this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
189 points (95.2% liked)

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

54772 readers
397 users here now

⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

If you cannot pass on your ownership rights to your purchased games to your children, then you cannot pass on your copyright either, I guess?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 85 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I mean... They're saying they can't transfer games from one account to another right? But you could just put your account details in your will and anyone could login to your steam account and access your games, right?

Sure would be nice if they had the feature. But I'm not sure it's such a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 6 months ago (3 children)

This is explicitly against their TOS. Whether or not you'll be found out is a whole other matter

[–] [email protected] 46 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I suppose they would only find out when the account is still in use after 130 years.

Or if they cared to check payment details and such.

[–] jaykay 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What if I’m planning to live for more than 130 years, then what? Fuck big corporations /s

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can't be arsed to read the ToS again, but is it also forbidden to just share an account between several people?

My brother and I opened up that account six years ago and except for the times I forgot to turn my internet off to not be kicked out of games while my brother plays one we never had problems. It would be really shitty if we got into trouble for this because the account is valued somewhere between 1.500 and 4.300€ and is the most expensive thing I own except for my PC.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Probably technically, but I can almost guarantee you they quite literally couldn't care less about two brothers sharing an account. They're more worried about large groups sharing an account.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Over the years I have heard stories where Valve closes an account after the owners passing. This is usually because the poster said they had trouble with something and explained that the original owner passed. Valve then responds by closing the account and ignoring the issue.

With that said I don't think large groups of people can effectively share a library/account because only one person can play at a time. Small groups like spouses, parents, siblings or a small friend group is doable because it is easier to coordinate who is gonna use the account at any given time. This is especially true if they live together.

With the Deck, I have issues where I boot up a game on my living room PC and my Deck closes it's game making me lose progress on the Deck. Imagine that multiplied 20x. Getting kicked mid match, losing that boss fight, lose your high score, getting left on cliffhanger mid cutscene. The throw your controller rage stuff.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

This is explicitly against their TOS. Whether or not you’ll be found out is a whole other matter

Also whether or not those TOS are legally enforceable in every single country Valve operates in.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 60 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Honestly it's bullshit, thousands of dollars of games have died with my brother-in-law, and it's just another reason to pirate everything digital you can.

Don't die without a will and don't die without telling family important details/passwords.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Even for unexpected/accidental deaths, this has an easy fix: Put my bitwarden master password on my will.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

You're assuming people are organised.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

And your 2FA seed phrases

[–] [email protected] 42 points 6 months ago (1 children)

IANAL, but I feel like if the heirs to an estate cared enough about the deceased's Steam account enough to get the court involved, Steam wouldn't have a leg to stand on. But that's probably what it would take to get them to do the right thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I find it pretty funny too as I always forget what it means. It's an ugly saying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Just tell us what it means, with the I attached of course

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

"I Am Not A Lawyer"

Generally found on posts containing legal advice.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Actually i don't know the full form. So just joked about it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I Am Not A Lawyer

[–] [email protected] 37 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing

(keep a copy of mr. goldburg)

[–] [email protected] 33 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That's ridiculous. You should be free to give away, sell, or trade digital games just like you can with physical copies.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago (2 children)

How do they know that I'm dead? Have they attended my funeral?

[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes, Gaben personally goes to every funeral and tells your beloved ones "Hello, I'm Gabe Newell and this was one of our best costumers"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

In that case I won't be complaining that my family can't keep my account with all the hentai games

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Gotta find someone worthy of inhereting your exquisite library

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't matter. You can't do it if you're alive, either.

[–] stoy 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes you can, you many not be allowed to, but you absolutely can.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

No, you can't transfer your account to someone else. You can give someone else your password, but that doesn't make them the official owner.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

No reason to have kids if they can't carry on my legacy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

That's okay, I plan to be reincarnated.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

You typically don't get "ownership rights" when you purchase a game on Steam. You'll typically be purchasing a licence to play the game, which could be taken away at any point. Some Steam games don't include DRM after installation, and you'll truly own those games after downloading them. (you can search for a game here, and find the DRM used) I'd recommend avoiding purchasing games on Steam whenever DRM is included if you want to own the game you'd buy, there are a lot of online stores that sell games without DRM.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Can same game be with DRM on steam and without DRM on other platform.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes, happens all the time on gog. They don't have the same library of games but there is an overlap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

If the game is DRM free on GOG it usually only has the Steamworks DRM on steam. That one is so easy to remove that you might aswell call it DRM free since its only use is to make publishers think their game is protected.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Yes. In those cases the steam DRM is usually for achievements, friend joining, and checking that it was run via steam.

There are plenty of "steam emulators" or even patchers that remove the steam DRM.

So as long as you have the files applications such as SteamEMU and Steamless are godsends in ensuring that when you "buy" a game you will still be able to play it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

You typically don’t get “ownership rights” when you purchase a game on Steam. You’ll typically be purchasing a licence to play the game, which could be taken away at any point.

That is certainly what Valve thinks and writes in their TOS but if their store has a big button that says "BUY HALO" then courts may very well decide that you actually bought Halo.
And many countries have a strict legal definition of what buying means that cannot be overruled by some company's TOS.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

Valve needs to be forced to allow customers to sell and trade their digital games

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Fine just create a digital corporation of your identity and assign rights to that instead. I hear they have the same rights as people.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It is worth noting here that Valve recently announced a new feature that allows Steam users to share games with their friends and family. Dubbed "Steam Families,"

New? That exists for years Oo. Or what am I missing here?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Previously, if you shared your library and someone else was playing any game, they would get ejected from said game and be unable to play any other game, as soon as you started to play any game whatsoever.

This made it more or less useless.

Now they changed it to where you can only play the same game as many times as your family collectively owns it. So, if your family member plays a game you only have a single copy of, they can keep doing so, until you start that exact game. You may still need to activate the client beta for this, but it'll be active for everyone eventually. (Don't know if it is yet, as I'm using the beta)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

They made it useable (see the wan show on it a cople weeks ago)

load more comments
view more: next ›