Full Steam Ahead – or not (Column)

Soz I didn't read the message for a while...
LOL I always laugh when I see this message, so conflicting >.<
 
I don't think Alex Hempel quite understands whats going on.

So crash course:

Steam arose from Valve's efforts to distribute their own games (actually patches initially). These games were & are encrypted. This is what the GCF files are. The keys needed to decrypt do not come with the GCFs...else it would be too easy to decrypt. Instead they are temporarily grabbed off the server once Valve made sure you paid. That is the way it was initially designed.

After this a bunch of other features were added by means of duct-tape, without changing the underlying fundamentals. To keep things simple, retail games are treated the same way as Valve games even though they aren't actually encrypted (NCF files & data). The offline mode effectively grabs these keys and stores them a bit more permanently....this is why you must be online when selecting offline mode...the keys aren't going to arrive via smoke signals.

Some of the above might have changed with the new content system, but I doubt it.
 
My offline mode always works perfectly. I can unplug my PC while Steam is in online mode, take it to a friend and it'll go into offline mode no problem. I just always have to make sure I have launched a game in online mode once before it will run while in offline mode.

It seems to be hit or miss. Mine's flawless, but I hear about a lot of people who have to be online before they can go into offline mode. Guess I'm just lucky.


Pr⊕phet said:
We using porn now to promote our articles? Didn't bother to read past the picture...
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Yeah, not particularly classy, even from an opinion column.
 
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My offline mode also works flawlessly. Even when Telkom cut my line ahead of schedule.
 
Pr⊕phet said:
We using porn now to promote our articles? Didn't bother to read past the picture...
Click to expand...

Although I don't agree with it, seeing as this a family orientated site.
I have to say the female form is something beautiful to behold...and I say that with utmost respect..:)

Kind of a useless comment..but anyway xD
 
The Joker said:
Although I don't agree with it, seeing as this a family orientated site.
I have to say the female form is something beautiful to behold...and I say that with utmost respect..:)
Kind of a useless comment..but anyway xD
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MOnk said:
It's not porn, if you look really, really close...
... sorry I forgot what I was going to say.
:P
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Point is I can't surf mygaming in respectful places such as work if this is going to be the norm. It takes one person there to look upon my monitor see that banner and think wtf is this person looking at. In no way do you need sex to help your article, it just says to me that the person writing really needs to something to spice up his words or there is something seriously lacking.

I won't be stereotyped in that manner as a gammer saying that offline equals no porn, or do you like to be categorized as a helpless fapper ?. I don't see Tyran using pictures of woman to help out when she writes, nor does she stereotype gamers like that.
 
Pr⊕phet said:
Point is I can't surf mygaming in respectful places such as work if this is going to be the norm. It takes one person there to look upon my monitor see that banner and think wtf is this person looking at. In no way do you need sex to help your article, it just says to me that the person writing really needs to something to spice up his words or there is something seriously lacking.

I won't be stereotyped in that manner as a gammer saying that offline equals no porn, or do you like to be categorized as a helpless fapper ?. I don't see Tyran using pictures of woman to help out when she writes, nor does she stereotype gamers like that.
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Hi there,

For the record - Alex had nothing to do with that headline image, opinion columns are often submitted with no images, and so the subs often create these based on the content of the article - in this case, that was me.

I'm sorry you interpreted the humorous approach to contextual frustration in such a negative light, but it's definitely not using "porn" to "sell" any article. The lady in question is a Victoria's Secret model named Adriana Lima. I'm not entirely certain on your interpretation of pornography, but she's definitely not an adult-content model.

Furthermore - the image is also blurred out, and 80% covered by a massive Steam Error message - which is the focus of the idea. If I had intentions of using sex to sell, I would have taken a page out Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur V marketing book and posted Ivy's breasts all over the show. Which in fact we have done. Or simply left it as is (links to original picture).

The meaning behind the image is not, as you say, to imply that offline gamers are masturbatory losers - or to push any stereotype at all - but that rather, as mentioned, a humorous nod towards the Steam Error popping up in frustrating contexts. I'm sorry you chose not see it in this light.

Once again, Alex had nothing to do with the picture; if you have an issue with it, you can blame me.

I've removed the picture in question - apologies for any offense causes. We'll be less risqué in the future.
 
The issue isn't that the image is offensive, the issue is that it's NSFW. Even if the picture is 80% obscured, there's still enough of it visible to be able to potentially give someone who passes by your workstation a wrong idea. It's much the same reason why I avoid going to sites that is known to have ads for "hot gurl wallpeppers" or similar while I'm at university or an internet cafe.

Besides, what is the point of putting up an underwear model on a gaming news and review site in the first place? I don't quite get why it was deemed necessary. This isn't FHM's site. There's a difference between having half-dressed gaming girls from popular games up when it's actually related to an article, but a Victoria's Secret underwear model about Steam offline mode? Seriously?
 
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Graal said:
The issue isn't that the image is offensive, the issue is that it's NSFW. Even if the picture is 80% obscured, there's still enough of it visible to be able to potentially give someone who passes by your workstation a wrong idea. It's much the same reason why I avoid going to sites that is known to have ads for "hot gurl wallpeppers" or similar while I'm at university or an internet cafe.

Besides, what is the point of putting up an underwear model on a gaming news and review site in the first place? I don't quite get why it was deemed necessary. This isn't FHM's site. There's a difference between having half-dressed gaming girls from popular games up when it's actually related to an article, but a Victoria's Secret underwear model about Steam offline mode? Seriously?
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Noted. Hence the image has been change. Again, I'm sorry you interpreted as such, it was not the intention. Shall we move on, then?
 
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