• YeetPics
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    266 months ago

    So Google has no “app store” it’s a “rental lot” filled with a ton of malicious bullshit anyway.

    Is there an easy and effective way out of their evil environment?

    • firecat
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      126 months ago

      It’s the same as Steam, you sign the contract called “ User Agreement” that has a section on how you don’t own the games. It’s legal and nothing you can do about it. User Agreement also forbids you from suing Valve Corporation, so anyone who wants to own games from SteM legally cannot.

      • lazynooblet
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        246 months ago

        You decided to use as an example the only company known to not overstep in this regard. Steam has historically refunded in full the cost of games that have been withdrawn. It’s likely the agreements for these are part of the requirements of publishers rather than the platform itself, as well as the reasons to withdraw them.

        • @barsoap@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          That’s absolutely correct, they’re also excellent when it comes to lending games to other people. OTOH Valve is fighting its way through the whole European appeal chain to prevent having to allow customers to resell their games. They’re going to lose, it’s just a matter of time.

        • @btaf45@lemmy.world
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          56 months ago

          Steam didn’t refund any of the cost of the games their DRM rendered inoperable on my Windows 7 PC. They happily took my money 1 week before dropping support.

          • lazynooblet
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            136 months ago

            That’s on you. They extended support to that legacy os far beyond it being end of life.

          • @psud@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            If you’re hanging onto windows 7 because your computer isn’t suitable for later versions, I suggest you move to Linux so as to be on a modern reasonably secure operating system. Windows 7 machines are becoming too likely to be part of a bot farm

            You can run steam on Linux

            • @btaf45@lemmy.world
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              16 months ago

              I actually have an alternate boot that runs Linux. I have Windows 7 PC precisely to be able to run most amount of games, including older games.

      • YeetPics
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        146 months ago

        Whatever I sign doesn’t make it any less illegal to falsely advertise your services.

        If I hire a pool cleaner and they shit in my pool it isn’t my fault that ‘I didn’t read the pool-shitting clause buried in fine print on the 138th page of the agreement’. Shitting in pools is the antithesis of a pool cleaning service.

        Advertisers and marketers they know this, stop helping them.

        • @psud@lemmy.world
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          16 months ago

          I wouldn’t hire a pool cleaner that produced a hundred page contract, unless they were happy to start the cleaning a month or three before I signed

      • @Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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        6 months ago

        not all games on steam have steam drm, thats an option that devs decide to use or not. Valve gives it as an option, blame the dev if they choose to use it.

        • firecat
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          16 months ago

          Valve’s games also include DRM, Valve will still be blamed. Valve doesn’t care about their games, TF2 community comes into mind when they sent Cease and Desist. No, do not defend them for it because you also would agree with Nintendo’s stance on this issue.

          Valve will never be the good guys, only remember as the bad guys.

          • @Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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            6 months ago

            you didnt use valve as the sole dev however, changing your entire argument. you blamed steam as an entire platform when the actual answer is that its dev specific, hell theres a fucking wiki that tells you which games on steam dont have DRM. you blanketed an entire platform with a statement that isnt even fully true. im not even saying valve is the good guy, this shit isn’t black and white, im just here not trying to pedal actual lies

            • firecat
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              16 months ago

              All Valves games are DRM, you can not download the games without Steam Client. No, using the alternative method because the User Agreement doesn’t allow it. Valve never allows games to be installed without permission by them.

              That’s the very definition of DRM, a company saying they don’t allow you to install games without consent.

              • @Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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                6 months ago

                t’s the same as Steam, you sign the contract called “ User Agreement” that has a section on how you don’t own the games

                this is what you said,

                Steam is a platform, that host various games, some with DRM, some without DRM

                Valve is a dev, their games have DRM. Just because Valves games have drm, doesnt make that all games on steam have DRM. You painted an entire platform as DRM when it isn’t. it’s one thing to say that Valve theirselves puts drm in their games, its a completely different statement to blanket all of steam to be drm, when thats a completely false statement.

                For example, go get someones steam copy of witcher 3, youll quickly find out that it itself has no drm, despite coming from steam, and not the GOG version.

                • firecat
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                  16 months ago

                  Again, the very definition of DRM is Valve approval of:

                  1. Your account

                  2. Your money

                  3. The requirements laid out in the Steam User agreement

                  You do not own the game, you don’t own the Steam Client, you don’t own the account and buying doesn’t offer refunds for real money. THE WHOLE THING IS VALVE CORPORATE LEGAL TERF. You can never get Steam exclusive games outside of Steam.

                  • @Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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                    16 months ago

                    You can never get Steam exclusive games outside of Steam.

                    the discussion of steam exclusive games was never part of a question. Again, go download witcher 3 on steam and tell me that it doesnt work if you transfer it to another device. If ti works, it defies that steam as an entirely is DRM, because thats the opposite of what DRM would provide.

    • @laverabe@lemmy.world
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      96 months ago

      Fdroid, free and open source alternative to the play store. I’ve been using it for months, and while it’s barebones and probably too minimal for most people, I rather like it myself.

    • @Facebones@reddthat.com
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      56 months ago

      I bought a Pixel 8 Pro and installed GrapheneOS. No account signed in to the OS or Google play. You can run it completely Google free or run Google services in a sandbox mode with normal controllable permissions (alot of stuff uses Google services for push notifications and some other stuff.)

      Use FOSS (Free Open Source Software) where possible, you can get a cheap domain name and cheap email hosting to move away from gmail.

      You could go a step further, pick up a raspberry pi, and start self hosting some things to move away from Google apps.

      It’s all pretty relatively simple these days, but you have to be open to learning at least a little bit (mostly the last part, gOS is basically one click install and some email hosts are about the same - but still.)

      TLDR: Moving away from services you pay for with your data will require paying with your money or time, but it’s worth it.

      • YeetPics
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        16 months ago

        This is the move, I’m still getting up to speed with Linux on my desktop before I get grapheneos on my cell. It’s damn intimidating.