[Tesserax]

I'm very much a newbie when it comes to the modding world, but is it possible to put the mod onto Steam (or some other service) such that Steam can then manage installing the updates as you make them available, as well as simplifying the installation method?

[The E]

No. We are working on implementing an automated updater/installer, but Steam won't ever be used.

[Iss Mneur]

No. We are working on implementing an automated updater/installer, but Steam won't ever be used.

More information about what we are planning on implementing (or proposing to implement) can be found in the wxLauncher 2.0 Request For Comments thread in this same forum.  Please read it and add any suggestion.

[Aardwolf]

Sheesh, how many threads about Steam have there been in the past couple of months?

[Angelus]

Sheesh, how many threads about Steam have there been in the past couple of months?

Too many. Way to many.

[General Battuta]

Sheesh, how many threads about Steam have there been in the past couple of months?

Too many. Way to many.

I think it's good exposure. The more people start using Steam, the better. Sometimes I think it's the only thing keeping PC gaming alive!

Whoops, have to run and take the tea off!

[Qent]

If I have to pay more money to avoid using Steam then I'll pay it.

[chief1983]

Actually, you'd probably have to pay more to avoid DRM at least.  Like $80 to $90 a game to keep getting unrestricted physical copies of your games.

[Qent]

Bah. Good thing I don't buy many games then. GOG FTW!

[sigtau]

It's for anti-piracy reasons I would assume, but that's not a problem for FSO so much as it is a problem for Interplay--it's their IP.

Besides, DRM is useless against anything but casual hackers--if you're determined enough, you can break any DRM.

[Qent]

Perhaps, but it's the principle of it. Take open-source software: I don't actually intend to look at the source code of most applications that I use, but the mere fact that the developers allow me to do so is a sign of trust and respect.

DRM is the opposite: even though you paid for it, we have to keep control while it's on your computer because you could be a pirate. I don't want to submit to that kind of humiliation even if it's to stop piracy.

[General Battuta]

Perhaps, but it's the principle of it. Take open-source software: I don't actually intend to look at the source code of most applications that I use, but the mere fact that the developers allow me to do so is a sign of trust and respect.

DRM is the opposite: even though you paid for it, we have to keep control while it's on your computer because you could be a pirate. I don't want to submit to that kind of humiliation even if it's to stop piracy.

Yeah, but...look at what happened to World of Goo.

[Qent]

I see nothing wrong with paying extra to support a business model I like. After all, if I get some utility out of it then that's my problem. Or did you mean that hardly anyone has heard of it?

[chief1983]

Lots of people have heard of it.  It's a fun popular game, on consoles especially as far as I can tell.

[General Battuta]

I see nothing wrong with paying extra to support a business model I like. After all, if I get some utility out of it then that's my problem. Or did you mean that hardly anyone has heard of it?

That's not what happened at all.

World of Goo is an excellent indie game released with no DRM.

There were nine copies pirated for every copy sold.

[chief1983]

How do they even know that?  Most attempts to calculate those numbers are dubious at best.  And what does that actually _mean_?  It certainly doesn't mean that with DRM they'd have had 10 fold the number of sales.  Spore had a ridiculous DRM scheme and it was still one of the most heavily pirated games of all time.  Even if the DRM weren't circumventable, that doesn't mean the pirated copies would have been sales, or that they didn't lose sales because of their strict DRM measures (I'm almost certain they did).

[General Battuta]

I don't disagree with any of those points, and World of Goo did quite well. Nor am I arguing for restrictive DRM.

Nonetheless, the figures are shocking.

[chief1983]

Yeah that's true.

[karajorma]

I don't disagree with any of those points, and World of Goo did quite well. Nor am I arguing for restrictive DRM.

Nonetheless, the figures are shocking.

The real question though is how much did piracy change sales figures? People mention it as an example of how piracy hurts software sales but they forget that World of Goo was a downloadable game released by an indie developer. For all we know the massive piracy could have actually increased their actual sales figures over what they would have otherwise had due to word of mouth from people who did download the pirated version.

I certainly would never have heard of the game before had I not read an article complaining about how much it was pirated. Hell, I still wouldn't have heard of it now cause you only brought it up to mention piracy.

[Solatar]

And of people that pirated it, how many would have actually bought a copy?