Karys

Members
  • Content Count

    81
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Community Reputation

77 Decent

About Karys

  • Rank
    Villager

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. My thoughts exactly; that one line from Rolf was very damning. I don't believe that it was intended this way, but in effect it is the same as saying, "if you give us your money, you have no right to expect anything in return; your money is already gone." That is not an acceptable business model for any paid service, and likely violates several consumer rights laws in many countries. If it is in fact the business model which CodeClub AB is using, then I hope they are compliant with all local and international laws for online gambling in every market where they do business.
  2. For personal reasons, I haven't bought an EA game in over 11 years, or a Sony/SOE game in about 10, and I don't foresee either of those changing any time soon. I find that there is not much point in making a threat you are not willing to back up.
  3. I've got to hold onto something - sometimes it's the only sanity I've got.
  4. I can't say for certain as we don't know exactly what is controlled by this server speed, but I would expect there to be some detrimental effects to running the server at an extremely high speed (such as 24x) while actually playing. Without other options, I think I'd prefer to start up the server, and then run it at something like 480x for 3 minutes to recover 24 hours of offline time, then return it to normal speed before starting up the client and connecting.
  5. I found this answer to be rather vague, and frankly I find that worrisome. I get the impression that you haven't really thought through what will be a critical issue for making this a single-player offline experience. I can see a lot of people buying WU for either single-player use, or for use by a small group without the desire to buy, rent, or run a dedicated server. However, if the time mechanics are not in place to support this sort of game play, it will lead to a great deal of frustration and potentially a lot of bad exposure for the game. If you're going to try to rework an MMO into a single-player/private server platform then you really need to address the key differences in how the game will work in the intended environment, instead of just porting over the MMO code and assuming it will all work out.
  6. I would absolutely love to have a copy of the old GV map for WU use. It seems like it would be about the perfect size for a single player or small group (I'm thinking 1-4 players as "small"). That and the nostalgia factor would make this a great addition to WU.
  7. For the purposes of playing a single-player version of WU without a dedicated server running 24/7, rather than fiddling with the speed of temporal advancement each time I started up the server, I would very much like to have the ability to simply tell the server to simply advance "X" hours. Then if the game is off for two days, and if I want a relative advancement of crops, etc., I just move it forward 48 hours and I'm done. This would seem to be much simpler and more accurate than having to increase the speed of time, then wait for it to catch up to where you want it, and then slow it down, hoping that you've done the math right and didn't significantly overshoot the mark while at high speed to where something you were trying to age is now useless.
  8. The FAQ posts have gone up on the Steam forums: Link. I did find one bit from the "FAQs - Basic Information" post a little confusing: (relevant portion underlined) Rolf had previously indicated in this thread that WU would not be released on platforms other than Steam (although he neglected to specify whether that was meant for the initial WU release date or for all future plans at this time). However, the above response seems to indicate that Plug in Digital is already working to get WU onto other distribution platforms. Can we please get some official clarification/confirmation on this? If things are still a work in progress, I understand that details likely can't be given out. I'm not really asking for specifics at this time, just a simple "yes, we are working to get WU onto other platforms," or a "no, we are not expanding WU to other markets, the FAQ was incorrect" would be appreciated. At this time, it feels like we are getting mixed messages, and some un-mixing would be nice.
  9. You really shouldn't go around telling people to "read carefully" when you continue to show a consistent lack of such activity yourself. No, offline mode is not a solution to the problem I posed, which you would know if you actually read and paid attention to what you read instead of being so eager to attack those who don't share your same preferences for conditions of business transactions. I'll try this one more time on the chance that anyone on your side still genuinely doesn't get it and is not just being willfully obtuse. If Steam goes offline permanently, I could play in offline mode as a temporary solution, but it's just that, temporary. At some point, I will have to reinstall or upgrade my OS, my hard drive will crash, or I'll buy a new computer, etc., forcing me to reinstall all my programs and games. Once that happens, even if I've backed up any Steam games, I will no longer be able to play them. If I try to reinstall them, I will have to install Steam (assuming I have a backup of the Steam client as well). Then, in order to again run Steam in offline mode, first I will have to log in to Steam once, which requires me to connect to Steam's activation servers, which is impossible because in this scenario Steam is gone now, so the servers are permanently offline, so I can't authenticate Steam, so I can't put it in offline mode, so I can't play in offline mode, so no, offline mode is not a permanent solution. There is no such problem with a distribution platform running GOG's policies and methods. If GOG goes offline, I can still reinstall the games from the original files with no need to connect to authentication servers. If GOG goes offline, it doesn't take my legitimately bought and paid for games with it. Steam and other similar DRMs do, and to me that amounts to a form of theft, and I won't expose myself to that risk. Again, why are you and others so vitriolic against the very idea that some people may have personal reasons for not wanting to use Steam, and would prefer games such as WU to be offered on platforms that provide a more acceptable business model? How does having different options among game distributors in any way make your life worse off? How are we so much of a threat to you that you feel such a need to manufacture excuses to constantly attack, berate, and deride those with a preference different than your own? What personal insecurities do you address in yourself by making such attacks? I really cannot comprehend the mindset you are coming from.
  10. Your claim: Yes, I read what you posted; did you? In your example, the game was refunded because it didn't work properly. With no other information, I have to assume that the reason Steam extended the return period for this game was due to the functionality problem, and that they would likely not make such an extension "just because you don't like the game." Do you have evidence to the contrary? And I never suggested cheating GOG; I only pointed out that the ease with which they could be cheated justifies the conditions placed on their return policy. Again, if you don't like that policy, then don't buy games from them. I don't like Steam's requirements, so I don't buy from them. We each have our options, so what is the big deal if some of us prefer GOG's way of doing business to Steam's? So far as not bothering to read what someone posted, you still haven't addressed the point in my first paragraph you quoted above: what happens if Steam goes offline permanently? That's really the crux of the issue for me, and you seem to keep ignoring it (and no, "play in offline mode" is not a solution, as it will not last permanently).
  11. Except that's my entire point. If GOG goes away, I still have access to all my games, and can continue to install, uninstall, reinstall, and play them as long as I maintain the installation files and a computer they will run on. If Steam goes away, I lose all my games. I could continue to play them in offline mode, but that will only last as long as that one computer and OS installation lasts. If I ever have to reinstall, poof. With GOG, no such danger. If GOG went out of business tomorrow and all their servers were offline permanently, I would still have access to every game I had ever bought from them. It's like if I were to go and buy a book from the local bookstore (yes, those still exist). If that bookstore went out of business, I could still read my book any time I wanted to, for the rest of my life (as long as I took care of it, didn't lose it, etc.). Had that bookstore been Steam, then once they went out of business, if I ever closed the pages of my book or put it back on the shelf, I wouldn't be able to open it ever again. Why do I keep arguing about it? Why do the Steam proponents keep telling me and others that we should just shut up and be happy with Steam? Should I just be quiet and accept something I don't like, when I've specifically been given an opportunity to voice my opinion in hopes of improvement? Should I remain silent when I see misinformation and falsehoods being spread in an attempt to discredit that opinion? Why indeed! Steam will give you your money back just because you don't like the game if you've only played it for two hours or less, and if it's been less than two weeks since you bought it. You were saying something about reading fine print? With GOG's system, once you've bought the game, if you ask for a refund, they have no way of knowing whether or not you've kept copies of the installation files and are continuing to use and play the game long after they refunded it to you. Considering that, I'm ok with an "only if it doesn't work" refund policy. GOG takes a much bigger risk with refunds than Steam as they can't actually make you "return" anything you've bought, and they are very vulnerable to refund scammers, so under the circumstances I think the limitations are fairly reasonable. If you don't like those terms, then it's up to you whether you want to use the service, but as to the question of whether GOG offers refunds, the answer to that is "yes." Both GOG and Steam place conditions on their refunds, so denigrating one service for their conditions while ignoring the conditions of the other is again intellectually dishonest.
  12. Please cite sources on Steam backups functioning without Steam; I'm not saying that it is incorrect, but the last I had read on the subject, even an installation backup still required the Steam client to re-install and activate the game. If this has changed, I'd be happy to see otherwise. Also, if Steam goes away, how are you supposed to run Steam in offline mode on a completely new computer installation? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Steam client have to log in at least once before it will let you run it in either online or offline mode? If you can't log in to the authentication servers, how will you run the client? Yes, GOG.com has included DRM of a sort with some games which have an online component that could not be handled otherwise, and the DRM only exists for the online portion of the game (the offline portion of AoW3 can still be handled completely DRM free). I have no problem with legitimate online portions of a game requiring an online authentication (as opposed to completely offline single player games requiring an online connection for no legitimate reason), otherwise I wouldn't be in WURM. There is a difference based on the requirements of the game itself, and trying to equate the two is disingenuous.
  13. Yes. GOG.com 30 Day Money Back Guarantee That seems to be a bit better than Steam's 14-day, less than 2 hours played policy.