Civilization V To Use Steamworks 295
sopssa writes "2K Games today announced that Civilization V will be using Steamworks for online matchmaking, automated updates, downloadable content and DRM for the game. Steam's Civ V store page is also available now, revealing some new information about the game. There will be an 'In-Game Community Hub' for online matchmaking, communication, and for sharing scenarios between players. While including Steamworks might put some people off, it might also indicate better online gameplay than in the previous Civilization games, where it was almost impossible to have a good game without playing with just friends."
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:0, Interesting)
I have never played a game that uses Steam, so I don't know if it's bad or not. I'll definitively keep an eye on what people are saying.
It's quite annoying. You always have to start the Steam-client to play. For some reason you cannot copy&paste passwords so you have to always type it. There's supposed to be an offline mode but that disables itself all the time and you have to log in to play.
It's an unnecessary pain in the ass, in my opinion. It's one of the more cumbersome DRM systems because it comes with all those useless bells and whistles.
That said, at least it always worked when I wanted to play. Still, I don't really like it because - as with all online-DRM systems - once they turn off their servers, you'll lose every game you bought from them.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:4, Interesting)
It's quite annoying. You always have to start the Steam-client to play.
It autostarts as you click your game icon.
For some reason you cannot copy&paste passwords so you have to always type it.
I don't even know my steam pass. I entered it once, maybe years ago.
There's supposed to be an offline mode but that disables itself all the time and you have to log in to play.
Disables itself?!? I download the game, set it as offline and that's all.
It's one of the more cumbersome DRM systems because it comes with all those useless bells and whistles.
I think you have a problem with your steam installation, or your computer. I've never encountered nor heard about the problems you speak about, and some sound pretty strange; it's as if you lost the configuration every time, or something. I'd check the properties of your steam folders.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:3, Interesting)
I can imagine hardware changes to be a problem but how does it know there are updates without you being online?
I know about the updating the games I have set up as offline, but it notices only when I'm actually online, so I can download the updates. I fail to see the problem.
Either you're offline (or just dont let steam connect), and you get no update notifications, or you're online and connected, in which case you must download the updates, which I would, anyway.
I can see a problem if, for some reason, you didn't want to keep the game updated.
shameful (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, here's to the first game in the Civ series I don't buy.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:4, Interesting)
And that's exactly the problem with piracy these days. People think that restrictive DRM warrants an illegal download while the only legal solution to your problem would be to simply not play Civ V at all if you don't like the DRM.
Depends on where you live. Buying and installing a patch that removes the DRM is also legal in many places. And I think that where I live, not buying but downloading a complete cracked version is also legal, as long as I don't use torrent to do it (because then I'd be uploading at the same time).
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:3, Interesting)
With everything that is going on these past few years with DRM, I do not disagree with you whatsoever. More power to you.
This is directed to all Slashdotters, not you. I've said it before, I think we should stop think of PC games as owning them, and treating them as rentals. That's how the companies are treating us, so we should respond in kind. And I don't mean to just roll over and accept it. I mean the following:
Only buy games, new or used, at a rental price-point. When there is a special on Steam like when Bioshock was out for $5, then you buy it. Or wait until it gets to $15-20 new. Most games nowadays hit the mark around 6 mo. - 1 yr. It has an added benefit of having all the bugs ironed out and the game is fully playable.
This way when they screw you (no, the servers will *not* be still on for games like RE5, AC2 in 5-7 years and you can't play then), you are out the appropriate amount. And they only receive what the game is truly worth.
As a side note, something helpful: I find when they hype a game I want it right now. But it's only because it's on your mind. If you focus on something else, you don't even remember you want it. So to still get the game, what I do is when I see a game I want right now, I just put it on a list. I have a list of like 20 games right now. Then you pick it up when its super cheap. I have about 30 games on steam right now that I haven't paid more than $10 now (and good ones, like Bioshock, Dead Space, etc.).
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not bad. After a while, you'll find that Steam has some distinct benefits.
Like when I buy a new computer, it'll download and install any of the games I want to play. No disks. I have played Steam on machines that lacked an optical drive entirely.
Get past the extra hassle of having to wait until the Steam client logs in (unless you set it to offline mode) before your game starts, but that only adds a couple of seconds to the game start. On my game machine, I just leave the client running in the systray.
I give Valve credit for making an un-horrible gaming system for the PC. They did not completely screw up. Is it perfect? Absolutely not.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:5, Interesting)
thing is that steam is utterly retarded when it comes to network connections.
If there's *any* kind of network, no matter if it's just a point to point between 2 laptops, a local lan with no net connection or anything which looks like a network connection then steam will decide that you don't really want to be in offline mode, obviously you made a mistake when clicking "offline mode" and so it kicks you out of offline mode and freaks out because it can't connect to the steam servers and locks itself up.
Even worse is when it does this while I'm using my edge dongle (very low bandwidth) and it decides that it absolutely positively has to download the 100mb patch for that single player game I was trying to play before it will even think about letting my play it.
If you've never experienced problems with steam then you're on a high bandwidth, high reliability, always-on, unrestricted net connection.
In that situation steam is the best thing since sliced bread.
Otherwise steam has very very real problems and hordes of dedicated fanboys who deny those problems even exist.
"Either you're offline (or just dont let steam connect), and you get no update notifications, or you're online and connected, in which case you must download the updates, which I would, anyway."
This tells me how little thought you've put into this.
I'm on 3 different networks regularly.
1: home, DSL, steam is pretty good on this except when it decides I really really need that massive patch for the game I want to play in single player.
2: university wireless, steam doesn't like this at all since it can't get at the steam servers but there is an active net connection so it decides I don't really want to be in offline mode then locks up because it can't get at the steam servers.
3: wireless dongle when I'm traveling, if I make the mistake of trying to play steam without first pulling out the dongle it will decide I need all the latest patches.... over an edge connection wherever I may be.
this is where steam really goes to shit.
uncommon:
4: I'm on any kind of LAN without a net connection or if my ISP goes down.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:2, Interesting)
Steam is slightly better than the absolute worst of the DRM systems yes, but it still can take all your games away if you so much as look at it funny. Even SecuROM or StarForce can't do that. If you travel with a laptop, I suggest you buy your games somewhere else. Steam has a tendency to lock accounts that log in from multiple IP addresses. 'Cause, you know, that's a crime.
Visa is slightly better than the absolute worst of the credit card systems yes, but it still can take all your buying power away if you so much as look at it funny. Even MasterCard or AmericanExpress can't do that. If you travel with a credit card, I suggest you get your card somewhere else. Visa has a tendency to lock accounts that make payments from multiple geographical locations. 'Cause, you know, that's a crime.
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Civ was my offline game (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a stupid analogy because you can tell your bank you're going to another city, state, country or whatever that you know to be suspicious, but there's no mechanism for doing this with Valve. If I tell my bank (in writing) that I'm going to another country, then they'll avoid locking my account for transactions in that country, even if there's also transactions going on in this one (for example, automatic payments.)