Create Account to PLAY?

E

erebus1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
398
Why is it that almost all the games I've been playing recently require you to sign up for an account to even play the game... kinda sucks imho, I realize that they use the account to keep track of stats and all that, but im sure they sell your info down the line.

Would be nice to get a choice if you want to create an account or not.
 
Let me give you this example, you have guild wars, someone steals your info and change password and you can't get in, you call the main company, they can deactivate the new password and return to its proper owner.
They do this also to collect pc specs info, this is big with steam, it allows them to see what kind of pc's the average consumer has so they say hey theres a lot of people with poor graphic cards lets add more support so that they run smooth also, they can also see if people migrated from using 512ram to 1gb or 2gb so they say well now we can add more options for those people that have that much memory.
I don't think they can sell your information, there is 3rd party companies that do that, I have some of my games linked to my email wich does not contain my real name or information, in the game it does not as for address or anything similar only email, account name, password ect, I don't think I encountered anything similar besides when you register windows.
 
There's really only 2 options. You can elect not to create an account, worry less. Save the tinfoil hat for more pressing stuff. Your information isn't that hard to come by anyway. Google yourself a bit(8 out of the first ten hits on "Kelbear" are me. I'm male, so the NYC wedding profile and the female myspace entry are obviously the wrong ones.). Give fake information when you think a site is questionable, multiple e-mail accounts are practically a must with all the spam out there. It's a bummer, but it's life.
 
Add a layer of lead to your tinfoil hat.

Once a gaming company sells you a game they have the right to... NOTHING. They have the responsibility to support that game in reasonable use but they have no right to any information about us.

STEAM pulled off their BS (and it's pretty ironic BS given the big-brother theme of Half Life) because they were so irate about having been hacked and everyone wanted the game. But if a lesser game insists on my info to launch after I've paid for it then I won't play it.

Steam is an irritating little invasion that has served to facillitate online games for me twice and interfered with my playing Half Life 2 in solo mode about 50 times. There was that entire premise of delivering episodes which sounded great but the reality was one little adventure (didn't qualify as an add-on, more like 1/5th of a mission) and a lot of ads and crap.
 
NoEcho said:
Add a layer of lead to your tinfoil hat.

Once a gaming company sells you a game they have the right to... NOTHING. They have the responsibility to support that game in reasonable use but they have no right to any information about us.
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They have a right to support their game as they see fit and add whatever regulations and restrictions they want on the playing of the game. Don't like the restrictions? Don't buy the game.

NoEcho said:
STEAM pulled off their BS (and it's pretty ironic BS given the big-brother theme of Half Life) because they were so irate about having been hacked and everyone wanted the game. But if a lesser game insists on my info to launch after I've paid for it then I won't play it.
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Steam was in development well before Valve was hacked and the HL2 code was stolen. The hacking incident had nothing to do with the creation of Steam at all.

NoEcho said:
Steam is an irritating little invasion that has served to facillitate online games for me twice and interfered with my playing Half Life 2 in solo mode about 50 times. There was that entire premise of delivering episodes which sounded great but the reality was one little adventure (didn't qualify as an add-on, more like 1/5th of a mission) and a lot of ads and crap.
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How has Steam prevented you from playing HL2 about 50 times? It sounds like you need to read up on how to use Steam properly, becuase I've never had it stop me from playing HL2. While I will agree that Episode I was dissapointingly short, you must realize it takes a lot of time to develop content. Look at all the detail in the game world - HL2's inferior engine looked a lot better in Episode 1 than most "superior" game engines today. Also, where are these "a lot of ads and crap?" There is a popup when you first launch Steam that informs you about new things, but I'm pretty sure you can disable it.
 
erebus1 said:
Why is it that almost all the games I've been playing recently require you to sign up for an account to even play the game... kinda sucks imho, I realize that they use the account to keep track of stats and all that, but im sure they sell your info down the line.

Would be nice to get a choice if you want to create an account or not.
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Depending on your take on it (and of course how the game uses it), accounts can be very convenient. If I need to reinstall HL2/CS/etc all I have to do is log in to my Steam account and download it. I don't have to hunt for CDs or CD keys or anything like that. Very easy to use and very convenient.
 
dotK said:
They have a right to support their game as they see fit and add whatever regulations and restrictions they want on the playing of the game. Don't like the restrictions? Don't buy the game.
Click to expand...

That's like saying a car manufacturer - after you've paid for the car - has the right to monitor your driving, tell you how, when and where you can drive it, and can snoop on you as you drive. The synopsis is... no they don't. They sell a product, I buy it... I OWN it.

If I had known I was going to have to let Steam into my life to play HL2 I wouldn't have. If I see any other game presenting the same "must register" crap I won't buy it.
 
NoEcho said:
That's like saying a car manufacturer - after you've paid for the car - has the right to monitor your driving, tell you how, when and where you can drive it, and can snoop on you as you drive. The synopsis is... no they don't. They sell a product, I buy it... I OWN it.

If I had known I was going to have to let Steam into my life to play HL2 I wouldn't have. If I see any other game presenting the same "must register" crap I won't buy it.
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Actually, you don't own any games unless you wrote them yourself. You own a license to play games and that's it. The data on the CD still belongs to whoever created the game.

Car manufacturers could monitor your driving if they wanted to. People who disagree with the monitoring would refrain from buying their cars and they would eventually go out of business. It is up to the consumer to be educated when buying a product.

Here's a little advice: drop the "the world is out to get me" thing. Nobody is out to get you. Valve is not monitoring your every movement. Valve is not selling your data. There is not some global conspiracy to build a profile for you so spammers can more effectively inform you of the "male enhancement creams" they sell.
 
NoEcho said:
That's like saying a car manufacturer - after you've paid for the car - has the right to monitor your driving, tell you how, when and where you can drive it, and can snoop on you as you drive. The synopsis is... no they don't. They sell a product, I buy it... I OWN it.

If I had known I was going to have to let Steam into my life to play HL2 I wouldn't have. If I see any other game presenting the same "must register" crap I won't buy it.
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Heh, nope. When you purchase a software, all you get is the license to use the software, not the actual game/program itself.
 
dotK said:
Actually, you don't own any games unless you wrote them yourself. You own a license to play games and that's it. The data on the CD still belongs to whoever created the game.

Car manufacturers could monitor your driving if they wanted to. People who disagree with the monitoring would refrain from buying their cars and they would eventually go out of business. It is up to the consumer to be educated when buying a product.

Here's a little advice: drop the "the world is out to get me" thing. Nobody is out to get you. Valve is not monitoring your every movement. Valve is not selling your data. There is not some global conspiracy to build a profile for you so spammers can more effectively inform you of the "male enhancement creams" they sell.
Click to expand...

The world is out to get my money, just like everyone else's. There's also peeps who have other uses for my computer than what I intended - just as with everyone else. Wake up and smell the keyloggers.

No conspiracy is required for the coalition to sell male enhancement creams, just a few very unethical and very real crews operating from fringe areas... or did you think spyware and spam were just for fun?

Is Valve the same thing as Gator et al? No. Is there any guarantie that info gathered via these 'innocent' channels won't end up in gator-esque databases? No. In fact, there's the very real precedent of a .com that folded and sold all it's customer info.

Far as me not 'owning' the code I paid for. "Possession is 9/10ths of the law". That's even more pronounced when you have paid the asking price to obtain that possession. IP ownership is another issue, 50 bucks doesn't mean I can mass market the contents of the CD but it does mean I can use it however I wish (fine print is such an iffy thing... if it's too obscure then most courts dismiss its' applicability).
 
remember, no one gives a fuck about you.

except to try to sell you something.
 
The vast majority of games do not require an account. I have no idea what the OP is talking about.

It's pretty much just MMORPG's that call for actual accounts unless you want to play online using Gamespy or Xfire, which is not a requirement for most games and therefore the games don't require an account.
 
Nasty_Savage said:
I would prefer an account like a Blizzard Battle.net account then say Starforce. :cool:
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QFT

Registering and requiring an account is a much much much more desirable anti-piracy measure then invasive software like Starforce.


As for the whole owning stuff. You dont own the game, you own a liscence to play the game. You dont own your DVD's, you own a liscence to watch the DVD's. You dont own your CD's, you own a liscence to listen to your CD's. It sucks, but its true. That is why under the law you dont have the right to transfer your content from one medium to another if the content owner tries to prevent that. If they leave the content open (CD's are unencrypted) then you do have the right to transfer the content to different media.

You can assume that anything that you cant actually feel and touch, you dont actually own. You can see and touch a car...you cant see and touch a program. Interacting with the program is not the same thing and doesn't count before you try and use that argument.
 
dotK said:
Depending on your take on it (and of course how the game uses it), accounts can be very convenient. If I need to reinstall HL2/CS/etc all I have to do is log in to my Steam account and download it. I don't have to hunt for CDs or CD keys or anything like that. Very easy to use and very convenient.
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you know what would be even better: if I could get my configs from them too.
 
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