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A Bunch Of Stuff About Hl2


Rottenberry

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First of all, I am very pissed off at this steam thing. Basically, if one error occurs on steam, you can't run any of the bloody games. This has sadly occured to me. Now I can't play any of the games because steam wont open even though I have a connection to the internet, my firewall is allowing it through, I have no programs like KaZaA or whatever people use running, nothing. I read the troubleshooting, nothing helpful. This has gotten me SO damn mad at this game. I mean, Jesus. I might have to try to re-install steam now! Which brings me to another topic! THE DAMN LONG INSTALL TIME FOR HALF LIFE 2. OK, FIRST OF ALL, YOU NEED TO INSTALL THE GAME FROM THE CD, WHICH ISNT SO BAD, BUT THEN, YOU NEED TO DECRYPT THE FILES OR SOMETHING FROM STEAM, WHICH TAKES FUCKING YEARS!!!! JESUS, WHEN HALF LIFE 3 COMES OUT I SERIOUSLY HOPE THAT THEY DONT TANGLE STEAM AND THE GAME SO TIGHTLY TOGETHER SO THAT THERE IS NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE BUT TO USE STEAM! By the way, heres the error I get whenever I try to start up steam,

 

Connection Error

Could not connect to the Steam Network

It appears that you are not currently connected to the internet, or that your internet connection is not configuired correctly for Steam. Either check your internet connection or click 'Retry', or start steam in offline mode.

 

WELL THATS A LOAD OF CRAP. FIRST OFF, MY CONNECTION IS STABLE, I READ THE TROUBLESHOOTING, I HAVE NO EXTRA PROGRAMS LIKE XFIRE, MSN, KAZAA, OR ANYTHING RUNNING. SECONDLY, MY INTERNET IS CONNECTED, BECAUSE RIGHT AFTER THIS MESSAGE I OPEN UP INTERNET EXPLORER AND IT WORKS. THIRDLY, MY INTERNET IS CONFIGUIRED FOR STEAM TO RUN, OR ELSE MY FIRE WALL WOULD POP UP A FRIGGIN WARNING!

 

Now, for another long part of this article. A small Half Life 2 review (I don't want to spend too much time writing this as its pretty late over here and I'm heading off to bed after this). Personally, I hate it when crazy half life 2 fans say that half life 2 graphics are better than Doom 3 graphics. Thats insane, just read the intro to the article comparing the 2 engines over at http://www.devmaster.net/articles/source-vs-doom3/ It clearly states at the top "To give you an idea of how weird it is to see people comparing a Valve engine to an id engine, consider that without id, Valve probably wouldn't be in existence. Gabe Newell left Microsoft and went into game development after he talked to the id development team and saw what they were doing. Even more ironic is that Half-Life used the Quake licensed engine from id. Now these are the top engines out there and something no other game will be able to top for a couple of years (Unreal Engine 3). Here's a comparison of each engine, not game, in each critical area of game development"Ok, another thing I dont understand is why people are going all nuts about the AI. I didn't notice anything too friggin special. They didnt run for cover or anything when I came charging with a shotgun. They just stood there all lined up going "Huh?". Same as when I threw a gernade, I'd hear them yell "Gernade!" but they hardly ever lifted a foot to get out of the way. Make no mistake, Half life 2 is pretty great to look at, as is Doom 3. The gameplay in Half Life 2 is decent enough, but Half Life 2 is the only game where I stopped playing for at least a week or 2 when I got to the middle because i got bored. I have never done this, for any game I have ever bought. The physics however, wow, I had a great deal of fun with that. I would always be jumping on barrels, lifting bricks up, throwing them in water. That was fun. I felt that the weapon choices were a bit limited though. I hardly ever used the crossbow, I mostly just used that Super Rifle gun thing. When that ran out of ammo, I would use the shotgun, and when that ran out of ammo, I would use that Smg Thing. The gravity gun was a pretty great addition though. Well If your still reading this, it either means you are EXTREMLY bored, have no life, or just, I dont know... sick or something, BUT PLEASE, CAN ANYBODY HELP ME WITH MY FUCKING PROBLEM IN OPENING STEAM!?!?!?

 

By the way, out of ten, I would give Half Life 2 a 7.8 or something around there... I wonder if any Half Life 2 pcyco fans will find themselves to this post and spaz out at me...

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1. The long install for HL2 *does* suck.

 

2. I dislike Steam for the facts that (1) I feel violated every time it notices I don't have an internet connection, (2) I need to use their stupid interface to tell it which game I want to play (otherwise I risk Deathmatch opening up instead of HL2 when I click the HL2 icon), (3) it took FOREVER to get the game activated even though I have cable modem, (4) the Steam app is always running, (5) it's pretending to do me a favor when in fact its ruining my gaming life. The last thing I need is 10 little icons in the lower-left of my computer in the future, one for each game manufacturer I have installed on my machine. (6) The gravity gun doesn't pick up bodies and fling them around like the early movies indicated you'd be able to do.

 

3. I didn't really notice the AI in HL2 either. It didn't seem all that special. Enemies *would* just stand there and shoot you. Thief games still have it over all other games with respect to AI, imo.

 

3. I like HL2'd graphix, but D3's are great too. I've heard D3's graphix are actually better, but HL2 gives the appearance of good graphix because of superb level design and artwork.

 

4. I like HL2, but as soon as I finish the game, I plan to uninstall it ASAP to get rid of Steam.

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Since you bought Half Life 2, that is really your problem. I can't understand why people buy this crap. There can be no game SO GOOD that I would put up with this. But as long as people pay for getting their rights cut up in pieces, there will nothing change. The only chance, we as consumers have, is to leave this shit in the bins until it rots. But it is enough for a company to throw in some eye candy and some physics and the kiddies go all "WOW! I MUST have this!" and buy it. Applying a crack is not really a solution. The only thing that works is, let it rot in the shop until Valve realises that customers will not put up with it.

 

Because what will happen now, since HL2 already sold quite well, is that Valve will fix the "problems" by improving the cage that you paid them for to get it.

Gerhard

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Good point. Though what I did'nt add into the rest of my previous post was that I bought the game, played it, finished it, returned it. That's right. Damn straight!!! :P . Was amazing that the shopkeeper took it back, though the reason would've been cos I actually got Doom3 as an exchange.

 

DIE STEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I knew Sparhawk would chime in :) He hates Steam more than any person I know. Although I hate Steam for what they've done, my hope is that they will learn their lesson from the public discontent and not do this again. This is still possible.

 

But it is enough for a company to throw in some eye candy and some physics and the kiddies go all "WOW! I MUST have this!"

So how did you end up with Doom 3? Certainly it wasn't for the repetitive gameplay. HL2 has more gameplay value and satisfaction to it than Doom 3 does. Though both titles suffer a bit from repetitive gameplay, Doom 3 does more, IMO. Especially with the claustrophobic environments the whole time. If graphics weren't part of the game buying decision process, we'd all still be playing Lode Runner with 2-D sprites. Graphics aren't everything, but they can play a role; especially if all the other ducks are in a row. HL2 looked immersive to me from the beautiful physics and effects, coupled with what looked to be a great FPS title. As did Doom 3. In the end, though, I feel HL2 is a better game than Doom3.

 

I have a feeling Steam will not be looked at as an example of where other game makers will go.

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I knew Sparhawk would chime in :)  He hates Steam more than any person I know.

 

I don't hate Steam, I hate what they do to the consumers right, and how gladly pay for getting their rights chopped to pieces. How stupid must one be for that? If a guy hits you in the face and offers you with his other hand 3 Euros you would glady accept it and ask him to hit you again.

 

Although I hate Steam for what they've done, my hope is that they will learn their lesson from the public discontent and not do this again.  This is still possible.

 

HA HA HA! You don't really believe this do you? You know what they care for "public discontent"? Where is the disctontent? It doesn't exist. As long as the numbers are saying otherwise, "public disctontent" is non-existing. You know what happened when Schuessel (in Austria) invited the right wing party into the goverment? There were protests and demonstrations all over Austria going on for weeks and even months. And what did it cause? Nothing? They did what every good politician is always doing in such a case. They are sitting it through until the first hubhub dies down and after this nobody cares any longer. Now guess what the strategy for big companies is when they want to introduce new unpopular fetatures. Right! They do the same. They will fix the technical problems, so they can say "What do you complain? It works flawlessly with thousands of happy customers and unless you are a pirate you don't have any issues with it. Are you a pirate for complaining about this?"

 

And you might read Goebbels diaries, because there are some very intersting thoughts on democracy in there. He is basically saying the same what I wrote above. They don't give a damn about "protests" or complaints, because this doesn't hurt. You just wait until it dies down and then go on with what you intended all along.

 

So how did you end up with Doom 3?  Certainly it wasn't for the repetitive gameplay.  HL2 has more gameplay value and satisfaction to it than Doom 3 does.

 

So what? I anxiously waited for HL2 but I didn't buy it and I never will. I wouldn't buy it even if it were the only game in the world, because I prefer to have no game then letting me blackmail from these companies.

 

If graphics weren't part of the game buying decision process, we'd all still be playing Lode Runner with 2-D sprites.  Graphics aren't everything, but they can play a role; especially if all the other ducks are in a row.  HL2 looked immersive to me from the beautiful physics and effects, coupled with what looked to be a great FPS title.  As did Doom 3.  In the end, though, I feel HL2 is a better game than Doom3.

 

And what has that got to do with Steam? Nothing! That's exactly the point! You are talking as if you were a sales rep from Valve. Sidetracking on issues that are totally unrelated to the facts. Nobody ever argued about which gameplay is better. There is no doubt about it. The argument is not gameplay it is consumer rights, but you keep on repeating propaganda as if you were paid by Valve.

 

I have a feeling Steam will not be looked at as an example of where other game makers will go.

 

So? Given the success that HL2 had, you can expect exactly the opposite. because, as long as there is enough eye candy in there the kids will pay for their own prison. Just have a few minutes fun. And afterwards they start complaining and whinning "But we never wanted this and why are they so cruel?"

 

And as Oddity correctly pointed out. It doesn't even stop pirates, but it cuts your consumer rights, one piece after the other.

Gerhard

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Yup, they may as well just give up trying to combat piracy. Nothing will ever work. Even hardware protection, where you need sonmeting like a dongle attached to your comp to run the software doesn't work, since pirates eiter bypass it, or create a software emulation of the hardware.

People who want to buy software will buy it, and people who want to use a pirate version will do so.

Why they bother wasting their time coming up with all these fancy protections, and pissing of their legitimate loyal customers is a mystery.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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You don't get the point. Combating piracy is not the real goal. It is a sideeffect. It is getting control over the people and what they will accept what is important. If they accept Steam now, they will accept a small fee as well in the next step. And there are all kind of good reasons. "You do understand that operating the servers is cost intensive and if you want us to continue creating high profile games you need to pay a little bit. And after all one dollar per game is not THAT much? You can even get the big great offer to pay only 20 dollar per month and you can play your single player game as often as you like it. And for <just> 10 dollars more, you can even play the multiplayer games instead of paying the full price. Now isn't that an offer?"

Gerhard

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Anyone who would fall for that ploy deserves to pay the $10 extra. A good business stratagem - unless they get too greedy and even the dumbest of people start to catch on.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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I'm not endorsing piracy, but IMO people should warez HL2 just to learn Valve a lesson. There's no steam in the pirated version. (Yay)

 

Someone said that demonstrating doesn't help. Well, it's not just a matter of demonstrating that's important, it's HOW you demonstrate. Or one could rather call it going on strike. Refuse to pay for Half Life2 and warez it, it may sting a bit. But you'll not be forced to use steam.

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Alright, just throwin' my two bits worth in here....

 

Granted, the Steam thing is a pain in the ass and many people were disappointed by the game itself. Who wouldn't be after all of the hype that was published and built up over the past few years waiting for it. But, you must realize that making a warez version of HL2 is still stealing. If we want to teach them a lesson simply sit this one out and don't buy it.... If it's so terrible then don't play the game and, at the same time, let your conscience sleep well at night.

 

I say this because I know what it feels like to have work stolen from me. You pour your heart and soul into something, whether it be artwork, coding, music, anything, and someone says, "you know, I don't think it's very good, so I'm going to just steal it...." Where is the sense in that? Why is it worth the risk of stealing it if it isn't a good experience?

 

That's about as intelligent as the idiots who boycotted French winemakers when the whole American war in Iraq started. "We're going to boycott French wine by buying it and pouring it all down the drain in front of a cameraman." Hmmm, nice point. The winemakers still got their money and all the protest did was make fools out of those people as they were trying to make their point heard. Even if they had stolen it instead of buying it originally, the insurance companies would have recovered the price of the wine and more would have been shipped. (Granted, not exactly the same for a software company)

 

Then, the real boycott happened and everyone just quit buying the wine. Guess what? That actually worked... The French winemakers are now having to convert their wine stock into industrial grade alcohol to try to limit supplies enough so that there might actually be a demand for it. Now they can't give it away..... Australian and Californian wines have taken over now. They offered a better product (again, general opinions.... which is better? HL2 or D3? general opinion) for the same or less cost and the customers were more satisfied.

 

Take a lesson from what happened here (believe me, *nothing* meant against the French at all, just using a fresh example for demonstration) and see that money talks, not piracy. It is plain and simple business.

 

Which would affect a person more? Stealing their clothes so that they simply miss them and then go buy more while you get stuck with used clothes, or walking up to them and telling them how incredibly stupid they look in their choice of clothing and having all of their friends boycott them? One is a short term solution that only causes more business in other areas: i.e. person doesn't have clothes so person goes and buys more clothes. And the other is a personal attack that the person would actually have to listen to if they wanted to stay "in the game." Change or die!

 

The same thing for a software manufacturer.... Steal the games and you will eventually have to buy CDs onto which you can burn the games.... keep up the piracy and the taxes on CD-R & DVD blanks will increase so that software manufacturers may recoup some of their money.... the music industry is already doing this!!! (If it can be recorded on it *must* be used for piracy!!!) The other method tells the company *exactly* what it needs to hear. "We want a better product! If it's not worth stealing then it's not worth making..." Right???? But, if everyone is so keen to illegally download it then Valve *must* be doing something right, so they will continue to do exactly the same thing.....

 

Enough jabbering... Just my two bits worth.... take them for what they are worth...

 

But, I must agree that Valve must make good on its customer support and do away with Steam distribution system and go back to good old CD/DVD distros with no extra hidden software or fees. Give the consumer back their rights. If you pay for it, IT'S YOURS!!!!! and you have every right to complain or bitch if it doesn't get fixed. In this case I'd say buy the game and then get the patch for it. There is nothing illegal in that unless there is some statement in the EULA tha forbids this patching system.

Edited by saxmeister

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."- Frank Zappa

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HA HA HA! You don't really believe this do you?

Do I believe anything is possible? Yes. I didn't say what I felt the percentage possibility of it happening was; I merely said it was my "hope." There was public discontent and outcry of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Superbowl and now look where the FCC has gone. They're having fun censoring and fining everything and everyone. So, you see, public discontent can work both ways.

 

And you might read Goebbels diaries

I would love to. Sounds interesting.

 

They don't give a damn about "protests" or complaints, because this doesn't hurt. You just wait until it dies down and then go on with what you intended all along.

I dunno. Parents complained about video games being too vioent for their kids, so manufacturers had to put ESRB ratings on them. Same with sex and/or violence in TV shows. There's public discontent over how forceful police are sometimes, and they're forced to change their ways.

 

And what has that got to do with Steam? Nothing! That's exactly the point! You are talking as if you were a sales rep from Valve. Sidetracking on issues that are totally unrelated to the facts. Nobody ever argued about which gameplay is better. There is no doubt about it. The argument is not gameplay it is consumer rights, but you keep on repeating propaganda as if you were paid by Valve.

I was providing reasoning as to why I have HL2 because you made this comment: "But it is enough for a company to throw in some eye candy and some physics and the kiddies go all "WOW! I MUST have this!" and buy it." My argument wasn't sidetracking anything. You basically implied I was a google-eyed kid for choosing HL2, when in fact you must be too for buying Doom3 (assuming you bought it pre-DarkMod.) I'm just stating facts; I'm no sales rep. If Id's Doom3 was the funner game, I'd have to problem saying so. In order to play HL2 legitimately, I need to have Steam installed. That's another reason why I brought it up. I must admit I didn't know Steam and Valve were two unrelated, separate entities until now. (I guess they are?) Regardless, I brought the gameplay points up because I buy games to have fun.

 

It doesn't even stop pirates, but it cuts your consumer rights, one piece after the other.

C'est la vie. I pay higher prices for clothes, electronics and everything else because of people who steal. I'm also sometimes inconvenienced and embarrassed when retailers don't properly deactivate alarms in clothes after I buy them and the buzzer goes off. I'm automatically labeled as a thief. They watch me like a hawk as I'm shopping for clothes and watch me in the dressing room, all to combat theft. How is computer software any different? They're implementing controls to try and combat piracy. Even though they won't work, they might thwart (or catch) some. That's, I guess, what it's all about. I feel Steam's attempts at combatting piracy is too intrusive and that people will let their feelings be known and they may change their methods of operation. Seems like some Intel Pentium chip from a couple years back had something in it that secretly sent personal information from a person's computer over the internet to Intel. There was public outcry and they were forced to change their ways.

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I dunno.  Parents complained about video games being too vioent for their kids, so manufacturers had to put ESRB ratings on them.  Same with sex and/or violence in TV shows.  There's public discontent over how forceful police are sometimes, and they're forced to change their ways.

 

Sure. Sex is decreasing because there is enough of a stupid lobby that thinks sex is bad. Violence in TV is increasing though. Why? Because it seels just as well as sex. And in America it seems to be the case that, while sex is something ugly and nasty, it is still good to be violent. Because being viloent doesn't mean hat you are viloent it means that you are a strong healthy American, and if you can even use a gun and are not afraid to use it, you are even more an upright good American. Not one of those nasty ugly beasts doing some sex.

 

You basically implied I was a google-eyed kid for choosing HL2, when in fact you must be too for buying Doom3 (assuming you bought it pre-DarkMod.)

 

I would have bought HL2 just as well. I did NOT buy it for exactly ONE reason, and that is Steam.

 

And I didn't buy Doom 3 because it is such a cool game. Quite on the contrary. I also bought it because of one reason. Because at the time when Doom 1 and 2 came out I had not that much money and copying was not illegal so I got copies of Doom and played it a lot and had fun from it. Since then I have changed my mind a lot and I usually buy all the games that are worth buying, while at the same time I'm no longer interested in getting warez. I even bought all the software for my machine, that I regularly use which includes some expensive bits like Visual Studio Enterprise and SoftICE. The major change that I went through is, that I no longer install all the crap that I get, instead I select very carefully what I buy and what I install, because 99% of the software is crap anway and I never used it. So there is no point in having the newest and 3771 software on my machine when all can do with it is tell my equally 3771 budies that I have this great thing. And I bought D3 only because I thought to give ID something back, and I had bought D3 even if it were the worst game on the planet for that reason. As it turned out it is one of the worst games, but at the same time I got some fun back through the modding, so it's even now.

 

In order to play HL2 legitimately, I need to have Steam installed.  That's another reason why I brought it up.

 

Yeah. That's exactly my point. You accept the loss of rights as long as you are given enough fun in return. That is what I said. It doesn't matter if you get your "fun" from the eye candy graphics, or from the gameplay. Bottom line is still what I said initially. As long as they give you something to google over you gladly accept such things as Steam, while at the same time complaining about it. The responsible thing to do is to NOT buy this and forget about the fun in favour of keeping your rights. At least that is my opinion. And I'm well aware that warzing doesn't help because this will trigger exactly the opposite. So the only thing to do is to hurt them where they can be hurt, and this is with salesnumbers.

 

C'est la vie.  I pay higher prices for clothes, electronics and everything else because of people who steal.

 

That's crap and you probably know it. If there that much money lost just because of stealing, these companies would long be out of bunsines. You don't really believe that everybody compensates for that? There are much more numbers in the equation then just stealing, but this shows nicely how well the propaganda works. If companies claim loudn and long enough that they have to raise their prices because of stealing, then everybody buys it without thinking.

 

I'm also sometimes inconvenienced and embarrassed when retailers don't properly deactivate alarms in clothes after I buy them and the buzzer goes off.  I'm automatically labeled as a thief.  They watch me like a hawk as I'm shopping for clothes and watch me in the dressing room, all to combat theft.

 

Why do you care? I mean. It's just for the greater good, so you should be happy that you are observed every minute you enter a shop. This should give you the wamr and cozy feeling that you are on the right side. Personally I prefer an atmosphere where I can stay in a shop as long as like, looking at their stuff, without fear of being accused a thief or treated like one just in case.

 

Seems like some Intel Pentium chip from a couple years back had something in it that secretly sent personal information from a person's computer over the internet to Intel.  There was public outcry and they were forced to change their ways.

 

They didn't change their ways. This is still in there. But it was done more in silence now so that the public outcry will not happen again. And the next round is coming and already in the planning. And if you had observed this, then you would have noticed the strategies they employed t cover it better.

TCPA got to much public attention. What happened? The renamed it to soemthing that is much harder to memorize. What you can't pronounce is harder to talk about. And the public hubhub has already subsisded a lot and the frist machines are already sold without much of a hassle. So much fro your "public disconsent" having any effect.

Gerhard

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Why not do the semi legal course of action? Buy the game, but download the warez version so you can avoid Steam.

And what exactly would that change? As soon as you bought your copy you are giving Valve the message "It's ok. I want to be chained by yo as long as give me candy, so please continue."

 

You can dowlonad 300.000 illegal copies after that and it wouldn't change anything.

Gerhard

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Though Spar, it's important to note that Valve was bit in the ass by their own program, cos all of the warez versions of HL2 were downloaded through the Steam servers (or most). So that will make them take 1 of 2 courses of action: 1: They say stuff this crap, and go back to normal, or 2: Shit! They hacked us! Ok people, I think we need to tighten the grip.

 

Either way, I still think that it is in fact very cruel to the loyal customers that actually DO buy the game and are so inconvenienced by Steam, cos the people that don't pay a cent for it get much more pleasure out of it cos they don't need to update the motherf***er.

 

In fact, here are some points on steam:

*Steam chucks all valve games into a single folder

*Everytime you startup, steam starts and (most of the time) updates itself)

*Steam runs in "silent" mode (meaning that it will not show up in task manager)

*If Steam detects a CounterStrike Source cheat or trainer on your pc, it automatically disables your CD-Key, hence preventing you from playing HL2 or CSS

*It has happened to 2 or 3 people that their CD-Key was invalid when they bought HL2 cos someone else had downloaded a CD-Key generator and (unluckily enough) got that CD-Key

*The last point (and the most important one) is that Steam is the gayest-piece-of-shit that came into this world, and it's creators shot be lined up and shot.....well........spanked.

 

So there you have it folks, why Steam is gay.

 

Last thing:

The most effective way to reduce piracy is to reduce the price ;) . Though you'll always get pirates (in fact, in Asia, 93% of games are pirated), and there is nothing that can ever prevent it.

 

But on the lines of Steam Spar, I'm with you 100% ;)

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*It has happened to 2 or 3 people that their CD-Key was invalid when they bought HL2 cos someone else had downloaded a CD-Key generator and (unluckily enough) got that CD-Key

You can get quite easily access to a valid key. Just go in a real big shop where the clerks have no clue what they sell, then open a CD and write down the code. Or even better. Just photograph it woth your handy. Takes probalby less then a minute all in all and the guy who buys it is screwed because Valve will know that he is the bad guy for giving his key away and rightfully disabling his key.

Gerhard

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You can get quite easily access to a valid key. Just go in a real big shop where the clerks have no clue what they sell, then open a CD and write down the code. Or even better. Just photograph it woth your handy. Takes probalby less then a minute all in all and the guy who buys it is screwed because Valve will know that he is the bad guy for giving his key away and rightfully disabling his key.

LOL - true ;)

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That's crap and you probably know it.  You don't really believe that everybody compensates for that?

You don't think there are any industries out there that lose millions or billions a year from theft? If they didn't lose that money, they'd be less inclined to raise their prices as they'd have no losses to recoup.

 

Why do you care? I mean. It's just for the greater good, so you should be happy that you are observed every minute you enter a shop.

This contradicts your whole argument against Steam. Why do you care if Steam attempts to prevent piracy? It's just for the greater good, so you should be happy that you have to activate your account with Steam. ;)

 

So much fro your "public disconsent" having any effect.

You got me. There has absolutely never been one occasion in the history of the world where "public discontent" has ever worked. Everyone, save your energy now. There's no need to ever express dissatisfaction. The inertia of business and politics will just bowl you over.

 

And in America it seems to be the case that, while sex is something ugly and nasty, it is still good to be violent. Because being viloent doesn't mean hat you are viloent it means that you are a strong healthy American, and if you can even use a gun and are not afraid to use it, you are even more an upright good American. Not one of those nasty ugly beasts doing some sex.

Talk about propaganda. Who's feeding you this? Have you ever been to America?

 

You seem to be somewhat of a conspiracy theorist: "Don't believe the lies!" I can understand being cautious or pessimistic about this stuff, but don't let it ruin your life. Be more active about your discontent for it. Rather than just "not buy" the product, write them a letter and explain your frustration. That would be more visible. Oh, but wait, that would just fall on deaf ears since expressing public discontent is pointless. The inertia of intrusive gaming (Steam) has begun!

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You don't think there are any industries out there that lose millions or billions a year from theft?  If they didn't lose that money, they'd be less inclined to raise their prices as they'd have no losses to recoup.

 

Sure. Do you still believe in Santa Claus as well? Guess what happened when CDs were introduced. Nobody could copy them for quite some time but there was no drop in game prices. You know why? Because they claimed that the development prices are so high so that they had to take the extra fee to put out much better games. If they can make more money out of it they will simply take it. You don't really believe that they will lower prices if there were no pirates? The only thing that will cause prices to drop is if other games would take over the market they want to reach, because they need to compete with them.

 

This contradicts your whole argument against Steam.  Why do you care if Steam attempts to prevent piracy?  It's just for the greater good, so you should be happy that you have to activate your account with Steam.  ;)

 

That was meant to be sarcastic. I certainly don't hold the position that "the greater cause" will warrant any action to enforce it. That's usually the claim of people like Bush, or companies who want have more control like Valve. Funnily enough Vlave is rather closely related with Microsoft, which is also not exactly know for their care for the customers rights. :)

 

You got me.  There has absolutely never been one occasion in the history of the world where "public discontent" has ever worked.  Everyone, save your energy now.  There's no need to ever express dissatisfaction.  The inertia of business and politics will just bowl you over.

 

Public disconsent worls only where public opinion really counts. And also only then if there are enough voices raised which would matter. Obviously this is not the case, because despite the many complaints about Steam people buy like crazy, which means that they are happy with Steam. They pay to get this and they get it. So they shouldn't complain either, bnecause they get what they pay for. If Steam locks them out of their legally bought games, then they shouldn't complan because this is what they payed for. This is what Steam is designed to do, and what it doesn, and obvsioulsy it seems to work quite well, otherwise there wouldn't be so many complainers.

 

You seem to be somewhat of a conspiracy theorist: "Don't believe the lies!"  I can understand being cautious or pessimistic about this stuff, but don't let it ruin your life.

 

So far my "conspiracies" seem to be turning out quite well. Let's see. When they built the Berlin wall there was one famous quote which seems to fit very often. From one of the people in charge at that time "Nobody wants to build a wall here." IMO that was said a few weeks before they started to build it. Now in Germany there was a toll system introduced for trucks ONLY which didn't work out to well in the beginning. I was of the opinion that this automatic observation system (which it is) will be not only used for toll collection, it will also be used for private cars and other purposes in the end. Now let's see. The system was not even in place when a politician already "thought loud" about using it for *UH!* private cars! Wow! What a conspiracy guy I am for thinking. And now guess what. They are even thinking to use this system for the police, because it is perfectly suited for it. All for the greater good of course. A few days ago a guy was murdered in Munich who was kind of popular there (or at least he was made popular). So they found out his murder about three days later because it happened that they had a DNA registered from him from som earlier testing. When I heard that news I said to my wife that this will now be used to level DNA analysis on a much broader scale into the police methods. And guess what. Not even one hour later when I heard the next news, they already "thought" about using more DNA analysis.

 

Now lets read the EULA from Valve. There are some reall niceties in there. For example that they can introduce or change fees whenever they like without you having a say into it. Well, that is not even legal in Germany, but that's not the issue right now. Now tell me. Why do they write something like this into the EULA? Because they accidently put it there? And guess what happens to your SINGLE player games. That stuff, they shouldn't have a claim about fees and such crap because what fee could they mean when you just want to play a single player game (like I usually do)?

 

Oh, but wait, that would just fall on deaf ears since expressing public discontent is pointless.  The inertia of intrusive gaming (Steam) has begun!

 

Seeing what success HL2 had in terms of sales this would indeed be pointless. Because what I would get (if I would get anything) is a standard form saying something like "We apologize for any inconvenience but you must anderstand that the evil pirates force us to take such harsh actions and we do everything that we can to make your gaming experience more pleasurable nevertheless. blablabla".

 

More likely I will not get any answer though.

Gerhard

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