Seriously Steam...

[BartyMae]

I'm not sure about now, but I believe they used to give out "tickets", (basically certifications made by the Steam servers that say "This login or whatever is valid!"), that lasted for like a month each. This made it so that you could play offline without having to first be online, as it would identify your locally stored ticket and make sure it was valid, which would work offline up to a certain point - in most cases, you'd probably have a week or two of being able to play offline - sometimes longer, and unfortunately, rarely shorter if it was closer to expiring.

...But, judging by all these complaint posts, it seems as though they might've changed their system. Don't know why they'd do that - did people figure out how to counterfeit them? Either way, I don't think they should've changed their system, as people no doubt have found a way around it if that is the case...It's been a while since I've had to use offline mode right off the bat, but in the few cases where I've had no internet from a cold boot, I've been able to use it just fine.

 

[Meight08]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

 

[hooksashands]

This is why DRM scares the daylights out of me.

20 years from now, every game you've bought on Steam will still need to have its loader. If this loading software falls out of use or becomes bugged, then wouldn't that just mean all your digital property is now lost in limbo?

 

[Meight08]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

You know what, I did. And aside from Battlefront 2, I couldn't find a single interesting game (to me at least) in the history of those studios.

CAPTCHA: What Ever

Indeed, captcha.

If a company has done you no wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do anything wrong
Ea Killed Many studio's and game series that were to many people series that were to them as baldur's gate is too you.
Think dark alliance was bad? look at what ea did to ultima, Now that is ruining a series.

I don't want to sound too offensive but ea did destroy alot of good stuff.

 

[DazZ.]

I've never understood this, my laptop is barely used for Steam at all, yet whenever it comes to getting on a train as far away from the internet as possible Steam loads delightfully.

It's not even a good laptop, not that that would matter.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

You know what, I did. And aside from Battlefront 2, I couldn't find a single interesting game (to me at least) in the history of those studios.

CAPTCHA: What Ever

Indeed, captcha.

If a company has done you no wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do anything wrong
Ea Killed Many studio's and game series that were to many people series that were to them as baldur's gate is too you.
Think dark alliance was bad? look at what ea did to ultima, Now that is ruining a series.

I don't want to sound too offensive but ea did destroy alot of good stuff.

Alas, poor Origin. The real Origin. The Origin that made Wing Commander and Ultima. EA calling their online store Origin after killing Origin Systems is like a murderer killing an old friend and then wearing their skin as a suit. Not cool, EA, not cool.

 

[Darkmantle]

EDIT: providing solutions to a problem that was solved in the next paragraph, my apologies.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

You know what, I did. And aside from Battlefront 2, I couldn't find a single interesting game (to me at least) in the history of those studios.

CAPTCHA: What Ever

Indeed, captcha.

If a company has done you no wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do anything wrong
Ea Killed Many studio's and game series that were to many people series that were to them as baldur's gate is too you.
Think dark alliance was bad? look at what ea did to ultima, Now that is ruining a series.

I don't want to sound too offensive but ea did destroy alot of good stuff.

Alas, poor Origin. The real Origin. The Origin that made Wing Commander and Ultima. EA calling their online store Origin after killing Origin Systems is like a murderer killing an old friend and then wearing their skin as a suit. Not cool, EA, not cool.

Origin itself isn't a bad online service as things go, just INCREDIBLY MEDIOCRE, and people find it intrusive and less incentivized than Steam as a result.

As for why EA is evil, see: yearly releases (Activision also in this boat), the 'broadening of game appeal' (turning Dead Space into a shooter), Micro transactions in Battlefield 3, their many studio closures, Securom, The Ending to Mass Effect 3, using the Origin name, etc and so forth. It's sad because five or so years ago EA was on a strong comeback, putting out risky IP's, admitting mistakes, and seemingly reforming it's behavior. Fast forward and it's the same old business.

Mind you i'm bitter because i've seen my shining paragons, Bioware and Blizzard both, begin the downwards spiral into mediocrity this year and i'm inclined to blame their partner companies and the exodus of developers from the original groups.

 

[Rack]

Sorry lads and but I'm in need of a good rant bare with me here. or if u want bear with me..rawwrrr *ahem*

I don't normally do this but bear with me means to put up with ne. Bare with me means, well, you can probably work that out.

Steams DRM is something I can bear with, but it is a shame you have to select offline mode pre-emptively.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

You know what, I did. And aside from Battlefront 2, I couldn't find a single interesting game (to me at least) in the history of those studios.

CAPTCHA: What Ever

Indeed, captcha.

If a company has done you no wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do anything wrong
Ea Killed Many studio's and game series that were to many people series that were to them as baldur's gate is too you.
Think dark alliance was bad? look at what ea did to ultima, Now that is ruining a series.

I don't want to sound too offensive but ea did destroy alot of good stuff.

Alas, poor Origin. The real Origin. The Origin that made Wing Commander and Ultima. EA calling their online store Origin after killing Origin Systems is like a murderer killing an old friend and then wearing their skin as a suit. Not cool, EA, not cool.

Origin itself isn't a bad online service as things go, just INCREDIBLY MEDIOCRE, and people find it intrusive and less incentivized than Steam as a result.

As for why EA is evil, see: yearly releases (Activision also in this boat), the 'broadening of game appeal' (turning Dead Space into a shooter), Micro transactions in Battlefield 3, their many studio closures, Securom, The Ending to Mass Effect 3, using the Origin name, etc and so forth. It's sad because five or so years ago EA was on a strong comeback, putting out risky IP's, admitting mistakes, and seemingly reforming it's behavior. Fast forward and it's the same old business.

Mind you i'm bitter because i've seen my shining paragons, Bioware and Blizzard both, begin the downwards spiral into mediocrity this year and i'm inclined to blame their partner companies and the exodus of developers from the original groups.

Oh, I know. I used it for the BF3 beta, and as a piece of software, I preferred it to Steam. Shame that the business end is so badly mismanaged, because I'd use it. I'm always making new accounts with new DD services. My complaint above was about the name, though. They took it from one of the companies they bought out and killed.

 

[Syzygy23]

That's really weird, Steam always lets me access MY games in offline mode if i move from an area with Wifi to an area without Wifi...

Then again, I literally live ONE town over from Valve HQ, so maybe they just give special treatment to the Home Team?

 

[Doom-Slayer]

This right here is why I hate Steam: it's one of the most intrusive forms of DRM on the market. The sale that's going on right now is an example of why I love it -- the whole lifetime rental aspect hurts less when you pay what would be a weekend rental anywhere else. But yeah, Steamworks sucks. People give the DRM a free pass, apparently because they've never had to use offline mode -- or at least, never had to use it without time to plan ahead, like going to a LAN party someplace with crappy internet or something.

It requires you to be online once to validate the game when you install it, then you can turn it into offline mode and play as much as you want. That is one of the LEAST intrusive methods on the market since most others require either constant connection, or repeated checks. Steam requires one.

And people give it a "free pass" for that reason. Its one of the fairest DRM system out there, and for most people(myself included) the benefits we get in return like massively cheap games, chatting, download anywhere at fast speeds etc etc outweighs that negative. On top of that, most people nowadays actually have you know...decent working internet connections so the "DRM" of it is completely nonexistent. Decent internet is becoming more and mo0re popular now, so asking for someone to be online for 30seconds is hardly a big deal.

Personally..I would actually RATHER have a title for Steamworks than have a physical copy for those exact reasons, and its obvious a lot of people think like that now as well.

OT: To OP, ya sorry but...you are slowly becoming a small minority with this problem now. A program asking for you to be briefly online is not a big deal anymore. 5-6 years ago then YES, all the arguments that I see against Steam would be totally valid, however right now they really arent with how popular good net is becoming.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

To be honest, I find this complaining as silly as complaining that you have to use credit cards to buy things. All you have to do is be online when you start up Steam, then you can play offline as much as you want. It's the least intrusive DRM out there, and if Valve improved it it would be amazing, we shouldn't be discouraging this sort of thing.

EDIT: Also, to anyone saying that Origin is better because it has offline mode, you obviously haven't seen the people who got ALL of their games taken away because they modded Mass Effect 3 singleplayer or complained on the Origin forums.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This right here is why I hate Steam: it's one of the most intrusive forms of DRM on the market. The sale that's going on right now is an example of why I love it -- the whole lifetime rental aspect hurts less when you pay what would be a weekend rental anywhere else. But yeah, Steamworks sucks. People give the DRM a free pass, apparently because they've never had to use offline mode -- or at least, never had to use it without time to plan ahead, like going to a LAN party someplace with crappy internet or something.

It requires you to be online once to validate the game when you install it, then you can turn it into offline mode and play as much as you want. That is one of the LEAST intrusive methods on the market since most others require either constant connection, or repeated checks. Steam requires one.

And people give it a "free pass" for that reason. Its one of the fairest DRM system out there, and for most people(myself included) the benefits we get in return like massively cheap games, chatting, download anywhere at fast speeds etc etc outweighs that negative. On top of that, most people nowadays actually have you know...decent working internet connections so the "DRM" of it is completely nonexistent. Decent internet is becoming more and mo0re popular now, so asking for someone to be online for 30seconds is hardly a big deal.

Personally..I would actually RATHER have a title for Steamworks than have a physical copy for those exact reasons, and its obvious a lot of people think like that now as well.

OT: To OP, ya sorry but...you are slowly becoming a small minority with this problem now. A program asking for you to be briefly online is not a big deal anymore. 5-6 years ago then YES, all the arguments that I see against Steam would be totally valid, however right now they really arent with how popular good net is becoming.

Spoken like someone who has neither used offline mode nor read the thread. Offline mode doesn't work unless you deliberately go into it while connected to the service. If you suddenly find yourself without internet -- you know, the main reason people have to use a mode labeled "offline mode," it doesn't work. It just endlessly tries to connect to a server that it can't find because there's no internet.

Edit: in case you didn't catch it, that means that Steam has those dreaded "repeated checks" that you said it doesn't. The only thing further from a one time activation that doesn't bother you after the first check it Ubisoft's always online crap. Steam isn't quite always online, but it's damned close.

 

[Fallere825]

I thought if you closed steam from the steam drop down menu in the top left corner each time before you shut down your PC it would be ready to boot up in offline mode if it cant connect to the internet, I've never had any problems booting steam up in offline mode when I need to.

 

[Yopaz]

You know what the hilarious thing is? Origin actually has this feature. If you try to log on without an internet connection, all that's missing is the store. You can install and run your games as long as they're downloaded/installed.

For months I've been searching high and low (low and high high and low blanket flip) for this evil corporation and I'm finding nothing.

Check all the studio´s they shut down.
Should give you some directions of where to look.

You know what, I did. And aside from Battlefront 2, I couldn't find a single interesting game (to me at least) in the history of those studios.

CAPTCHA: What Ever

Indeed, captcha.

If a company has done you no wrong doesn't mean that they didn't do anything wrong
Ea Killed Many studio's and game series that were to many people series that were to them as baldur's gate is too you.
Think dark alliance was bad? look at what ea did to ultima, Now that is ruining a series.

I don't want to sound too offensive but ea did destroy alot of good stuff.

Alas, poor Origin. The real Origin. The Origin that made Wing Commander and Ultima. EA calling their online store Origin after killing Origin Systems is like a murderer killing an old friend and then wearing their skin as a suit. Not cool, EA, not cool.

Origin itself isn't a bad online service as things go, just INCREDIBLY MEDIOCRE, and people find it intrusive and less incentivized than Steam as a result.

Now this sums up what I feel about Origin too. There's nothing inherently bad about it, it's just that there's already a better service which has already gone through its awkward stage unlike Origin.

OT: Personally I have never had any issues with Steam, except for when I was on a network set to block Steam. However I haven't had the need for offline mode for a long time so I am guessing things may have changed since those days. Most of the time Steam is OK as far as DRM goes. Irregularities in your steam communication wont shut down your games unlike always on DRM, but it's not perfect. Being a person who's had a stable internet connection since 2005 I do have problems seeing the problems others have with Steam. Internet problems and playing games offline is a problem that affects all those who want to satisfy their gaming needs on a PC. This is why we also have cracks for games we've purchased legally.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I thought if you closed steam from the steam drop down menu in the top left corner each time before you shut down your PC it would be ready to boot up in offline mode if it cant connect to the internet, I've never had any problems booting steam up in offline mode when I need to.

That only works if you know you're gonna need it, though. If you have an unexpected power outage or just happen to be somewhere with crappy internet, it's really easy to get locked out of your games. Basically, you can only go into offline mode if you're online to begin with. If you start from a position of your internet connection being down, you can't get into offline mode.

 

[thespyisdead]

it's been ages since i took offline mode for a spin, but if what u say is true, then it's pure bullshit...

 

[Doom-Slayer]

Spoken like someone who has neither used offline mode nor read the thread. Offline mode doesn't work unless you deliberately go into it while connected to the service. If you suddenly find yourself without internet -- you know, the main reason people have to use a mode labeled "offline mode," it doesn't work. It just endlessly tries to connect to a server that it can't find because there's no internet.

Edit: in case you didn't catch it, that means that Steam has those dreaded "repeated checks" that you said it doesn't. The only thing further from a one time activation that doesn't bother you after the first check it Ubisoft's always online crap. Steam isn't quite always online, but it's damned close.

And nowhere in my post did I say that was how it worked. I'm fully aware of how offline mode works, and as I clearly said, you just need to have working internet ONCE and then sign in and click the go offline button. Thats it. Nowhere in that process requires you to be online multiple times. And if you are talking about not being able to log in bcause of server maintenance etc, then that is irrelevant to the process because that exists with all online based DRM, and isn't specific to that type.

I also find it amusing that you mention Ubisofts DRM method when you previously stated Steam " it's one of the most intrusive forms of DRM on the market."

On top of that, Ive used offline mode a ton of times and it works perfectly fine. I plan to have a LAN the next day, so I turn it into offline mode and then I can access all my games without problem during the LAN. If you lack the forward planning to use that feature then that is not a problem with the service, thats a problem with you being lazy. And if you are telling me that the entire day before the planned event that you have internet problems and cant sign onto Steam for 30 seconds then THAT is a problem with your ISP.

Im not going to deny that Steam is DRM, of course it is, but it is easily one of the easiest to use and least restrictive of all platforms that exist, and offers a ton of benefits that outweigh the tiny negatives.

 

[Spitfire]

All I hear is whine, log in once a month, play offline.

That is entirely an untruth, way to go chastising OP and showing you know nothing of Steam's "offline mode".

Explain.

And when I did get online and try to go offline it says "Your account credentials are not stored on this computer, so you cannot go in offline mode". I log off and on, and it gives me the same message.

Sounds like you need to disable the "Don't store account credentials on this computer" option from Steam's settings.

By this point I don't even bother with offline mode, I just turn my laptop on, start Steam offline, and whenever I have to go somewhere with no internet, I just have Steam open.

Ok, I'm confused..