It is bullshit tho. I feel like for how massive these libraries are, I should be able to do that. Even if it requires a death certificate to make the transfer.
This is what steam is: a lesser form of ownership in exchange for the perks of the platform. I’ve come to prefer physical media first, DRM free second, and steam third. It’s just not as good of a value proposition to me compared to outright ownership (of the license to use the software, I know we don’t own “the game”).
Physical media today isn’t really much better though, increasingly frequently all a disk gets you is a license to activate a digital copy anyways, with a “must be online for first play” requirement.
I’m curious what recent games you’ve been able to purchase physical copies of that ran without updating or validating using the internet. I didn’t know any publishers still did that, at least not on PC.
I admittedly don’t buy many games lately, especially not from the big budget crowd. BG3 seems to run fine without internet, as do Sea of Stars and Noita.
Add it to the list of ethical circumstances for piracy.
In fact, for the titles I cared about, I would contact the studio/publisher themselves, explain the situation, send a death cert and a steam account, and see if they would allow a transfer or grant a new key. If not…they’re part of the problem.
Or give them the password. They aren’t going to check if your still alive.
It is bullshit tho. I feel like for how massive these libraries are, I should be able to do that. Even if it requires a death certificate to make the transfer.
This is what steam is: a lesser form of ownership in exchange for the perks of the platform. I’ve come to prefer physical media first, DRM free second, and steam third. It’s just not as good of a value proposition to me compared to outright ownership (of the license to use the software, I know we don’t own “the game”).
Physical media today isn’t really much better though, increasingly frequently all a disk gets you is a license to activate a digital copy anyways, with a “must be online for first play” requirement.
That’s exactly how I ended up with a steam account. Bought a Civ V cd and the game isn’t on the cd, just an installer for steam and a key.
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It’s sadly true. I have been lucky so far, but I know one day I’ll accidentally give money to a developer who does this
I’m curious what recent games you’ve been able to purchase physical copies of that ran without updating or validating using the internet. I didn’t know any publishers still did that, at least not on PC.
I admittedly don’t buy many games lately, especially not from the big budget crowd. BG3 seems to run fine without internet, as do Sea of Stars and Noita.
No, you don’t own the copyright, but you do own your individual copy. Don’t fall for the “licensed, not sold” self-serving propaganda.
I added the caveat simply because I didn’t want to get into it
Add it to the list of ethical circumstances for piracy.
In fact, for the titles I cared about, I would contact the studio/publisher themselves, explain the situation, send a death cert and a steam account, and see if they would allow a transfer or grant a new key. If not…they’re part of the problem.
I guarantee that you’ll get crickets for 99% of those emails
Yeah, but I would say trying to contact is the right thing to do here before pirating.
At the end of the day steam is also selling licenses not games. They might be the least diabolical shop around but copyright laws still apply.