Do I need internet to activate?

[Comte]

If I buy a copy from your store do I need internet to activate it in the future or just my key? Basically what I am asking is ootp 22 drm free from your store?

[bwburke94]

Yes, you need internet access to activate the game.

[luckymann]

Well, theoretically yes. But if your internet is down just disconnect wifi and the game should come on OK.

[Comte]

Lets say I want to archive this version. And 5 years from now I want to activate it and OOTP is out of business then what? Thats why I am asking. Now I am not an anti internet luddite just wondering. I like to archive old games and sometimes I will come back to them.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by Comte

Lets say I want to archive this version. And 5 years from now I want to activate it and OOTP is out of business then what? Thats why I am asking. Now I am not an anti internet luddite just wondering. I like to archive old games and sometimes I will come back to them.

Activate it then let it sit. Don't let it sit and then activate it (in the Out of Business scenario), the former would be fine but the latter, who knows...?

[Ktulu]

Originally Posted by Comte

Lets say I want to archive this version. And 5 years from now I want to activate it and OOTP is out of business then what? Thats why I am asking. Now I am not an anti internet luddite just wondering. I like to archive old games and sometimes I will come back to them.

If you're that worried about it buy the Steam version.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by Ktulu

If you're that worried about it buy the Steam version.

I mean, for people worried about actually owning their games and always having access to them, Steam is absolutely not the solution there lol. If Steam shut down for whatever reason you'd lose your entire library.

[Ktulu]

LOL, Steam isn't going anywhere.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by Ktulu

LOL, Steam isn't going anywhere.

Neither is OOTP. My point is that for someone specifically worried about indefinite ownership of the game and never losing access to it, Steam is about as far removed from that as it's possible to be.

Steam is great, has a lot of benefits, and I use it for a lot of games (though not OOTP). What it is definitively not is a way to own games and ensure you have evergreen access to and control over them.

[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by Comte

Lets say I want to archive this version. And 5 years from now I want to activate it and OOTP is out of business then what? Thats why I am asking. Now I am not an anti internet luddite just wondering. I like to archive old games and sometimes I will come back to them.

Print out the email with the license number and store it someplace safe. But activate the game first.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

I mean, for people worried about actually owning their games and always having access to them, Steam is absolutely not the solution there lol. If Steam shut down for whatever reason you'd lose your entire library.

Aren't you in the same boat if Fastsprings shuts down? More likely to happen, I think, than Steam?

In any case the only out if whoever activates your license goes out of business is OOTP Dev\Com2US issuing replacement licenses from another distributor. Or totally unlocking an older version and no longer require a code? Maybe I'm missing other options?

Years ago folks asked about "owning" the game, which we don't, and always knowing they could play if licensors went out of business? A lot of this came up when Steam was first brought up as a distributor, and of course a minirebellion started. I believe Markus said then that, in the unlikely event OOTP became unplayable due to licensors going out of business OOTP Dev. would have a way to unlock OOTP so users would not lose "their" game. That was in the day of one or two distributors not the many we have now. And of course Com2Us is also in the picture too.

Best guess would be they would send out keys for one of the other companies. I would think Steam is the most stable? Certainly a notch above Fastsprings in the world of games? If not there are plenty of others.

If it's me I go with Steam and figure if it goes down Markus will do his best to make it right. To be fair if Fastsprings goes down I think he would do the same.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Comte

Lets say I want to archive this version. And 5 years from now I want to activate it and OOTP is out of business then what? Thats why I am asking. Now I am not an anti internet luddite just wondering. I like to archive old games and sometimes I will come back to them.

I’m pretty sure that if you activate it once, the keys stay. If OOTP goes out of business then you’ll be stuck with an unsupported product the same way you’d be stuck with any of a thousand or more products with DRM that went belly up. Who knows what will happen?