Free Valve Games For Debian Developers

I'd expect that Debian developers are pretty negative about DRM in general, so this move from Valve is rather weird.

Quoting: Quote from AnonymouThough, I have concerns about Debian Devs now rather playing games in their spare time than devoting to Debian ;-).

Hehe, i wonder how much time they get for games.

Quoting: Quote from ShmerlI'd expect that Debian developers are pretty negative about DRM in general, so this move from Valve is rather weird.

Mm. Its rather odd but what can valve actually give except dosh....which is actually probably a better idea.

Half-Shot: As I said. Valve can offer something... DRM-free for a change ;)

Valve: Hey, have some free games.
Debian Devs: No, they aren't free.

How much do you like discussing the same thing over and over? Steam is DRM in itself, it requires me to be a Steam user to buy and play the games, that's even worse than having to input keycodes or the game disk to play. DRM is about control, Steam too. I don't want to be a Steam user nor install some crappy client, I just want to buy and play games and I do in the DRM-free online stores. Why do Steam users need to claim it's DRM-free when it isn't?

Quoting: Quote from berarmaHow much do you like discussing the same thing over and over?

Not very much. Which is why I have been just idly flicking through these discussions lately - when someone offers up a new point I might choose to respond, but for the moment it is the usual same back and forth.

Quoting: Quote from AoCI'm confused how is valve doing something awesome like giving away hundreds of dollars of games to every Debian developer turn into an argument about DRM... Did I stumble onto phoronix? Q is that you? No couldn't be not promoting AMD free drivers.

And derogatory comments like this is where Phoronix culture springs from. Only try and start a fire if you actually want the place to burn.

Quoting: Quote from ShmerlI wasn't talking about Steamworks lock-in, which developers can avoid if they wish. It's bad of course. I was talking about requiring to run the client and connecting to the service to install the game. It's step 1 DRM, and no, Steam offers no packages outside the service. Sometimes you can manually copy stuff and reuse, but that's not an official support when the service provides a package (like HB and GOG do). Therefore I consider Steam to be always DRMed.

To clarify, it's not about a burden of logging in anywhere. It's about an ability to install (from a backup for example) and run the game without the service.

Using certain software to manage downloads and installation !=DRM. Using Steam to download a game doesn't mean it is DRMed even if it can only be downloaded that way. If a developer decided to only upload their DRM free game as a torrent you would HAVE to use a torrent client to download a game, that wouldn't make the game any less DRM free. In the case of DRM free games on Steam, Steam is simply a download manager. A game is DRM free independent of its delivery method. A developer could decide to sell usernames and passwords to a FTP server as its only delivery method and it would still be DRM free. With the games that are DRM free on Steam you can take the files Steam provides you and back them up and/or create installers and/or packages from those files that you could then proceed to install on any computer you want to. You could do this with any DRM free game on Steam including for example HL2(Yes it is DRM free I checked my self). 

This is cool for Debian devs that don't have a problem using steam. I'm not a Debian dev but even if I were I think I own all of the Valve games. This makes me wonder though, when is Valve going to release Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Portal 2 for Linux? Dont really care about CS:GO but Ive been waiting to finish Portal 2 and to play more co-op for a while now.

"I think you sell arms or you don't. If you sell them inevitable they will end up in the hands of those with the cash to buy them." -Sir Humphrey.

If you want games on Linux you will have DRM on Linux since it's entrenched in the industry... "I for one am grateful." - Rabbit-Tooth Jane

@Hamish http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derogatory

DRM wasn't what the news was about, you're all off on a tangent and my statement is derogatory? You have to be British... (there's your derogatory)

Quoting: Quote from AoC"I think you sell arms or you don't. If you sell them inevitable they will end up in the hands of those with the cash to buy them." -Sir Humphrey.

If you want games on Linux you will have DRM on Linux since it's entrenched in the industry... "I for one am grateful." - Rabbit-Tooth Jane

It's not as bad as with video. DRM free games are increasing in number, so if you want games on Linux, you don't need DRMed games. It's not "entrenched in the industry". Its entrenched in distributors who are conductive for its usage. But this was indeed already discussed at length.

I think things are going in a good direction. I consider Steam to be a kind of DRM. However they've been getting better since they had me stirred up as a teenager (though back then it was because I was a pirate :P). Not to mention that DRM-free games have been quite numerous lately. I often look for titles on the Humble Store first so I can get both a DRM-free and a steam copy.

That said, I like steam. I'll stick with them until I feel they're evil. Granted, this was my mindset with Google; of whom I've only grown more suspicious and resentful.