Any philosophical discussions about Steam and the nature/necessity of DRM aside, Altered Beets' excellent entry made me curious as to exactly what I've given up to enjoy Valve's money pipeline.

This curiosity arose as particularly vicious lambasting of Steam, Direct2Drive, and for that matter, any digital distribution method whatsoever.

As such, I tried to look at what exactly Steam is and how it restricts (or does not restrict) your ownership of the games you have bought.

Now, I'm no programmer, professional pirate, or IT expert. About the most I know how to do is explore a directory and recognize what I figure is needed to make a program work (namely the executable). As for piracy, I know how to mount a CD image, download and apply a crack, or use a keygen. That's pretty much it. As such, I can't give you a very detailed image of what see and how the magic (or dark magic) happens.

I don't have extensive experience using any other digital distro services, though I'm aware that Direct2Drive seems to be Steam's main competitor in the field. I once used EA Link to download the expansion to Battlefield 2142, but have not grabbed it since, and I have installed Impulse to manage my retail-bought installation of Sins of a Solar Empire (Impulse is not required to launch SoaSE, but registration of the CD-key on Stardock's website is necessary to download patches and DLC).

Anyway, into the drink! In this very long-winded feature I will highlight some of the more common complaints about Steam and test their restrictions on your freedom to play! I do it for yooouuuu~



Complaint: One of the main arguments against Steam was that it was needed to launch and authenticate all purchases, downloads, and that Steam needed to be online to play. Obviously, this is a problem, as players without reliable internet access could be locked out of their games, and if Steam was unable to "phone home" when a game is launched, that game would be disabled.

Test: To test this, I would my internet connection, and attempted to launch Steam. If Steam launched, I would attempt to launch games I owned. The games I would launch included third-party titles with known offline DRM like Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Fallout 3 (all with SecuROM or an equivalent), titles with online authentication, like Multiwinia and Defcon, Valve titles like Team Fortress 2, as well as "open" games like World of Goo and Audiosurf.

Result: Success. Steam opened, attempted a login, and when it failed, asked me if I wanted to play in "Offline Mode". Steam launched in Offline Mode, no questions asked. All games launched from the front-end menu as normal, though understandably the community options were non-functional. Offline mode is known to many Steam players, and was apparently added shortly after the debacle that was the Half-Life 2 launch.

Since I was offline at the time of launching, it seemed that Steam did not need to "phone home" to allow launching. Of course, time limits may have been placed on a given game's re-authentication, as with Mass Effect's infamous SecuROM upgrade (that was later watered down due to user outcry), though that is outside of the scope of the test. Defcon and Multiwinia however, showed a per-launch authentication. By my previous experience, if Defcon made a check and failed, it would run in Demo mode.



Complaint: Steam is required to launch or install any game, and that no games bought via Steam work without Steam's launching beforehand. This is a problem because the lack of Steam would result in the loss of access. Retail-bought Steam games would not be able to launch if they did not include an installer for the Steam client.

Test: I explored the Steam directories and located the .exe files for all games tested, and attempted to access them with and without the Steam client active, online and offline.

Result: Partial Success. Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, and Bioshock all launched without incident when I accessed their .exe files directly. Obviously, their install folders were not where they would be had they been bought outside Steam, but the pathways were valid.

Unsurprisingly, the Valve games all refused to launch without Steam on. This is almost a given, as Steam is now the primary access portal for all Valve games, retail or digital. Interestingly, Introversion games (Defcon) and World of Goo all attempted to check for "Steam.dll", and failed to launch outside Steam. Ironically, in World of Goo's case, Steam actually added a level of DRM to a DRM-less game. All games launched in offline and online modes with Steam active.

I have not bought a game recently enough to tell if installing a game offline would cause trouble. Half-Life 2's authentication servers exploded at launch and delayed play for many players, including myself. I can't say whether this initial check is required to play newer Steam games, like Left 4 Dead, in their retail releases or otherwise.



Complaint: Steam games have limited installations, and DRM included in retail versions are included in Steam versions. You also need to redownload every Steam game for each computer installed.

Result: Confusing. Valve and Steam-only games just require that the Steam client be on the computer (in addition to the game files, of course) to launch. However, I have circumvented this in the above test, and in the past. I once bought a pirated copy Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and the burned disc included specific instructions to copy ALL of the game files to the HDD, to a specific, Steam-like directory pathway, which allowed a manual, Steam-less launch.

Steam can also do an automatic offline backup of game files. This uses an in-client process to archive the game files that is unpacked on a new computer by THAT computer's Steam client.

Further confusion results when considering the fact that some third-party Steam games like Crysis Warhead and Bioshock include their original DRM, which limits installs. How can the game tell if I've used a new install if I backed up the game (using Steam) and restored it while offline? Steam doesn't use a standard uninstaller process to delete "local data" (the game files). Does that mean Steam has unintentionally circumvented SecuROM? And since Steam games CAN be pirated after all with manual file transfer, does this work for SecuROM games?



Complaint: You can't resell a Steam-bought game, nor lend it out. Valve can also restrict access to your game at any time. Steam authentication servers need to be up to use your games.

Result: More confusion, and partial truth. Yes, each Steam game is technically locked to the account that bought it, but that doesn't mean you can't sell or lend access to that account. Since the Steam client can be launched offline, all you need to do to allow a friend to log in once, and then make sure that you two never log in at the same time.

This is how I lent access to HL2 to my friend, who gave me a free authentication ticket for my birthday (Thanks Eman!) Now all he does to play the SP games is launch Steam in offline mode or use a manual launch. And using the pirate method of direct file transfer, Steam games can be played without login at all (Dark Messiah, at least). Pirated Steam games were never technically installed, and do not appear in your "my games" list. This is probably not true for every Steam game (Dark Messiah is really old, I figure they've closed that loophole by now), and if SecuROM is somehow still working, I figure the limited installs caveat still applies.

Also, it is true that Valve CAN kill your access at any time. It happened to me with the Orange Box. I had preordered it (with permission) from a friend's credit card number, but that friend had forgotten about the charge, and disputed it once his bill arrived. Valve froze my account, and I was forced to contact billing. They asked me to submit several proofs of identity for myself and my friend as well as a letter from him confirming the charge. It got cleared up over the weekend, but that was a rather harrowing time.



CONCLUSIONS: All things considered (including my lack of experience with competing products, Steam is one of the most liberal DD systems I know of. No machine lock like Marketplace, no limited installs (except for 3rd-party deals that demand it), even capable of expanded ownership (though it's a big hassle). The only thing it really seems to do is require that you launch from their frontend, and even that can be worked around in some cases. That's no more hassle than the guy who checks your receipt before you leave Costco. The first-time authentication can be a bother, but it also raises the question of your even choosing Steam in the first place if you're never online.

I understand the need for some to have a physical product. I like having the box and disc myself at times. Even a small amount of access denial is a deal-breaker for many, but in my estimation their vehement hate for Steam seems a little extreme. As far as I can tell I've given up only a small amount in terms of my rights (namely the right to physical product, the need to launch from a set portal, and the initial authentication), and the convenience outweighs the slight hassle in my book, especially considering the hoops we jump through for some other retail-borne games.

I'm certainly going to continue using it. Are you?