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Posted

Some like the Apple Store and Steam are approved third party sources. It's legal to buy from them. There are occasional sales where you can buy the games at a significant discount. For instance the Humble Bundle a few months ago allowed you to buy almost all the games for less than the cost of one game sold here.

 

The main differences are that Jeff makes more profit on games stored here and better support. This site gets the first updates and patches to fix bugs in the games. It's easier to get your game code if you lose it due to computer crashes. Jeff offers a no questions refund within one year of purchase.

Posted

Some like the Apple Store and Steam are approved third party sources. It's legal to buy from them. There are occasional sales where you can buy the games at a significant discount. For instance the Humble Bundle a few months ago allowed you to buy almost all the games for less than the cost of one game sold here.

 

The main differences are that Jeff makes more profit on games stored here and better support. This site gets the first updates and patches to fix bugs in the games. It's easier to get your game code if you lose it due to computer crashes. Jeff offers a no questions refund within one year of purchase.

I see, then i will save more and buy full geneforge saga from here!!!

Posted

and games bought via sw could be easier to transfer on other comp than those bought elsewhere and also can be sold if wants to sell (unlike steam-versions).

Have you used steam? Games bought on steam are permanently tied to your account. Given that you can access your steam account, and given the computer in question you are using can run it, it's pretty easy to transfer those games to another computer.

 

I'm really not sure what you're saying with regards to reselling. What you are suggesting sounds worse than piracy unless you are thinking about CDs, in which case I don't even know if SW still offers that. We're kinda past that era. Also, considering even old SW games are offered online, I can't see anyone scouring garage sales looking for Exile III.

Posted

The EULA for boa at least stipulates that you are allowed to transfer the agreement provided the third party agrees to all the terms you agreed to. So yeah, its legal provided you uninstall it first ( I'm sure there's a stipulation somewhere to tell Jeffers, but lol I'm not gonna read the whole thing)

 

edit:

You may also transfer all your license rights

in the Software' date=' the backup copy of the Software, the related

documentation and a copy of this License to another party, provided

the other party reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions

of this License.[/quote']

Posted

The main differences are that Jeff makes more profit on games stored here and better support. This site gets the first updates and patches to fix bugs in the games. It's easier to get your game code if you lose it due to computer crashes. Jeff offers a no questions refund within one year of purchase.

Posted

The refund guarantee is a pretty big draw if you have any uncertainty. Supporting Jeff is nice otherwise.

 

—Alorael, who has an active opposition to Steam. It's nice to have a reliable games library, but services like Humble Bundle and Good Old Games do that too without requiring you to launch another program, possibly with an internet connection, every time you want to play something. A small headache, to be sure, but it is one.

Posted

Also, some of the third party options provide versions of the games that mods will not work on. I don't think Steam has that particular issue, but it's something to be aware of if you care about mods or scripting-based cheats.

Posted

On Steam you don't even buy any games, you only buy a license to play the game. You have to agree that Steam can remove your license to play the game at any time without any reason or prior notice. Also Steam does NO refunds at all. Even if the whole game is not working at all, their support will completely ignore you and just send the standard "we don't do refunds" reply.

That's why games on Steam are usually cheapest, but in terms of service and freedom it's probably the worst option.

 

Buying games directly from Spiderweb is the opposite. Highest possible freedom and service you will ever find for digital games, but most expensive.

 

And Humble Bundle / GoG are a middle-way.

Posted

On Steam you don't even buy any games, you only buy a license to play the game.

This is true with all software, including Jeff's games, including CDs you buy in a store, including free/open source software. That blurb of text you ignore when installing something is called an End User License Agreement, and acts as a contract saying "you can run this software, provided x, y, z (usually, 'dont hack or redistribute pls')".

 

The only person who owns software is the person who wrote the software. You don't own any of the software on your computer, including the operating system. You license it from whoever wrote it.

 

Now, with regards to steam, if you have two of the same thing but there were different EULAs agreed to (in this case, let's say SWs EULA and whatever steam uses as a default) then that means you (and the company, its important to note these are two-way contracts) are bound to both licenses, however in a conflict of terms (license A says you can do x, B says you can't do x) then you may choose to do the less restricted option. This is called dual licensing and is quite common actually (especially in the FOSS community).

 

Let's say you bought Exile Remake Remake III: Ruined World from Jeff a year or whatever from now. You want to make a mod that turns the party into, I dunno, miniature horses or something, doesn't matter. Let's say Jeff's EULA allows such a modification (presumably with some stipulations). Now, let's say you pick it up at steam for ten cents or whatever. If steam gets pissy because they don't want you running your full conversion Diminutive Horses III: Escape from Tartarus, you do have legal basis to tell them to stick it (whether you want to spend the legal fees is another question). The most they could do is say "ok we aren't letting you download it anymore" which is identical to saying "ok we aren't mailing you another CD" as far as the legal system cares)

 

The reason steam doesn't do refunds is because, at the end of the day, they're a distributor. They make a killing of the internet equivalent of printing CDs (and running the store the CDs are sold in). And as far as technical issues go, you cant really expect them to offer full support for the, what, ten billion CHOO CHOO INDIE FLASH GAME games on steam.

 

Steam has so many users because it offers users what most want (cheap games, download anywhere and anytime, DRM that works and isn't the NSA), while also offering developers what they want (huge market, somewhat reasonable fees, DRM that works and isn't the NSA). Am I personally a huge fan? Not really. If there's a non-steam version of a game I usually get that (provided its standalone and not through another service). Do I like that in theory steam could shut off and lose all my games? Not really, but in the three years I've used steam I've yet to have an issue with playing a game (even when I had no internet). Its not great, but it works. Meh.

Posted

On the other hand, I try to purchase games on Steam when I can (so, most of the time). Reason being is that I want everything in one hub (the Steam application). I've also had no problems with Steam, in fact for me it's the best option out there. When I format my computer I don't need to backup anything, I just log on a freshly installed Steam application and download the games I want. That's what I did with A:EftP - stopped playing it 2 years ago, formatted my computer, and when I installed it again some 3 weeks ago I had everything backed up. Can't really have that if you buy games from all over the internet. This centralised system is very convenient.

Posted

I have had issues multiple times with getting games on steam to run and have had to execute various troubleshooting steps. I do not like having an extra layer of complication between my games and I.

The only games that I have bought through steam are those that are only distributed that way. Of course, I do not buy a lot of games, so I am not a very good sample. I prefer buying directly from Jeff, because I can afford to do so and give him the extra support. I am willing to pay $20 for a game of the quality that his are. Obviously there is nothing wrong with paying less, like the deals you can get through Steam. There are two game franchises that I play on Steam, and for both I have bought the DLCs at very steep discounts. These franchises are from medium size publishers so I do not see the need to pay full price.

Posted

On the other hand, I try to purchase games on Steam when I can (so, most of the time). Reason being is that I want everything in one hub (the Steam application).

 

For what it's worth, there's a menu option to add non-Steam games and applications to your Steam library. If you didn't buy the game through Steam, you won't have access to Steam-specific features like the ability to earn Steam achievements or the ability to redownload the game or auto-download updates through Steam, but you will be able to use Steam to launch the game.

Posted

Reason being is that I want everything in one hub (the Steam application).

This is pretty much where I am with Steam, especially since they've brought back a lot of classics, now, in order to run with modern systems. At one point, back when we had these devices called "CDs", I actually needed to make a chart of what row and column my game was in to find the disc. So, Steam is basically this organization system in more practical terms.

Plus, I can't accidentally run over my Steam licenses with my car...

Posted

Buying games directly from Spiderweb is the opposite. Highest possible freedom and service you will ever find for digital games, but most expensive.

 

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IIRL, it was $20 for each Geneforge game. But then I discovered Steam, and they sold the whole series for the price of one. Now I know why Steam sells the game for really big discounts.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I pretty much exclusively use steam, though I own some games via GOG and unfortunately origin. I understand that sometimes I have to do some troubleshooting to make them work, but it's things I would have to do if I had a cd anyway, without the worry of physical damage.

I am also aware of the fact that one day steam will shut down and I will be SOL. I can only hope there is/will be a contingency plan in the works.

Posted

Actually, I remember reading something once (hah! the most trustworthy of sources!) that basically said that Valve would 'attempt to make sure users get access to their games', regardless of what happens to Steam as a platform, and Valve as a company.

 

It's nice that they've at least thought about that eventuality. And, in the meantime, I'm happy to use Steam as the sole keeper of my games because it's easier than managing it myself.

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