Garry’s Mod catches pirates the fun way

[silkstone]

yeah but he also made a version freely playable.

that's why indie devs are different. they are a part of the crowd, not just devs in offices.

i won't disagree that piracy helped him advertise - but that doesn't make pirates good guys either.

No one is saying they are, but for the sake of this thread... let's not turn it into a pros and cons of piracy discussion, else we'll get the MM in here and never get back on topic.

......

Back to the main point, Gary's trick is clever, but is it exploitable? Opinions?

 

[Brandenburg]

Well, if you are stupid enough to pirate a game and post about it not working without even using google, then u deserve everything you get imo....

yea.. that is stupid of people... games i have aquired through alternate means are never never discused on forums.. lol.. if i cant get the game to behave after 2 tries.. it gets deleted...

sending an error dump.. hell.. i never do that for legit software much less pirated

 

[qubit]

Funny and all . . . but I was really sad when Gmod9 stopped working after Valve forced PC versions of HL2/CS:S to Orange Box on the PC.

It's a cruel way of forcing me to buy GMod10+. Very sad.

You can get gmod9 on Steam. And Garry's Mod is by definition a Steam product, because it uses HL2 tech which is Steam only, so I don't understand what you're saying.

And its great unti we consider games such as TDU from atardi, that have issues on egit copies.


I spi ed coffee into my aptop, guess which key isnt working?

It's the P key!! Am I right am I right!

No one is saying they are, but for the sake of this thread... let's not turn it into a pros and cons of piracy discussion, else we'll get the MM in here and never get back on topic.

Uh-oh, now ya dunnit...

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

This is clever social engineering on the part of Gaben. Also, how many dumb people don't know their steamid? I have mine memorized.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

imho By the sounds of it gary should be spending more time advertising this unheard of mod and also actually turning it into some kind of game instaed of a sandbox+physics demo, not exactly entertainment is it i can see stuff falling and breaking round my house all day long

n also i wasnt trying to derail thread before but i think garys a bit over the top for what is a low volume niche thing, and the big finger attitude he gives off erks me, He hasnt exactly made me think this devs gr8 il look into his work.

 

[qubit]

imho By the sounds of it gary should be spending more time advertising this unheard of mod and also actually turning it into some kind of game instaed of a sandbox+physics demo, not exactly entertainment is it i can see stuff falling and breaking round my house all day long

n also i wasnt trying to derail thread before but i think garys a bit over the top for what is a low volume niche thing, and the big finger attitude he gives off erks me, He hasnt exactly made me think this devs gr8 il look into his work.

Well, it's one way to gain publicity when you're little-known. There's a saying that no publicity is bad publicity, but I don't agree with that. This software is only £6 and I've been toying with the idea of buying it for a while, the classic "floating voter", but this underhand tactic puts me right off. So, he's just lost a sale and how many others think like me? I don't have any pirated software and I can tell you, that I don't wanna get banned because a bug in his crappy software calls me a "pirate".

On the other hand, a "pirated" game is most definitely not a lost sale, as you can't say that it would have been bought otherwise and it boosts exposure and interest in the product.

 

[MilkyWay]

If you've bought the game you have nothing to worry about since they will have records and you should have a confirmation email or something as proof of purchase.

I much prefer this method over DRM and i dont encourage piracy. If you like the game why not buy it? Its frequently on sale on steam.

EDIT: WTF this isnt some rubbishy unheard of mod, its Garry's Mod its well known.

 

[chris89]

Actually is quite funny i think and a great way to catch out pirates. On the new vegas forums people were posting that it wouldn't work, and then saying that stuff about steam.


On one of the forums i visit very frequent (UKTS) we get a number of people, asking how to fix a problem, something won't work etc, after we get the verison number and if say 87.5a the thread gets closed and they are banned for pirating as we are at 166.5a at the moment.

One a few weeks ago, even post screens of his RW's install and it was justed linked through steam and me and someone else pointed it out and the guy quite openly said it was pirated and then continued to ask for help.

Chris

 

[qubit]

If you've bought the game you have nothing to worry about since they will have records and you should have a confirmation email or something as proof of purchase.

I much prefer this method over DRM and i dont encourage piracy. If you like the game why not buy it? Its frequently on sale on steam.

Steam DRM is already baked in, so it's on top of DRM, not instead of.

As I stated above, I don't wanna get banned because a possible bug identifies me as a pirate. I don't feel that I should have the hassle of having to prove myself, frankly.

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I don't wanna get banned because a possible bug identifies me as a pirate.

Only a pirate would say this. If you do get banned give them the credit card / paypal / payment method you used to purchase the game. This is the same method they use to identify stolen accounts.

 

[MilkyWay]

Im not arguing about steam thats way off topic im just saying that i would prove i own the game just as i would prove i owned my steam account if it was stolen.

I dont see the problem here? Its well within the developers rights to do this and its not like i cant play it offline or get an install limit is it?

 

[killarobot]

I like where pirates are posting in various support sites asking for help with their "problem" and people give them advice such as deleting system32 and formatting their hard drives

for example: Garry's Mod Unable to shade polygon normals?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I like where pirates are posting in various support sites asking for help with their "problem" and people give them advice such as deleting system32 and formatting their hard drives

for example: Garry's Mod Unable to shade polygon normals?

 

[erocker]

I don't wanna get banned because a possible bug identifies me as a pirate.

I don't want to die in a nuclear explosion, heart disease or cancer either, but I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[qubit]

Only a pirate would say this. If you do get banned give them the credit card / paypal / payment method you used to purchase the game. This is the same method they use to identify stolen accounts.

Gee, thanks for calling me a pirate.

I'm not and an honest person has said this - me.

 

[RejZoR]

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_4.html

This works in theory but fails in reality. Why? I have a legit original version of Crysis 2 and the game is so horiffically buggy and posting about issues on MyCrysis forums helps exactly d**k. So, what to think in such situations?

 

[streetfighter 2]

You can get gmod9 on Steam. And Garry's Mod is by definition a Steam product, because it uses HL2 tech which is Steam only, so I don't understand what you're saying.

Sure you can get Gmod9 on Steam, but it doesn't work anymore because Garry never updated it for the Orange Box version of CS:S/HL2. If you don't run a CS:S/HL2 server you were oblivious to the underlying changes when Steam made the PC versions go Orange Box.

If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.

 

[digibucc]

No one is saying they are, but for the sake of this thread... let's not turn it into a pros and cons of piracy discussion, else we'll get the MM in here and never get back on topic.

i'm sorry, but i was specifically trying to AVOID a "piracy is bad" discussion.

when you make a comment such as:
"piracy HELPED sales" without a disclaimer, it sounds as though you are ADVOCATING piracy. it HELPED. you shed POSITIVE light on it, and listed a PRO.

i only mentioned that that didn't make them good. so you named the pro, i mentioned it - and you tell me to back off the pros and cons?all i did was add the disclaimer.

i would recommend spending more time moderating your logical processes and less time moderating others on this forum. thanks.

Im not arguing about steam thats way off topic im just saying that i would prove i own the game just as i would prove i owned my steam account if it was stolen.

I dont see the problem here? Its well within the developers rights to do this and its not like i cant play it offline or get an install limit is it?

thank you!

 

[Mr McC]

If the developer has pulled this off without inconveniencing legitimate clients, I fully agree with the measure and would hope to see it extended to revocation of the entire Steam account: I can't really see any justification for failing to support an Indie developer who seems to be asking a fair price.

Moreover, I would like to see this used as evidence of the ability to pursue piracy through Steam and only through Steam, which adds weight to arguments in favour of a global ban on third-party DRM on Steam. I am not arguing that Valve is somehow expected to impose this on developers wishing to use their platform, but surely they could evidence a bit of common sense and talk things out?

That aside, what on earth is this game? What exactly is a a "Sandbox Physics game for the Source Engine...With no predefined goals...?" This has been on my list of things I wish to have explained to me for quite some time.

 

[Deleted member 3]

I don't think Steam could ban a user for pirating a game. It would not make sense that they take away paid products from you because you pirated another product. In fact, at least in my country, this would not be legal.

 

[MilkyWay]

Its funnier to see what Garry's Mod is in person so here just watch this video. For example i made a bathtub kart in it and a person made a giant Trebuchet just launching NPCs, id call it a sandbox editor for anything source engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh8VfFH78jY

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I don't think Steam could ban a user for pirating a game. It would not make sense that they take away paid products from you because you pirated another product. In fact, at least in my country, this would not be legal.

The TOS seem to disagree.

They say that you are RENTING the software from Valve / whatever company actually owns it. This is pretty common with software. The TOS are made to be clever like that.

 

[MilkyWay]

I think the way steam works is you are actually buying a license to play the game you dont actually own it.

http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
Scroll down to section 2. Licenses

 

[Mr McC]

I don't think Steam could ban a user for pirating a game. It would not make sense that they take away paid products from you because you pirated another product. In fact, at least in my country, this would not be legal.

The TOS seem to disagree.

They say that you are RENTING the software from Valve / whatever company actually owns it. This is pretty common with software. The TOS are made to be clever like that.

I presume that it is legally possible, but I was simply trying to say that anybody low enough to rip off an Indie developer deserves everything coming to them. I don't want to get into a discussion of the fairness of global income differences, but it strikes me that anybody with a pc can afford to pay the asking price of the game.

We might also question the utility of someone, using a pirated version, who is stupid enough to directly contact the developer for a fix, depending on how tolerant we're feeling at a given time.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

so let me get this right this world famouse garys mod is essentially a lego set with no pics few instructions,goals or (some would say) point and a bonus big finger from the boss, sounds fun