open letter to Bethesda and Fallout devs : Fallout: New Vegas

» Wed May 11, 2011 3:07 am

I have been a fan of the Fallout series since way back when. It has been one of the all time favorite games for me all these years. Today I am a Disabled United States Navy veteran under care through the Veterans Hospitals for my service connected injuries.

Because of this situation I am not able to afford internet access.. not even dialup. I currently only get just under a thousand a month of disability to live on while undergoing VA care and evaluation etc.

Having heard about Fallout Vegas, my daughter was going to buy it today for me as a Christmas present since my situation obviously shows I cannot even attempt to make a purchase of that amount. I came to her home today and we went shopping for the season BUT I had to force myself to not make the purchase of Fallout 3 Vegas.... Why?

Because right on the box it states that Internet Access and Steam are REQUIRED to play.

So I would like to say to you,"Thank you... " Yes, thank you for letting greed change your means of puiblishing products so that only those that have, do and those of us who have not, don't.

Instead of enjoying a new release of the Fallout series I am another fan that is now being left by the side of the road. I sit here tonight at my daughters writing this because I want someone to know how I feel and someone perhaps to WAKE up and realize that there are MANY people who are in this same position. These new draconian DRM changes are only hurting the legitimate people like me who have always paid for good products. Whatever happened to supporting the customer and not the bottom line?

Anyhow, there is not much I can do about it except write this brief letter. If by some chance someone there at your firm wants to reply directly to me, please do so preferrably by email if possible. My daughter can print out any emails I get and bring them to the VA if needed and I can respond once I am near a computer with internet again.

Sincerely,

Todd
(Malakie)

» Wed May 11, 2011 1:19 am

im sorry for your situation, but there is really no reason to get mad at Beth/Obsidian.

(seriously if i could, i would organize a "everyone send him a dollar everyday until he can afford internet" event, i would)

» Tue May 10, 2011 10:18 pm

I completely agree with ya, but companies have never put customers before the bottom line.... or they would cease to exist.

» Tue May 10, 2011 11:49 pm

I wish they had offered a choice just for the simple reason that I don't like the negative attention that it brings to Steam, which is an excellent service for those who choose to use it.

» Wed May 11, 2011 3:16 am

It's funny to see that steam or whatever DRM measures taken do not prevent piracy at all.

I completely agree with ya, but companies have never put customers before the bottom line.... or they would cease to exist.

Indeed but at what cost? I live in a country with the most expensive internet access plus idiotic but highly profitable download/upload limits. These limits are only expandable when payed for. Our two (Yes, two to keep competition away) monopoly holding ISP's don't give a rats behind about the cries of the people for many years only when a big player gets involved like M$. The people who are duped, like always, are the poor at the bottom of society. Who in my opinion would be the greatest benefactors of affordable internet access. :mad:

» Tue May 10, 2011 9:41 pm

I have been a fan of the Fallout series since way back when. It has been one of the all time favorite games for me all these years. Today I am a Disabled United States Navy veteran under care through the Veterans Hospitals for my service connected injuries.

Because of this situation I am not able to afford internet access.. not even dialup. I currently only get just under a thousand a month of disability to live on while undergoing VA care and evaluation etc.

Having heard about Fallout Vegas, my daughter was going to buy it today for me as a Christmas present since my situation obviously shows I cannot even attempt to make a purchase of that amount. I came to her home today and we went shopping for the season BUT I had to force myself to not make the purchase of Fallout 3 Vegas.... Why?

Because right on the box it states that Internet Access and Steam are REQUIRED to play.

So I would like to say to you,"Thank you... " Yes, thank you for letting greed change your means of puiblishing products so that only those that have, do and those of us who have not, don't.

Instead of enjoying a new release of the Fallout series I am another fan that is now being left by the side of the road. I sit here tonight at my daughters writing this because I want someone to know how I feel and someone perhaps to WAKE up and realize that there are MANY people who are in this same position. These new draconian DRM changes are only hurting the legitimate people like me who have always paid for good products. Whatever happened to supporting the customer and not the bottom line?

Anyhow, there is not much I can do about it except write this brief letter. If by some chance someone there at your firm wants to reply directly to me, please do so preferrably by email if possible. My daughter can print out any emails I get and bring them to the VA if needed and I can respond once I am near a computer with internet again.

Sincerely,

Todd
(Malakie)

That seriously svcks.
I agree with you; it's one thing to require internet access for updates (and even that's a stretch, considering how easy it would be to allow flash-drive updates) but to require internet access just to play the game?
:shakehead:

It's not much, dude, but all I can do is wish you the best of luck.

» Tue May 10, 2011 9:09 pm

I have been a fan of the Fallout series since way back when. It has been one of the all time favorite games for me all these years. Today I am a Disabled United States Navy veteran under care through the Veterans Hospitals for my service connected injuries.

Because of this situation I am not able to afford internet access.. not even dialup. I currently only get just under a thousand a month of disability to live on while undergoing VA care and evaluation etc.

Having heard about Fallout Vegas, my daughter was going to buy it today for me as a Christmas present since my situation obviously shows I cannot even attempt to make a purchase of that amount. I came to her home today and we went shopping for the season BUT I had to force myself to not make the purchase of Fallout 3 Vegas.... Why?

Because right on the box it states that Internet Access and Steam are REQUIRED to play.

So I would like to say to you,"Thank you... " Yes, thank you for letting greed change your means of puiblishing products so that only those that have, do and those of us who have not, don't.

Instead of enjoying a new release of the Fallout series I am another fan that is now being left by the side of the road. I sit here tonight at my daughters writing this because I want someone to know how I feel and someone perhaps to WAKE up and realize that there are MANY people who are in this same position. These new draconian DRM changes are only hurting the legitimate people like me who have always paid for good products. Whatever happened to supporting the customer and not the bottom line?

Anyhow, there is not much I can do about it except write this brief letter. If by some chance someone there at your firm wants to reply directly to me, please do so preferrably by email if possible. My daughter can print out any emails I get and bring them to the VA if needed and I can respond once I am near a computer with internet again.

Sincerely,

Todd
(Malakie)

It's easy to bypass steam for FO:NV or any other game, web searches are your friend. Once again, DRM only annoys the people who actually paid for the game. But the tools used by those who didn't pay work just as well for those who did.

» Tue May 10, 2011 2:44 pm

It's easy to bypass steam for FO:NV or any other game, web searches are your friend. Once again, DRM only annoys the people who actually pay for the game.

Doing so could possibly lead to the termination of your Steam account as well as legal access to all games tied to that account. This means that your game will become entirely worthless if you're caught bypassing Steam.

» Tue May 10, 2011 4:29 pm

There's currently an active thread about this issue in the PC Issues forum, let's continue this over there: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1140859-steam-adds-so-much-value-to-fallout-nv/

The game doesn't require Steam to be online to play the game, just to register it. While cumbersome perhaps someone can bring your computer home to install and activate the game then put Steam in to offline mode.