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this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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If the content is not stored locally and DRM free, then you don't own it. Don't pay for content that you can't own. 🏴☠️
Is there any platform or medium where I can buy locally stored and DRM-free software? Even if I buy a game on disc I am fucked, cause most games need updates. I can only name GOG.
Given the recent controversy, it calls into question the definition of the word 'buy.'
GOG is the only one that I know of too.
itch.io is fantastic. Mostly indie stuff with some bigger name stuff, but it's by far the best out there for devs.
It's hard to find quality games in the sea of single dev weekend projects on itch io...
If you see potential in one and their game is open source then consider contributing in some way (not as in money but honest feedback helps).
Steam, but you'll have to manually search around the forums to see which games does it and which doesn't. It's not exactly a well advertised feature, but integration of Steamworks copy protection is optional. Most of the games that are DRM-free on GOG are DRM-free on Steam too.
Humble (the company that sells Bundles) has some games listed as DRM free games in their store. Never bought individual games from them, but I have gotten DRM free games in their bundles.
Also, fuck GOG. They are owned by CD Project Red, the piece of shit lawyers who trademarked the term cyberpunk.
Pretty sure they bought the trademark from the company who owned it previous (for a 1980s era board game if I recall correctly). They bought it to prevent shitty 2077 clones with the same name from popping up. I haven't heard of them actively pursuing copyright infringement against others who use cyberpunk.
2077 and its spinoffs are literally set in the boardgame universe and an updated rulebook was released at the same time as the game.
2077 and Edgerunners are just stories set in the setting and universe from the boardgame. The Arasaka Tower Heist, Johnny Silverhand, Morgan Blackhand, all the corps, gangs, and cyberware are right from the boardgame. The story had heavy involvement from the creator of the board game as well. For fucks sake he does the voice of Maximum Mike on the in game radio.
Did people not realize that Cyberpunk 2077 is just another Witcher situation, but this time the original author wanted to stay a part of things?
Just because they are not openly pursuing enforcement does not mean that they will not. Just the audacity to trademark a generic term widely used in media discussion makes me think that they are being represented by scumbag lawyers.
The term has been trademarked since 1995 for different uses. This isn't anything new and there's no signs they intend to use it aggressively. https://trademarks.justia.com/856/81/cyberpunk-85681741.html
What are you even talking a out, there are plenty of games with cyberpunk in the tittle on steam.
And CD Project Red has the right to sue those publishers.
Of course, if they do and the other side chooses to fight, they will have to explain to a judge why the trademark was granted to them despite a mountain of prior art describing games as cyberpunk.
The fuck are you talking about wrt Cyberpunk? It was already the trademarked name of the boardgame that all this new shit draws from, the boardgame that coined the fucking term in the first place.
They purchased the trademark from the old role playing game and then expanded it, if I recall.
The RPG did not invent the term. It was riding the hype of cyberpunk literature. The first use of the term is from 1980 (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cyberpunk). According to Wikipedia, the game did not come out until 1988 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_(role-playing_game) ).
Muh witcher
I bought DRM-free TV episodes from Google Play (IIRC). Everything was great until codecs got updated a couple of years later and the videos were suddenly jerky to the point of unwatchability.
Even when I own it, there's no guarantee I get to keep it.
You can probably play it properly on a PC using something like VLC (A pretty powerful video player)
VLC is also available on android, do that might be worth a try!
Including Android TV.
Or transcode it to support your current video player via handbrake
Uh, that's practically all software and games these days.
In this case Sony is taking away TV shows that people purchased. They can be purchased on physical media that will be playable as long as you have the disc. The DRM on DVD and Bluray discs can be easily removed to make backups that will play on anything forever.
As for games, everything on GOG is DRM free. They have downloads for the installers so you can keep a backup copy to install decades from now even if GOG is long gone by then.
Have fun managing tens of TB of backups. I have given up on that quite a while ago, DRM-free is just not a practical for the amount of digital content you collect over the years. It's a nice to have thing that comes in really handy sometimes (e.g. watching movies on unsupported device like VR headsets), but it's not a solution for digital ownership. In some ways it's actually worse, as you can't practically resell DRM-free copies, as you don't have a proof of ownership. You'll also miss out on updates for new technologies (codecs, OS versions, etc.).
This needs a legislative solution or some NFT-like thing that gives you a certificate like "You own this, feel free to pirate if we go out of business"(digital signed by company).