"Is it true that the requirement for doing this is to keep the machine "offline" during the game session?"
You can have a connection to Steam itself, but not more than one internet game. It only works for single-player.
"As long as people with my account don't go online at the same time, they can all play single player? If anything, that seems to be going too far in the other direction."
The catch is that to play on an account you need full access to it, including the ability to change e-mail and password or have the account disabled or VAC banned (for cheating). It only takes one person to screw it up, which even you must admit is a brilliant way of sensibly limiting access (and avoiding the situation you describr) without bothering anybody. This also extends to offline mode, not least because you can't simply transfer an offline installation to another computer. The offline details would be invalidated.
I don't know what would happen in cases of abuse because I've never seen anyone talking about it happening. You technically aren't allowed to have more than copy running at a time (and technically must never give out your account details as you've stated) but Valve turn a blind eye to this unless there is definite fraud going on, for both practical and moral reasons. If the worse did happen, you'd probably be able to get Support to give your account back with sufficient proof of your innocence.
I can guarantee you that if Stardock were selling anything like Counter-Strike online with no DRM, they'd be out of buisiness like a shot.;-) They only survive because of their smaller and more mature userbase.
Hope it all makes a bit more sense now. Steam might be DRM, but it's DRM used as a means to an end, and not an end in itself.
It is possible, didn't you read any of the other replies? It's not even the equivalent of one CD per player, it's one account per everybody you trust enough to give it to.
"But you're right, you can't be playing two Steam games at the same time. I think Steam is based around the idea that one person has his account, and it's his only."
That doesn't apply to singleplayer. Think about it: all you would have to do to circumvent anything like that would be start in offline mode.:-)
The only restriction is that you can't play on more than one online server at a time with the same account. That's it. You don't even need the CD any more, the CD check was removed a few weeks after HL2 launched.
To be explicit: you can run as many singleplayer or LAN games as you like from one account at the same time, exactly as you describe.
Steam runs under Cedega, and the existing Linux client looks like it might be extended from account handling to the full thing as a part of Steam 3.0.
You could also download through Steam then apply the latest Linux patch...perhaps.;-)
"With Half Life 2, if I put the CD into my machine, it is "bound" to that machine. If my son then tries to put it into his machine and activate it, it will terminate my original account's access to the game and *not* grant the other machine access either. Valve has been bragging up how they have disabled 30,000 steam accounts. That's 30,000 *valid* purchases that were disabled because of potentially the situation described. Wow, sign me up for a reaming up the... well you get the point."
I think you might have just about got the message about how stupid your 'locking to a PC' idea is. You are so hopelessely wrong it's a miracle you even tried! I haven't seen anyone explain how not one disabled account was legitimate yet, though. The exploit they were closed for consisted of one, specific CD Key that was only used by those trying to get a copy for free, and the unplugging your net connection at the correct moment. It's a simple case of data matching.
All I can hope for is that the wave of public stupidity over Steam washes away. It's certainly diminished in recent months but as we can see...it isn't gone yet.
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The catch is that to play on an account you need full access to it, including the ability to change e-mail and password or have the account disabled or VAC banned (for cheating). It only takes one person to screw it up, which even you must admit is a brilliant way of sensibly limiting access (and avoiding the situation you describr) without bothering anybody. This also extends to offline mode, not least because you can't simply transfer an offline installation to another computer. The offline details would be invalidated.
I don't know what would happen in cases of abuse because I've never seen anyone talking about it happening. You technically aren't allowed to have more than copy running at a time (and technically must never give out your account details as you've stated) but Valve turn a blind eye to this unless there is definite fraud going on, for both practical and moral reasons. If the worse did happen, you'd probably be able to get Support to give your account back with sufficient proof of your innocence.
I can guarantee you that if Stardock were selling anything like Counter-Strike online with no DRM, they'd be out of buisiness like a shot. ;-) They only survive because of their smaller and more mature userbase.
Hope it all makes a bit more sense now. Steam might be DRM, but it's DRM used as a means to an end, and not an end in itself.
It is possible, didn't you read any of the other replies? It's not even the equivalent of one CD per player, it's one account per everybody you trust enough to give it to.
The only restriction is that you can't play on more than one online server at a time with the same account. That's it. You don't even need the CD any more, the CD check was removed a few weeks after HL2 launched.
To be explicit: you can run as many singleplayer or LAN games as you like from one account at the same time, exactly as you describe.
Steam runs under Cedega, and the existing Linux client looks like it might be extended from account handling to the full thing as a part of Steam 3.0. You could also download through Steam then apply the latest Linux patch...perhaps. ;-)
I think you might have just about got the message about how stupid your 'locking to a PC' idea is. You are so hopelessely wrong it's a miracle you even tried! I haven't seen anyone explain how not one disabled account was legitimate yet, though. The exploit they were closed for consisted of one, specific CD Key that was only used by those trying to get a copy for free, and the unplugging your net connection at the correct moment. It's a simple case of data matching.
All I can hope for is that the wave of public stupidity over Steam washes away. It's certainly diminished in recent months but as we can see...it isn't gone yet.