SEIV via Steam

[douglas]

From a few posts down in the thread Fyron linked to:

Malfador said:
Thanks for the lengthy/thorough post. Not to worry, the CD version of the game does not require Steam to play. We’re only using it as a distribution channel at this point.

I would not expect this to change for SEV, and I would expect it to be only one of several distribution channels.

[Tough Guy]

Can someone confirm whether steam is necessary for a single player game.

I travel a lot for business and play SEIV non stop while in the air, without an internet connection.

If this won't work I will not buy the game which would suck. I am hoping the STEAM stuff works itself out.

[geoschmo]

Tough Guy said:

Can someone confirm whether steam is necessary for a single player game.

The quote from Malfador in the post just before yours confirmed it is not.

[Arkcon]

geoschmo said:
The quote from Malfador in the post just before yours confirmed it is not.

I suppose the question, for me and maybe some other people, is if Malfador's contract with Strategy First, or Valve would ever force Malfador to require STEAM for the game to function, maybe even going as fas as to shutdown the PBW site, or even remove play-by-email from the game code.

I don't remember the exact name, but some people made some sort of Linux port of Warcraft, that used some sort of alternate network, distinct from Battlenet, for multiplayer gaming. It required a functioning Windows copy of Warcraft to run, and since Battlenet has no charge they were kinda claiming that it wasn't infriging on Blizzard's rights -- they were just createing a separate network to save bandwidth and allow Linux users to play their favorite DOS game.

Blizzard, understandably, were not pleased at the loss of control, if not income, and came down hard on these hippie, commie, open-source, wacko, liberal nerds.

People have strong feelings about issues like this. And sometimes even a straight answer isn't enough to ally suspicions. I like to maintain a calm "wait'n see" attitude to the issue.

[geoschmo]

Arkcon said:
I suppose the question, for me and maybe some other people, is if Malfador's contract with Strategy First, or Valve would ever force Malfador to require STEAM for the game to function, maybe even going as fas as to shutdown the PBW site, or even remove play-by-email from the game code.

I cannot even imagine a set of circumstances that would have that as the end result. But I suppose if it were to happen we could just roll the PBW server back to only supporting version 1.91 and before. Since that was published by Shrapnel I can't see that SF or Valve would have any say in whether people could use PBW for that.

I'm not even sure Malfador or Shrapnel could legally force PBW to stop allowing players to play even if they were taken over by evil mind-controlling aliens who had it in for us. I'm pretty sure we are well within the boundaries of "fair-use". Of course if a publisher were to take a little fan-run site like PBW to court the side with the money would probably win, regardless of what was actually legally correct.

[Fyron]

Arkcon said:
I suppose the question, for me and maybe some other people, is if Malfador's contract with Strategy First, or Valve would ever force Malfador to require STEAM for the game to function, maybe even going as fas as to shutdown the PBW site, or even remove play-by-email from the game code.

Aaron has specifically said that SE5 will not require Steam to play...

[wilhil]

Is it just me, or is almost everyone here really paranoid about steam!

ahhh, im not going to get involved in this!

[Ragnarok-X]

I have to admit im pretty dissapointed. Even only considering to combine SEV with steam (not important for what, but even the simple thought) feels like Aaron has lost his mind and is looking to make as many $$$ as possible. I was always happy with SEIV being a niche product, but if a game gets in contact with steam, i will most probably not even consider buying it. Im really very dissapointed, on a moralic level.

[Fyron]

wilhil said:
Is it just me, or is almost everyone here really paranoid about steam!

It's pretty much just you.

Ragnarok-X, the publicaly stated goal was always to get SE5 in the mass retail market... Steam is just another distribution channel.

[douglas]

I'm pretty sure Aaron stated when Fyron asked him about it that, as far as SEIV and SEV are concerned, Steam is a distribution channel and only a distribution channel. It will also be merely one of several distribution channels.