Is the Half-Life 2 EULA Illegal? 164
Ant writes "Many people are having problems connecting to the Steam servers to play Half-Life 2, and now the legal agreements that surround a purchase of Half-Life 2 have been examined. The German Consumer Association has found that the packaging on Half-Life 2 is misleading. In a report made following complaints from the public, they said that the mere listing of an internet connection under the 'other' category in system requirements did not accurately describe the true extent of the internet tie-in with the game, and ordered Vivendi to amend the packaging and untie Steam from HL2 or face a hefty fine."
HL2 Packaging and Steam (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't turn this into a "we can finally rip Steam out of HL2" issue. It's completely irrelevant.
Re:Quit Whining (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Quit Whining (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Internet Is Only Required To Activate Not To Pl (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Gamers screwing themselves. Again. (Score:3, Interesting)
I've had numerous CDs fail due to scratches. As more and more copy protections are forced onto CDs, it becomes harder and harder to make a backup copy.
With Steam, I don't have to worry about physical medium at all. I can (and have) installed HL2 on multiple machines with only my username and password. I don't have to worry about transferring a CD back and forth between computers (possibly being lost or scratched in the process).
Currently gamers use 3rd party "no CD cracks" to achieve the same thing. However, as copy protections foisted upon us by corporate "geniuses" become more robust, that option may disappear.
Yes, it would be nice to have some guarantee of a "no steam" patch in the event that the Steam servers disappear, but I'll settle for now without it.
A few minor additions... (Score:5, Interesting)
2. If Steam goes down, but your internet connection is still working, you'll lose your offline authorization.
3. Because of #1, if Valve ever goes out of business, takes Steam offline, or disables HL2 on Steam you'll lose the ability to play HL2, even offline, once your authorization expires in a month or two.
#2 is the really nasty one right now-- it's impossible to know if Steam is up without checking (their status page said "steam is online" during the last whole-day outage), and once you check, your old authorization is cleared out while it waits for a new one from the server. Of course, if the server's down, you won't get a new one, leaving you with an unplayable game until they fix their shit.
#3 will be particularly nasty in the future. Although they're nice folks now, if Valve is ever purchased by a nasty company, they could push us all out of the game to encourage "upgrades" to newer games. Or, valve could just die and leave us in the lurch.
[insert dumb pun about steam here] (Score:3, Interesting)
So what happens to our precious Half Life 2 in ten years when Gabe Newell suddenly decides to start flying into space or kayaking instead of making computer games, and disbands Valve? Or when they decide to can Steam for Steam 2? While copy protection blows, Steam doesn't really help the consumer because they are as reliant on the company as they were with copy protection - perhaps even more so. For example, I have long since lost my code wheel to Starflight, now nearly a 20 year old game. For kicks, I tried contacting EA (the publisher) who had no idea what Starflight was. Thankfully, I had already found a crack on the net. The dependence is easily kicked.
But let's say that your dream of complete Steamed anti-piracy comes true. Let's say that with the next expansion pack, the only way you can possibly play it is by verifying with Steam's servers. Then, the next year, Gabe Nevell decides to start flying into space instead of working on games and shuts Valve down. So where's your precious Steam then, when it doesn't even exist and you can't play HL2 for old skool kicks? You have no physical product to even prove that you bought the game. Sure, ok; realistically someone somewhere would come up with a solution, but it would be akin to downloading a crack now. How does that solve anything? What's more is that I can lend Starflight to anyone I want. Can you do that with Steam? Nope. Is that exlusion in the EULA? Nope. Do I have a guarantee that as long as I own Half Life 2 and the PC to play it on, I can play it? Nope. You can only play HL2 on Valve's terms, and on Valve's timetable. How is that helping the consumer?
You talk about Valve software as if they're some kind of perfect Messiah sent to rescue gamers. Well, they can admittedly produce great games (two of them, to be exact). But Steam blew my system a four hour kiss, and then it took 4 more months - four months - until they released a patch that stopped the stuttering and made the game playable. Remember September 30th? They openly lied to you about their release date. They've also screwed the mod community several times over. Sorry bud, but they are as much the "corporate pointy-hairs" as Vivendi.
If there's a limited amount of "power" in this publisher-game studio-consumer relationship, all that's happened with Steam is a transfer of power from publisher to game studio. None of it comes down to the consumer. In fact, it seems to be robbing us of it. I prefer the "system" now in comparison Steam. I'm not an idiot for thinking so either, and if it means helping Vivendi so I have more control over products I rightfully purchased and own, than so be it.
Re:HL2 Packaging and Steam (Score:2, Interesting)
He purchased a copy, which he could not use. He attempted to return it (I assume) and was rejected (which is illegal in most states). He reversed the charge according to his cardholder agreement, which the merchant agreed to when they established their merchant account. At this point he has not broken the law and is in possession of a copy of the game, and there is no law against him playing a game that he has a copy of.
Where is the piracy? He never made a copy illegally. He never distributed his copy or other copies illegally.