The very first Steam user accounts are officially 20-years-old this week, and Valve is celebrating by handing out special digital badges to the oldest members of the community, featuring the storefront's original green aesthetic.

Some of Steam’s oldest user accounts are turning 20-years old this week, and Valve is celebrating the anniversary by handing out special digital badges featuring the original Steam colour scheme to the gaming veterans.

Steam first opened its figurative doors all the way back in September 2003, and has since grown into the largest digital PC gaming storefront in the world, which is actively used by tens of millions of players each day.

“In case anyone’s curious about the odd colours, that’s the colour scheme for the original Steam UI when it first launched,” commented Redditor Penndrachen, referring to the badge’s army green colour scheme, which prompted a mixed reaction from players who remembered the platform’s earliest days. “I joined in the first six months,” lamented Affectionate-Memory4. “I feel ancient rn.”

  • Nefyedardu
    7•1 year ago

    You might disagree with the Steam DRM wrapper in principle, but in practice it’s laughably easy to bypass (by design). The difference between a DRM-free game and a game solely running Steam DRM is five minutes of effort, at that point does DRM even matter?

    The Steam DRM wrapper is an important part of Steam platform because it verifies game ownership and ensures that Steamworks features work properly by launching Steam before launching the game.

    The Steam DRM wrapper by itself is not an anti-piracy solution. The Steam DRM wrapper protects against extremely casual piracy (i.e. copying all game files to another computer) and has some obfuscation, but it is easily removed by a motivated attacker.

    We suggest enhancing the value of legitimate copies of your game by using Steamworks features which won’t work on non-legitimate copies (e.g. online multiplayer, achievements, leaderboards, trading cards, etc.).

    • MudMan
      2•1 year ago

      It matters because it’s there. If it was meant to not be DRM it… wouldn’t be DRM. That copy is very much designed to justify the fact that Steam allows games to publish with double or even triple DRM solutions under the Steam platform.

      In practice, the DRM matters because it discourages keeping a backup of fully owned game files. On GOG it’s trivial to backup offline installers, which are provided explicitly (and I do keep a backup of games I only own on GOG, by the way). Steam explicitly limits your access to your games and how you use them, presumably to support a secure microtransaction environment within the Steam platform. That’d be the “ensures the Steamworks features work” bit in that text.

      That’s extremely nontrivial for Steam, for the record. Disputing the ability to drive separate MTX under Steam is why several major publishers ended up withdrawing for a bit until they realized it’s not commercially viable and Steam is effectively a quasi-monopoly on the PC platform.

      • Nefyedardu
        5•1 year ago

        There are different types of DRM. Your original post was that Steam “forces always online DRM” and “you never own anything you buy”. This doesn’t really apply to Steam DRM. You don’t need to be always-online and it is not for anti-piracy. It sounds more like you are describing Denuvo which is another thing entirely. Comparing Steam DRM to Denuvo is like comparing the Wright flyer to a fighter jet.

        I don’t like DRM either but at the end of the day I can just run Steamless so I don’t really care. Streaming services like Netflix have the same thing but it all can be pirated anyway so no big deal. It would be different if Steam actually implemented effective DRM, but it doesn’t.

        That copy is very much designed to justify the fact that Steam allows games to publish with double or even triple DRM solutions under the Steam platform.

        Steam allows it, but they actually officially discourage the use of third party DRM

        Anti-tamper / DRM: In general we don’t recommend use of such solutions across any PC platforms, as they may impact disk usage and overall performance. Getting them fully functional in the Wine environment can take some time and add significant latency to getting your title supported.

        • icedterminalEnglish
          2•1 year ago

          In regards to Valve discouraging it, once third party DRM is removed later (because all publishers do it due to subscription cost.) the performance and quality of the game improves on Windows and even more so on Linux.

        • MudMan
          1•1 year ago

          Look, Valve people speak a very specific way. It takes a while to wrap your head around what they mean.

          The quote you’re giving me is Valve-speak for “we were cool with your double-dipping DRM back when it was free for us but we now would prefer you don’t add it to your game because it makes it harder for us to sell your games on Steam Deck where we control the whole platform”.

          And yes, those things do apply to Steam. You absolutely don’t own your Steam games. Those go away with your account, unless you’re actively extracting and repackaging those files for backup. This is itself a breach of Steam’s EULA and not a service they provide. It is absolutely a piracy mitigation tool and, while there is a “Offline Mode” you are not allowed or able to install or play your games without online verification as a general rule.

          The notion that multiple people here are questioning the fact that Steam’s DRM is, in fact, DRM because it’s crackable is kind of shocking. It’s a testament to their PR, for sure, but also to their ability to do long term moves due to being a private company. It didn’t take a genius to understand that the real piracy dampener for PC gaming was availability, price and convenience rather than technically profiicent DRM, but it did take a competent CEO with no shareholders in his way to deploy that strategy.

          But that doesn’t mean it’s not DRM or games-as-a-service. It absolutely is. Valve invented or perfected DRM, online distribution, battlepasses, monetized UGC and, technically NFTs. The branding exercise required to do that and still be perceived as a fan-favorite, user-first company should get a TON more credit than it does in marketing schools worldwide.

          • Nefyedardu
            3•1 year ago

            The quote you’re giving me is Valve-speak for "we were cool with your double-dipping DRM back when it was free for us but we now would prefer you don’t add it to your game because it makes it harder for us to sell your games

            Sounds good to me.

            on Steam Deck where we control the whole platform".

            Ah yes, the closed platform known as the Steam Deck. So closed that Valve gives you the tools to remove Steam from it entirely if you so wish.

            You absolutely don’t own your Steam games. Those go away with your account, unless you’re actively extracting and repackaging those files for backup.

            So then backup your games. Who cares if it’s against the EULA, big bad evil Valve will not find out and even if they did they would not stop you. If Valve wanted to actually stop you from doing that, they could and they would.

            It is absolutely a piracy mitigation tool

            What is? Steam or Steam DRM? These are two completely different things. Steam DRM is not piracy mitigation tool.

            you are not allowed or able to install or play your games without online verification as a general rule.

            So basically you want Steam to provide you the installer in addition to the game yourself, that’s a valid criticism. The other one not so much, I play Steam games offline literally all the time.

            The notion that multiple people here are questioning the fact that Steam’s DRM is, in fact, DRM

            You are just putting words in my mouth, I never implied that at all.

            It’s a testament to their PR, for sure

            …what PR? lol, Valve isn’t exactly known for it’s constant customer-facing communication… All of my links came from Steamworks documentation for developers.

            It didn’t take a genius to understand that the real piracy dampener for PC gaming was availability, price and convenience rather than technically profiicent DRM

            Yeah no shit, you think? It’s almost like “piracy is a service issue”…

            Valve invented or perfected DRM
            Valve invented or perfected DRM
            Valve invented or perfected DRM

            http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/incredulous.gif

            The branding exercise required to do that and still be perceived as a fan-favorite, user-first company should get a TON more credit than it does in marketing schools worldwide.

            You are talking about a company that revealed CS2 by shadow-dropping three YouTube videos and proceed to not give any updates for three months. Marketing geniuses indeed, lmao.

            I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Steam DRM does not effect me negatively in any way, you are doing a pretty bad job justifying why I should hate it with every fiber of my being like you seem to.

            • MudMan
              1•1 year ago

              Yeah, I’m not getting into an online quotefest and all of those points I’ve already addressed, so this is an agree to disagree for me.