are they serious?

[bizzy420]

Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games?

The short answer is yes.

All Steam-enabled games require you to be connected to the Internet in order to play.

Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.






man this kinda sux.

 

[ductonius]

Big brother is watching.

 

[genocide604]

fut butter

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by bizzy420
Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games?

The short answer is yes.

All Steam-enabled games require you to be connected to the Internet in order to play.

Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.






man this kinda sux.

Here's how I see it: If you want to play Half-Life 2 for single player, which obviously does not require a net connection (retail copy), you will not need to worry about it. If you choose to play multiplayer, you will be required to use Steam anyhow, opposed to WON authentication as with the original HL. Steam is probably even more user-friendly (don't see how that's possible, but I'm sure Valve can pull it off) than the in-game WON system, so there's no need for concern functionality-wise. If you're worried about connection...well, why would anyone want to play Half-Life 2 multiplayer with anything less than broadband? C'mon people---its time to let the 56k go.

 

[Gordon'sFreeman]

Steam sucks, end of story.

 

[wormstrangler]

I'm not a steam supporter either. But I will admit it has it's good points, it's just that I feel that the bad points out weigh them.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games?

That's just like saying "Do I have to be connected to the internet to play online games?"

 

[Gordon'sFreeman]

LoL! "The Attack of the Dumb Blondes".

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by PiMuRho
That's just like saying "Do I have to be connected to the internet to play online games?"

Word. I too am skeptical how Valve will possibly handle bandwidth of all those Steam subscribers who are downloading quite a large game. Heh heh, I can imagine Gabe sneaking into Microsoft incognito-like to reroute server connection to Valve.

 

[Tek]

i think he thinks you have to be connected to the internet to play single player games.

 

[PvtRyan]

The silly thing is that you need to be connected to internet when you wanna LAN with someone. Not a real problem, and I'm sure there is a reason for it.

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Tek
i think he thinks you have to be connected to the internet to play single player games.

No shit, Sherlock. Read my first reply, I already said that.

 

[Gordon'sFreeman]

I told you, Attack of the Dumb blondes!
we are doom-ed!!11

 

[tewmten]

Originally posted by PvtRyan
The silly thing is that you need to be connected to internet when you wanna LAN with someone. Not a real problem, and I'm sure there is a reason for it.

I read at the Steam page that in the new version of Steam you didn't have to be online to play lan. I can't remember the URL for it, but I'll try to dig it up when I get home from school.

 

[Tek]

Originally posted by spitcodfry
No shit, Sherlock. Read my first reply, I already said that.

You aren't very bright are you?

 

[spitcodfry]

Originally posted by Tek
You aren't very bright are you?

Maybe you should read the originator of this thread's post again. He understands that single player will not require a connection. And as I reiterate in my reply to HIS question, this is exactly so. As far as who is bright or not, whom is the one contributing to this thread and who isn't? Coming on here to scrutinize people's responses without adding anything practical of your own does not warrant an intelligence.

 

[RhapSidious]

Originally posted by PvtRyan
The silly thing is that you need to be connected to internet when you wanna LAN with someone. Not a real problem, and I'm sure there is a reason for it.

Yeah, the reason is that they want to make sure EACH COPY is legit and not pirated. Smart business, but pain in ass for the end user.

I hope there will be a way around this LAN problem, as alot of people have LAN setups with no internet or just dialup (small offices, homes, etc) will be screwed.

I'm sure SP won't require constant Steam verfication, but I went ahead and asked it in the Gabe question thread anyway just to clear it up. (They would alienate customers with laptops and desktops with no internet so it would be pretty stupid.)

 

[Guest]

well we all have our bad experience with steam, it lags so much for me when steam and cs 1.6 beta just came out, but now it's getting much better (i got ping around 50 on many servers). I'm sure steam will be fine for everyone. Just one thing, next week when cs 1.6 full version is released, will we be able to customize the skins? cuz i really hate the original cs skins.

 

[bizzy420]

I hope there will be a way around this LAN problem, as alot of people have LAN setups with no internet or just dialup (small offices, homes, etc) will be screwed

thats the main reason why i asked. not only that but its says that:
Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.


so once i DO play MP, from that point on i need an internet connection even for SP?

 

[RhapSidious]

Originally posted by bizzy420
thats the main reason why i asked. not only that but its says that:
Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.


so once i DO play MP, from that point on i need an internet connection even for SP?

I've got broadband, but what if my service is down or gets disconnected for non-payment (it's happened)? It would suck not to be able to play even the damn SP.

If've emailed Gabe and Erik directly but haven't gotten a response as of yet.

 

[Chris D]

Well how about you pay for your broadband then, then it won't get disconnected.

 

[eediot]

Chris_D, how about you stop being an arrogant idiot. People shouldn't have to pay $US100 + ~$US30 each month on top of the game just so we can conform to Big Brother. I hate steam and I hate you haha

 

[RhapSidious]

Originally posted by Chris_D
Well how about you pay for your broadband then, then it won't get disconnected.

Actually it only happened once, but in principal I think it's BS if it is the case.

 

[Gordon'sFreeman]

Theres so much hate in this thread

 

[Mountain Man]

I agree, the part that seems to imply that once you connect to Steam, you'll always have to connect to Steam is a little worrying. And there are other common reasons besides not paying bills for broadband to go down. For instance, where I live there have been a lot of storms recently that have been hell on various utilities and this past weekend, my DSL line kind of kept coming and going. It's fixed now, but if I had Half-Life 2 and if SP required a connection to Steam, I would not have been able to play Half-Life 2 over the weekend, which would have really sucked.

Clarification on this issue would be great.

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by bizzy420
Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games?

The short answer is yes.

All Steam-enabled games require you to be connected to the Internet in order to play.

Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.






man this kinda sux.

I must be stupid, cause what I read is: You need an internet connection to play online.

Meh, I am stupid, or Valve is on drugs, or both

 

[MrWhite]

It does kinda suck for single player, because some epopel cant afford high speed connections (though I have one, many of my freinds dont.)

 

[TripleDES]

HL1 limited the server down onto the 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 and 192.168.0.0/16 networks, aka private IP addresses ranges, when running in LAN mode. I don't see why HL2 wouldn't do the same. Only thing I can see is that the clients will try to match CD keys with each others and disable themselves aslong duplicate CD keys are used on the network.

 

[MrD]

I don't give a rats ass what types of copy protection are used so long as they don't get in my way.

1) if internet is required for SP (after using MP) then :
a) can't play at work at lunch (proxy)
b) can't play laptop when on the road (hotels etc)
c) can't trial an ISP and HL2 online then change mind
d) probably others that i haven't come across yet

2) require CD to play game
a) can't play at work at lunch (forgot to take CD)
b) can't play laptop when on the road (forgot to take CD)
c) can't play in general (can't find CD in heat of moment)
d) probably others that i haven't come across yet





The Stupid Thing about it is that some bugger makes a cracked version for all the thiefs to download anyway.

Why the hell do we have to put up with this crap?

 

[FluxCap]

There will be a No-CD exe within hours of the game's release. This is a somewhat wasted effort by Vavle really.

 

[Cardo]

Originally posted by bizzy420
Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games?

The short answer is yes.

All Steam-enabled games require you to be connected to the Internet in order to play.

Note: some Steam-enabled single-player games (such as Half-Life 2) purchased at a retail store will allow offline play until the user decides to play online or enable other Steam functionality. From that point on, an Internet connection will be required.






man this kinda sux.

"Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games? "
he is trying to say does he have to be online to play a steam game... he is not asking does he have to be on steam to play an online game...2 different things

 

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by FluxCap
There will be a No-CD exe within hours of the game's release. This is a somewhat wasted effort by Vavle really.

I think most copy protection schemes are only intended to give shareholders a false sense of security.

 

[MrD]

Originally posted by Mountain Man
I think most copy protection schemes are only intended to give shareholders a false sense of security.

Bugger the shareholders.

 

[Grimsrud]

steam is crap. forcing me to have some kind of shit software to run in the background, stealing memory and shit... just to play a game online.

valve is a great company.... but they should keep the cd-autentication off steam.

 

[Fenrir]

Steam as it is is BETA. It will be FINAL with HL2. When will people understand that? Steam is BETA right now! Don't judge it!

Steam, or programs like it, are the future. That is obvious. The question is, is Valve too far ahead of it's time?

 

[DOOManiac]

At Quakecon we had a discussion at the Mod Roundtable w/ Raven about why game devs still use obviously ineffectual CD Copy Protection, and Rick Johnson told us that over in Europe there are several countries where its actually required by law to have Copy Protection, otherwise they couldn't sell it. He also said that for the casual user (i.e. doesn't know a cd burner from a zippo) it may stop them from giving it to their likewise incompetent friends. But he kinda hinted that yeah it was a hassle they wished they didn't have to take.

 

[Sideshow]

Well.. this really ruined my day =( Me and my friends have been so looking forward to HL2... i even upgraded my computer for it ( no this is not common for other gamereleases). Our anual "octoberLAN" is right around the corner, and well we kinda thought about it as 48 hours of pure HL2 action.

After these news (if i understand them correctly) we wont be able to becasuse we dont have an internet connection.

When i brought these news to my friends all were really pissed and some even said that they would not buy the game...

 

[mortiz]

lol, I think people are getting way too ahead of themselves. The information that gabe has given us is sketchy at best and you lot are already panicking and forming all these baseless storys about Half-Life 2, just wait and see, I'm sure gabe will give us all the information we need soon.

 

[bizzy420]

"Do I have to be connected to the Internet when I play Steam games? "he is trying to say does he have to be online to play a steam game... he is not asking does he have to be on steam to play an online game...2 different things

THATS exactly what im saying, but ppl here assumed that i was talking about MP...someone said somethign like "

That's just like saying "Do I have to be connected to the internet to play online games?"

ofcourse i KNOW that i need to be connected to play ONLINE, but thats not what i was asking.

 

[Slash]

cry because you don't understand Steam.