what steam takes from you? EVERYTHING!

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

= what steam takes from you
= by sayNO2steam
= version 1.0

- introduction

this is the list of conditions you now freely have in any normal pc game
but with steam based pc games like hl2 its taken all away from you
steam makes this all possible, cause it takes complete control over you
and your personal gaming habits
its irrelevant if valve has not yet apply some of this cause what is
important is valve having the power to do it, and they have

- listing what steam takes from you

.. your freedom to freely keep the game
you no longer have the assurance you can keep the game which you legally
purchase cause valve through steam can revoke at any time that ability
you have to play the game or decide to apply others fees or even monthly
fees for you to continue playing

.. your freedom to freely play the game
you no longer have the freedom to freely play a game whenever you want
but its steam which decides if you can or not play the game, so its steam
which now has the power to let you play or not the game and not your own
personal free will

.. your freedom to freely install the game
you no longer have the freedom to freely install the game whenever you
want and whatever pc you choose cause you can only do it if you have all
steam requirements including an internet connection and only after you
asked permission and valve gave the approval

.. your freedom to freely patch the game
you no longer have the freedom to freely patch a game like you normally
do but instead you must use steam and only it can patch the game, so its
no longer possible to do it without a internet connection or distribute
the patches to other friends so they can also apply to their games, and
there is also the possibility valve starting to apply fees for patches

.. your freedom to freely choose the game's version
you no longer have the freedom to freely choose the game's version you
want to play cause steam is the only way to patch the game and its only
steam which decides what patch to apply

.. your freedom to freely sell it in the 2nd hand market
you no longer will have the freedom to freely sell you game in the 2nd
hand market cause valve made sure to block that also

.. your freedom to freely play games anonymously
you no longer will have the freedom to freely play games anonymously
cause valve wants to know who you are and only then will they let you
play

.. your freedom to be a free pc gamer
using steam valve takes everything from you, and you will no longer be
a free pc gamer but instead an imprisoned and totally controlled one

- conclusion

bottom line and replying to the question "what steam takes from you?"
the complete answer is "EVERYTHING"
so protect your consumer rights! and your own freedom! and own dignity!
SAY NO TO STEAM!
SAY NO TO VALVE!
SAY NO TO HL2!

- other documents by the same author

.. "guidelines for good buying habits in pc games"

- contact and feedback

please email to sayNO2steam@yahoo.com

- thanks

this is very much inspired by brilliant analyses by the fellow poster
Vader des Vaderlands which i want to thank for his great contribution
to this group and to the good of pc games

- version

1.0 updated 11 march 2005
originally posted to the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* newsgroups hierarchy

<end of document>



--
post made in a steam-free computer
i said "NO" to valve and steam

against steam campaign
http://nosteam.afterdarknet.at/

steamwatch - independent observatory about steam
http://www.steamwatch.org/

please sign petition "Say NO! to Steam!" available at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nosteam/petition.html

 

[sToic]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:41:46 +0000, sayNO2steam
<sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote:


*snip*

>- listing what steam takes from you
>
>. your freedom to freely keep the game
>you no longer have the assurance you can keep the game which you legally
>purchase cause valve through steam can revoke at any time that ability
>you have to play the game or decide to apply others fees or even monthly
>fees for you to continue playing

*snip*


Apparently, we've also lost the freedom to use proper punctuation and
capitalization.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

--

Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot.
"sayNO2steam" <sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:57t231lm2klppn51tkd36gfmh1h3bmvjp4@4ax.com...
> = what steam takes from you
> = by sayNO2steam
> = version 1.0
>
> - introduction
>

blah blah blah

> - listing what steam takes from you
>
> . your freedom to freely keep the game
> you no longer have the assurance you can keep the game which you legally
> purchase cause valve through steam can revoke at any time that ability
> you have to play the game or decide to apply others fees or even monthly
> fees for you to continue playing
>

You don't purchase the game. You purchase a license to run the software.
Licenses may be revoked or suspended.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

sayNO2steam wrote:

<snip>

I'm not crazy.
You're the one that's crazy.
You're driving me crazy.
They stuck me in an institution.
Said it was the only solution.
To give me the needed professional help.
To protect me from the enemy--myself.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:41:46 +0000, sayNO2steam
<sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote:

Everything?

Let your estate let us know when Steam takes your life.

--
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents." - H.P. Lovecraft

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

<snip>

> - conclusion
>
> bottom line and replying to the question "what steam takes from you?"
> the complete answer is "EVERYTHING"
> so protect your consumer rights! and your own freedom! and own dignity!
> SAY NO TO STEAM!
> SAY NO TO VALVE!
> SAY NO TO HL2!
>

I have an internet connection.

I like automatic updates

I do not wish to sell HL2

I do not wish to install it on another PC

I don't care if Valve has my email address.

My HL2 experience is a lot better than HL1 thanks to Steam.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

sayNO2steam wrote:

> . your freedom to freely keep the game

Shite

> . your freedom to freely play the game

Shite

>
> . your freedom to freely install the game
> you no longer have the freedom to freely install the game whenever you
> want and whatever pc you choose cause you can only do it if you have all
> steam requirements including an internet connection and only after you
> asked permission and valve gave the approval

Needs an internet connection, for all those morons who've been living under
a rock or can't read the box. After that it will install fine.


> there is also the possibility valve starting to apply fees for patches

No there isn't, gibbering paranioa.

>
> . your freedom to freely choose the game's version
> you no longer have the freedom to freely choose the game's version you
> want to play cause steam is the only way to patch the game and its only
> steam which decides what patch to apply

So what FFS.


> . your freedom to freely sell it in the 2nd hand market
> you no longer will have the freedom to freely sell you game in the 2nd
> hand market cause valve made sure to block that also

Well, I wouldn't let that stop me. What are they going to do? This will be
legally challenged and flung out at some point.

> . your freedom to be a free pc gamer
> using steam valve takes everything from you,

(looks around) Nope, house, wife, kids, car still present.

> - other documents by the same author

Documents. LOL.

 

[slartibartfast]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"Hank the Rapper" <xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:T-OdnTm9LuTJeqzfRVn-pw@giganews.com...
> sayNO2steam wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> I'm not crazy.
> You're the one that's crazy.
> You're driving me crazy.
> They stuck me in an institution.
> Said it was the only solution.
> To give me the needed professional help.
> To protect me from the enemy--myself.

Can you get me a pepsi?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

"slartibartfast" <building@fjords.com> wrote in message
news:d0svob$af0$1@us23.unix.fas.harvard.edu...
>
> "Hank the Rapper" <xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:T-OdnTm9LuTJeqzfRVn-pw@giganews.com...
>> sayNO2steam wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> I'm not crazy.
>> You're the one that's crazy.
>> You're driving me crazy.
>> They stuck me in an institution.
>> Said it was the only solution.
>> To give me the needed professional help.
>> To protect me from the enemy--myself.
>
> Can you get me a pepsi?
>

He's crazy...normal people won't be acting that way!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On 3/11/2005 5:50 PM Grackle brightened our day with:

>"slartibartfast" <building@fjords.com> wrote in message
>news:d0svob$af0$1@us23.unix.fas.harvard.edu...
>
>
>>"Hank the Rapper" <xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
>>news:T-OdnTm9LuTJeqzfRVn-pw@giganews.com...
>>
>>
>>>sayNO2steam wrote:
>>>
>>><snip>
>>>
>>>I'm not crazy.
>>>You're the one that's crazy.
>>>You're driving me crazy.
>>>They stuck me in an institution.
>>>Said it was the only solution.
>>>To give me the needed professional help.
>>>To protect me from the enemy--myself.
>>>
>>>
>>Can you get me a pepsi?
>>
>>
>>
>
>He's crazy...normal people won't be acting that way!
>
>
>
>
all he wanted was a Pepsi.

--
Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
www.inglostadt.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (More info?)

OnePunchMickey wrote:

>> . your freedom to freely install the game
>> you no longer have the freedom to freely install the game whenever
>> you want and whatever pc you choose cause you can only do it if you
>> have all steam requirements including an internet connection and
>> only after you asked permission and valve gave the approval
>
> Needs an internet connection, for all those morons who've been living
> under a rock or can't read the box. After that it will install fine.

Define living under a rock. The only place I've seen mention of steam
needing an internet connection is on the internet. People who don't have
internet access and don't read much in the way of computer magazines could
easily miss the whole steam fuss.

AS for reading system requirements. The last game I bothered to read the
system requirements for was Outcast back in the Pentium 2/3 days. Basically
because I know that my system is modern enough to not have to worry about
system requirements. Also, if I'd seen the HL2 box, and not known about all
the steam problems then I'd have assumed that it was referring to the
multi-player features.

--
Morgan.
----
* You see in this world there's 10 kinds of people my friend, those who
understand binary, and those who don't.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

LymanAlpha wrote:
> On 3/11/2005 5:50 PM Grackle brightened our day with:
>
>> "slartibartfast" <building@fjords.com> wrote in message
>> news:d0svob$af0$1@us23.unix.fas.harvard.edu...
>>
>>
>>> "Hank the Rapper" <xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
>>> news:T-OdnTm9LuTJeqzfRVn-pw@giganews.com...
>>>
>>>
>>>> sayNO2steam wrote:
>>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>> I'm not crazy.
>>>> You're the one that's crazy.
>>>> You're driving me crazy.
>>>> They stuck me in an institution.
>>>> Said it was the only solution.
>>>> To give me the needed professional help.
>>>> To protect me from the enemy--myself.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Can you get me a pepsi?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> He's crazy...normal people won't be acting that way!
>>
>>
>>
>>
> all he wanted was a Pepsi.

Yes, that's how we know he's crazy. A normal person would have asked for a
Coke.

--
Morgan.
----
* You see in this world there's 10 kinds of people my friend, those who
understand binary, and those who don't.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

> - introduction

Well this is the most amusing thing I've read in ages. Though the
crossposting more than marks him by a spammer. Stumbled today to the
mumblings of his, a fun read.

But - what Steam gives to me?
- The ability to own and play a wonderful game. Good enough for me

j.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)

>
> Can you get me a pepsi?
>
>
ahh can you make that a diet pepsi.. sitting on my ass playing this game has
made it rather big

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

sayNO2steam <sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> typed as if devouring a plate of
spoo:
>
> steam makes this all possible, cause it takes complete control over
> you and your personal gaming habits

I dunno, I still have 40-odd games that I can play without Steam, so I can't
say it takes control of my gaming habits!
Plus I still have a non-Steam install of HL1 and Opposing Force.

--
--
There is no spoon.

EvilBill - http://evilbill.50megs.com/index.html
My Quake2 FTP site: ftp://65.30.181.223/quake2/EvilBill/
Jack of Hearts of the Eeeevil Trek Cabal (TINC)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

Morgan Sales <msales.DIESPAMMER@ntlworld.com> typed as if devouring a
plate of spoo:
> LymanAlpha wrote:
>> On 3/11/2005 5:50 PM Grackle brightened our day with:
>>
>>> "slartibartfast" <building@fjords.com> wrote in message
>>> news:d0svob$af0$1@us23.unix.fas.harvard.edu...
>>>
>>>
>>>> "Hank the Rapper" <xflopgoon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:T-OdnTm9LuTJeqzfRVn-pw@giganews.com...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> sayNO2steam wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm not crazy.
>>>>> You're the one that's crazy.
>>>>> You're driving me crazy.
>>>>> They stuck me in an institution.
>>>>> Said it was the only solution.
>>>>> To give me the needed professional help.
>>>>> To protect me from the enemy--myself.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Can you get me a pepsi?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> He's crazy...normal people won't be acting that way!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> all he wanted was a Pepsi.
>
> Yes, that's how we know he's crazy. A normal person would have asked
> for a Coke.

I must be crazy too then

--
--
There is no spoon.

EvilBill - http://evilbill.50megs.com/index.html
My Quake2 FTP site: ftp://65.30.181.223/quake2/EvilBill/
Jack of Hearts of the Eeeevil Trek Cabal (TINC)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

EvilBill wrote:
>>> all he wanted was a Pepsi.
>>
>> Yes, that's how we know he's crazy. A normal person would have asked
>> for a Coke.
>
> I must be crazy too then

I think that goes without saying.

--
Morgan.
----
* Oh, God, no. Ugh. Did you know that having a hangover is... is not having
enough water in your body to run your krebs cycle? Which is exactly what
happens to you when you are dying of thirst. So, dying of thirst would
probably feel pretty much like the hangover that finally bloody kills you.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

Morgan Sales <msales.DIESPAMMER@ntlworld.com> typed as if devouring a
plate of spoo:
> EvilBill wrote:
>>>> all he wanted was a Pepsi.
>>>
>>> Yes, that's how we know he's crazy. A normal person would have
>>> asked for a Coke.
>>
>> I must be crazy too then
>
> I think that goes without saying.

Phack u ;-)

--
--
There is no spoon.

EvilBill - http://evilbill.50megs.com/index.html
My Quake2 FTP site: ftp://65.30.181.223/quake2/EvilBill/
Jack of Hearts of the Eeeevil Trek Cabal (TINC)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:41:46 +0000, sayNO2steam
<sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote:

>= what steam takes from you
>= by sayNO2steam
>= version 1.0
>
>- introduction

I won't claim to have all the information on Steam and what it
actually does, but something that causes that much ire in somemone
(And others as I've heard Steam criticized before) has me curious.

The only thing I remember/know about Steam was that it creates an
exact duplicate?? of your game installation in order to combat online
cheaters?

I would welcome something like that personally as I despise cheaters
with an unholy passion, but I would also be somewhat leery of what a
big and drastic change would mean for the future of FPS online gaming.

I could go on and on and offer up mere speculation and fears about
what Steam could spell for the future, but I won't. I would just like
to say that I wouldn't want to have to start paying a monthly fee to
play a FPS shooter multiplayer online. Granted for some it'd be worth
it (Rich sods! ), but it'd be a bitter pill for me to swallow
after not having to pay for it for so long.

I mean, is this where things could be reasonably extrapolated as
heading?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

Well written

> as long as fps multiplayer games rely on the public to create and
> maintain the game servers you won't see anyone charging a fee.

As long as stupid bastards (like me) make maps and run servers for the
pleasure of it I don't expect Valve to charge a fee for running Steam
They better not as this online thing will die a sudden death otherwise
:-]

On the other hand you might find hosting business offering eg powerfull
servers on huge bandwith for a monthly fee
That's quite natural and should be considered an internet service like
eg mailservers, webserver and other hosting business and is imho not a
bad thing

Lastly Steam could be a delivery platform for mod teams delivering top
of the art addons for HL2 and acquire a payment for these addons
Only time will tell

> mmporpg require a fee to maintain their servers (and make a profit).

The difference here is that it's a company running an service and
adding new content on regularly basis
This comes with a price - like mailserver, webservers etc

rgds

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On 4/22/2005 9:28 AM Blabbus Blabbibicus brightened our day with:

>On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:41:46 +0000, sayNO2steam
><sayNO2steam@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>>= what steam takes from you
>>= by sayNO2steam
>>= version 1.0
>>
>>- introduction
>>
>>
>
>I won't claim to have all the information on Steam and what it
>actually does, but something that causes that much ire in somemone
>(And others as I've heard Steam criticized before) has me curious.
>
>The only thing I remember/know about Steam was that it creates an
>exact duplicate?? of your game installation in order to combat online
>cheaters?
>
>I would welcome something like that personally as I despise cheaters
>with an unholy passion, but I would also be somewhat leery of what a
>big and drastic change would mean for the future of FPS online gaming.
>
>I could go on and on and offer up mere speculation and fears about
>what Steam could spell for the future, but I won't. I would just like
>to say that I wouldn't want to have to start paying a monthly fee to
>play a FPS shooter multiplayer online. Granted for some it'd be worth
>it (Rich sods! ), but it'd be a bitter pill for me to swallow
>after not having to pay for it for so long.
>
>I mean, is this where things could be reasonably extrapolated as
>heading?
>
>
not at all, and the information you think you have is wrong. steam
doesn't make any duplicates. it's a content delivery as well as an
authentication system. most people who complain about it are whiny nut
jobs. Like any internet service, it isn't perfect, it can screw up from
time to time and be annoying. the worst thing that can usually happen
is you can't log in, you can't update and for some reason it won't let
you play offline, i'm guessing that can happen, it might have happened
to me once, but I didn't really pay attention, just tried again a couple
hours later and everything was fine. their also might be a minuscule
amount of people who had their accounts disabled because of a glitch and
through no fault of there own, that might have happened even to upwards
of a 1000 people, people with legitimate beefs eventually had their
situations rectified by Valve. On the other hand there were tens of
thousands of accounts disabled for people trying to cheat Valve
(actually they were disabled because the people were idiots who didn't
know how to cover their asses), they got what they deserved, yet still
whine about it.

as long as fps multiplayer games rely on the public to create and
maintain the game servers you won't see anyone charging a fee. mmporpg
require a fee to maintain their servers (and make a profit).

--
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.

Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
www.inglostadt.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On 22 Apr 2005 11:29:34 -0700, "Peter [AGHL]" <peter.aghl@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Well written
>
>> as long as fps multiplayer games rely on the public to create and
>> maintain the game servers you won't see anyone charging a fee.
>
>As long as stupid bastards (like me) make maps and run servers for the
>pleasure of it I don't expect Valve to charge a fee for running Steam
>They better not as this online thing will die a sudden death otherwise
>:-]

heh..I didn't even think about that. DOH! Of course its the thousands
of cool people hosting servers with their time and money who make FPS
multiplaying game a reality and it'd be a stupid software developer
that tried to highjack their servers.

Still though, I wouldn't doubt it for a second that Valve would be
interested in having such a system up and running.

Hmmm..what if they paid people who run servers to run their servers
(As you mentioned)? I can easily imagine a system where they'd pay
servers for the amount of traffic/users they attract and maybe sign
them up to run a certain gametype or mod. Hmm...interesting...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 17:39:27 GMT, LymanAlpha <ioo@??.¿¿¿> wrote:


>not at all, and the information you think you have is wrong. steam
>doesn't make any duplicates. it's a content delivery as well as an
>authentication system. most people who complain about it are whiny nut
>jobs. Like any internet service, it isn't perfect, it can screw up from
>time to time and be annoying. the worst thing that can usually happen
>is you can't log in, you can't update and for some reason it won't let
>you play offline, i'm guessing that can happen, it might have happened
>to me once, but I didn't really pay attention, just tried again a couple
>hours later and everything was fine. their also might be a minuscule
>amount of people who had their accounts disabled because of a glitch and
>through no fault of there own, that might have happened even to upwards
>of a 1000 people, people with legitimate beefs eventually had their
>situations rectified by Valve. On the other hand there were tens of
>thousands of accounts disabled for people trying to cheat Valve
>(actually they were disabled because the people were idiots who didn't
>know how to cover their asses), they got what they deserved, yet still
>whine about it.

I can see how that would be annoying, esp. if all the multiplayer
games you played were Half Life mods.

But if didn't happen more often than the usual old Valve
authentication screwups I probably wouldn't mind...well..not that
much.

I'm not sure about the not being able to play offline bit. "That*
would probably rile me up and get me questioning whether it was worth
it or not; as would disc copy protection that intereferred with the
game I was playing.

Oh well...I'll leave it all to when I get Half Life 2.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

[SNIP]
> I can see how that would be annoying, esp. if all the multiplayer
> games you played were Half Life mods.
>
> But if didn't happen more often than the usual old Valve
> authentication screwups I probably wouldn't mind...well..not that
> much.
>
> I'm not sure about the not being able to play offline bit. "That*
> would probably rile me up and get me questioning whether it was worth
> it or not; as would disc copy protection that intereferred with the
> game I was playing.
>
> Oh well...I'll leave it all to when I get Half Life 2.

As someone who has been using steam since cs1.6, I can say without a
doubt, that I have had a grand total of 25 minutes since cs1.6 was
released that I have not been able to connect. And I normally play
about an hour or so a day of CS1.6/Source or Natural Selection via
steam a day, since then, so you can judge how reliable it is for
yourself.

Regarding Offline play, you can do that as long as you have logged
into steam at least once. You can even play Counter Strike Source with
bots offline, and having done this on various train journies, it
creates zero hassle. Since I can be switching computers often, and
travel a lot, it is a simple case of me copying the steam folder over
(Copied to a trusty DVD), and logon via the hotels net
connection/phoneline then logout to play against bots.

The default bots are quite good and actually talk to you, E.g "Bombs
at A" Etc, and are of higher quality than most public server players.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,alt.games.half-life (More info?)

> The default bots are quite good and actually talk to you,
> E.g "Bombs at A" Etc, and are of higher quality than
> most public server players.

You have probably nailed the problem with this comment of yours ...
Well put and very well written

Cheers