Egosoft Wants To Bring Games To Steam On Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Egosoft Wants To Bring Games To Steam On Linux

In part due to Steam now being available on Linux, Egosoft wants to hire a Linux game developer to continue bringing their X3 games to the penguin platform...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTIzMTY

[shmerl]

I really hope they'll distribute their games outside of Steam as well, so they could be used without DRM.

[Detructor]

I really hope they'll distribute their games outside of Steam as well, so they could be used without DRM.

am I really the only one who connects DRM only with software that tries to make it impossible to copy a CD?

[entropy]

I really hope they'll distribute their games outside of Steam as well, so they could be used without DRM.

Isn't it possible to publish games via Steam without DRM?
AFAIK, it's up to the game companies which route they take.

[deanjo]

am I really the only one who connects DRM only with software that tries to make it impossible to copy a CD?

Yes, especially since CD copy protection has nothing to do with DRM. DRM requires an outside authority to validate your installation.

[shmerl]

I think you still need to install Steam client and it always has some level of DRM. As far as I know, in order even to play the game, you need to run the Steam client. That's already DRM for me, unless I misunderstiid their requirements. I'd prefer to work without any "clients", just using some installer / package / tarball (like Humble Bundle does, and how GOG does for Windows games).

Surely DRM is not limited to preventing CD copying. It means any kind of restriction on managing the data (like copying it around, limiting the amount and/or period of installations, requiring to connect to special server to use it and so on).

[deanjo]

Surely DRM is not limited to preventing CD copying.

CD copy protection is not DRM but DRM is a form of copy protection.

[shmerl]

I call it DRM as an inclusive name for any such kind of restriction. It's DRM for me. DRM = Digital Restrictions Management.

[deanjo]

I call it DRM as an inclusive name. It's DRM for me.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management which is about validating an installation by an outside authority. It has nothing to do with being able to copy the data. You can do that all day and get the perfect 1:1 copy but DRM will still thwart the installation unless re authenticated.

[entropy]

I think you still need to install Steam client and it always has some level of DRM. As far as I know, in order even to play the game, you need to run the Steam client.

If this is a strict requirement, then I to agree with you.

But is that really true? Isn't it possible to use Steam for distribution only (if the game company intends to),
so that you can copy the game-related SteamApps folder to another computer and launch it there
without Steam (and 3rd party DRM)?