It’s the portal credits song?
well this thread got confused fast.
The advice now is if you have to buy a game on steam you should be creating a separate account for it so that you can give it away when you are done with it. Or possibly sell the account.
Also Steam is stupid because you have to be online to enable offline mode. So you really don’t get to use offline mode much. What if I’m without internet all the sudden and I want to play a game on Steam? Tough luck.
I guess I should be psychic so I can prepare myself.
But online connectivity is the only way to ensure their DRM is working.
Cos that is what it is at the end of the day, a online shopping portal + DRM solution with some added benefits (Steamworks, community mostly). And at the time it is the best solution for this.
It’s in dire need of some competition. Drive down prices and make it easier to play offline.
Make new platform, call it ICE, make it possible for two accounts that share the same machine to play the same game that is also installed on said machine. Paying for the same product twice? Fuck off. That’s like MicroShat saying you have to buy a copy of Windows for each user. Or buy x copies of (insert random X360 title here) for every profile. What the fuck Valve?[/rant][flameshield]
Also, will check out that singing…
No you don’t. If you have been online enough to download a game completely, then you can play it in offline mode just fine. As steam starts, and tries to connect, if it can’t it gives you the option of going into offline mode, at which point everything you have complete is available for offline play.
Which never works for me. Clicking “Work in Offline Mode” just exits the damn thing.
yep
Yup. If you plan on not playing the game five years from now (or whenever) then you probably will want to create a new steam account for each game. OR you can simply realize that no one is going to want to buy it five years from now anyway OR you can simply realize that it is not worth the bother of having to maintain 15 different usernames and passwords for 15 different accounts. OH , and dont forget that steam keeps track of all accounts that use the same email address. ayup, it is an interesting set up they have, but 95% of the folks REALLY dont care that they cant sell their games. No really. We dont care.
I am not saying you shouldnt care. Honestly, you have the right to your feelings about it and all. It is just that most others really dont care.
Nope. Prepare ahead of time is all you need. (did this myself and it is fine)
- Start Steam online - make sure the Remember my password box on the login window is checked
- Verify that all game files are completely updated - you can see the update status for a game under the My Games tab (when the game shows as 100% - Ready it is ready to be played in Offline Mode)
- Launch the game you would like to play offline to verify that there are no further updates to download - shut down the game and return to Steam once you have confirmed that the game can be played
- Go to Settings to ensure the Do not store account information on this computer option is not selected
Now if you happen to loose connectivity, your machine is set up for it.
Um, duh. It was always the delivery and policing package for the games. If you dont like even the basic reason for steam, why did you agree to the terms and install / purchase games on it?
Aw,. you need to get that checked out dear. That doesn’t sound good.
It is the case that to get to offline mode Steam actually has to finish loading, exit and restart itself. If you don’t wait long enough that can be confusing…
But also everything Catz said is good to know also.
I bought my current steam account from some dude 4 years ago, it had all the GoldSrc games except CZ
I then bought the CS Source pack which didn’t come with hl2 so I had to wait until someone gifted it to me along with ep1.
When I started participating in random GN contests I won the orange box and was quite happy to be able to play EP2 legally (and without missing models).
And also one day Jambo gave me gmod for christmas last year I think.
That’s pretty much my full list of steam games.
I never lost my account even though I changed my password and steam email at least 10 times and shared it with about 5 different people, 2 of them tried to steal my account including the original owner who sold it to me.
I opened my email one day and the inbox was filled with “confirm steam password change” messages, it was pretty funny.
Catz - do you have the lyrics to BM is still alive anywhere?
Most of the games I have on the account I’m not playing that often. Like Day of defeat: Source and all the old GoldSrc games.
Sure it’s not a big deal to have them there and I doubt I would get much from selling them (they are even dirt cheap to buy from Steam now).
It’s just that it would be nice to give them to someone who would play them more. Sure I could just buy them fresh and gift them. But that would still cost money for me.
It has been discussed for a long time that Steam kills the second hand market (which includes giving away stuff) and that this is a serious issue.
Steam has had the same policy with regards to this from the beginning.
I’m still using Steam because I want its services. So don’t come with that License agreement crap. Still many games can be purchased and run without Steam so in case I get a good deal on a game outside Steam I would buy it there instead.
Also I find that Steam has refused to go into offline mode several times when I have tried. I’m not alone in having this issue. And yes the games are updated.
Steam still has lots of issues. Don’t be fooled.
Not being able to sell your games ins’t a disadvantage to me, because I always keep my games forever. Hell I was just playing mario world two weeks ago.
My issue with not being able to resell has more to do with game packs like orange box. I had gotten Portal as a standalone game before getting orange box, and I have a bunch of friends who would have loved Portal as a gift, but Orange box only lets you gift HL2, Ep1, and only lets you gift Ep2 if you get it as part of the episode pack.
If Steam let you gift ANY game you already have when you get it through a package deal, then steam would pretty much be perfect.
Welp, not a lot of this is really “news” about steam tho. It has been standard knowledge since the beginning.
As for me and my house, we will keep steam.
The reason it is called a License agreement is because you never own the software, you are instead licensed to used it, and then only under the terms in the agreement. The 2nd hand market* has never been legal.
…Not saying that’s a good thing, just that this is how it’s always been so don’t go complaining about Steam following the law.
- I should point out I mean PC/Mac software, not console stuff.
ehh so you say the license agreement denies you the right of selling on the game?
To be honest, if you read the license agreement on most forms of media, it explicitly states that reselling is against the terms of agreement. This is true for games, DVDs, music etc.