As the title says, I'm asking if the future GOTY Edition will have Steam and Online Activations removed as was done with the GOTY of Oblivion. It will be until then, I am waiting to buy this game. For now I consider Skyrim PC-DVD-Edition incomplete and unusable.

I purchased Oblivion at release and it never had a Steam requirement...

If they do release a GOTY version I would think it would more likely than not still require Steam.

Funny. Mine is complete and totally usable. According to steam I played for 6 hours yesterday. How is that unusable?

Isn't the steam requirement basically their copy protection? Makes it unlikely they're drop the requirement.

Why, pray tell, is online activation a reason for the game to be "unusable"?

Funny how people post on an internet forum to complain about online activation on a pc.

Steam is hardly this game's biggest issue. It's not even in the top ten.

I can't believe that people are still complaining about Steam, some eight years on. It's the least intrusive form of DRM on the market, and gives the user lots of free benefits.

no

I am ambivalent with Steam, but like any other DRM scheme, if it works and I get to play my game, I don't care.

Online "activiation" is one thing, having to be connected to the internet everytime you want to play the game is just annoying.

Take your XBox or PS3 console and require you to have internet access to play the game ... is that good or bad????


Using steam for copy protection is pretty stupid anyway, the people that play cracked version are just going to crack this one anyway, so what real difference does it make? I have also read (not sure if true) that there is already a cracked XBOX 360 version of the game floating around. Sad that people can't just pay for the stuff they want to play .... sadder still that producers have to punish those of that do actually pay for the games.

Steam has an offline mode. Though I personally don't know a single person who lacks a constant internet connection.

Lucky Skyrim doesn't require that then.

Steam. Has. Offline. Mode. Activate it once click go offline and you dont have to go online ever again if you dont want to steam will start and run and launch games in offline mode

Indeed. The only time you HAVE to be connected to the internet is to register Skyrim, for the rest you can just start Steam in offline mode and play it like that. There's nothing wrong with Steam as DRM. Ubi's solution on the other hand...

I dont even have steam but i do know they have an offline mode, which requires you log on every couple weeks or so to show youre not tampering with the game.

Consoles do have the benfit of being offline only if you choose but there are still consequences:
-Your copy of the game is on a disc, if disc gets damaged you need a new one. You can downlaod the game from steam, so it works as a backup system.
-Console users dont have the creation kit, so they are stuck with only official patches in order to fix w/e bugs exist. PC users get the added benefit of mods for worarounds and/or customization of their game.

I know a fair few people without an internet connection and myself have had mine turned off every now and then when cash was tight.

On another note, you can play Steam in offline mode (it doesn't require logging in after going offline, however you won't get patches, or be able to add expansions without going back online).
Steam is a massively different beast from the days when it was released (ah memories ).

They still have to go online to get patches, isn't that unaccpetable though?


I don't but then I'm in the IT field and taking IT classes, neither of which I can do without the internet and as a result I don't know anyone who can do without the internet.

I just found the "tesv.exe" file and make a shortcut to the desktop... I dont need to connect to steam anymore...

Only need it for the first activation and patches later on

Nope.

All you need to do is have Steam connected and running when you install the game. After that you never have to touch the program again.

I live just far enough outside of town where i can't get Cable or DSL, and am forced to use [censored] ass Verizon WiFi. 500 kilobytes/sec download speed with a 5.1 Gig Monthly Bandwidth cap, 5 cents per megabyte over the limit. $55.00 a month. Total crap, but the only choice i have out here in "The Booneys". Bastards right across the highway get Comcast Xfinity

Steam was and is completely useless (as expected). Skyrim was pirated on the 10th of November, one day before it was released in many countries, with a fully working Crack. THEY (the pirates) don't need to activate. They don't need to care about an internet connection for a (full) Single Player Game(!). They are also not forced to download a GB Patch. Sometimes you don't even want to download a patch, because in certain cases some mods are only compatible to a certain version. Sometimes Patches also mess up things. This has happened a lot of times and it will happen again. They (the pirates) also don't need to care about when they want to install and when they want to play the game, because it just works once they installed their "copy".

I really want to buy this game by its full price, but when I'd buy the DVD it's just not the full game. If it requires Steam it's not autonomous. I also read the Steam Terms of Agreement (I bet most of you don't) which are a punch in the face for every intelligent being. Yeah, I'd rather pay a pirate the 50$, because he would offer me the game as it should be. A game as it used to be some years ago: you purchase it, it belongs to you. No more "rental", because that's what it is. You all agree to this? Must be kidding... Dragon Age came with a Securom Protection, but every legit customer could install and play completely offline. No harassment to the customer, but Steam is.

I can see how someone wouldn't want Steam. I sure don't. However I'm certainly able to play.

I loathe Steam. It gets in the way of things, it does annoying pop ups when I'm trying to deal with connection issues. It has that stupid client process in the background running eating up resources even if I don't play anything needing Steam for months at a time. Their entire attitude that I'm forced to use it but that it provides this great service (that does nothing for me) and how could I possibly not want it running ticks me off no end.

And lets not forget that dandy little message I got early on warning me that they'd been hacked and that their data had been compromised. Sheeze. Nothing like forcing me to use their worthless service and then not doing a decent job of protecting the info I have to give them. That in itself is just about enough for me to boycott anything requiring Steam. Although I'd make an exception for Rift.

Be that as it may I've managed to cope.

I'd rather this game didn't have Steam but I'm able to play with it. However, for some people I could see how that'could be a problem. Such as people with no Internet connection.

For example, I also have a laptop which is disconnected from the Internet 98% of the time. It can go for weeks without being connected (has the side effect of making it virtually virus proof too btw). If I wanted to play on that (it's certainly capable enough) I'd have to make a special point to bring it home and connect to the Internet just for the install.

Erm. They need to have internet at some point to download the 6-8GB game... And patches are SOOO terrible. They make the game work better, the horror!!

Steam is garbage.
it pukes up poorly written error messages on occasion and basically sits in the background using up resources with 0 benefit.
Its the most intrusive one I've had to deal with, even worse than such lemons as starforce and the like.
When I went to install Skyrim I had a steam error I had to decipher to install the game.

If I hadnt been able to fix the steam crap, I would have downloaded the cracked version of the game I already bought. Its sad really.

Honestly, complex copy protection is dumb. It doesnt provide any advantage over simple copy protection. I dont care how cool you think your company is at making it, the game will be cracked in days. A simple inobtrusive copy protection will prevent casual users from handing the disk around. Pirates will pirate the game regardless. All that adding complex copy protection does is make the game harder to play for legitimate customers.

That said, I did still install it and play it.
The game is cool and worth it. I may at some point download the cracked version just do I dont have to deal with steam if I rebuild my PC.

The op is like me, i do not like the way that steam works and most likely never will. Oblivion on steam does not work for me but any other game thats even bigger then oblivion does as long as its not steam, i have no problem activating it but games like L4D and Oblivion dont work for some reason, and they are both linked to steam. so please do not try and be funny about people who have their own thought process?

Also note that i had a friend who does not have internet but uses his laptop, he bought skyrim for PC and now he cant play it, so i am strongly hoping the GOTY will be steam-free because if it is, then i might get it for pc