Does Steam makes it easier to pirate single player HL2?

[heema_khan]

Hi, I am new, just want to clear a confusion. Does with steam it is possible for people to pirate HL2 and that too in the best possible way? I mean, if I have HL2 registered with steam and I give my username and password to some other person, will that person be able to download HL2 and play single player at will? If this can happen then it seems pretty bad, because it will not require a crack then. May be Valve will do a check on the accounts so that one cannot use it more than 10 times in one year or something like this.

 

[Alieni²]

Yes, U can download hl2 with ur account in any computer u want. If of course u own hl2

 

[Lobster]

But everygame has a problem with stolen cd keys, steam doesnt make it any easier, if anything warez distributors have a tougher job because they need to create a steam backdoor for there ripped copies, there will always be piracy in digital media, steam doesnt do anything different, it just makes it more of a hassle.

Managing to keep the game locked untill the release date is an achievment in itself.

 

[heema_khan]

This is bad, because look at this from the perspective of someone who is pirating it. (S)He is accesssing a server with incredible bandwidth to download HL2, whereas in other cases (s)he has to use bit-torrent or some other software for days to get the full version. It is a win-win situation for them, heck even 10 people can buy it for $5 each. Well this can happen with all other games too, but it seems that even with Steam authentication it is difficult to counter.

 

[JamesPicard_007]

Half-Life 2 would probably have to be authorized for that account. Either by purchasing it over Steam or by entering a CD key from a physical copy.

I've heard that the files on the physical copies are .gcfs so either way you need Steam to authorize and decrypt the game files. So Steam probably makes it a bit harder to pirate Half-Life 2, but not impossible.

 

[heema_khan]

if anything warez distributors have a tougher job because they need to create a steam backdoor for there ripped copies

My point is that if you sharing your steam account with someone, you don't need ripped copies. It will be illegal, but for Valve they would be giving it perfectly legally to one of their customer.

 

[2501]

like stated before, Steam needs authorization to unlock Hl2. I am sure that eventually Hl2 will be pirated like all games. I believe that with Vac2 and the auth system will make it almost impossible to get away with it. I just hope that someone doesnt' ruin it for everyone else.

 

[Munro]

If you share your account info with someone else only one of you can login at the same time.

 

[Lobster]

My point is that if you sharing your steam account with someone, you don't need ripped copies. It will be illegal, but for Valve they would be giving it perfectly legally to one of their customer.

They do have a policy for how many IPs connect to the same account at once, they do mass bannings every now and then for this kinda thing, which brings fourth a wave of whiney children on the steam forums, it may have its problems, but at least they have more control over the system to do somthing about it.

 

[heema_khan]

If you share your account info with someone else only one of you can login at the same time.

So if I log in, unlock HL2, then exit steam. I am done. Now someone else uses the same account, download HL2, exit steam, done! and so on... it is possible, isn't it?

 

[g911turbo]

downloading games from 3rd party sources is just as easy as from steam

any "good" pirate knows that

the bottom line is, as some have mentioned, piracy for this game will be no different than other games

if you like the game BUY IT and support the developers.

What do you think made half life 2 so good... half life 1 pirates?

 

[heema_khan]

downloading games from 3rd party sources is just as easy as from steam

any "good" pirate knows that

the bottom line is, as some have mentioned, piracy for this game will be no different than other games

if you like the game BUY IT and support the developers.

What do you think made half life 2 so good... half life 1 pirates?

Please, I just asked a question, if it was possible or not. Don't give moral lectures to show how smart you are, stick with the topic or please don't reply. Everyone knows piracy is bad. Thank you.

 

[Wesisapie]

i've been thinking about this since day 1. i was gonna let my friends play using my account, in offline mode.

BUT DONT TELL GABE OK? THANKS

 

[MoD]

by doing that you giev all your friends immediate access to buy stuff from valve using YOUR credit card...

I wouldnt do that...

 

[Adam]

i've been thinking about this since day 1. i was gonna let my friends play using my account, in offline mode.

BUT DONT TELL GABE OK? THANKS

Not going to work. You still need to reconnect to Steam to download bug fixes and updates, etc.

Once you both do that, Steam would clearly see 2 instances of the game running using the same account at the same time.

 

[Wesisapie]

wrong again suckers. the point of offline mode is for people who dont have the internet! steam will not automatically pop up and try to download things on their computers in offline mode. even if it tries to, they can just disconnect their internet.

and the point of using my credit card, no way. you need to input your credit card details for each purchase, right? i only ever made one.
it would be foolish to store the details (foolish on valves behalf). its my girlfriends CC anyway.

edit: also, you dont NEED bug fixes, and hey presto, guess who can just close steam for a few minuts while someone else logs in and gets the updates.

 

[BlackMesaDude]

Well once it gets cracked nothing will stop people that know where to download illegal stuff.... its only a matter of days before hackers will bypass this.

 

[NikolaX]

I will buy the game!

 

[Adam]

wrong again suckers. the point of offline mode is for people who dont have the internet! steam will not automatically pop up and try to download things on their computers in offline mode. even if it tries to, they can just disconnect their internet.

and the point of using my credit card, no way. you need to input your credit card details for each purchase, right? i only ever made one.
it would be foolish to store the details (foolish on valves behalf). its my girlfriends CC anyway.

edit: also, you dont NEED bug fixes, and hey presto, guess who can just close steam for a few minuts while someone else logs in and gets the updates.

For one thing, there might be a bug that is found to be a show stopper. As in, you can NOT beat level 2 without downloading this patch from Steam. You can say that you will just both call each other up and take turns, but you'd never know if your friend handed the acount info to someone else, who handed it to someone else also, etc.

Or perhaps there is no show stopper bug, but some simple bug fixes or enhacements that valve wants to automaticaly apply to everyones game after some kind of random auto connection.
And then a few days later, WITHOUT WARNING the game AUTOMATICALY connects to steam on a routine update check they built into the game but did not tell anyone. And you, and your assuptions that it don't, has like 20 friends using your account, and they all connect to steam at the same time. And *poof* your all banned. It could happen, and as your not a Valve employee, you have no way of knowing what Valve coded into the engine to do.

And thats just 1 possible scenario out of many others im sure Valve could have waiting for people thinking of trying this.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Well once it gets cracked nothing will stop people that know where to download illegal stuff.... its only a matter of days before hackers will bypass this.

Wait till they release VAC2 :E They won't be playing on legit servers then, they can have fun with their pirated version, because people with legit copies will have all the fun.

 

[Eon Blue]

Who really cares who pirates HL2 or not?

Look at Bungie's response to the leaked Halo 2. "Eh."

 

[Munro]

As far as I know and I’m not sure if anything’s changed yet but...

If you register your Half-Life 2 CD-Key to your Steam account online and then share your account information with someone else then you are risking your account being stolen. If you’re thinking of being cheeky buying one copy to share with a few friends it’s not going to work. Your account can only be used on one PC. If online when you log into a second computer with the same account that is running on the first, the Steam Ticket will invalidate on the first machine and transfer to the new session.

If you go into offline mode on one PC you are still logged in to Steam and anyone else trying to login with the same account details will not be able to validate a new Steam Ticket. Thus only one person can use one account on one PC at any one time.

 

[Eon Blue]

If you go in to offline mode, exit, and restart Steam, I'm pretty sure it'll think you're offline.
You know, especially since you can pull any plug necessary to make sure you're offline.

I'm guessing once the first machine gets it, it'll be a little while before another machine can load it. Kind of like insurance. You're not going to have your computer explode in 5 minutes after getting HL2, so why not be forced not to allow the content to be downloaded again for a certain amount of time?

 

[jacen]

If you go into offline mode on one PC you are still logged in to Steam and anyone else trying to login with the same account details will not be able to validate a new Steam Ticket. Thus only one person can use one account on one PC at any one time.

the point is
the steam server doesnt see that ur in offline mode

u just exit steam
cut ur connection
start steam -> offline mode

no way for the steam server to know that ur running steam offline.

 

[Solver]

Anyway, with HL2, there is one problem that is also true for many other products. The pirated version will be better than the original one. Why? Because you need to have Steam running to play HL2 if you own it legitely. And Steam, whether you like it as a system or not, has a habit of consuming a lot of RAM even when doing nothing. The cracked version will be free of that disadvantage, essentialy giving you about 40 MB more RAM, and resulting in a slight FPS gain probably.

Heck, I have heard people say they get up to 10 FPS more on the warez version of CSS than the original.

 

[benpatient]

correct, and as it happens, this already works with HL1 single player.

valve has made password protection pretty decent through steam, so i wouldn't really worry about your buddies "passing along" your steam account as long as you don't give them the password...you'd just have to do it yourself.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

The cracked version will be free of that disadvantage, essentialy giving you about 40 MB more RAM, and resulting in a slight FPS gain probably.

Heck, I have heard people say they get up to 10 FPS more on the warez version of CSS than the original.

When you have a gig of ram, I doubt 40MB will hurt you....

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Oh and maybe this time there won't be so many stolen cdkeys or duplicated cdkeys.

 

[Nid Banikeri]

"If you share your account info with someone else only one of you can login at the same time."

Not true...I log in with my friend at the same time on the same account...just can't go on the same server

 

[Solver]

Yes, but if I have 512 MB RAM, the 40 MB will come in useful. Besides... I have no tolerance towards being forced to run anything. If I don't want to be running Steam, I shouldn't be forced to. The auto-updates are nice, though I could surely manage to download myself, but that's no reason for me to be running Steam all the time.

 

[jacen]

When you have a gig of ram, I doubt 40MB will hurt you....

if u have 512mb it does matter alot.
hell it can easy make the difference between playable and not playable.

 

[Tyl3n0L]

Anyway, with HL2, there is one problem that is also true for many other products. The pirated version will be better than the original one. Why? Because you need to have Steam running to play HL2 if you own it legitely. And Steam, whether you like it as a system or not, has a habit of consuming a lot of RAM even when doing nothing. The cracked version will be free of that disadvantage, essentialy giving you about 40 MB more RAM, and resulting in a slight FPS gain probably.

Heck, I have heard people say they get up to 10 FPS more on the warez version of CSS than the original.

My steam is running for about 40hours straight and it take about 15mb

 

[Demonmerc]

Munro,

While that is correct, the thread starter's focus was only on someone giving out steam information to people who would download, unlock, and go into offline mode.

Everyone knows the risks associated with giving someone your CD-KEY.

The starter's main point was that this is now simpler, I don't have to send my friends the 5-6 CDs/1 DVD, they can download it from their own connection. From anywhere in the world.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Yes, but if I have 512 MB RAM, the 40 MB will come in useful. Besides... I have no tolerance towards being forced to run anything. If I don't want to be running Steam, I shouldn't be forced to. The auto-updates are nice, though I could surely manage to download myself, but that's no reason for me to be running Steam all the time.

No one is forcing you to buy VALVe products either. If you don't want to run it, then don't buy a VALVe product, simple as that.

 

[Solver]

Well, doesn't take 40 for me too now, but still quite a lot. 30... uhmm. What makes me wonder is what the heck does it do to fill all that memory. It takes up more memory than all the Windows services I have running, or more memory than, say, both Trillian and Skype (that both know how to keep their resource usage OK).

 

[jacen]

No one is forcing you to buy VALVe products either. If you don't want to run it, then don't buy a VALVe product, simple as that.

as a matter of fact, i wont buy it.

but lets reverse this
dont u mind beeing forced to run a program that only purpose is, to hold of early sellers?
seems a bit harsh to me.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

as a matter of fact, i wont buy it.

but lets reverse this
dont u mind beeing forced to run a program that only purpose is, to hold of early sellers?
seems a bit harsh to me.

Then why are you on this forum?

Yeah whatever you say.......

 

[Solver]

No one is forcing you to buy VALVe products either. If you don't want to run it, then don't buy a VALVe product, simple as that.

Almost feel like I'm not even buying it, but rather renting. Alright, that's a rant though.

However, forcing me to run some other software which is NOT the game I have paid for seems bad practice to me. I know that I wouldn't have any bad conscience for applying a no-Steam hack if it raises my FPS by like 10.

And no, despite this, I have a lot of respect for Valve. Heck, I'd not buy it otherwise.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

You only own a license to the game, you don't OWN the game. So you agree to the license when buying the game. The "no-Steam" hack does connect to steam network, but doubtful, 10-15mb free would make the game better by 10fps...

 

[Demonmerc]

10-15mb free would make the game better by 10fps...

How far up your arm has poopstains on it from pulling that out of your ass?

What you said is simply not true, unless you have a great system and only 256 mb ram.