(this thread is to all effects dead, the following is a Steam Support thread that I'm copying here to link it from somewhere else, not to continue the discussion)

"1 Message by you on Wed, 15th Feb 2012 4:30 am
Hi!,

I have been told that some games allow for DRM-free backups by just copying around their installation folders in steamapps. what I mean is that you can copy the installation directory of a game in steamapps folder and then you can play from that copied folder in whichever computer you want regarless of having the Steam client installed or not. For example, you can do this with Binding of Isaac.

Is this practice allowed by you?

Thanks for your time.

2 Message by Support Tech Toby on Fri, 17th Feb 2012 3:27 pm
Hello Michaelpalin,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

To install the game on your computer, you must have the Steam application installed and a valid internet connection.

To install Steam, please see this page:

Get Steam Now:
http://store.steampowered.com/about/

After Steam is connected to the internet and the game is fully updated, you may set Steam to offline mode using this guide:

Title: Offline Mode
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

Once properly set to offline mode, you can disconnect the computer from the internet.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

3 Message by you on Sat, 18th Feb 2012 4:25 am
I know the details of the offline mode and how to install games with the Steam client. My question is if it is allowed to backup the install directory of a game directly from the steamapps folder and then use that directory independently of the Steam client. It would be a fully working (in the games that allow for this) Steam client free version of the game.

4 Message by Support Tech Toby on Sat, 18th Feb 2012 8:25 am
Hello Michaelpalin,

As previously stated, you must have the Steam application installed and a valid internet connection to install and play the game on your computer.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you."

umm - what did you expect them to say except the standard copy pasted answer? this is a matter the developers/distributors decide - not steam

Troll post is troll post

What part of "this thread is to all effects dead, the following is a Steam Support thread that I'm copying here to link it from somewhere else, not to continue the discussion" did you two not understand?

This is why we but "do not microwave package with pizza" signs on our food.

OF COURSE it is not officially allowed by them. What's next? Asking if you can share GOG games because they have no DRM? How about writing GG if you are allowed to bypass their DRM?

I sometimes get the feeling the Steam support has such a bad reputation because of the questions they have to handle.

Because the ticket in question can only be used as evidence that either a) you're an idiot or b) you're a troll.

According to their official policies there isn't a single DRM free game on steam , there never was. What there is is a steam DRM bypassing method which happens to be alot simpler than downloading a crack and applying it to an install but not different in nature, it's bypassing either way. Sure, downloading a crack and aaplying it brings oher considerations to the table but the bypassing part is there regardless for bothh instances.

DRM Free on steam is a construct of steam users invested, for whatever reason, in trying to sweep Steam's inherent DRM nature under the rug. Even steam doesn't go as far as riding the current DRM Free good will train by advertsing any of their games as such. How could they when their entire business philoshopy was based on having users putting up with their DRM in return for perks/leashes* ? Why would they when the whole point of the client is to bundle people's subs with their storefront ?

*perks are not really perks when they're forced on people, when hey're forced on people perks become leashes. So it's either perks or leashes, the understanding being up to each user.


"As previously stated, you must have the Steam application installed and a valid internet connection to install and play the game on your computer."

Case closed.

Universal health care, unemployment benefits and pension are leashes?

Wow, life in Germany really sucks...

(I just wanted to point out that absolute definitions never work).

"Either perks or leashes, the understanding being up to each user" - that somehow doesn't seem anything like an absolute to me. Steam forcing its client on people as a compromise for overlays, cheevos and whatnot, renders the client into nothing more than a needless leash for each and every user that has absolutely no use for overlays, cheevos and whatnot.

Those you mentioned aren't forced on people, they're available options people can rely on should they need/want to (assuming they're elegible), so most definitely perks. If you mean the taxes people pay to keep those up and running, definitely leashes regardless of your personnal opinion on taxes in general or the end result of how and where the revenue is used.

Well they kind of are, for the people who have to pay them. I'm not saying I disagree with these things, just saying that even those have a downside.

But by dividing those you draw an arbitrary line. Those three things I mention are funds you have to pay into to get the benefits. They can't be used for anything else. If you draw lines always exactly where you get something and divide cause and benefits, the distinction looses relevance.

If you say everything forcing you is a leash and everything beneficial is a perk you are dealing in absolutes. From then on it all depends on the defintions of those. Is a safety belt (literally and the obligation to wear one) a leash? Probably, but this also shows that there is nothing positive or negative in those words. No meaning at all besides the "it forces people": Which itself is a very neutral term, because it becomes boundless.

I'm not saying Steam isn't a leash. I agree that it is. But I don't mind it, heck I support the "leashing" as I consider gamers (or people in general) as to greedy to properly respect the creators of the games (I'm not talking about piracy, but the "entitlements" some people think they have with games). It is, just like with every leash, a measure of intensity. The way Steam handles it, I consider acceptable. How Sony did it with their rootkits, that was to "strong" a leash.
Those that pay are those who benefit. They are directly connected. They don't go through the bigger taxes pot. Hence the example.

Absoutely, just putting a line between them doesn't mean anything, the meaning will come from the appreciation you make of what's at both ends of the leash, that apprecaition is what determines how much you'll resent the leash or if not at all, like you, me and steam, it's the different way in which we evaluate what's at both ends that will determine where we'll keep our eyes, leash or perks. So you're right, it's not so much a matter of saying this is a leash and this is a perk, is where you'll keeep your eyes at that matters. Go ahead and disregard that equation of mine, as is and by itself is meaningless indeed.

Everything forcing me is obviously a leash, benefitial on the other hand is a subjective notion which was basically my point. Is auto patching benefitial ? Is the current social net kept up by taxes beneficial ? Your answer to both is likely yes, but you're not everybody, so benefitial according to whom ? That's what i pointed out in regards to steam, just by virtue of the offset of wearing the leash being presented as beneficial it doesn't make it so, it doesn't make it so for everybody being invited to put on the leash. Taxes and seat belts have extra layers of complexity to them, like the impact on the collective for instance, but luckily business transactions concerning entertainment purchases for the most part are still very simple selfish exercises, which means that while taking us off the taxes or seat belt leash at the same time we hold on to function would be tricky but the same isn't true for DD platfomrs and alternative delivery and/or orperational methods, that's infinitely simpler, it doesn't take much beyond the will to drop the leash.

I have no freaking idea what you mean, you'll need to be a tad more specific.

Creators of games aren't deities on earth, they're craftsman of luxury items, craftsman of luxury items amidst a global financial and economical crisis that can very well end up sending the entire world down the crapper i might add. Sure, we appreciate their work like we appreciate the work of book authors, movie makers, musicians, hookers and so on and so forth but that doesn't mean we have to lose prespective, does it ?

Besides the personal subjective meaning you imprint on the end result of their activity what makes these individuals so special that you'd support measures being put in place to make sure they get respected ? Respected how exactly ? Since it's not the possibility of withhelding due pay from them as just compensation for work that bothers you (not piracy), how exactly do greedy gamers not kept on a leash disrespect game creators ? What kind of entitlements are being shot down with this leash of yours ?