SEV on Steam?

[Arkcon]

Yeah, that's my question. What is STEAM and how does it work? And no their website doesn't have a quick faq for me to check.

So I buy SE5, it connects to STEAM, 45 min later unlocks my copy, and I play it solo all I want, without ever having to connect to the STEAM server again, right?

Or does it check online at each time the program starts? That would kinda suck. Or if I try play-by-email/PBW, that would kinda suck too.

I suppose I would try the STEAM server for a multiplayer game, but I do tend to have the same point of view as Atrocities does -- I don't like snoopy servers.

'Course, I never checked if the Battlenet server is doing something like that. Hmmm. There's a project for me today.

[EDIT]

Oooh. If SE5 uses the STEAM server, is it contractually obligated to only use the STEAM server for multiplayer. As in, PBW gets a cease and desist order, and Play-By-Email must be removed from SE5.