this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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Games

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Steam keeps on winning (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 10 months ago by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Okay, but:

  • that can change at any time if Valve bothers to patch it
  • it's technically piracy
  • it takes effort the average person isn't going to do

DRM-free avoids that, hence why GOG has value.

[–] 520@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

that can change at any time if Valve bothers to patch it

Sure. And DRM free can become DRM laden with a patch too

it’s technically piracy

No it's not. It doesn't even legally count as copyright infringement. You are legally allowed to crack your own legit copy of software. The only thing possibly in the way is the EULA of the software (almost all of them have a possibly-illegal no reverse engineering clause)

it takes effort the average person isn’t going to do

The average person isn't going to be backing up their games in the first place.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

DRM free can become DRM laden with a patch

Only if you download the update for that game.

The patch to the Steam DLL could impact every game, and it still requires the user to patch the binary. Steam updating the binary to patch out the fix has a much bigger impact than a game adding DRM later.

You are legally allowed to crack your own copy

I'm pretty sure you're not, though there's potential for some gray area. Here's 17 U.S. Code § 1201, (a) (1) (A):

No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.

And yes, the average person does "back up" their games by having a copy of the installer in a Downloads directory or maybe a separate drive. They're probably not going to use a NAS or cloud service, but that's probably still more likely than applying a patch to a binary.