-- You are part right... all games have the support discontinued at some point but most games, in fact, none that I can think of, take away the ability to continue to play the game or run the servers.
There are still Quake 1 servers and players out there... the game that started first person multiplayer shooters. ID quit supporting it years ago but they did not kill the ability to run it. Same with Quake 2, UT and half a dozen other old games you can see still being played through gamespy. The Microsoft games you used as an example are not relevant, they have never allowed people to run servers with their games so when they discontinue it, it's over. Name one single game that had the server distributed that are not capable of running a server and being played today if someone had the notion to do so. I can't think of one, I bet you can't either. There is a significant number of people still playing WON games and those people will continue to do so as long as they can find them. Most of the people left have no intention of putting that piece of spy/spamware steam on their PC so when WON is done, they will move onto other games. As far as the wonless projects go, they will not succeed unless there is a way for people to find the games. If it takes a special patch to continue to play it or find games, most users are not going to be willing to seek it out. The vast majority of people are too lazy to even download custom maps so what do you think they will do when they have to find a patch to play their game... only a handful of hardcores will be in that crowd. Legally, the EULA certainly has wording to cover the wonless projects. However, if Valve knows about the violation (which they do) and take no action, that forfeits their right to pursue it. It is just like a patent, copyright or anything else of that nature. If they allow it to continue it becomes unenforceable in any court and that includes the US. I don't know about the EULA but for a patent or copyright the owner must take legal action within months after finding out about a violation or they lose their rights to it. We threw the only steam game off our network a couple weeks ago. The 16 slot CS server used more cpu than the 24 and 32 slot BF servers running beside it. Secondly, they could not afford what we would have charged them for weekly updates and then rollbacks of those updates because Valve habitually dumps untested code with problems out to the masses. Right there is the second biggest problem with steam (being a cpu pig is problem number 1), just who thought it would be a good idea to do weekly server updates? Man, what a genius! I've given the client of the won server we have left notice that when won goes down, so do they. I really hope it is the end of the month because I am looking forward to no Valve games on our network. None the less, I kind of doubt it. The first time we heard that was over a year ago and since then I have heard it at least twice more. Go ahead Valve, cut won and get it over with! You know how many players your cutting loose and I for one am looking forward to BF/BFV getting another big chunk of your userbase. Rick At 09:00 AM 7/24/2004 -0700, you wrote: >Message: 3 >From: "RoAcH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [hlds_linux] The WON, The 7.7.2004 crash and The Future >Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 09:10:13 -0500 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Valves step to discontinue WON denies me to play the game I bought >years > > ago in the way I'm used to (== online). My arguments are of a > > >Not that this is directed to you personally... > >But what I don't get is Valve is not the first company to discontinue >a game. > >Two that I've played and were made impossible to play anymore - 1) >Motor City Online and B) Microsoft's Alliegence. > >Granted, I didn't play either of those games nearly as much as I play >CS, so I don't know if there was a huge outcry to keep them going, but >they were games that I paid for and paid to play that just stopped >being offered. > >I just find it odd that people act like this has never happened before >and Valve should just continue to support a non-steam version of CS >forever. > > >RoAcH -- --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.720 / Virus Database: 476 - Release Date: 7/14/2004 -- _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
