Steam and DRM

[philip]

@Naustix-

Is there anywhere to download this story besides Steam?

philip

[ I split this out of the ACE Academy thread to prevent a thread hijack. - PyTom ]

[Naustix]

@philip

Thanks for the question, I apologize for the delayed reply.
At this time, our only means of distribution is through Steam Early Access.
In the future we hope to expand onto other platforms and systems.

[philip]

@Naustix-

Very sorry to hear that; I will not be reading your story unless it is available somewhere else besides Steam.

I never object to paying for a game; but if I do so, I want to have it in MY possession. Seems kinda like buying a new car, and having the dealer hand you the keys and then say that you can take it out for a spin, but when you are through, you have to bring it back and they will keep it for you. Huh???

philip

[PyTom]

I'm not sure why that's a relevant concern. There doesn't appear to be DRM on ACE, once you download it it's yours - except that Steam also handles updates to a new version. If Steam goes out of business, you won't be able to re-download the game, but any copies you've already downloaded remain yours. (Some steam games are DRMed, but I think all Ren'Py games are DRM-free.)

[Daedalus]

Seems kinda like buying a new car, and having the dealer hand you the keys and then say that you can take it out for a spin, but when you are through, you have to bring it back and they will keep it for you. Huh???

Nope. If you wish to make a car analogy, try leasing a car: you pay for it, and the company you lease it from handles the maintenance not really limiting how and when you use your car. Not exactly the same thing with software licensing, obviously, but that's why you don't compare them like this.

That being said, Tom is correct and there is no DRM in this game. I just tried it, and copied the content of the game folder form my Mac to my Windows 7 laptop (which has no Steam installed), and the game ran just fine.

[philip]

@PyTom-

Thank you for your explanation; I confess to my ignorance, had no idea what DRM is (thanks Google). I have previously downloaded items to Steam from sites other than LSF, and they resided on Steam, and did not download to my computer.

philip

[SundownKid]

I'm not sure why that's a relevant concern. There doesn't appear to be DRM on ACE, once you download it it's yours - except that Steam also handles updates to a new version. If Steam goes out of business, you won't be able to re-download the game, but any copies you've already downloaded remain yours. (Some steam games are DRMed, but I think all Ren'Py games are DRM-free.)

I believe Steam lets you put DRM on the game if you want to. But it's the developer's choice to put it on. Steam doesn't auto-DRM anything.

[NotSubmohr]

@philip - Steam can have DRM on it, but that's up to the individual games - if a game doesn't use Steam's DRM, then Steam is just a 'download manager' - you can always navigate to the folder it downloaded to (usually something like C:/Program Files/Steam or so) and move the files somewhere else/run them directly without opening the Steam client. (That being said - I don't think any of the games on Steam actually stream their content to your computer - that is, even the games with Steam DRM get downloaded to your computer, they just can't be opened without being connected to a Steam account.)

In fact, in this respect, I think it's arguable that Steam is a better platform than most alternatives, such as personally hosted sites or smaller gamestores, since its size pretty much guarantees it'll be around for a while to download from if you somehow lose the copy you're keeping on your machine. (Smaller sites, like Desura, for example, are more likely to fold, and once they go down you can't redownload any games you may own on their accounts.)

That all being said - I don't know if this particular title uses Steam's DRM - but if that's your concern for using Steam in general, it's probably not the most valid one.

@Naustix - Ace Academy looks interesting, and it's on my Steam wishlist, but it's just a bit too expensive for me for now. I may pick it up in a few weeks when I've got more spendable cash - looking forward to it.