Why Tessera Was Banned From Steam

[Tessera]

Incidentally, I have seen some conjecture and outright false assumptions being made regarding my ban from Steam.

Let me set the record straight, in the hopes that there will be no more confusing rumors about it:

I was banned from Steam after I publicly suggested that people should obtain their copies of VTM: Bloodlines from a pirate web site (such as The Pirate Bay), as opposed to purchasing it from Steam. I made this suggestion because in my opinion, Valve/Steam does not deserve to make a profit from the sales of that particular game. They did not produce it, they do not pay a single penny in royalties to the original developers and worst of all, they do not support Bloodlines AT ALL... instead leaving it up to the community to do our own support (in the form of player-made patches). Other people do all the work... and yet Steam makes all of the money..? Fuck that.

In my book, this makes Steam a bunch of leeches... and nobody should profit from being a leech. Not when there are alternatives... and there ARE alternatives. Leeches should be punished -- not rewarded. There is far too much greed in the software industry as it is.

The best way to show your support for Troika Games is to punish the people who stole Bloodlines from them. Boycott companies like ActiVision and Steam. You can get Bloodlines for free via torrent downloads... and it will run just fine that way. Just be sure to patch it with the True Patch Gold Edition and you'll be all set to enjoy one of the best PC-RPG's of all time.

I was banned from Steam for the same reason that I have been banned from quite a few other commercial web sites: for courageously telling you the TRUTH... in a commercial venue where their primary goal is to sell you a LIE.

[VTM_I]

It's a shame a local publisher like Sold Out\Mastertronic haven't picked up the label. They manage to do business here just fine selling the older games for just a few bucks. The used copies on Amazon marketplace cost over $25 which I think is unreasonable for a 6 year old game.

[beetle]

I would feel the price of an old game up for sale like that should be tied to how good of a game it was. If it's a good game it should hold a higher, but reasonable, price. If a game was crap it should be cheap.

[VTM_I]

I would feel the price of an old game up for sale like that should be tied to how good of a game it was. If it's a good game it should hold a higher, but reasonable, price. If a game was crap it should be cheap.

So you're saying I should pay 40 bucks for it still? Screw that, I just won't bother.

[Tessera]

You can obtain Bloodlines for free:

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3499363/VAMPIRE_THE_MASQUERADE_BLOODLINES_for_PC._GRADE-ONE_DFM


That's just one of several torrents available for Bloodlines.

My suggestion would be to download that version, burn it to three CD's (or DVD's) and then install it normally.

Then install the True Patch Gold Edition, which is a stand-alone patch that requires no other patches or mods to bring the game up-to-date. The Gold Edition patch will also fix any and all problems with Vista, or DX10/11 systems, or systems with greater than 2 GB of total system RAM. And there are also a few optional utilities included with the Gold Edition patch, including one which will allow you to run Bloodlines in the widescreen resolution of your choice.

Just avoid any versions of VTMB which already have patches applied to them. What you want is the original, pristine 3-CD version of the game. Then you can patch it any way you see fit (or not at all, if that is your preference).

Note that the above is just a suggestion. I am not "officially" telling anyone what to do. I will just repeat that no matter how you obtain your copy of Bloodlines, the original developers will NEVER get a single penny of your money. They have effectively been screwed out of receiving any royalties from Bloodlines. As a matter of fact, the former staff of Troika have NEVER EVER gotten a single red cent in payment for all of their hard work on this glorious RPG. That is an absolute fact.

So there you go: you can download a copy, install it and then patch it with the True Patch Gold Edition. And then you will have effectively told Steam to shove their greed up their collective ass.

Power to the people, baby. And Steam can bite me. If only a dozen people follow my suggestion and grab a free copy of VTMB, as opposed to buying it from Steam, then we win and Steam loses. And I'm willing to bet that a LOT more than a dozen people will be checking out that torrent link. This web site still gets a fair amount of traffic (we are the ones who have produced the very best Bloodlines patch, after all) and I wouldn't be surprised if it's hundreds or even thousands of folks who end up giving the finger to Steam after reading this post.

So like... fuck you, Steam. We win, you lose... and that's life. If you don't like it, then just shove it up your greedy little corporate asses and spin on it.

[VTM_I]

If I torrent this stuff, I'm risking retribution from the state as well as a corporate lawsuit, the DEB law in the UK threatens my very use of an internet connection if I do anything it deems improper. Quite frankly I don't need to be drawing that kind of attention to myself. Call the ISPs spineless if you want, but they aren't huge or profitable and can easily be arm-twisted (this isn't Monsanto or Goldman Sachs I'm talking about here).

[Tessera]

Everyone needs to make their own choice.

Fighting back against greed has risks. We each need to decide whether
we just want to talk the talk... or be brave and also walk the walk.

I've always been very much a "stand up" kind of guy. I realize that not
everyone has the same overabundance of guts that I have.

But I still wanted everyone to know that there ARE alternatives.  


PS -- it is difficult (if not impossible) for the authorities to accurately track torrents,
thanks to the fact that the data stream is coming from numerous locations at once.
This is indeed why torrents and magnet links were created in the first place. We should
also keep in mind that no single government nor legal authority controls the internet.
Thus whatever takes place between peer-to-peer connections is nobody else's business.

[VTM_I]

Everyone needs to make their own choice.

Fighting back against greed has risks. We each need to decide whether
we just want to talk the talk... or be brave and also walk the walk.

If you were talking about defending liberty I'd be with you, but Vampire Bloodlines...I can wait for a trunk sale or something, it's nowhere near that important.

I've always been very much a "stand up" kind of guy. I realize that not
everyone has the same overabundance of guts that I have.

But I still wanted everyone to know that there ARE alternatives. 

I'm perfectly aware of that. I think perhaps supporting the founders of Troika in their newer enterprises would be a better course of action.

[Tessera]

And I disagree. Supporting Troika's ex-employees will not do anything to punish
the people who stole their money from them. Nor will it do anything to dissuade
this type of corporate thievery and greed in the future.

I am only concerned with Bloodlines here. I really don't care about anything beyond that.
And I have shown my own support for this game in no small way... by busting my butt
for the past four years on producing the best patch for purists on the web.

[VTM_I]

I am only concerned with Bloodlines here. I really don't care about anything beyond that.

I don't buy Activision titles or have a Steam account.

[Cylnar]

And the faster you act, the better, if you live in the US especially. Since the FCC passed some weak-ass bullshit suggestions vetted and approved by AT&T and called it "net neutrality" - thus setting the stage for an effective corporate takeover of the US portions of the Internet - the big telecom companies are liable to start keeping better track of net traffic...all the better to 1) charge you more for your metered bandwidth usage; 2) speed up, slow down or interdict net traffic depending on its source or destination; 3) to stop online piracy (which I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA will pay them handsomely to do). So if you want the five-finger discount on pretty much anything, do it quick, while you can still get to The Pirate Bay (and any of Wikileaks' mirrors, incidentally).

[VTM_I]

I should clarify that I don't put down $50 on any videogame, no matter how good it is - I wait for price drops. Secondly, I'm very selective about what I do buy. There's already competition from the existing games I have, and aside from which I don't have a lot of time to waste on buggy generic crap.

[Tessera]

And the faster you act, the better, if you live in the US especially. Since the FCC passed some weak-ass bullshit suggestions vetted and approved by AT&T and called it "net neutrality" - thus setting the stage for an effective corporate takeover of the US portions of the Internet - the big telecom companies are liable to start keeping better track of net traffic...all the better to 1) charge you more for your metered bandwidth usage; 2) speed up, slow down or interdict net traffic depending on its source or destination; 3) to stop online piracy (which I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA will pay them handsomely to do). So if you want the five-finger discount on pretty much anything, do it quick, while you can still get to The Pirate Bay (and any of Wikileaks' mirrors, incidentally).

If and when that bullshit happens, the public can and will fight back. We can just go back to the days of direct dial-up from one system to another, via high-speed modems.

The greedy leeches in this world will not stop anyone who truly wants internet freedom. That is my prediction.

I should also mention that Senator Al Franken and others are poised to filibuster against any legislation which would attempt to "own" the internet in the ways that you have described.

[VTM_I]

If and when that bullshit happens, the public can and will fight back. We can just go back to the days of direct dial-up form one system to another via high-speed modems.

The greedy leeches in this world will not stop anyone who truly wants internet freedom.

I should also mention that Senator Al Franken and others are poised to filibuster against any legislation which would attempt to "own" the internet in the ways that you have described.

Best get talking to TeliaSenora, Level 3 and the other backbone providers because they maintain the trunk links.

[Tessera]

Anyway... back to Bloodlines and Steam:

Steam does not deserve your money. That much is very clear to me. They do not support the game... they do not pay any royalties to its creators... and they behave too much like control freaks and bullies when it comes to their overall business practices. No company which behaves that way should be rewarded. On the contrary... they should be punished in the way that it hurts therm the most: in their wallets.

Free copies of this game are available. See my previous posts for details. And it is up to each of you to decide whether or not you want to obtain a copy of the game that way.

The very excellent True Patch Gold Edition is also freely available, and it will fix all of the significant bugs in the game. Period. Anything which is not fixed by the True Patch is simply not significant, hence my decision to leave those parts of the game alone in the interest of purity. The end user can then decide if they wish to further modify the game, after it has been patched with the Gold Edition.

[VTM_I]

Anyway... back to Bloodlines and Steam:

Steam does not deserve your money. That much is very clear to me. They do not support the game... they do not pay any royalties to its creators... and they behave too much like control freaks and bullies when it comes to their overall business practices. No company which behaves that way should be rewarded. On the contrary... they should be punished in the way that it hurts therm the most: in their wallets.

Steam seems to have become popular out of perceived convenience and the absence of any critical thought when it comes to software licensing agreements.

[Tessera]

Steam is run by bullies, punks, leeches and crooks. So are most other
commercial gaming entities. That's the bottom line.

I am far from being the first person to complain about this shit and
I am quite sure that I won't be the last.

But unlike most people, I don't just whine -- I actively fight back.
Hence my ban from Steam and quite a few other boards as well.

My detractors will say that my bans came as the sole result of my
caustic personality. But they'd be wrong. The internet is filled with
jackasses who are far more annoying and confrontational than I am.

They don't get banned because they don't take action... they are
merely annoying pests. I take action -- and that's why I get gagged.

Simple as that. So actually, I am rather proud of my bans.  

[VTM_I]

Steam is run by bullies, punks, leeches and crooks. So are most other
commercial gaming entities. That's the bottom line.

I am far from being the first person to complain about this shit and
I am quite sure that I won't be the last.

I'm not a fan of casting pearls before swine, a lot of message boards are a waste of time in that regard. As for the people running Steam, Valve rode off of the success of Half Life mods, bought out the good ones (that includes Counter-Strike, Portal and Left 4 Dead) and churned out an average sequel at best. Most of their profit is off the back of other people's work, which is why I think intellectual property arguments about piracy ring hollow.


FROM TESSERA: I agree with you, hence my earlier comments about hurting Steam in their wallets.