http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=54632

Apparently the EULA, the practices of Valve (charging customers to transfer a CD KEY), and the bogus labelling of the HL2 boxes are illegal in the UK and in Germany (and likely in the US as well).

I'm only surprised at the length of time it took for this to come out and that no lawsuits have been filed yet.

Never liked Steam, I think it's worth ditching, in the end people can just hack a new cd key anyway, so what's good apart from their new scam profits?

[url]www.steamingpileof****.com[/url]

Replace the **** with ****.

I like the system, but not the cd-key verification. I say ditch the verification and requirement to use it, and simply let it be used as a game browser/updater, a manager of sorts.

I'm getting quite pissed off with the whole steam set up becuase for about 2 and a half months steam has not worked on my home computer. I cannot get steam to load and i tried uninstalling everything remotely related to it, went through everythign in their FAQ and i still haven't gotten headway with it after steam updates for the first time it stops working, and i have still not gotten a single reply from thier tech support. I feel like shooting somethign, but hey, i can't play the game so i geuss i can't!!!


/end rant

They need to put Internet service required clearly (and big) on the cover of the game. It's on the small print of the damn box. Also, the words, to clear up confusion, You suck on the cover.

Luckly for Valve, the excitement of the game seems to distract many of the players from the "foot-in-crotch" consumer service. If it wasn't Half Life 2 and its sensation, would any other regular game be successful with such an annoying system?

I bought it online, avoiding all of the issues you poor souls had. :S

You didn't avoid anything. You can't sell or trade in your game. They have stolen your rights and you didn't even notice.

If they had "internet service required" on the cover, people will still be confused -- they pay for "internet service" every month. They need to have a small paragraph explaining what STEAM is and why it is required.

Most shops around here wouldn't take my games anyway. Game have recently made a policy of "if it's a PC game, we ain't taking it" or something.

I bought the game retail, but I only knew that it was online because everyone was b****ing about it requiring a connection. I guess they did need better advertising.

Steam is stupid. I don't even want to begin explaining myself. It's like that whole Xbox Live bull****.

I think steam is a new and interesting gaming technology with much unrealized potential. I know there are many problems, but personally I am more than happy to put up with them if it means that publishers like EA and Vivendi have less influence on game developers and content. Do I think it's perfect? Of course not. Do I think it's spyware or malware? Certainly not. On a slightly different note: Brian, on other boards I read your posts about steam and valve would be considered trolling. Our opinions about it seem to be different, but I certainly concede that your problems with steam are things that valve should work on. However, I don't think it's necessisary for every post you make on the subject to nearly drip with hate. I know I'm asking for it, but I just needed to point that out.

I deleted HL2 a week after I got it because of Steam. There's just something about being forced into such a system that really pisses me off. I don't care how good the game is, or how awesomely bodacious the technology is, it makes me want to murder my neighbors, and while that may help me get more sleep, I'd prefer to stay out of prison.

Steam sucks, badly. What's the point in having it if it just makes people avoid the game, it doesn't protect anything then.

yeah, steam doesnt stop people stealing the game, i walked right into the store and slipped a copy in my pocket without security OR steam noticing.

I got Half-Life 2 for "free" and haven't had any problems with Steam thus far. But, I can understand why some people are pissed off and blaming Valve for all the problems they have had with the system. The only problem I've really had has been with the games themselves and my system's inability to play them without graphical/processing lag.

Hehe.

I suppose you thought that was clever.

And everyone else did? Nobody else can sell their copy of HL2 because the CDkey will be registered.

It's like that with a lot of games now. A lot of games require a unique CD for multiplayer.

I was hoping for something clever, like a parody or a huge list of reasons why it's so bad, but I guess that's funny enough.

I thought it was pretty funny.

I like Steam and I like the ideas it brings forward. Not only does it manage all my game crap for me but, more importantly, it allows for much more independant development processes (devs still need funding). Online content delivery is the wave of the future, you might as well get used to it.

No one's saying it's not. This is most definitely not the way to be going about it, however. At least not if you want everyone's business.

Oh no, steam isn't like all the other ways I get my games. Waah.

Seriously, it's never done a single bad thing for me. And I know countless others who haven't had to deal with any of this. Sometimes I wonder if all of you did it correctly. Then again, I wonder why you all purchased in the store when you can get it online, preloaded, and play it 20 minutes after it comes out, versus the time it takes you to drive, buy, return, install, and then update the physical game.

Steam IS the future, and it's NOT infringing on anything that any other game is. Get used to it.

JediKirby

doo waaaa dooby dooby doo wa da da da da DA!

well, i don't have HL2 but i do have Steam for HL1 and all the mods... i must say it's got potential but i still prefer buying the CDs, the box etc etc

and i really hate that if i wanted to trade/sell/give away my copy of HL the person receiving would have to inherit my steam account to play. that just sucks.

and steam won't stop me from buying HL2 when i build my new computer next week

I think you are misunderstanding my point. I don't have a problem with online game delivery systems in general. I have a problem with Valve trying to charge people $10 to transfer their CD key to another account. I have a problem with them requiring an active internet connection to play even in OFFLINE mode. Apparently you have to go in and disable your network connection in order to get OFFLINE MODE to work properly. If it detects an internet connection, it will automatically lock you out of your game until it can establish a connection to the STEAMING servers. So when the STEAMING servers go down, you have no ability to play your game.

The point here is this: They are claiming that it's a content delivery system and they are claiming that they are taking it this far to reduce piracy. It hasn't reduced piracy and they have gone way too far with all their restrictions and charges. They've gone so far that it's ILLEGAL. Imagine if Ford sold you a car, but if you tried to sell that car, you had to go through Ford and it cost 20% of the price of the car (as $10 is $20% of $50 which is the average price of a computer game). So if you bought your car for $15,000 from Ford, you would have to pay $3000 to Ford to transfer it to another person.

This is completely illegal and completely bogus. Valve could have come out with a Steam that didn't suck. Instead they decided to put out this STEAMING pile.

You say it's not malware and it's not spyware - there is proof, if you care to look.

First, they examine and record everyone's hardware setup without getting explicit permission. This is spyware.

Then, the game doesn't work properly in offline mode when an internet connection is "detected" with their crappy sofrware (an internet connection is deemed in existence when it detects a network card in the machine, regardless of whether that network is actually connected to the internet), the ability to play the game in offline mode is removed. This is malware.

I can vouch for that. I hate the way that works. I don't like leaving Steam running in the background when I'm not using it. I feel it's pointless. Hell, the ONLY reason I'm using it is for the HL2 DEMO. And what's further exceedingly annoying, is that once I get to a point where it'll actually let me ACCESS the game, I have to let it spend 10 to 15, maybe even 20 minutes, downloading a mandatory patch. A patch for a DEMO. A patch I couldn't give a crap about since it already runs exceedingly well and without issue on my machine. It should ask first. Those are NOT fun downloads via a modem. I launched Steam to play my game right then. Not to wait 15 minutes for it to install a freaking update I never asked for, or agreed to have it install.

The problem for me lies in small annoyances that eventually add up to one big annoyance.

There is an option to turn off the automatic updating. Of course, whether it lets you play the games without patching them with the newest update is another matter... I could understand them doing that for the multiplayer games, but if they force you to connect and download the patches just for the demo or HL2 singleplayer, then I have to agree that it's a stupid setup.

See it's these stories that make me want to NOT purchase HL2. Despite the neat things done with the game, I'm really hesitant about this Steam. I've heard horror (Brian, et al.) stories and I've heard good (tofu, et al.) stories. I don't know who's side to believe more.

My resolution to this paradox. Knights of the Old Republic II! That'll hold me over VERY well.

Obsidian > Valve.

I just have no intention of buying any Music/Films/Games unless it results in me owning a properly produced hard copy along with any relevant booklet/manual.

I've done that. Steam doesn't seem to give a crap. Nice system, eh?



Completely agreed.

Waaaaaaah waaaaaaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaaah!

My goodness. And Brian, my god, it's not illegal. There is nothing illegal about it. You know what you're getting into before you purchase their services, and if you didn't, you should ahve done more research. If you can't agree to their terms, don't buy their product. There is nothing illegal about it.

That said, I think Steam is excellent! The many patches and new maps for CS, new content for HL2, etc. has been extremely excellent. Also for the reasons Plicat stated. EA can burn in hell. Steam is just an excellent piece of software. It lists all your mods right there along with the other games in a nice interface. It patches the games seamlessly. Allows you to purchase games. I honestly don't know why people ***** so much about Steam. They must be too stupid to get it to work properly.

Insults are definately not needed in this situation. I will never claim to be an expert when it comes down to network settings, but when Steam completely stopped working for me, I went through every solution that Valve had listed in thier tech support FAQ and also Went through the process of submitting an online tech support request, and have gotten nothign back from them. This game worked for me, and hell Steam worked for me at first, but then continued patching that seemed to be happening on a nearly daily basis for a week cuased Steam to suddenly stop working and all that Valve can do is ignore my requests for help.

I take offense at you implying stupidity on my part good sir, and I request that you take that statement back.

Freelancer, did you read the article? The EULA is clearly illegal in Germany, and I bet it's illegal here in the US as well. It's not legal for a company to limit your ability to sell a product you bought - even if it's software.

I have no issues with steam. But I do have some with my school's network which always seems to get too slow to even play starcraft. I haven't been able to play CS:S in a while.

What if your hardcopies and booklets fall prey to the same fire that destroyed the STEAM serverfarm?

I would hardly consider Steam a product, it's a service. You can't sell the service your plumber gave you when he fixed your garbage disposal, can you? Or are you going to ridiculously claim that that's illegal too?

By the way, regarless of what the article says, you don't own most commercial software you buy at all. The company does. So charging to exchange CD keys is hardly illegal.

However, I do own the hardcopy that I have in my dirty little hands. I paid money for it, therefore its mine.



I should be able to resell it if I want to w/o paying extra. The way things are set up now, Valve has a nice little extortion system in place, and only the legit users get screwed. Warezers have releases that they can install on any number of machines over and over again without any hassle.

That's a flat out lie. Steam asks you like 7 times before it does the hardware survey.

Also, why would you ever have to transfer your CD key? The point of the system is that it eliminates the need for a CDkey. If you want to sell your game, sell your account password.