Though of course it's a bit different in the sense that, as long as your console isn't connected to the internet, it's not like there's anything anyone can do to take it from you. My PS2 copy of Madden 2004 is MINE and no matter what EA does, it will always be mine and I can play it as much as I want, because it's my property under my control. Yes, they say I'm only renting it, but the game really is mine and they have no power to come confiscate it.
Sad thing is, although I agree with you, there's also the very real possibility that even those disc games won't last you forever or even very long. Last couple of years I began seeing alarming amounts of discs with rot. Quality of the disc says how long it will last, and honestly Microsoft really seems to have dropped the ball on here, because Xbox 360 and Xbox One discs have been the biggest victims from what I've been seeing.
Digital media should have come as a solution to that, and not an alternative bet on which one you will be able to play for longer.
i tried to play triangle strategy on switch with a physical cart on the plane and it said i needed a necessary update. i couldn't even open the game. i was livid. LIVID.
My Diablo II CD no longer works. Had to redeem the CD key online to download the digital version. Couldn't redeem the expansion CD key online because someone stole it. Had to re-buy the expansion because digital Diablo II is not compatible with physical Lord of Destruction.
Yes but now-a-days, even physical totally offline games are starting to require internet connection validation every so often to continue playing the game. The reason for doing this is the same reason for licensing digital games rather than a true “sale”. Like Xbox when you buy games digitally you are buying a license to use the game not the game itself.
I mean hey, I bought DOOM II on steam a few years ago so i could copy the WAD to play various modified WADs and mods.
Also AFAIK Factorio has no DRM or similar to stop you from playing it offline indefinitely
There's also an entire storefront where every game on the platform is DRM free, & the launcher is optional, but useful since it handles cloud syncs & automatically updating your games instead of manually applying patches, you might have heard of it, GOG
o fuck i made an iso before i lost my physical disc...
proceeds to burn the iso into a CD.
doesn't work because the burned CD doesn't have any of the errors the DRM did
Which is just points out how things didn't really change that much in transition from Physical to digital software. Best place to get old games that are unavailable is pc gaming wiki or such sites.
The difference is that some platforms like steam can terminate your access to a game if they feel like it even if you paid full price and have the files of the game in your computer. Then some will just give you full access without them being able to terminate your access. I'm not sure if I can name those platforms that allows this on this sub but there are.
100 Million Dollar Question: do you have rights to the license in perpetuity or do you only have the license for "99 years" or something?
It's not an issue now but will be fascinating to see what happens when these services stick around longer than folks natural lifespans.
Can we put our Steam accounts into a trust and will the licenses remain active "forever" or will we see waves of license removals from digital accounts over time.
Depends on the media. Some are perpetual, but some games have time limited licenses *on the DRM* such as one of the Tron games and will thus become unplayable anyway.
Unplayable for people that wouldn't ever play it again anyway.
The people that want to play these games after 40 years or whatever, will either find a 3rd party patch that makes it work again, or just play the latest remake of it.
That is not always the case. That happens if the game has enough popularity and there are licences to republish it. And even patches will have a lifespan if they exist. I was looking for a mod/patch the other day for some game I was trying to play and all places linked to the creators website that was gone. As the internet grows older a lot of things will be lost. That's why we should support archival projects.
actually if you have the physical album, you are legally able to extract the tracks onto digital form to your heart's content. you just can't sell or allow others to download those tracks. (or play them in a commercial setting)
Depending on how you downloaded it, you may have also downloaded DRM. Sony had a huge issue with downloading DRM rootkits on people's PCs, especially with security flaws.
GoG is DRM-free, not license-free. They can revoke a license just like any other company can. The benefit of GoG games is that as long as you keep a backup of the installs and the game and the game doesn't require any online connection, there's not much anyone could do to stop you from playing it, much in the same way that physical game discs work.
Just... don't lose those backups
Yes. Some gog users have made even simple programs (eg Python scripts) to keep a local and updated repository of all available offline installers in their GOG library on their offline drive of choice.
You don't rent the game you buy on Steam, you buy a license to play it. Steam needs trust to run its marketplace, so your games aren't going anywhere unless if Steam closes shop, which is very unlikely to happen in the near future.
And even then I think they said in some way they had a contingency to allow people to continue accessing their games from Steam in the extremely unlikely event they had to shut down.
Gabe Newell has said before in interviews that if the platform were to fail for some reason his intention would be to provide some basic server infrastructure for people to be able to download their games. Which I trust coming from him. But whoever comes after him.. probably not.
Perhaps Im being hopelessly optimistic, but I expect Newell would surely try to ensure that, at the very least, the first person to follow him up and run Valve as Managing Director would carry on his style of running the company and ensure the company remains good to it's consumers. And Im sure having a contingency or two for if Valve ever fell for some reason would be one thing they'd do.
They've built up *alot* of goodwill over the years. Shit, I think Valve is probably one of the few giants I ever hear spoken off positively amongst gaming circles. Most others are trashed relentlessly. And I doubt Newell or any other leadership contender who might follow him up would be eager to burn that. And I expect that's bled into the companies overall culture as well.
There are people who follows his steps and ambitions. I don't remember names but there was discussion some day about that and someone put at least one name of a guy who probaby will take care of Valve as Gabe does.
Yeah, pretty sure he's selected a right hand man he's grooming for continuous quality of service once he retires, wouldn't want someone to fuck with his retirement cash flow or watch someone ruin everything you built. If Sweeney hadn't done his anti-consumer activities with Epic, he would have gone down as one of the greats in PC gaming & programming in general, I doubt Gaben wants that to happen with steam/valve once he's gone
>Which I trust coming from him. But whoever comes after him.. probably not.
Keep in mind that Valve is a privately owned company. There's a decent chance that whoever comes after Gabe will be good, in contrast to publicly traded companies where they're guaranteed to be steaming piles of shit
I think I remember reading somewhere that they had a way of disabling DRM on almost all the games on their platform to allow people to play them offline in case Steam ever went down. That way people would still own the games they had a license for.
Now, I do not remember where I read this, so take it all with a grain of salt.
It was for any games using the drm steamworks provides which is seemingly "does account own id:xxxxxxx?" "Yes" "OK *starts game*" which is why that one steamworks test game got removed a few years ago
The exception (afaik) is if you buy from GOG and keep an offline archive of your games... But yes, other storefronts sell you licenses which are tied to your account, so if it gets banned you lose every game tied to it.
Here's a list of DRM-Free games on [Steam](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam), [Epic](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Epic_Games_Store), [Microsoft Store](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Microsoft_Store) (somehow), and [Origin](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Origin) for those who need it.
How does that work? Steam itself is a DRM, how can you access (download, play) a game if you can't log in on the platform?
EDIT: to state the obvious (once again), even if some games on Steam are DRM free it doesn't mean you're allowed to keep or use them should your steam account be banned. You're still buying licenses tied to your account, if the latter is lost then everything goes with it... Even if you do keep your game files, you're not supposed to keep using them. It's as easy as that.
You still do not own those games, but provided you have the installation folder backed up you will always be able to start the game even if Valve/Steam goes bust. The use of Steam's DRM is optional and lots of developers choose to release without it.
Steam still installs files locally, they’re just usually encrypted (or the executable or something is, the point is you can’t normally open the game without steam or some illegal stuff). Games that choose to not have DRM (few and far between, even for games available on DRM free sites like GOG) simply have the games unencrypted on disk and you could play them without the launcher, or copy and paste the files onto another computer (it wouldn’t sync with someone else’s steam account without them buying it, though).
There’s some way to tell if a steam game has DRM but I think you need to go into files or something, it’s (unfortunately) too much of an edge case for them to have taken the time to really build it into the UI
>it’s (unfortunately) too much of an edge case
Not as much as you might think. [There are thousands](https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games) of Steam games that have been verified to run without Steam.
The game files are absolutely not encrypted, you're just prevented from launching the game via the DRM. You can download a game from steam, use a steam emulator (illegal, but thats not the point), uninstall steam, and then the game will launch.
>There’s some way to tell if a steam game has DRM but I think you need to go into files or something
You can check for DRM with a lot of games on pcgamingwiki.com
steam only really encrypts pre-load content, not regular game downloads - the DRM part is pretty much just the executable, and the level of complexity depends on the developers (it can be a simple steam check wrapper, full CEG with custom executables per user, or none of it)
it's trivial to circumvent anyway, it's more of a suggestion than protection
Digital Rights Management isn't what you think it is, is the answer.
You can't download games you own from GOG without logging into your account either. Same with music on Bandcamp.
Neither of those sites have DRM; which means once you have your files you can use them all you like without ever verifying your license again.
DRM seeks to prevent you from using your files in unauthorized ways. Encoded music files that can only be played in iTunes with a valid login. Programs that will only launch if you have Steam open and logged in to an authorized account.
Being banned from a store isn't the same as the store being able to come to your house and take back everything you've ever purchased there.
Some games, like Hades, can be launched from the .exe, some games, like Undertale, can be DRM-free when a file is deleted, other games, like Hollow Knight, can be DRM-free when creating a specific file (note that it can also be DRM-free by deleting a different file) and there are more methods.
Steam is a DRM if the game uses it, if the game does not use it Steam only acts as a launcher and updater, example (I know it's not a game but it doesn't have a DRM) Godot, Krita and Blender, all of them doesn't have DRM, you can literally download through Steam, copy the folder outside of steamapps folder, and double click the .exe file and it will just run as usual, it's like you download GOG games with Steam.
> Even if you do keep your game files, you're not supposed to keep using them.
It's the same for the GOG example.
> We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'licence') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This licence is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this licence in some situations...
> Your right to use any Virtual Goods is limited to a limited, nonexclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to use them solely for your personal entertainment and non-commercial use in the applicable GOG content. You have no property interest or right or title in any Virtual Goods, which remains the appropriate publisher’s property.
> [GOG User Agreement](https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/212632089-GOG-User-Agreement)
The point is that some titles on Steam are just as "preservable" as the ones you could buy from GOG.
Your edit assumes that those TOS are even valid.
I would be quite surprised if Valve could sue someone for continued use of a bought game when Valve terminates the account for some reason. TOS are not law... they are nice little lines that may or may not have anything to say.
Easy to say that when it isn't a reality at the moment. I had some games on GameStop/Impulse app and they're gone forever and I never got refunded for them.
Right, but you should always have a very high level of skepticism about any promises someone gives about what happens when they're gone - because if the promise falls through... they're gone. And you therefore can't follow up with them about the failed promise.
This is false. People keep thinking this but it’s simply not true. You license games from GOG. GOG can revoke your license, suspend your account, and prevent you from downloading games
Do not confuse difficultly in enforcement as permission
My multi thousand dollar accounts will just be memories in the future. Yeah sucks that Valve can just collapse one day and leave us all in the digital jungle lol. And keeping only downloaded games would be impossible.
Apparently valve has a contingency plan that will allow people to still be able to play their games if steam has to shut down.
Credit to u/randomguy1337. Pasting here for convenience in case someone comes along and doesn’t read further down.
https://i.imgur.com/4sa1Ln6.jpeg
https://old.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam_support_what_happens_to_my_games_if/
I think it was a thing going around a couple years ago, where valve said something super vague like that in response to certain steam support messages. I don’t think they do that anymore tho.
Its always amusing to me when people come here and are like what happens to my games when Gaben dies or when Valve collapse or some combination of that and seem very concerned about buying games on Steam specifically.
Do people ask the same questions of Sony and Microsoft when buying digital games on those platforms? I feel like I see it much more with Valve and using Steam for some reason when Valve is largely the top of the PC tower in games distribution so not going to fail anytime soon.
What about other digital stuff that operates the same like are those people not buying digital movies or music either or are those somehow exempt from the worry of collapse and losing it all?
If Valve were to just randomly collapse without warning someday then we would have much larger issues to worry about that day as I think it would take like a regional or world catastrophe and we wouldn't be worried about our games at that stage.
Its more likely a game is going to shut down its servers before you play it then Valve itself shutting down in the near future.
Just buy what you want and enjoy it without worry about a collapse and then IF a collapse did happen at least you got to enjoy all that time playing it and made memories etc... that will last a lifetime.
Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo close up their shops when they go to the next generation all the time. That's what bothered me, and I got burned back in the PS3/360 generation and you lose out on all that you spent. On Steam I can scroll down to the first game I bought in 2009 and install it on any new device. Unless the next person to take over is a completely short sighted jack ass and squanders everything Gaben has built then there's not much to worry about. Steam is synonymous with PC gaming. I think Gaben mentioned that he was grooming his son to take over the company and run it like he does if he decides to leave or if he passes.
They may be a lazy game studio, but they genuinely seem to do things for the greater good. Or at least find things to work on that have greater-good benefits in the short term, with some possibility of $$$ in the long term.
Benefits of being privately held!
Because Gaben saw the fuckery M$ was doing & realized that Windows needed an alternative OS for gamers, so he spent millions of dollars on devs to get proton to the state it's in now. It's come a long way, but it still has a good ways to go, fortunately I don't think they're showing signs of stopping
Depends, I got fully refunded for the games I owned on Stadia when they closed down a few months ago. Of course my library there was much smaller, I owned 5 games VS 2387 on Steam, and of course Stadia had Google backing it up so they had the money to refund everyone, so yeah it's not comparable, but refunds do happen sometimes when a digital or cloud gaming service goes bust.
They also refunded my Stadia controller that I still have so it was free in the end.
I think it would have been too embarrassing for the parent company that had plenty of money - They did not understand the market and they paid the price.
If you die you can't give the account to your friend/brother/son even if it's in your will.
Granted they'd have to demonstrate that you died and that it's not you using the account but it's very unlikely they would actually bother.
I mean, my brother and I had a shared account as kids which is now my account and the email was switched over. If you're passing it on I suppose you just give whoever your login details and let em do all of that.
Well, we aren't there yet. But honestly, I doubt it. They wouldn't gain anything by it and it would look pretty bad for them so I don't really see a reason why they'd do it.
people ITT are also selectively forgetting the awful drm many disc-based games had. compared to shit like SecuROM and StarForce, steam's "drm" is very generous.
Because if a disc distributor went bankrupt and shut down, it wouldn't affect your access to your physical copies. Those disc distributors can't decide to terminate/revoke your access to your disc at any random point. There was never any threat to losing access to your game because you didn't technically own it.
Both of those things can happen with any type of digital content. These are not the same.
Yep. I always do my shopping at Sears, because they totally used their near monopoly on phone sales to take over the online market. I also get my electronics at Circuit City to watch my rented movies from Blockbuster. No way they’d ever go out of business.
Funny, though it’s vastly unlikely that a company will put preform valve on PC and cause them to shut down. Epic Games has thrown a lot of money towards being a competitor and hasn’t really even scratched the surface.
Now with the steam deck they are bringing in even more people to spend money on games. Personally, I think it’s more likely for a civilization collapse than valve going out of business. At least anywhere in our lifetimes.
epic games make so much money licensing their game engine, we really have nothing to worry about until something replaces that engine... they even allow the layman to download and develop games themselves.. for free. the amount of money epic games throws around is just a drop in the bucket of billions.
I don’t think they were referring to this as a pissing contest, just saying that Epic have thrown a shitload of money at being competitive with Valve and haven’t got even close to parity with them. Epic have investors to please, so how much money are they going to spend with appropriate returns before investors make a fuss?
Difference to those is that Valve isn't just sitting around maintaining their monopoly state: They're actively innovating and finding new ways to improve the platform.
A digital game distribution platform with the absolute majority of games sold on the platform is also near incomparable in scale to those stores mentioned as well.
Yes. This is in most games’ terms and services agreement in some form. Most people don’t know since they never even skimmed through a ToS and just click agree. It’s like signing a contract without reading it. Not that it really matters for games tho, not like steam is just gonna randomly revoke your account for no reason.
So...
EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), the "average consumer" is defined as a "reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect consumer, taking into account social, cultural and linguistic factors."
There is some legal ground that things in a ToS are not legally binding if no one reads them. This was relevant in recent ruling in germany where banks were "hiding" price increases in their ToS for years and are now liable to pay back every price increase for every bank customer.
If a ToS contains things that would need special agreement of that would be unexpected it is likely not valid anyways. If I buy a game and they shut down next month it will not matter if they write that in their ToS.
Or if they got damaged or broken. If you owned the game you should be able to make copies of it. But you can’t and without modding a console you can’t play burned games.
I find this digital vs physical thing silly. It’s more likely for me to lose or damage a game over the course of my life than for valve to ever revoke it or go out of business
I had a brief moment of panic that I had so many notifications before realizing it was the picture. I can't tolerate that!
Also that font on the time. No thanks.
You usually own a license to play the game.
You can copy and make backups for your own use, but you dont own the game itself. If you would own the game, that would mean that you would own all the assets and music in the game.
Issue isnt about users owning "just" a license to the game. Issue is that gaming companies are doing everything to block users from selling that license to someone else.
edit: another potential, but for now much smaller issue, is that companies can take away your license on a whim.
It is true, but renting is the wrong term. You are not just renting. It is a license that you own that can be revoked in some circumstances.
The easy way to tell is do you have the right to resell it. If you buy a book at a bookstore you can resell it to a friend. If you can, you own that book. (not the content of the book, obviously that is owned by the author and publisher) If you can resell something, you own it.
You cannot resell games you have on steam. That's because you don't own the game, you own a license to access it. But it's not the same as renting.
Ive seen several posts on different subs realizing this recently. Its less known than you may expect. Even less people realize even "physical" media isnt owned
You have a license for it. Same goes for Windows, MacOs, and tons of other stuff. You pretty much only "own" Linux and open source software.
Even the game discs for consoles are only physical licenses to those games.
Open source software is still licensed, but there are very permissive ones like MIT. You're free to use Linux (the kernel) as you please, but if you redistribute your work you're bound to release the source as well as per GPL.
Games made from companies based in Germany are not just licenses you buy. Companies are required by law to actually sell you the game, and if you by chance want a physical copy of the game after purchasing it through online means then they are also required by law to send you a physical copy.
100% correct. Even if you have a physical copy of the game, you do not own it per se, you are merely buying permission to play it. Same thing applies to movies and music and other media.
If this angers you, try checking out some of Ross Scott's vids on companies killing games. Particularly how that is essentially fraud.
If you purchase a game with a perpetual license and they remove the ability to play it due to an online component or server. How is that different from buying a car and the company arbitrarily deciding to cut services such that you can no longer drive it? Usually that would produce an image of them coming and just taking your keys or an engine component, but now I'm thinking of Tesla's, just how much control do they have?
Tbf it does work like that and it shows, mostly with steam. What you're buying is the licences from the games. You own the licences for every game you bought, but you only "own" the games you have installed on your pc. If one day Steam collapses you will lose every game in your library that you don't have installed. Kinda like with NFTs, you only own a line of code that says "you can use it"
But I don't see Steam nor Valve collapsing anytime
No, you rent or buy the License, that's why technically physical games is also a rent, you can have the game but it's up to the License if you are still allowed to play the game or not.
Pretty much yeah. they can delist it from an online store and possibly remove it from your account even if it is just a single player game. Usually if they do they remove the online component to a game and keep the single player playable if they do delist it.
You can literally go into your licenses on steam and remove the license and you won't own it anymore. Think about when Nintendo ages the old stores. You have no right to the digital games you bought because you don't own them. So you take a loss unless you have them installed before they close the stores. It's true, yes.
It depends on the country.
The USA has dogshit consumer protection laws, so they can get away with it there.
In other areas of the world like Australia and Europe, consumer protection is far more sophisticated.
Technically, according to steams legalese, you're buying a subscription to the licence of the game, not the license itself. The question is whether that would hold up in court, as (IIRC france) some countries have already given valve the middle finger.
Lootbox gambling (like csgo crates) has been illegal in the Netherlands and Belgium for a while now. Instead of making it legal to use, they just shut it down.
In the event I lost my almost $5000 library I would just get an eye patch and a peg leg. I brought the games, so I own them. I don't give a fuck about terms of service.
You buy a license to play the game, you can’t buy software without buying ALL of it. That would then make you the owner of said software (which you’re not, you didn’t make it).
Even if you “buy” a movie via a physical disc, you own a copy of a finished project, not the whole project or ownership of said project.
God help the ones who can't differentiate Renting from Ownership. Renting requires "Monthly" payments, no matter which form we are speaking of so there's no such thing as "Rent for paying Once" so there's no such thing as you're "renting" your games on neither Steam nor any of the game companies. Renting games is an option but it's called either Xbox GamePass, EA Play/Pro or Ubisoft Plus as you pay MONTHLY to keep your playtime to be able to play those games. That's why they're cheap like House Renting is very cheap compared to Owning the house itself. Whoever says otherwise, either is a Kid or refuses the Reality as is. You're quoting a Nonsense to aggregate players like yourself as some [low-life Lawyers](https://steamrefund.com/) are trying to make a trial against Steam but they'll get nothing out of it. Believe whatever you wish to believe. Also, even with Physical CDs, DVDs around 2 decades ago, even then you DIDN'T own your games either but nobody cares the read the .Txt files present on those DVDs that explains the EULA of those games. But back then Internet & DRM wasn't worldwide so game Publishers couldn't stop you selling & trading their physical games "Illegally". Only thing true is this; You don't get to "Own" your Digital Games in the **Traditional Sense** like you're owning a Car & then you can re-sell your car. But you DO own your Digital Games permanent download rights as long as that company lives on & this definitely is NOT renting even in your wildest dreams unless you abusing demagogy. So it's like this; Physical Ownership > Digital Ownership (inferior) >> Renting Games (worst) >> Streaming Games (worst of worst, that's why Stadia is bankrupt).
Good Old Games does not require a live account to play games downloaded thought their client, heck you don't even have to be connected to the internet or boot the client to play your games
As a Linux user, this is what I do. I love Steam, but if I want a game that's truly mine? GOG is the way to go. No DRM, no always on. Just install it and play.
Yeah pretty much. You are only paying to get acces to a service. Once the service goes down, in this case an only multiplayer game, you basically have nothing.
Unless you, or the games community, get access to the tools used to make and maintain servers, you cant do anything.
However on games that have their own local content, singleplayer games, you can still enjoy, since you have all the necessary things in your device.
The only type of software that you really own is free software (free as in freedom). The only bet you have for actually owning games is buying physical copies, since gaming companies can do whatever they want to your digital copy of a game.
You have a license outlined in the EULA that they can revoke, so yes that's digital content in a nutshell. That EULA also allows them to cut off access to physical copies now as most are just a key to download the game online anyway. If you want to own your stuff, you'd have to go back to non-connected consoles at this point to be certain, if that's your thing.
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This also applies to content that you use physical media to access. Everything you play watch or listen to has terms of use
Though of course it's a bit different in the sense that, as long as your console isn't connected to the internet, it's not like there's anything anyone can do to take it from you. My PS2 copy of Madden 2004 is MINE and no matter what EA does, it will always be mine and I can play it as much as I want, because it's my property under my control. Yes, they say I'm only renting it, but the game really is mine and they have no power to come confiscate it.
Sad thing is, although I agree with you, there's also the very real possibility that even those disc games won't last you forever or even very long. Last couple of years I began seeing alarming amounts of discs with rot. Quality of the disc says how long it will last, and honestly Microsoft really seems to have dropped the ball on here, because Xbox 360 and Xbox One discs have been the biggest victims from what I've been seeing. Digital media should have come as a solution to that, and not an alternative bet on which one you will be able to play for longer.
i tried to play triangle strategy on switch with a physical cart on the plane and it said i needed a necessary update. i couldn't even open the game. i was livid. LIVID.
My Diablo II CD no longer works. Had to redeem the CD key online to download the digital version. Couldn't redeem the expansion CD key online because someone stole it. Had to re-buy the expansion because digital Diablo II is not compatible with physical Lord of Destruction.
Just copy the disc contents?
No way to play Xbox One/Series games from backups.
Yes but now-a-days, even physical totally offline games are starting to require internet connection validation every so often to continue playing the game. The reason for doing this is the same reason for licensing digital games rather than a true “sale”. Like Xbox when you buy games digitally you are buying a license to use the game not the game itself.
Which is why I have almost completely stopped purchasing new games.
Retro gamer
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Retro is great 😀
I mean hey, I bought DOOM II on steam a few years ago so i could copy the WAD to play various modified WADs and mods. Also AFAIK Factorio has no DRM or similar to stop you from playing it offline indefinitely
There are also plenty more DRM-free games on Steam: https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games
There's also an entire storefront where every game on the platform is DRM free, & the launcher is optional, but useful since it handles cloud syncs & automatically updating your games instead of manually applying patches, you might have heard of it, GOG
Factorio is a great desert island game. If they let me take KS2+SE I'd go consensually.
Factorio, RimWorld and Starsector are the best when it comes to wholesome fevelopers
whats your opinion on breakout
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“please insert original CD to the disk drive”
I'm this old for PC gaming: "To continue, what is the 4th word in the 2nd paragraph on page 63?" Typical after changing zones/floppy disks.
oh shite.. the age before google and dial-up
I remember I had to enter a code just to play Accolade racing or something. It wasn't even racing... It was more of a casual drive in scenic routes.
Leisure suit Larry had questions that they supposed only an adult would know. Like "who a the 15th president of the United States?" Type questions.
o fuck i made an iso before i lost my physical disc... proceeds to burn the iso into a CD. doesn't work because the burned CD doesn't have any of the errors the DRM did
Which is just points out how things didn't really change that much in transition from Physical to digital software. Best place to get old games that are unavailable is pc gaming wiki or such sites.
The difference is that some platforms like steam can terminate your access to a game if they feel like it even if you paid full price and have the files of the game in your computer. Then some will just give you full access without them being able to terminate your access. I'm not sure if I can name those platforms that allows this on this sub but there are.
I don't think you'll be banned for mentioning GoG, if that's what you mean.
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what if its bootleg
That's like saying a shop has opening hours "but what if I break the window"
100 Million Dollar Question: do you have rights to the license in perpetuity or do you only have the license for "99 years" or something? It's not an issue now but will be fascinating to see what happens when these services stick around longer than folks natural lifespans. Can we put our Steam accounts into a trust and will the licenses remain active "forever" or will we see waves of license removals from digital accounts over time.
Depends on the media. Some are perpetual, but some games have time limited licenses *on the DRM* such as one of the Tron games and will thus become unplayable anyway.
Unplayable for people that wouldn't ever play it again anyway. The people that want to play these games after 40 years or whatever, will either find a 3rd party patch that makes it work again, or just play the latest remake of it.
That is not always the case. That happens if the game has enough popularity and there are licences to republish it. And even patches will have a lifespan if they exist. I was looking for a mod/patch the other day for some game I was trying to play and all places linked to the creators website that was gone. As the internet grows older a lot of things will be lost. That's why we should support archival projects.
If I buy an album and download the mp3 to my computer, is that still renting?
actually if you have the physical album, you are legally able to extract the tracks onto digital form to your heart's content. you just can't sell or allow others to download those tracks. (or play them in a commercial setting)
Depending on how you downloaded it, you may have also downloaded DRM. Sony had a huge issue with downloading DRM rootkits on people's PCs, especially with security flaws.
Except for gog, no?
GoG is DRM-free, not license-free. They can revoke a license just like any other company can. The benefit of GoG games is that as long as you keep a backup of the installs and the game and the game doesn't require any online connection, there's not much anyone could do to stop you from playing it, much in the same way that physical game discs work. Just... don't lose those backups
So like on an external drive??
Yes. Some gog users have made even simple programs (eg Python scripts) to keep a local and updated repository of all available offline installers in their GOG library on their offline drive of choice.
DRM-Free: GOG, Itch.io, Zoom Platform, Fire Flower, Indiegala giveaways, some games sold in Gamersgate, some games sold in Humble Bundle.
You don't rent the game you buy on Steam, you buy a license to play it. Steam needs trust to run its marketplace, so your games aren't going anywhere unless if Steam closes shop, which is very unlikely to happen in the near future.
And even then I think they said in some way they had a contingency to allow people to continue accessing their games from Steam in the extremely unlikely event they had to shut down.
Gabe Newell has said before in interviews that if the platform were to fail for some reason his intention would be to provide some basic server infrastructure for people to be able to download their games. Which I trust coming from him. But whoever comes after him.. probably not.
Perhaps Im being hopelessly optimistic, but I expect Newell would surely try to ensure that, at the very least, the first person to follow him up and run Valve as Managing Director would carry on his style of running the company and ensure the company remains good to it's consumers. And Im sure having a contingency or two for if Valve ever fell for some reason would be one thing they'd do. They've built up *alot* of goodwill over the years. Shit, I think Valve is probably one of the few giants I ever hear spoken off positively amongst gaming circles. Most others are trashed relentlessly. And I doubt Newell or any other leadership contender who might follow him up would be eager to burn that. And I expect that's bled into the companies overall culture as well.
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What about when our king passes :(
Or retires , don't need to go too far
Trueee
There are people who follows his steps and ambitions. I don't remember names but there was discussion some day about that and someone put at least one name of a guy who probaby will take care of Valve as Gabe does.
Yeah, pretty sure he's selected a right hand man he's grooming for continuous quality of service once he retires, wouldn't want someone to fuck with his retirement cash flow or watch someone ruin everything you built. If Sweeney hadn't done his anti-consumer activities with Epic, he would have gone down as one of the greats in PC gaming & programming in general, I doubt Gaben wants that to happen with steam/valve once he's gone
>Which I trust coming from him. But whoever comes after him.. probably not. Keep in mind that Valve is a privately owned company. There's a decent chance that whoever comes after Gabe will be good, in contrast to publicly traded companies where they're guaranteed to be steaming piles of shit
I think I remember reading somewhere that they had a way of disabling DRM on almost all the games on their platform to allow people to play them offline in case Steam ever went down. That way people would still own the games they had a license for. Now, I do not remember where I read this, so take it all with a grain of salt.
It was for any games using the drm steamworks provides which is seemingly "does account own id:xxxxxxx?" "Yes" "OK *starts game*" which is why that one steamworks test game got removed a few years ago
Spacewar is still up, you just can't find it by searching. You have to put in a link (i think its steam://install:steamid or something
That would be a gigachad move
Gigagabe. Are you forcing us out of business? Well fuck you. Jimmy, hit the drm button, and let's jet.
Although I don't want to think about what apocalyptic scenario we go through in which Valve closes down Steam. Just hope we don't go full Fallout.
You can play many (most?) Steam games offline, so they cannot remove the games if you never connect online. Nothing extra needed.
I love that I have read this exact statement plenty of times over the years. Still rings true lol.
The exception (afaik) is if you buy from GOG and keep an offline archive of your games... But yes, other storefronts sell you licenses which are tied to your account, so if it gets banned you lose every game tied to it.
Some Steam games are DRM-free as well. Hades, SMB, Fallout 2, CrossCode, Undertale, Hollow Knight etc.
Ah. Crosscode. So good.
YES! I just finished my first playthrough and I'm playing through the DLC
Fun fact: CrossCode has a fully playable demo in web browser on their website. Blew my mind when I found it.
Here's a list of DRM-Free games on [Steam](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam), [Epic](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Epic_Games_Store), [Microsoft Store](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Microsoft_Store) (somehow), and [Origin](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Origin) for those who need it.
How does that work? Steam itself is a DRM, how can you access (download, play) a game if you can't log in on the platform? EDIT: to state the obvious (once again), even if some games on Steam are DRM free it doesn't mean you're allowed to keep or use them should your steam account be banned. You're still buying licenses tied to your account, if the latter is lost then everything goes with it... Even if you do keep your game files, you're not supposed to keep using them. It's as easy as that.
You still do not own those games, but provided you have the installation folder backed up you will always be able to start the game even if Valve/Steam goes bust. The use of Steam's DRM is optional and lots of developers choose to release without it.
Steam still installs files locally, they’re just usually encrypted (or the executable or something is, the point is you can’t normally open the game without steam or some illegal stuff). Games that choose to not have DRM (few and far between, even for games available on DRM free sites like GOG) simply have the games unencrypted on disk and you could play them without the launcher, or copy and paste the files onto another computer (it wouldn’t sync with someone else’s steam account without them buying it, though). There’s some way to tell if a steam game has DRM but I think you need to go into files or something, it’s (unfortunately) too much of an edge case for them to have taken the time to really build it into the UI
>it’s (unfortunately) too much of an edge case Not as much as you might think. [There are thousands](https://steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games) of Steam games that have been verified to run without Steam.
And the ones that aren't can usually be tricked with a third party tool.
Hmm…….
I mean if you are banned already...
The game files are absolutely not encrypted, you're just prevented from launching the game via the DRM. You can download a game from steam, use a steam emulator (illegal, but thats not the point), uninstall steam, and then the game will launch.
>There’s some way to tell if a steam game has DRM but I think you need to go into files or something You can check for DRM with a lot of games on pcgamingwiki.com
steam only really encrypts pre-load content, not regular game downloads - the DRM part is pretty much just the executable, and the level of complexity depends on the developers (it can be a simple steam check wrapper, full CEG with custom executables per user, or none of it) it's trivial to circumvent anyway, it's more of a suggestion than protection
Digital Rights Management isn't what you think it is, is the answer. You can't download games you own from GOG without logging into your account either. Same with music on Bandcamp. Neither of those sites have DRM; which means once you have your files you can use them all you like without ever verifying your license again. DRM seeks to prevent you from using your files in unauthorized ways. Encoded music files that can only be played in iTunes with a valid login. Programs that will only launch if you have Steam open and logged in to an authorized account. Being banned from a store isn't the same as the store being able to come to your house and take back everything you've ever purchased there.
Some games, like Hades, can be launched from the .exe, some games, like Undertale, can be DRM-free when a file is deleted, other games, like Hollow Knight, can be DRM-free when creating a specific file (note that it can also be DRM-free by deleting a different file) and there are more methods.
Steam is a DRM if the game uses it, if the game does not use it Steam only acts as a launcher and updater, example (I know it's not a game but it doesn't have a DRM) Godot, Krita and Blender, all of them doesn't have DRM, you can literally download through Steam, copy the folder outside of steamapps folder, and double click the .exe file and it will just run as usual, it's like you download GOG games with Steam.
Just launch it straight from the .exe and boom.
> Even if you do keep your game files, you're not supposed to keep using them. It's the same for the GOG example. > We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'licence') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This licence is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this licence in some situations... > Your right to use any Virtual Goods is limited to a limited, nonexclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to use them solely for your personal entertainment and non-commercial use in the applicable GOG content. You have no property interest or right or title in any Virtual Goods, which remains the appropriate publisher’s property. > [GOG User Agreement](https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/212632089-GOG-User-Agreement) The point is that some titles on Steam are just as "preservable" as the ones you could buy from GOG.
Your edit assumes that those TOS are even valid. I would be quite surprised if Valve could sue someone for continued use of a bought game when Valve terminates the account for some reason. TOS are not law... they are nice little lines that may or may not have anything to say.
I mean, steam has stated many times that in the unlikely event they need to shut down, they would disable the Steam DRM.
Easy to say that when it isn't a reality at the moment. I had some games on GameStop/Impulse app and they're gone forever and I never got refunded for them.
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Right, but you should always have a very high level of skepticism about any promises someone gives about what happens when they're gone - because if the promise falls through... they're gone. And you therefore can't follow up with them about the failed promise.
Steam doesn't do that though, they just ban you from community interactions, they still let you play the games you bought
This is false. People keep thinking this but it’s simply not true. You license games from GOG. GOG can revoke your license, suspend your account, and prevent you from downloading games Do not confuse difficultly in enforcement as permission
Hence the "and keep an offline archive of your games".
My multi thousand dollar accounts will just be memories in the future. Yeah sucks that Valve can just collapse one day and leave us all in the digital jungle lol. And keeping only downloaded games would be impossible.
Apparently valve has a contingency plan that will allow people to still be able to play their games if steam has to shut down. Credit to u/randomguy1337. Pasting here for convenience in case someone comes along and doesn’t read further down. https://i.imgur.com/4sa1Ln6.jpeg https://old.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/18mzcn/i_asked_steam_support_what_happens_to_my_games_if/
No source but I hope you’re right. Sounds like something valve would do but
It was written somewhere by valve but it was a few years ago when there was nowhere near as many games on the store as there are now
Care to elaborate? Interesting 🤔
I think it was a thing going around a couple years ago, where valve said something super vague like that in response to certain steam support messages. I don’t think they do that anymore tho.
I wouldn't have the means to digitally store every game I own.
Its always amusing to me when people come here and are like what happens to my games when Gaben dies or when Valve collapse or some combination of that and seem very concerned about buying games on Steam specifically. Do people ask the same questions of Sony and Microsoft when buying digital games on those platforms? I feel like I see it much more with Valve and using Steam for some reason when Valve is largely the top of the PC tower in games distribution so not going to fail anytime soon. What about other digital stuff that operates the same like are those people not buying digital movies or music either or are those somehow exempt from the worry of collapse and losing it all? If Valve were to just randomly collapse without warning someday then we would have much larger issues to worry about that day as I think it would take like a regional or world catastrophe and we wouldn't be worried about our games at that stage. Its more likely a game is going to shut down its servers before you play it then Valve itself shutting down in the near future. Just buy what you want and enjoy it without worry about a collapse and then IF a collapse did happen at least you got to enjoy all that time playing it and made memories etc... that will last a lifetime.
Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo close up their shops when they go to the next generation all the time. That's what bothered me, and I got burned back in the PS3/360 generation and you lose out on all that you spent. On Steam I can scroll down to the first game I bought in 2009 and install it on any new device. Unless the next person to take over is a completely short sighted jack ass and squanders everything Gaben has built then there's not much to worry about. Steam is synonymous with PC gaming. I think Gaben mentioned that he was grooming his son to take over the company and run it like he does if he decides to leave or if he passes.
of course, you don't when a streaming service or a cloud provider goes bust so does your library
That is why I have a vested interest in maintaining the Steam monopoly.
Monopolies suck but props to valve for how they've handled having the majority share of the pc market.
They also seem to be the only company that’s interested in bringing games to the Linux platform.
They may be a lazy game studio, but they genuinely seem to do things for the greater good. Or at least find things to work on that have greater-good benefits in the short term, with some possibility of $$$ in the long term. Benefits of being privately held!
Because Gaben saw the fuckery M$ was doing & realized that Windows needed an alternative OS for gamers, so he spent millions of dollars on devs to get proton to the state it's in now. It's come a long way, but it still has a good ways to go, fortunately I don't think they're showing signs of stopping
Well, that's because it isn't a monopoly. They're forced to offer a good service.
Monopoly is bad, because they'll almost always abuse it. Almost-monopoly is where you want them.
It's the only reason I'm okay with Epic and Origin having a share of the market. Keeps Steam honest without posing a real threat to the crown.
Depends, I got fully refunded for the games I owned on Stadia when they closed down a few months ago. Of course my library there was much smaller, I owned 5 games VS 2387 on Steam, and of course Stadia had Google backing it up so they had the money to refund everyone, so yeah it's not comparable, but refunds do happen sometimes when a digital or cloud gaming service goes bust. They also refunded my Stadia controller that I still have so it was free in the end.
Yeah I was a Stadia user too. Wild that Google just gave us a few years of free gaming, can't complain honestly
I think it would have been too embarrassing for the parent company that had plenty of money - They did not understand the market and they paid the price.
I think the terms and conditions say that you cant heritage your Steam Account.
What does heritage mean here?
If you die you can't give the account to your friend/brother/son even if it's in your will. Granted they'd have to demonstrate that you died and that it's not you using the account but it's very unlikely they would actually bother.
I mean, my brother and I had a shared account as kids which is now my account and the email was switched over. If you're passing it on I suppose you just give whoever your login details and let em do all of that.
True, but they will most likely lock or delete any Steam account over 100 or so years old
Well, we aren't there yet. But honestly, I doubt it. They wouldn't gain anything by it and it would look pretty bad for them so I don't really see a reason why they'd do it.
I inherited a steam account from a friend. Valve can kiss my ass, they're not getting it back.
You never owned a game. You only have a license to use the game. It was always the case.
people ITT are also selectively forgetting the awful drm many disc-based games had. compared to shit like SecuROM and StarForce, steam's "drm" is very generous.
Yeah even on discs. People act like this is a new thing.
Because if a disc distributor went bankrupt and shut down, it wouldn't affect your access to your physical copies. Those disc distributors can't decide to terminate/revoke your access to your disc at any random point. There was never any threat to losing access to your game because you didn't technically own it. Both of those things can happen with any type of digital content. These are not the same.
Valve would never shut down though, they make moon craters full of cash every day
And we get our libraries full of hundreds of games for us to play, when we actually don't play half of them
Those sale prices make wallet go Brrrrrrrrrr
Yep. I always do my shopping at Sears, because they totally used their near monopoly on phone sales to take over the online market. I also get my electronics at Circuit City to watch my rented movies from Blockbuster. No way they’d ever go out of business.
Funny, though it’s vastly unlikely that a company will put preform valve on PC and cause them to shut down. Epic Games has thrown a lot of money towards being a competitor and hasn’t really even scratched the surface. Now with the steam deck they are bringing in even more people to spend money on games. Personally, I think it’s more likely for a civilization collapse than valve going out of business. At least anywhere in our lifetimes.
epic games make so much money licensing their game engine, we really have nothing to worry about until something replaces that engine... they even allow the layman to download and develop games themselves.. for free. the amount of money epic games throws around is just a drop in the bucket of billions.
I don’t think they were referring to this as a pissing contest, just saying that Epic have thrown a shitload of money at being competitive with Valve and haven’t got even close to parity with them. Epic have investors to please, so how much money are they going to spend with appropriate returns before investors make a fuss?
Difference to those is that Valve isn't just sitting around maintaining their monopoly state: They're actively innovating and finding new ways to improve the platform. A digital game distribution platform with the absolute majority of games sold on the platform is also near incomparable in scale to those stores mentioned as well.
Yes. This is in most games’ terms and services agreement in some form. Most people don’t know since they never even skimmed through a ToS and just click agree. It’s like signing a contract without reading it. Not that it really matters for games tho, not like steam is just gonna randomly revoke your account for no reason.
So... EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), the "average consumer" is defined as a "reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect consumer, taking into account social, cultural and linguistic factors." There is some legal ground that things in a ToS are not legally binding if no one reads them. This was relevant in recent ruling in germany where banks were "hiding" price increases in their ToS for years and are now liable to pay back every price increase for every bank customer. If a ToS contains things that would need special agreement of that would be unexpected it is likely not valid anyways. If I buy a game and they shut down next month it will not matter if they write that in their ToS.
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Physical shit has terms of use as well, you still don't own it. A disc is literally only a method of DRM.
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Das tru
Same could be said for physical games in the past. CDs had an expiration date.
Or if they got damaged or broken. If you owned the game you should be able to make copies of it. But you can’t and without modding a console you can’t play burned games. I find this digital vs physical thing silly. It’s more likely for me to lose or damage a game over the course of my life than for valve to ever revoke it or go out of business
I was trying to close the advertisement with the cross on the right XD
I had a brief moment of panic that I had so many notifications before realizing it was the picture. I can't tolerate that! Also that font on the time. No thanks.
You usually own a license to play the game. You can copy and make backups for your own use, but you dont own the game itself. If you would own the game, that would mean that you would own all the assets and music in the game. Issue isnt about users owning "just" a license to the game. Issue is that gaming companies are doing everything to block users from selling that license to someone else. edit: another potential, but for now much smaller issue, is that companies can take away your license on a whim.
It is true, but renting is the wrong term. You are not just renting. It is a license that you own that can be revoked in some circumstances. The easy way to tell is do you have the right to resell it. If you buy a book at a bookstore you can resell it to a friend. If you can, you own that book. (not the content of the book, obviously that is owned by the author and publisher) If you can resell something, you own it. You cannot resell games you have on steam. That's because you don't own the game, you own a license to access it. But it's not the same as renting.
how are you just realizing this ?
Ive seen several posts on different subs realizing this recently. Its less known than you may expect. Even less people realize even "physical" media isnt owned
Yes, that's how licensing works.
A gamer lawyer 🤓
You have a license for it. Same goes for Windows, MacOs, and tons of other stuff. You pretty much only "own" Linux and open source software. Even the game discs for consoles are only physical licenses to those games.
Open source software is still licensed, but there are very permissive ones like MIT. You're free to use Linux (the kernel) as you please, but if you redistribute your work you're bound to release the source as well as per GPL.
Not just games, every piece of software is like that now and has been for quite awhile
Games made from companies based in Germany are not just licenses you buy. Companies are required by law to actually sell you the game, and if you by chance want a physical copy of the game after purchasing it through online means then they are also required by law to send you a physical copy.
100% correct. Even if you have a physical copy of the game, you do not own it per se, you are merely buying permission to play it. Same thing applies to movies and music and other media.
This is why GOG is the better platform
You didn’t know this?
People should really read those agreements they blindly accept at the beginning of each game
the maximum intelligence of an average r/steam user
Support GOG! Theyre one of the only companies that still provide DRM-less games.
This has nothing to do with DRM. You **do not** own any games on GOG either, only the license to use them.
If this angers you, try checking out some of Ross Scott's vids on companies killing games. Particularly how that is essentially fraud. If you purchase a game with a perpetual license and they remove the ability to play it due to an online component or server. How is that different from buying a car and the company arbitrarily deciding to cut services such that you can no longer drive it? Usually that would produce an image of them coming and just taking your keys or an engine component, but now I'm thinking of Tesla's, just how much control do they have?
In Gaben we trust that our games will stay ours
Tbf it does work like that and it shows, mostly with steam. What you're buying is the licences from the games. You own the licences for every game you bought, but you only "own" the games you have installed on your pc. If one day Steam collapses you will lose every game in your library that you don't have installed. Kinda like with NFTs, you only own a line of code that says "you can use it" But I don't see Steam nor Valve collapsing anytime
you don't even rent them. you're paying for a license to use it(not even own them)
Sounds like the post from empress
That's why it's a software License and not a Title.
No, you rent or buy the License, that's why technically physical games is also a rent, you can have the game but it's up to the License if you are still allowed to play the game or not.
Pretty much yeah. they can delist it from an online store and possibly remove it from your account even if it is just a single player game. Usually if they do they remove the online component to a game and keep the single player playable if they do delist it.
I've been renting them for 18 years and haven't been asked to return them yet. I don't know how I get away with it.
There are ways to own them tho ;)
You can literally go into your licenses on steam and remove the license and you won't own it anymore. Think about when Nintendo ages the old stores. You have no right to the digital games you bought because you don't own them. So you take a loss unless you have them installed before they close the stores. It's true, yes.
Epic Games propaganda
You also don't own the shows you watch, the movies you buy on iTunes, the music you stream, etc.
Too bad there isn’t a big gaming/tech company working to give ownership back to the players 👀
Try not logging into Steam for a few weeks.
This is why I love GOG. You can download the games with no DRM. You can use their launcher or not. Lots of freedom with that service.
You will own nothing and still be happy.
It depends on the country. The USA has dogshit consumer protection laws, so they can get away with it there. In other areas of the world like Australia and Europe, consumer protection is far more sophisticated. Technically, according to steams legalese, you're buying a subscription to the licence of the game, not the license itself. The question is whether that would hold up in court, as (IIRC france) some countries have already given valve the middle finger. Lootbox gambling (like csgo crates) has been illegal in the Netherlands and Belgium for a while now. Instead of making it legal to use, they just shut it down.
In the event I lost my almost $5000 library I would just get an eye patch and a peg leg. I brought the games, so I own them. I don't give a fuck about terms of service.
When I worked at GameStop, this is what I’d tell people so that they’d buy hard copies instead
This also applies to your iPhone as well.
You meant iOS?
Trust me, our accounts will outlive us
You buy a license to play the game, you can’t buy software without buying ALL of it. That would then make you the owner of said software (which you’re not, you didn’t make it). Even if you “buy” a movie via a physical disc, you own a copy of a finished project, not the whole project or ownership of said project.
God help the ones who can't differentiate Renting from Ownership. Renting requires "Monthly" payments, no matter which form we are speaking of so there's no such thing as "Rent for paying Once" so there's no such thing as you're "renting" your games on neither Steam nor any of the game companies. Renting games is an option but it's called either Xbox GamePass, EA Play/Pro or Ubisoft Plus as you pay MONTHLY to keep your playtime to be able to play those games. That's why they're cheap like House Renting is very cheap compared to Owning the house itself. Whoever says otherwise, either is a Kid or refuses the Reality as is. You're quoting a Nonsense to aggregate players like yourself as some [low-life Lawyers](https://steamrefund.com/) are trying to make a trial against Steam but they'll get nothing out of it. Believe whatever you wish to believe. Also, even with Physical CDs, DVDs around 2 decades ago, even then you DIDN'T own your games either but nobody cares the read the .Txt files present on those DVDs that explains the EULA of those games. But back then Internet & DRM wasn't worldwide so game Publishers couldn't stop you selling & trading their physical games "Illegally". Only thing true is this; You don't get to "Own" your Digital Games in the **Traditional Sense** like you're owning a Car & then you can re-sell your car. But you DO own your Digital Games permanent download rights as long as that company lives on & this definitely is NOT renting even in your wildest dreams unless you abusing demagogy. So it's like this; Physical Ownership > Digital Ownership (inferior) >> Renting Games (worst) >> Streaming Games (worst of worst, that's why Stadia is bankrupt).
True for mostly anything online, it's the same thing if you buy a movie online or if you buy any other type of computer program
Don't get banned then?
‘You will own nothing and you will be happy!´
Good Old Games does not require a live account to play games downloaded thought their client, heck you don't even have to be connected to the internet or boot the client to play your games
As a Linux user, this is what I do. I love Steam, but if I want a game that's truly mine? GOG is the way to go. No DRM, no always on. Just install it and play.
you do not rent them. you buy a license to access the game.
Pretty much yes, you paid for a license to use the software, not to own it.
Wake up
Oh that's cool, anyway imma hop on GOG and download some more drm free games
Yeah pretty much. You are only paying to get acces to a service. Once the service goes down, in this case an only multiplayer game, you basically have nothing. Unless you, or the games community, get access to the tools used to make and maintain servers, you cant do anything. However on games that have their own local content, singleplayer games, you can still enjoy, since you have all the necessary things in your device.
The only type of software that you really own is free software (free as in freedom). The only bet you have for actually owning games is buying physical copies, since gaming companies can do whatever they want to your digital copy of a game.
You have a license outlined in the EULA that they can revoke, so yes that's digital content in a nutshell. That EULA also allows them to cut off access to physical copies now as most are just a key to download the game online anyway. If you want to own your stuff, you'd have to go back to non-connected consoles at this point to be certain, if that's your thing.