Was it not possible before to enforce such rules? Surely as long as updates downloaded from the internet has been possible (even if updating a physical copy, such as with XBL and PSN) it would be possible to deactivate the software, so that even a physical copy is unplayable. Theoretically of course, because I don't suppose it would be possible to find out if a game had been shared. I'm not trying to challenge you here, I'm just a bit under-informed.Alma Mare said:Don't get me wrong, I'm all for owning our software and not be hurdled by this bullshit, but the fact remains: all Steam (and other digital fronts like it) do is enforce a rule that has always been there. We should get angry at the rule, not at the software that for once works like it was meant to.
Also, the sharing of physical copies of games (and other software) is made impossible by product keys, isn't it? I haven't bought a physical copy of a PC game before, so I don't know, but certainly other software, such as Microsoft Office has these in place to limit the number of intalls/computers on which the software is installed on.