Egosoft Wants To Bring Games To Steam On Linux

[shmerl]

Steam while doesn't require it, doesn't discourage it as well. I don't mind supporting developers who avoid DRM for sure. Actually I simply don't buy any games with DRM at all. Is there an easy way to find DRM free games on Steam (i.e. those which you can use without the client running)? But if I'd to choose between GOG and Steam, I'd go to GOG first.

[Kristian Joensen]

As far as DRM free games on Steam goes there aren't a whole lot, but id Software has a bunch of games on there that have had their source code GPL'ed and in those cases you can buy the games from Steam and download alternative DRM free binaries. A couple of games that are supposed to be available on Steam in a DRM free form where mentioned earlier in this thread. But Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is one example, it uses the Darkplaces engine which is based on id's release of the Quake 1 source code.

Edit:

So in other words it is a game with a GPL'ed codebase.

[shmerl]

Well, just for a couple of games I wouldn't register on Steam. But if they have an easy way to filter games by DRM free criteria - I don't mind much, since there might be more in the future.

[Hamish Wilson]

I see. Still, I'd rather support distributors who don't encourage (or even strongly discourage) any DRM usage. For example GOG doesn't accept games with DRM at all. They simply only sell DRM free games. Humble Bundle also are DRM free. These are kind of distributors which I like to support. Even though GOG didn't get to shipping Linux games yet. (Feel free to vote for it).

There is also Desura, which is in of itself DRM free, although some distributors (such as LGP) do ship with some third-party DRM. Desura also has a client available, but you are not dependant on this client to run the games, and you can even bypass it completely and handle your game purchases independently through it's online interface. My only real complaint with their model is that there should be better labelling for products that do have third-party DRM, as this was something that was promised back when they were first doing their Linux launch but they seem rather lax about it at the moment.

I do hope that developers that do not use Steamworks but are porting their titles over because of Steam do consider using third-party sellers as well though - I am not willing to get a Steam account as things stand.

[Kristian Joensen]

Well, just for a couple of games I wouldn't register on Steam. But if they have an easy way to filter games by DRM free criteria - I don't mind much, since there might be more in the future.

Well that is something they don't have. Is there anything in particular you don't like about DRM or it is more of a principled stance?

[GreatEmerald]

If this is a strict requirement, then I to agree with you.

But is that really true? Isn't it possible to use Steam for distribution only (if the game company intends to),
so that you can copy the game-related SteamApps folder to another computer and launch it there
without Steam (and 3rd party DRM)?

That actually depends on the game. On Windows, if it requires something that it writes to the registry, then you also have to do a "backup" of that into a reg file before you can do that. Probably not that applicable on Linux, though, but it could be possible for the games to install something outside their directory as well?

Now, that we know Steam does not require DRM:
Why don't you support developers which don't enforce DRM on us instead?

Ha, gotcha. Valve as developers do enforce DRM on you. Every Valve game that I know of uses Steam with DRM. Not sure about the first Half-Life, though.

[d2kx]

I don't even bother without Steam when gaming (on Windows and Linux). Steamworks is just a must for community chat, joining friends' servers and playing together, saving savegames and screenshots in the cloud, doing backups, getting updates automatically etc.. This is 2012, I don't want to look for where I can get my games and extract the .run or .sh and look if it's the newest version... Steam is simply the best solution for gaming hands down. It's like using your Google account for GMail. It works perfect.

[Kristian Joensen]

Indeed Steamworks is pure awesome. For reference here is Valve's page on what they offer developers/publishers, including the bit about the DRM: http://www.steampowered.com/steamwor...ngservices.php

Here is the page on what they offer gamers: http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/gameservices.php

There is a reason for many people being excited for Steam coming to Linux, and yes their library of games is huge part of that, but there are many Steam fans out there based on all the features they have to offer.

[shmerl]

Well that is something they don't have. Is there anything in particular you don't like about DRM or it is more of a principled stance?

It's a principled stance. I don't want to encourage any DRM distribution. That's why I'm rather supporting GOG, than Valve/Steam. I appreciate the interest of the later in Linux gaming though, since they seem even being able to affect drivers makers from Nvidia to improve the quality. That's the reason I'm excited, not that they expand DRM into the Linux world. I'm not familiar with Desura much - will have to look into it.

[Kristian Joensen]

Well if it is a principled stance, I certainly both understand and commend that. The GoG guys, just like Valve are some of the most awesome/customer friendly guys in the industry.