Hi all, I’m probably going to get in trouble for reposting this after the original thread (shown below) was locked.

However i didn’t get to reply to some of the messages posted as reply and wanted to have some sort of rebuttal, especially to people who assumed I don’t have the technical ability require to use the program.

So here goes.

I am familiar with the process of installing the game from the disc, no i was not trying to install the entire game via download give me some credit.

The problem was that once installed, steam wanted to download and install the relevant patches (ok fair enough), this was an issue as steam began updating and then became unavailable at times and continued to download at less than 10 Kbs when it was functioning.

(Ran a constant ping test to a test server for 3 hours and multiple speed test my internet was fine)

Steam then prevented me from running the game until the patches were downloaded/installed, placing Steam in off-line mode does not correct this.

The point of my message was to express disappointment at the whole process, I really see no justification for a customer not being able to install and play a game they have bought and paid for, by all means enforce some sort of registration process to ensure a legitimate copy is purchased, but to have a customer unable to play a game they have bought and paid for, in spite of the fact the disc is sitting in the drive is really not good enough in my book.

Especially when people who outright steal it from a torrent, can play it as soon as they have finished downloading it.

I'd also like to point out that I have made an effort to ensure my post(s) are mature and sensible and not pure hate filled troll rants like some, please dont respond if your simply going to answer with thins like "learn to use steam NOOB" or "this is why games are being dumbed down" etc etc.







"Dear Bethesda,

I am writing this post to simply inform you of how disappointing getting Skyrim (PC) fro christmas has been for me, I am a very loyal customer and have bought every game you have released since morrowind on the Xbox and at times multiple copies of the same game.

However I am now to 4+ hours installation and updating time for Skyrim and have yet to even open the game, this simply is not good enough I understand that as it is christmas it is a peak time for steam and traffic would be a lot higher than usual, but this does not excuse the fact that alough I have a store bought copy of the game I am still uanble to play it after 4+ hours, there is zero justification for this and I am beyond disapointed.

Additonaly blaming Steam is not an excuse, you chose to release your game through steam your responsible. "

There is a way to install it without Steam. Not sure if it's legal... Alright, I'm gonna stop there before I get in trouble.

I agree, Bethesda should've made Steam ONE OUTLET for buying Skyrim, not a mandatory part of the game (couldn't they release the patches manually on their website or something?)

You should contact Steam support because there's clearly something in your PC blocking their bandwidth

I don't see why this isn't going get locked again anyway...if your internet is fast(i taked 8 hours to finaly finishing the dowload)i don't see why you should worry.Watch a movie while waiting.I think that the sensation of "having the game on your hands and waiting to play it" makes you don't stop playing it.Don't understand it wrong.

My only complaint about the use of Steam is when I go to start the game and get the "game is not available at this time" which I think is BS as the game resides on my PC

That...

Maybe in the future they should just stop with the outdated physical copies anyway. Clearly, having a physical copy and needing steam to validate the game is very confusing to some people.

Don't ask. To this day it still mystifies me how one can have a free hats "sale"... My friends are strange, sometimes.

The reason that I got rid of my PC a while ago is because I was fed up of the games that required you to use Steam. I don't like having things forced upon me. Like you say, piracy and illegal downloading is unacceptable, but Steam shouldn't be a forced requirement, there are other ways of preventing criminal use.

It is just as annoying as having stupid icons on the PS3 menu that it wont let you delete. For a company like Bethesda who have said things in the past like "A game where you could be whoever you wanted and do whatever you wanted", it is a shame that they could not carry that philosophy over to how you install the game and how it's played on your PC.

Steam has the occassional issue with downloading games/updates around christmas because of the large christmas sale that is going on. Lots of stress on those servers. Give it another chance to update.

Steam is the best thing that happened to me. Best way to get games at fair prices where I live.

But I think it shouldn't be mandatory on ppl with the physical copy of the game since it doesn't prevent piracy in the least (nothing does).

Just want to clarify a few things, I understand validation process and it doesnt confuse me at all, I just found it very annoying and kind of wrong not to be able to place my disc in my drive install the game and play it, thats all.

I wholeheartedly concur. I am also somewhat miffed that the game now wants to have steam running in the background in order for me to play. Why? I don't want ANYTHING steam has to offer, least of all folks yakking at me while I play my SINGLE PLAYER game. Steam does NOT work as a form of DRM. It does not combat piracy. It does not contribute anything to the game experience, aside from frustration when it doesn't want to play nice......

I can see a SINGLE TIME validation process, after which, I want to be able to UNINSTALL Steam, and never have to look at it again. Or just have a server at beth that I authenticate to, and skip steam altogether. Not like either method is going to slow the pirates one nanosecond though....... There is no such thing as "effective DRM". Its a mythical beast.

Yep, Steam, Origin, Games for Windows Live are just another worthless layer we don't need to play our games. It's always the people who buy games that get punished with such schemes.

Exactly. The pirate versions of the games don't suffer nearly as much from the comlexities of drm schemes, and things like steam. The pirates have more control over their games than the folks that buy a legit copy. Kinda ironic, don'tcha think?

Steam is not DRM. As said before many people are playing Skyrim on the PC without Steam. Bascially you get the game for free. What you are paying for is the right to patch up your game.

Then again, I guess the same thing is the same for me on the 360. I guess the thing is, I choose to play on the 360 so I need to abide by it's terms. Playing on the PC it should be about choice, wich we do not have.

everything has pros and cons, I love steam for the fact that all the games I wouldn't pay $60 for over the course of the year are DIRT cheap.

Then again, steam pumps me 4mbps on average for dls, so no connection issues to spoil the fun.

The reason Bethesda wanted Skyrim to run on Steam was to prevent pirates from cracking the game before it was released. There hasn't been a game developed for Steam that has been cracked before its release date on Steam.

Personally I think Steam is a great program. It automatically patches your game, allows you to use modding tools (coming in January with Creation Kit), and gives you the ability to play offline if you don't want to play online. Bethesda stated their game would come with Steam. If you didn't do the research and figure that out before making a purchase, that's your problem. If Steam is too much for you to deal with, then don't play the game or any games that come with Steam. Telling Bethesda to change the way it distributes games is like telling a movie company to stop producing films in 3D. Even if others share your sentiments, it's not going to happen, especially if it's efficient and profitable for Bethesda.

Having Steamworks be forced is just a terrible idea and disgusting in general. Honest people who just want to play the game are now punished for doing so, it's a shame.

If you gave it just a tiny amount of thought you would realize that using a console is even worse in that way.

As usual DRM (especially steam) just winds up getting in the way and annoying paying customers; meanwhile, the pirates have cracked and completely bypass it.


Nope. I just checked, Skyrim has been cracked since at least two days before release.

How so, some guy just said he bought his game poped it in his xbox and started playing it. Are you saying thats worse then the pc steam version?

If you gave it just a tiny amount of thought you would realize that I never mentioned the word 'console' or said that it was better in any way.

Gives you the ability to play offline? Are you serious? Before forced social networking became the latest fad, offline was the norm. I'm surprised that ISP's aren't getting smart and charging more for the ever-increasing bandwidth load - that'd make Steam less attractive.



No, that's better than the Steam version, which you absolutely cannot play until it runs through its updates. If your internet is down - enjoy the new coaster.

Yes it is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software): "Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management: "For digital content this means preventing the consumer access, denying the user the ability to copy the content or converting it to other formats."

Given the problems some have with it, and it's controversy, I wonder how much piracy was prevented with this one. It may stop secondary sales though. I'm not so sure it's worth it. I'd expect more broadband narrowing (?) in the future, making gigapatches less attractive to get.

No, give me a disc with a serial if I want it, with a limited time on the disc check. Other games that I play do it (it's multiplayer though, so dupe keys are blocked in patches), and I don't pirate those either, even if they're probably available (at limited functionality).