This 'how many threads?' question has prompted me to explore the forums a bit more deeply to see what's going on, which is no bad thing. Among the assorted subjects was one of the perennial Steam v the rest of the world threads:

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/to_steam_or_not_to_steam

Aside from the usual scrum of Steam luvvies and anti-Steam supporters, it got me thinking about the whole thing of requiring permission to play games you've paid for. Clearly, having to ask for codes or be dependent on a client to play games you own is wrong - you bought the thing, you should be able to play it when and where you want, as long as you're not violating the rights of the people who made it.

Since the beginning of my descent into the murky depths of the computer game (I like murky depths) I've been a rabid racing sim fan. Let me stress that its sims as opposed to the more arcadey offerings that make me want to get behind the wheel (yes, I have one of those as well), despite having a copy of GRID in my GOG collection.

Two fairly recent sims that I really admire are Game Stock Car Extreme and Formula Truck 2013, both from Reiza Studios, a small outfit of fans who began by modding for rFactor and have now become a force in their own right.

This is where the depths get murkier, and the murk isn't a good one.

As seems inevitable, the interest in Reiza's two titles has meant that they have migrated to Steam. Good for them; they clearly believe its a step forward and it should put their titles under the noses of a lot more potential customers.

But how does this move affect current owners of their two sims who don't want to be forced into moving to Steam?

Owners like me.

Well, with Game Stock Car Extreme they are offering (for the time being, at least) the same updates for the non-Steam users as they intend for the Steam users. Which is fair; Steam or otherwise, we've all paid for the product and should all benefit from any enhancements that come its way.

But Formula Truck is a different story...

Non-Steam users are not going to get updates unless they migrate to the Steam system. Having purchased the game in the belief that it would be updated on a fairly regular basis as per the other title I feel my rights have been violated. This 'shift or go without' approach is wrong and is one of the reasons I dislike Steam so much. Steam has become a behemoth and its 'play our way or not at all' stance is what turns so many people off. Because its so huge small developers like Reiza are sucked towards it like iron filings to a magnet - and in the process the rights of people like me get chucked in the bin. Its arm-twisting of the most basic kind and its plain wrong.

As a side note, before the Steam move was announced, Reiza had a 'contact us for your registration key' system implemented where you couldn't access the full content of either sim until you emailed them for a code. Again this is the wrong way of doing things (it really complicates pc/os changes) but they were a small company and had a right to protect their property.

But this whole permission thing is a pain in the rear and needs to go away before it becomes the norm, or one day there'll be groups of old gamers (us ;-)) sitting in pubs of the future gazing into the distance and talking wistfully about the good old days when a game you spent money on actually belonged to you, this before getting up and having to pay to use the toilet. A place where, sadly and too often, good ideas seem to end up.

I'm glad we have GOG.