the big lie.
  There were many specifics given on how Trump was going to MAGA. Go look at his first 100 days in office agenda instead of making shit up.
  This is why you think Trump is comparable to Hitler: You've been lied to by the MSM and the establishment, and you've fallen for their lies. You've fallen so hard for them, that you're acting as a worker-bee for them in spreading those lies.
But The Cloud! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 05:09 · Score: 5, Funny

But it's The Cloud! The Cloud is more secure, safer, and more reliable! The Cloud can't go down!
1. Re:But The Cloud! by Aaden42 · 2016-12-23 05:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The cloud has not gone down. We just call it rain now.
2. Re:But The Cloud! by im_thatoneguy · 2016-12-23 13:39 · Score: 2
  
  Everybody who whines about Steam outages clearly never played valve games prior to Steam. What used to happen was every time a new Counterstrike patch was dropped, every gaming site on the internet would crash from the load as everyone overloaded every hosting site on the internet. It would be hours sometimes before you could get a download and even then connection drops were common.
  Steam is a 1,000x more reliable and was a direct response to that sort of inconvenience and lack of reliability by third party hosting companies.
  Also, your alternative to online downloads of some variety is to drive to a store. I would say that it's impossibly inconvenient to get to a game store more often than Steam is down. So yes, the cloud is *more* reliable, and it is *safer* than the alternatives. Nobody is saying the cloud is invincible. They're just saying it's better than the alternative.
Trump! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 05:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

Can't wait till Jan 20 when Trump makes Steam great again! Trump will not tolerate such abuses against truly Great American companies like Steam!
Build a great firewall and protect our inner tubes Dear Leader!
Is this relative? by kapoios · 2016-12-23 05:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

https://games.slashdot.org/sto...
Re:Let Me Just by TheSunborn · 2016-12-23 05:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

Hu? All my games on steam still work perfectly in offline mode. Playing factorio on Linux right now in fact :)
Re:Let Me Just by Sarten-X · 2016-12-23 05:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

Steam is different... it's not your perfect ideal, but it's different from the abysmal pit we were headed for before Steam. Steam is a decent compromise between the anti-cheat and anti-piracy efforts of vendors, and the pro-consumer model apparently favored by you and others.
See, what I remember from my history is that those multiplayer games were full of cheaters and hackers, to the point where half of the game was figuring out whether your game was legitimate or not. I remember seeing casual piracy with cloned disks and hundreds of "backups" being passed around my networks. I also remember seeing the start of server-side games that lost functionality when their studio closed and their servers shut down. I remember the predictions that that would be the only effective way to combat piracy, and I remember reverse-engineering efforts claiming to ensure the longevity of games... and I remember their failures, too.
Steam is not perfect, but it is different... It mostly works.

--
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Re:Let Me Just by duke_cheetah2003 · 2016-12-23 05:42 · Score: 4, Informative

You could legally install your game on multiple computers and make backups.
You do know you can do that with Steam, too. Install on as many computers as you want, frankly. And it has game backup built right in. Try using something before criticizing it, eh?
Sucks to be them by GameboyRMH · 2016-12-23 05:45 · Score: 3, Informative

Just enjoying my still-operational DRM-free games from GoG over here...

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1. Re:Sucks to be them by skam240 · 2016-12-23 06:00 · Score: 2
  
  And I'm enjoying all my Steam games that I have installed in Offline Mode which can be used as long as I'd like and playing a ton of games not available on GoG.
  Don't get me wrong, I hate the fact that I HAVE to use their service for most recent games (the first time I bought a physical copy of a game and discovered the disc was just a Steam installer I was pissed) but at least all my installed games are still usable when their servers crash unlike Origin (which I do refuse to use)
  
  --
  I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Lonely in my basement by sinij · 2016-12-23 06:02 · Score: 2

With Steam down, I had a chance to clear old Doritos bags and a pile of Mountain Dew cans, go look for my missing cat, and take a shower. I found dead and dried husk of my cat in the shower. I think I forgot to feed him this months. I also talked to my elderly mom upstairs, who didn't recognize me at first because I also shaved off my neckbeard. She asked me if I run out of Mountain Dew. I told he it was much worse - Steam is down.
Re:Let Me Just by lactose99 · 2016-12-23 06:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

Steam has done more to bring quality games to Linux than anyone besides perhaps Unity3D. I'll take the occasional outage (neverrmind that offline mode works wonderfully in these scenarios) if they continue to bring good games to my platform of choice.

--
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
Wrong by sexconker · 2016-12-23 06:09 · Score: 2

The status page of Steam
The Steam status pages are down. https://steamstat.us/ is not "the status page of Steam". That site is not affiliated with Valve at all.
Click on the fucking link and read the line in the big Zoidberg box at the top.

SteamDB is not affiliated with Valve Software. This is a third party website brought to you by xPaw.
Re:Let Me Just by ledow · 2016-12-23 06:18 · Score: 2

And, sorry, but on my laptop Steam is still running and letting me play ALL my games.
I've suspended and resumed 20+ times tonight and it's still working just fine. I'm in a Steam game now, in fact.
Maybe it wouldn't work if you didn't have Steam loaded and were running for the first time to try to update, but it's working fine for me (yes, the website is down and likely matchmaking).
Re:Let Me Just by sexconker · 2016-12-23 06:18 · Score: 2

Mine don't. Any game relying on Steam's DRM or Steam's multiplayer APIs, even if it's just social/matchmaking and not server hosting, is fucked. If I had known Steam was going to be down today I could have entered offline mode last night, had Steam generate a token for my client, and then have my client use that token so I could play games using Steam's DRM.
As it stands, all I have access to are games that can simply be launched by running the executable. Steam's offline mode really is nothing more than a UI to do that.
Re:Twitter silence by sexconker · 2016-12-23 06:20 · Score: 2

> Steam_Support hasn't tweeted anything since July 14.
Have you ever dealt with Steam Support? 5 months of silence is nothing. You're lucky if you ever get a reply beyond the first 2, which are always auto generated robo replies. I'm surprised they even have a twitter account.
Australia's Fault by JackieBrown · 2016-12-23 07:03 · Score: 2

Thanks Australia!
https://games.slashdot.org/sto...