I just use Steam. In evolution it is adapt or die so I choose to adapt. Only my personal opinion of course.

If you absolutely can't legitimately purchase a game without the service then start looking online for no steam and drm free versions. Some games do have drm free releases that are cheap to purchase (example would be Divinity 2). For everything else cough cough if you got a connection that has no monthly data cap.

If it says EA on it, you bet your ass it's Origin. Even the console games.

If it says Ubisoft on it, you bet your ass it's uPlay.

PeterLI wrote:

I just use Steam. In evolution it is adapt or die so I choose to adapt.

Not all adaptation is beneficial. Sometimes it comes at the cost of something you didn't realize was important. I think requiring that an entire games is downloaded again if I want to replay it at some distant time is one of these losses.

leileilol wrote:

If it says EA on it, you bet your ass it's Origin. Even the console games.

Crysis 1 used SecuROM 7 disc checks. Crysis 2: Limited Edition had online activation but did not require an account. Crysis 3 however, well the official website doesn't list Origin in the system requirements. This leaves the impression that if I buy it retail I would get a stand alone version of the game. Is there really no way to look this information up?

You could just go to the Origin website and look to see if the game you want to buy is on there or not. ;)

Or you could send an eMail straight to the game's developer and ask them straight up if the game needs it or not.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

It's gotten so bad that I can't buy new games anymore without first having to search for what service the game requires an account on. I miss being able to just buy games and install them whenever I feel like.

Where are you buying your games? It seems like every online seller is pretty up-front about DRM these days. Are you still buying retail boxes?

Jorpho wrote:

Where are you buying your games?

Mostly Amazon and Ebay. I've started using GOG since I can download the installer and store it for later use. Plus I've gotten a few Humble Bundles.

Jorpho wrote:

It seems like every online seller is pretty up-front about DRM these days.

Actually, I have found Humble Bundle confusing in that way. Many of the games include Steam keys but don't include Steam when looking at the system requirement, which leads me thing Steam is optional when I know that can't be right for certain games.

As for Amazon and Ebay, half the time I can't trust the seller to tell the difference between a box and a paper sleeve. Usually I can look through the Amazon reviews and see if Steam is mentioned.

Jorpho wrote:

Are you still buying retail boxes?

Yes.

Ah. I wouldn't know if boxes do a lot to disclose DRM as I stopped looking at those a long time ago. 😉 Digital downloads on Amazon.com do typically list what DRM the game requires, though – it's in tiny text, right between the item name and the price – so I suppose you could just look up the digital download version of the game and see what Amazon.com says. (I suppose there could be games available via digital download that don't require Steam/Origin, or games whose retail version doesn't include Steam/Origin despite being available by digital download. It seems kind of unlikely, though.)

For instance, I notice that the Amazon.com page for the digital download of Crysis does not list any DRM. The Crysis 3 page does list Origin. There doesn't seem to be a digital download version of Crysis 2: Limited Edition, though.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

It seems like every online seller is pretty up-front about DRM these days.

Actually, I have found Humble Bundle confusing in that way. Many of the games include Steam keys but don't include Steam when looking at the system requirement, which leads me thing Steam is optional when I know that can't be right for certain games.

It used to be that everything sold by Humble always had a DRM-free version, but things changed starting with the THQ bundle last year (and wasn't it scandalous). I'm pretty sure all their standard bundles are still DRM-free, but with the weekly publisher bundles it's probably best to assume the contrary unless it's explicitly stated. I readily admit I have not been keeping close track.

I list if games require steam\origin on my pc game compatibility list. Stopped buying boxes games a long time ago so no info about those on the list.

The nice thing about steam\origin or any downloadable PC game is that it's very easy to download the drm free executable available on the internets so you can have your offline copy which I do for every game I buy.

My Bioshock Infinite Premium Edition box (quite possibly the last box I will ever buy – it was on clearance) states in the fine print, "Initial installation requires one-time Internet connection for Steam authentication" but also "software installations required include Steam Client".

Well, as the example we have the first Bioshock - the installer is connecting to the Internet once (.exe downloading) then optionally 2nd time (Securom, can be offline theoretically). No Steam, no Origin, still *censored* online DRM.
So - the trouble isn't Steam or Origin itself...

Gamecollector wrote:

Well, as the example we have the first Bioshock - the installer is connecting to the Internet once (.exe downloading) then optionally 2nd time (Securom, can be offline theoretically).

On that note, it seems to me that generally there's no way to download a patch for a game that uses Steam or Origin that doesn't actually involve connecting to Steam or Origin. While it's true you might not necessarily want to be forced to download an update, zero-day patches seem to have been common for a long time now.