I've never played the game I assumed you had and was correct in what you said, In that case though it''s a key and still DRM, but purely for Online play, I believe online play is what Diablo games are all about.

It makes absolutely no difference to the basic fact that CD Key=DRM however it's applied.

A CD-Key is not DRM, unless said key is checked against a database.
Definition of DRM (for me) is that if I have a hardware relevant to the game isolated in a bunker, I can play that game without needing to contact a 3rd party.
CD-Keys do not depend on 3rd parties, so they are not DRM.
Unless you also count manuals as DRM, like the case of Master of Orion, The Savage Empire, or Eye of the Beholder.

Meh. Arguing semantics. I guess I don't really care whether a game is truly DRM-free by all definitions of the phrase. I care if I can play the game without the steam client running. If I can, that's enough for me. If valve and their servers are destroyed, my game will still work.

I was playing around with Europa Universalis IV on Linux today. It will run and is playable without the steam client running. When run, there are several error messages "SteamAPI_IsSteamRunning() failed.", but the game will run, and is playable. I copied it to a virtual machine with no steam install, and got the same result. None of the DLC's work though without the steam client. So here is a game with Achievements and trading cards in steam that will run without steam. I didn't think that would happen.

it doesn't matter what it is(for you). DRM is DRM regardless of internet connection being required or implementation. if you receive a number or code of any kind that you are required to have for the game for it to be installed and used as the creators intended then it has DRM. this is fact, not opinion.

That's makes no sense at all
Definitions are facts, not personal choices, as I've said the fact something other than buying the game is required before you can access all features, makes it DRM, not how hard to get around it is, not who made it, only the fact that without using the DRM you can't Play all the available Content.

Wikipedia defines it thus
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a class of technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders, and individuals with the intent to control the use of digital content and devices after sale; there are, however, many competing definitions. With first-generation DRM software, the intent is to control copying; With second-generation DRM, the intent is to control executing, viewing, copying, printing and altering of works or devices. The term is also sometimes referred to as copy protection, copy prevention, and copy control, although the correctness of doing so is disputed. DRM is a set of access control technologies.

I rephrase it thus
Anything that controls your access to content after a legal purchase is DRM.

This is not my Definition, it is the definition.
The wording is mine, I choose them for clarity, where a Legal department, might choose other words, but the definition is the same however worded. It's a fact, not an opinion.

You, confuse the two of them, Whether DRM is made by a 3rd party or not, makes no difference to it's existance.
That's like saying only Nvidia Graphics cards are really Graphics Cards and just as inaccurate.

The third-party DRM is (sometimes?) listed on the shop site of the game, e.g. Crysis with its SecuROM. As for the CEG component, that's not possible because every developer can decide on his/her own if they want to implement it or not.

@bickering: We all know that DRM is evil and that it is nearly impossible to have a game without any form of DRM - except it was designed to be. It was also more than once discussed in this thread whether this list covers only 'trve' DRM-free games, what DRM is or if the wording "DRM-free" isn't misleading. It IS, so what? If you two want to discuss further without any results, please use PM, thanks.

Offtopic: If you want to have fun with semantics, UhuruNUru: Your bold rephrased 'definition' is actually an implication, it doesn't define DRM in any way ;).

Generally you are right but I raised this issue because some games listed as DRM Free require a CD Key, resulting in the possibility the game may need that to be re-entered at some point.
Thus it becomes a fact needed to run supposedly "DRM Free" games, my initial post was about this possibility being added to OP and in that I stated I'd only read first and Last Page of thread.

You may have noticed my many repeated attempts to get the basic fact that CD Key=DRM across. This was a last attempt to make it clear, that all else is irrelevant. I'd gone way past the "Actual Definition", if CDKey=DRM wasn't clear enough and the Factual Wikipedia entry didn't work that was my final attempt to get the core fact accross.
That it's the restricting access that makes it DRM, not it's inconvenience level. Add to which, not having a CD key, to a purchased game, can be damn inconvenient also.

No you twist it around, the CD Key is the DRM, embeddding the instructions as Letters in a Manual makes the Manual a requirement to obtain the Key, but it is the neccessity to enter a Key thats the DRM. Not having the key stops access and again you try to use a specific example to "Disprove" the fact.

It's the core fact that simply purchasing the game is not all thats needed to play all content.
Specific types of DRM use a variety of methods, but all mean you can't just install and play the game anywhere or anyhow and whatever method is used it is some type of DRM.

So yes even the manual can be part of it, if obtaining a key needs the manual. It doesn't make All Manuals DRM or even that Manual, the DRM in this case is the entry of a code, the manual becomes a requirement for it.

Not having the Manual means not having the Key but it's the key thats actually required, not the Manual.

By this logic the game files themselves are DRM.

DRM is when even though you have all of the materials from when you purchased, something prevents you from being able to install and play the game.

Anyone have Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition on Steam?

Does it contain CEG?
Does it force launcher (if launched from game's EXE in the actual game-folder)?

gentlemen/ladies: do you consider the key that gog gives for gifting games a form of DRM? Not trying to be an ass, I am seriously asking.

Thanks, will amend list myself if no one else does.

Also, people, don't pollute the thread please- there's no way to sort the relevant posts from the other stuff, so go to PM or make a new thread.

edit: and lol because I've been playing my steam DRM-free games on non-steam PC and/or w/o internet, like on a bus. So argue all you want, but practically speaking it doesn't matter.

How do you figure that out, by taking one statement in a long string of posts?
If we repeated everything said in every post, each post would be a page long. taking a sinle sentence out of context is an easy manipulation.

But that ones stretching it.
This
It's the core fact that simply purchasing the game is not all thats needed to play all content.

No can't see how that can mean game files, unless you assume a bugged game that won't install.
Not my meaning but I can argue that A bugged game is DRM if you want.

I bought a game on the understanding that game would run.
It's Digital and I can't play the game as promised which is the right I purchased.
Until bug is fixed the content is inaccessible, how is that different than those wanting to play Watch Dogs and stopped by a buggy Uplay, that was DRM why's it different.

But no I was not making any such argument at all and assume the game will play as promised. It may not but I have to deal with real DRM first before I can worry about "Bugged DRM", if I can't access the game due to CD Key DRM all else is vapourware.

Anyway I'm done debating this obvious fact, My first post if you bother to read it, was a specific issue I saw with calling CD Key games DRM Free, which they are not and never will be, If the CD Key is known it's not a issue, if CD key is missing or unknown it becomes a major issue. The OP doesn't mention it at all.

YES! If all you need to play the game are included in the box, the game is DRM Free. If you need to talk to someone else to get permission the game isn't DRM Free.
A CD-Key is included in the box. If using said CD-Key in an isolated PC in a nuclear bunker allows you to play the game, then said CD-Key is not DRM. If the game requires to talk to a server to give you access to the game, then the CD-Key is DRM.
In case of digital purchases, it goes similar to that. If you get the CD-Key with your purchase, and can install it on an isolated PC, then it's not DRM. If you can't install it on an isolated PC, it is DRM.

Glad you finally understood it :)