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submitted 1 year ago by narwhal@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml
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[-] whileloop@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So?

Closed source isn't necessarily evil, neither is DRM. It's all in how you implement it.

Valve's launcher/drm are so much less intrusive than their competitors. They've demonstrated more openness to user customization and modding over the years than just about anyone else. If we didn't have Valve, we would have more EA and Epic Games, do you really want that?

[-] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

DRM isn't evil, it's just it's current implementations and the fact that when the software is abandoned companies don't remove it. There's no end of life plan for their software

Also some forms in the past have been straight up evil.

I'll never forget sending a letter to a dev because I lost their code wheel for a game I owned and they sent a letter back telling me to buy the game again ‡

I'd say that was my first step towards piracy

‡ Before anyone asks: No I don't remember what game it was for or what company I sent it to, that was decades ago.

[-] whileloop@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I'd say in your case piracy was 1000% justified. You bought it, you should be able to play it.

I think piracy is acceptable if one of these two conditions are met:

  • You already own a copy of the game
  • The game is no longer sold as new, such that any legitimate copy would have to be secondhand.
[-] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

The main problem is the "No end of life plan" issue

If the software/game/whatever has to call a server to verify itself then when the company goes under or stops supporting it then the software/game/whatever becomes useless without a crack of some kind that may or may not be possible for the layman to implement

Companies need an end of life plan for their products with DRM

[-] whileloop@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Someone actually emailed Valve about this back in 2013. Here's their response: https://i.imgur.com/4sa1Ln6.jpg

Thank you for contacting Steam Support. In the unlikely event of the discontinuation of the Steam network, measures are in place to ensure that all users will continue to have access to their Steam games.

It seems like Valve wants us to think they have an EoL plan. With the goodwill they've built over the years, I want to believe them.

[-] purahna@lemmygrad.ml -2 points 1 year ago

I don't get this trend of finding someone identifying legitimate problems with the best available option and trying to have discussion on a discussion website and drowning them with "B-b-but everyone else is worse! If we didn't have [lesser evil] then we would surely have [greater evil]! Why do you want [greater evil]???"

[-] whileloop@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

identifying legitimate problems with the best available option

Being closed source and using DRM aren't necessarily problems. In Valve's case, they aren't at all. Valve's DRM doesn't hurt performance, and doesn't stop you from playing their games offline.

this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
246 points (98.4% liked)

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