Steam IDs published in-game
The creator of Garry’s Mod has modified the game so that pirated editions expose the identity of those who have illicitly downloaded and instilled the title.
The Half-Life sandbox physics tool, sold for $9.99, features a line of code that displays error messages in the game. Attached to those messages is each user’s own individual Steam ID code.
Comparing those codes to an ID list of users who had lawfully downloaded the game, the developer was able to identify those presumed to have pirated the title.
According to a report on games site Gamepron, those who were identified from pirating the game had been banned from accessing it through Steam, and had also found themselves banned from official community forums.
Over 30 million customers buy and play games through Steam, Valve’s digital games portal. Steam controls as much as 70 per cent of the $4 billion digital PC games market, according to independent data.
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Garry’s Mod, built and maintained by Facepunch Studios, was first released in 2004 and has been commercially available through Steam since 2006.
... for using the DRM polluted hole, that is Steam!
Account locked games that you can't sell, online activation required, for offline single player games.
I bought one game using Steam, that was HL2. It sits unused on a shelf, a worthless waste of £35, and it will never have another Steam game to keep it company.
Can't sell 'em... won't buy 'em!
I've bought many games over the Steam for many years and am very happy with the service. Updates are downloaded and installed without any trouble and without having to search for them as with other games in the past. The multiplayer and special game offers are also a bonus. The DRM on steam is less of a problem than that used by Ubisoft at present.
All companies deserve to get paid for their work so I glad a way was found to ban these thieves without it affecting my service.
