Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 38

Thread: Steam game lending?

  1. #1
    ZaO
    Guest

    Steam game lending?


  2. Received thanks from:

    Pleiades (20-06-2013)

  3. #2
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Oo that would cut our household spend on games.. nice

  4. #3
    ZaO
    Guest

    Re: Steam game lending?

    I would love this as we get a severe lack of demos on pc!

    There are some games I just never bought for ages, or at all, because there was no demo. Only to try them a couple years later when they were on sale for a few quid. And think, damn, I would've paid full whack for this!! Also some people will get pirated versions when there is no demo, then if they like it, well they already got it now so may as well finish it. Which = no money spent. I cannot get my head around most games not having pc demos. Unless of course, they're terrible games that they know wont sell well if people get to try them first. But they're causing themselves to lose money just by saving a little bit of effort in not releasing a demo.

    I would love if someone could give a good explanation on why we don't get demos much?

  5. #4
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Sadly hardly anyone actually pirates just because of lack of demo - plenty of games have demos these days and they're pirated just as badly. If you can't afford to waste money on a game that might not be good, then you can surely wait a while to find out what other people think first - by which time the price is likely to have come down and you'll be more likely to afford it anyway.

    Dedicated demos however do take a lot of development time away from making the game better, so they add to the cost and/or release time (or bugs etc in the final game).

  6. #5
    Funking Prink! Raz316's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Deal, Kent, UK
    Posts
    2,978
    Thanks
    130
    Thanked
    62 times in 52 posts

    Re: Steam game lending?

    ZaO: This came up recently in indiegames.com yeah it's one developer's opinion based on his own data, but it makes sense to me!

    http://indiegames.com/2013/06/the_de...sited_by_.html

  7. #6
    Ryzen Master race outwar6010's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Londinium
    Posts
    1,965
    Thanks
    429
    Thanked
    240 times in 160 posts
    • outwar6010's system
      • Motherboard:
      • asus Crosshair x370
      • CPU:
      • 1800x @ 4ghz
      • Memory:
      • Team Group Dark Pro Edition 16GB (2X8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHZ
      • Storage:
      • More than most
      • Graphics card(s):
      • evga 1080ti
      • PSU:
      • corsair ax 760
      • Case:
      • Corsair 900d
      • Operating System:
      • windows 10 pro 64 bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • hp omen 32
      • Internet:
      • Bt infinite

    Re: Steam game lending?

    this would be awesome

  8. #7
    Moderator chuckskull's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Posts
    7,713
    Thanks
    951
    Thanked
    690 times in 463 posts
    • chuckskull's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z77-D3H
      • CPU:
      • 3570k @ 4.7 - H100i
      • Memory:
      • 32GB XMS3 1600mhz
      • Storage:
      • 256GB Samsung 850 Pro + 3TB Seagate
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 980Ti Classified
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic M12 700W
      • Case:
      • Corsair 500R
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus VG278HE
      • Internet:
      • FTTC

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Sounds great. I think this is a riposte to the next gen consoles, if this whole Steambox thing ever really takes off(supposed to be putting into testing about now aren't they?) they would of have painted themselves into a corner on sharing just by nature of where Steam came from and it would be a brilliant stick for their competitors to beat them with, if PS4 and XBone do it, steambox must, to really compete. They can't of missed the backlash about sharing lately and it wouldn't surprise me if this was a deliberate leak with it's timing.

    If it is deliberate, Microsoft should be taking notes on effective PR and controlling the narrative. Steam will be able to maintain a level of DRM that will be far more restrictive than even the MPAA's wet dreams and Valve will get a round of applause when they announce it.

  9. #8
    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Last Aerie
    Posts
    10,857
    Thanks
    645
    Thanked
    872 times in 736 posts
    • shaithis's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8Z77 WS
      • CPU:
      • i7 3770k @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 32GB HyperX 1866
      • Storage:
      • Lots!
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Fury X
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX850
      • Case:
      • Corsair 600T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2 x Dell 3007
      • Internet:
      • Zen 80Mb Fibre

    Re: Steam game lending?

    I do indeed wonder if this is a response to the new XBO licensing.....as I have seen phases similar to the follow a bit recently:

    "It's like steam, except you can have multiple people sharing the account with any 2 people playing at once"

    Sadly hardly anyone actually pirates just because of lack of demo
    I pirate, even if there is a demo as too many demos have not been representative of the final product.
    I mostly buy anything I have played for more than a few hours though......which is something that all this online purchasing should be able to leverage. 1+ hours free before you get asked to pay, might get sales going a bit better.
    Main PC: Asus Rampage IV Extreme / 3960X@4.5GHz / Antec H1200 Pro / 32GB DDR3-1866 Quad Channel / Sapphire Fury X / Areca 1680 / 850W EVGA SuperNOVA Gold 2 / Corsair 600T / 2x Dell 3007 / 4 x 250GB SSD + 2 x 80GB SSD / 4 x 1TB HDD (RAID 10) / Windows 10 Pro, Yosemite & Ubuntu
    HTPC: AsRock Z77 Pro 4 / 3770K@4.2GHz / 24GB / GTX 1080 / SST-LC20 / Antec TP-550 / Hisense 65k5510 4K TV / HTC Vive / 2 x 240GB SSD + 12TB HDD Space / Race Seat / Logitech G29 / Win 10 Pro
    HTPC2: Asus AM1I-A / 5150 / 4GB / Corsair Force 3 240GB / Silverstone SST-ML05B + ST30SF / Samsung UE60H6200 TV / Windows 10 Pro
    Spare/Loaner: Gigabyte EX58-UD5 / i950 / 12GB / HD7870 / Corsair 300R / Silverpower 700W modular
    NAS 1: HP N40L / 12GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Arrays || NAS 2: Dell PowerEdge T110 II / 24GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Hybrid arrays || Network:Buffalo WZR-1166DHP w/DD-WRT + HP ProCurve 1800-24G
    Laptop: Dell Precision 5510 Printer: HP CP1515n || Phone: Huawei P30 || Other: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Pro 10.1 CM14 / Playstation 4 + G29 + 2TB Hybrid drive

  10. #9
    Bah Humbug. Dooms's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Stockholm
    Posts
    3,325
    Thanks
    94
    Thanked
    183 times in 141 posts
    • Dooms's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI
      • CPU:
      • 3700X
      • Memory:
      • G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (2 x 16GB)
      • Storage:
      • Samsung 970 1TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA 2080 Super
      • PSU:
      • 750W Corsair Pro
      • Case:
      • Ncase M1 6.1
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 11 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34UC88 34-Inch 21:9
      • Internet:
      • 1GB Telenor

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Good idea, wouldn't really use it much myself tho.

  11. #10
    ZaO
    Guest

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    Sadly hardly anyone actually pirates just because of lack of demo - plenty of games have demos these days and they're pirated just as badly. If you can't afford to waste money on a game that might not be good, then you can surely wait a while to find out what other people think first - by which time the price is likely to have come down and you'll be more likely to afford it anyway.

    Dedicated demos however do take a lot of development time away from making the game better, so they add to the cost and/or release time (or bugs etc in the final game).
    There are definitely cheapos that will never pay for any game if they can get away with it. But other peoples opinions aren't my opinion. I do listen to reviews and what other people say. But the majority of people have been bashing grid 2 for example. I wasn't going to buy it. But I just took a chance and did. I enjoy it I really wanted a demo for that. In most cases I wouldn't have purchased the game. We're so used to crap games being flung left, right and center these days that I would assume most of us are cautious to purchase without getting a real taste of the gameplay. How much development does it really take to make a demo though? Just cut out a small section of the finished game and let people play that, right?

    Quote Originally Posted by Raz316 View Post
    ZaO: This came up recently in indiegames.com yeah it's one developer's opinion based on his own data, but it makes sense to me!

    http://indiegames.com/2013/06/the_de...sited_by_.html
    Well that's only their case. That doesn't apply to everyone. This is just an indie dev too right? And I'm shocked that losing $72,000 from customers that would otherwise just not buy or pirate the game doesn't matter. How does it cost that much to put a demo out... Maybe it does... But again, this is just one indie developer. I think companies like EA rely on the rep of something like Battlefield to sell an absolute piece of crap like Warfighter. What a disgrace. If there were demos then I think they would've sold a lot less copies. Not to mention they used the Battlefield 4 Beta access to sell it. It had dodgey written all over it...

    Quote Originally Posted by chuckskull View Post
    Sounds great. I think this is a riposte to the next gen consoles, if this whole Steambox thing ever really takes off(supposed to be putting into testing about now aren't they?) they would of have painted themselves into a corner on sharing just by nature of where Steam came from and it would be a brilliant stick for their competitors to beat them with, if PS4 and XBone do it, steambox must, to really compete. They can't of missed the backlash about sharing lately and it wouldn't surprise me if this was a deliberate leak with it's timing.

    If it is deliberate, Microsoft should be taking notes on effective PR and controlling the narrative. Steam will be able to maintain a level of DRM that will be far more restrictive than even the MPAA's wet dreams and Valve will get a round of applause when they announce it.
    I like that idea of not even making a demo. Just let people play it for a set amount of time for free. Some games do that. Problem with that is the beginning of games is not always the best part to demonstrate. I like when they just give you a random level from any point in the game which lets you see some story, cut scenes, and most of all - some good varied gameplay.


    I know for a fact that people pirate games they would've otherwise bought if there were a demo. Maybe it is cost effective for some companies. But I don't believe it's the case for all..

  12. #11
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    How much development does it really take to make a demo though? Just cut out a small section of the finished game and let people play that, right?
    No. For starters, a demo would usually have to be made before the finished game, secondly you can't just cut a chunk of code out of a program and hope it will work - the cut content requires a huge amount of extra testing to tie off all the links cleanly to other content or you end up with a demo that's way buggier than the game, and that ends up costing you sales rather than gaining you them.

  13. #12
    ZaO
    Guest

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    No. For starters, a demo would usually have to be made before the finished game, secondly you can't just cut a chunk of code out of a program and hope it will work - the cut content requires a huge amount of extra testing to tie off all the links cleanly to other content or you end up with a demo that's way buggier than the game, and that ends up costing you sales rather than gaining you them.
    Why does it cost so much? Once the game engine is built and optimized, I don't see why it'd be so hard to put together 10 minutes worth of gameplay. Like grid 2 for example again - they could've just let us race on one track to test the feel of the game and see if we like it. Surely it wouldn't be hard to set that up.. I don't write programs myself though so I may be missing how difficult something like this can be. Either way, lack of demos suck and definitely loses some sales.

  14. #13
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    Why does it cost so much? Once the game engine is built and optimized, I don't see why it'd be so hard to put together 10 minutes worth of gameplay.
    I think you've answered your own question:

    Surely it wouldn't be hard to set that up.. I don't write programs myself though so I may be missing how difficult something like this can be.
    Honestly, it's hard from a QA point of view and expensive. Games are about so much more than just an engine.

    Either way, lack of demos suck and definitely loses some sales.
    Well apparently not. It probably actually gains sales. Or they'd do them, right?

  15. #14
    ZaO
    Guest

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    I think you've answered your own question:

    Honestly, it's hard from a QA point of view and expensive. Games are about so much more than just an engine.

    Well apparently not. It probably actually gains sales. Or they'd do them, right?
    How did I answer my own question?


    As I said before - I know people get pirated versions of games because there is no demo. Then when they like it they don't buy it. Because they've already got the full game, so just continue playing it. If they had a demo and liked it, they would've then purchased the full game. So it's definitely losing sales to those people! But over all, it might be cost effective for some companies. Will vary with each publisher/developer I'm sure. But like I also said - I believe they don't put out demos for some games as they're crap and only riding on the success of other games, so are expected to be good. Don't tell me you don't believe that happens!!

  16. #15
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Steam game lending?

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    How did I answer my own question?
    You don't program games so don't know how hard it is.

    As I said before - I know people get pirated versions of games because there is no demo. Then when they like it they don't buy it. Because they've already got the full game, so just continue playing it.
    If they had a demo and liked it, they would've then purchased the full game.
    I doubt that very much - if they were willing to pirate before, why wouldn't they just pirate the game if they liked the demo?

    But like I also said - I believe they don't put out demos for some games as they're crap and only riding on the success of other games, so are expected to be good. Don't tell me you don't believe that happens!!
    I know it doesn't happen. The reason most games don't have demos is nothing to do with crapness. Let's look at some recent games with no demo:
    Skyrim - not crap
    Tomb Raider - not crap
    Crysis 3 - sort of not crap.

    On the other hand, games with demos include the likes of Dragon Age 2, which was crap.

  17. #16
    Moderator chuckskull's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Posts
    7,713
    Thanks
    951
    Thanked
    690 times in 463 posts
    • chuckskull's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z77-D3H
      • CPU:
      • 3570k @ 4.7 - H100i
      • Memory:
      • 32GB XMS3 1600mhz
      • Storage:
      • 256GB Samsung 850 Pro + 3TB Seagate
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 980Ti Classified
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic M12 700W
      • Case:
      • Corsair 500R
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus VG278HE
      • Internet:
      • FTTC

    Re: Steam game lending?

    I think mulitplayer betas are becoming the new demos. It's much simpler to implement and you can turn it off before launch.

    In terms of the engineering requirements of games. It can be very deceptive. Take BF3 for example, 18 months old now. Successor was just announced to much fanfare. you'd think Bf3 would be 'finished' from a development standpoint, it isn't and probably never will be now thanks to it's successor coming along, seemingly simple things that proved unresolvable after numerous patches and their inherent time and money investment by one of the worlds largest and most successful developers;

    70 tons tanks can be made to back flip by things such as shrubbery and children's toys,
    Being shot in the face can cause you to jump a couple of thousand feet across the map,
    Guns don't always fire
    Guns don't always reload,
    Guns sometimes fire other guns bullets,
    Guns sometimes disappear entirely,
    Various gadgets suffer similar bugs reviving people in particular is just a nightmare
    Some maps runs like treacle no matter how fast your computer is,
    Serious hit detection issues, hitting someone around a corner and 10 foot back from it isn't uncommon,
    Flight controls are buggy as hell with anything other than a mouse and keyboard,
    Kit selections and perks reset or change without warning,
    The clipping, oh god, the clipping.

    They did fix all the serious bugs in the single player campaign though... 15 months after launch.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •