A Message On Football Manager 2012 Activation

[The Welsh Lad]

Firstly I have no issues with STEAM , I've used it in the past to buy Football Manager (when I lived in England).

For the past 3 years I've been in South Korea , every time a new FM came out I always checked STEAM first, but it has never been available here. So, I always used gamersgate.com or game.co.uk with no real problems (byteshield - yuck!)

This year again it is not possible to buy and download through STEAM in Korea, so I'm wondering if i digitally download it from another site will I even be able to activate through STEAM? Or in fact do digital downloads have to be activated fthrough STEAM?

I couldn't think of anything more frustrating than having the game on my hard drive bought and paid for but being region locked out of playing it....!

Any help greatly appreciated, cheers.

(posted as a thread but this seems a lot more active)

Unfourtantly the game has to activaited through steam. So if you download it from another site you still have to download steam to activate the game.

[seagull84]

OK thanks.

But would I be able to solely activate the game through STEAM - even if it is unavailable to buy it from them in my region?

[Rubentus_Juventus]

this is ballssack

FM 12 is going to flop.

****ing stupid move SEGA.

[The Welsh Lad]

OK thanks.

But would I be able to solely activate the game through STEAM - even if it is unavailable to buy it from them in my region?

Someone from SI or SEGA will have to answer that because I don't know

[Philbaby]

FM11 had no required activation. You could install and either play via disc-in-tray, or register via Steam and then there was no need to have your disc to play. And you could access FM on any machine via Steam. Last year we looked for a method to combat piracy, but didn't feel there was an acceptable solution that was balanced the battle against piracy without penalizing genuine customers. This year we feel we've found that solution.

Blimey David..why hasn't SI continued with that process ? I mean...it worked.

Plus for those of us who are a wake-up to Valve we didn't have to keep FM2011 until we died !

On that point...if, like Valve, SI is buying the mantra that we don't actually OWN the game after parting with our hard earned, that we only have a license to use. (..smirk...) would SI be prepared to take our copies back for a small fee ?

You know.. for recycling the manuals and plastics of the item. Better that than having it lying around collecting dust forever.

Thanks in advance..

[Invis]

SEGA have obviously not researched how easy it is to pirate/redistribute Steam games, honestly at the moment it is less hassle than some form of protection implemented in the main executable

[kelveen]

People are more than entitled to give their opinions, we're happy to hear them (even when it's the same people saying the same thing over and over again! ) but Sega obviously gave all the consequences a hell of a lot of thought before making this decision. No offence to some people who have made comments in this thread but it's not a decision that would have been made lightly without a vast amount of research so it's be nice if you waited until release before you judge Steam as a 'not very good anti-piracy measure'. Give us a chance before judging the decision as a bad one.

I am willing to give SI a chance. Though, in the last couple of years, the installation of the game and making it run smoothly has been a chore than anything else.

I understand the decision made here, though i am not happy about it, i will give it one more chance.

I have never used steam, and i dont really want to, but i have no choice.

My question to you, if it is giving me tons of problems, i will not be playing FM anymore, until another method arrives. Do i get my money back if i cannot get to play the game through steam, as experienced by many of these posters before me?

Thanks (I have been playing since the beginning, and it is the ONLY game i play.)

[Germaniac]

What about if we don't have Internet???

[mrstef]

You have a choice where to buy it from, just not where to activate it. It really doesn't matter since you'll be dealing with Steam once for 5 minutes. I don't see the problem.

My problem is, i don't have a working internet connection with my laptop. Iv messed around with settings and it wont work.

Im sure im not the only one who has this sort of problem and i sure there is people who don't even have an internet connection

Now im going to have pay someone to fix my laptop and god knows how much that will be???

Iv played since it all started and im going to have pay alot to play the game. Is it worth it??

[MeekoHFC]

And what's the point in not installing it? You won't even notice it.

You are missing the point, it doesn't matter if you don't notice it. People shouldn't be forced to install something they don't want.

No-one is naiive enough to think that piracy can be stopped - but it can be fought.

If this measure is enough to make even a small percentage of pirates actually buy the game then it will drastically increase the amount of resources SI will have at their disposal.

I seriously doubt this will make a small a percentage of pirates buy the game, infact if anything they've just created more pirates.

[mrstef]

What about if we don't have Internet???

you shouldn't have asked that! You'll get replies like, go to your local library

or walk down your street until you find someone who has not put a password on there broadband

or oh my god you haven't got the internet

[mrstef]

I would love to know what Miles and co think about what a lot of us are saying?

Do you think they would even bother reading any of this

[BayernMB]

You can share a game within one household if you use Steam...just start Steam in offline mode - this is a legal way of doing it...in times of CD's you had to use an illegal crack.

[joetheref]

I'm sure Miles and other people at SI have been reading this. They may well agree that not having an alternative is a bad idea. The fact that SEGA have been doing this with other games (Total War) and that this thread was started by someone from SEGA makes me think that this was a SEGA decision that SI had little say in. Saying that SI will want to stop piracy as much if not more than SEGA so if they think this is the way to go to stop it (whether its right or wrong) they will do it and wont be changing their minds anytime soon

[mrstef]

I'm sure Miles and other people at SI have been reading this. They may well agree that not having an alternative is a bad idea. The fact that SEGA have been doing this with other games (Total War) and that this thread was started by someone from SEGA makes me think that this was a SEGA decision that SI had little say in. Saying that SI will want to stop piracy as much if not more than SEGA so if they think this is the way to go to stop it (whether its right or wrong) they will do it and wont be changing their minds anytime soon

Haven't you got a sunday league match to go and ref?

[joetheref]

Haven't you got a sunday league match to go and ref?

Is it any of your business? But since you asked I'm not reffing this season

[Stephanie McMahon's Secret Lover]

I don't want steam! Not now, not ever! Hated it on FM09 and was glad when I didn't need to on FM10, 11.

If you wanted it this why then why couldn't you produce your own software to deal with it instead of using steam???

Its like buying a new laptop/pc and being forced to use internet explorer!!!

[mrstef]

Is it any of your business? But since you asked I'm not reffing this season

Jesus joetheref i was just joking around

Im sorry if i upset you

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

I'll be honest, I havent read any of the Posts in this thread since the early hours of yesterday morning, CBA - too frustrating, but I think it is sad that "we" have felt polarised enough to post 17 pages worth in less than 48 hours, surely that says something remarkable about the "controversy" of this issue. Although telephone activation was a nightmare in 2008 surely this should be an additional option for those who do not have the required internet service?, even if charged at a premium rate (provided it is all well warned).

If I was a cynic I would think this whole thread was a ploy to deflect daft questions about the demo release date ;-)

[Ackter]

12 of those 17 pages are the same five users poking each other with sticks

[RorysRocketThrow]

I have a question to staunch and experienced Steam users.

Further to my previous posts on Friday, I bit the bullet and downloaded Steam last night and left it running in Offline mode. I did this to check how much memory it uses on a laptop (my main FM machine). One of my main bugbears with it is that previously I have had problems with it both in terms of memory use but have had issues with game performance on Black Ops on a main pc (to the extent that I no longer play that game at all). Memory usage on a laptop was fine, so whatever the previous problem was on that front it is fixed.

My question is a simple one. Why am i getting pop-up adverts when the damn thing is in offline mode? Why does Steam in offline mode crash when I turn my router off at the wall? Why does it need an internet connection if it is in offline mode?

[norwich1982]

so does this mark the end of selling your old fm game on ebay if the activation code can only be used once?

[Ackter]

You can turn off the adverts by loading Steam, opening the Steam menu, select settings, select interface and then untick the Notify option at the bottom.

I don't know about the others.

[mrstef]

so does this mark the end of selling your old fm game on ebay if the activation code can only be used once?

I reckon so

We all miss out on £5 now

Im not being sarcastic btw

[mantralux]

Another aspect of all this;

Since SEGA and SI continue to reiterate that you would only actually ever need Steam for 5 seconds - connecting to the internet and activating the game - after that, you can just put Steam in offline mode and essentially it becomes a pointless background process with no functionality whatsoever (except for increasing start-up time for FM, and becoming an extra layer of potential trouble that SI have no control over).

So then, if it's only an activation thing, could you not do your own activation, through a secure website? That way we wouldn't have to keep Steam installed and running in the background. Rhetorical question, of course you actually could do that...but that wouldn't put money in SEGA's pockets from Valve. However, I frankly don't care about SEGA's lucrative deals with game distributors, I'd rather SEGA focus on user experience and rewarding those who pay for the game by making our experience the easiest and most enjoyable possible.

SEGA can keep claiming they've thought this through, but the only angle they've thought about is how to make some extra cash, and make it easier for themselves to avoid piracy (Steam will change nothing though, the game will be pirated as soon as it's out). They obviously haven't thought it through from a usability perspective.

And it's a shame that the thread is a civil war between those who like Steam and those who don't - we're not against each other, we just have different preferences.

I'd also be interested in hearing the (lack of) discussion about this at SEGA - about the fact that this thread is mainly negative against their chosen "anti-piracy" system. Many of their customers are unhappy, but do they care? My guess is no.

[Guest PW]

Another aspect of all this;

Since SEGA and SI continue to reiterate that you would only actually ever need Steam for 5 seconds - connecting to the internet and activating the game - after that, you can just put Steam in offline mode and essentially it becomes a pointless background process with no functionality whatsoever (except for increasing start-up time for FM, and becoming an extra layer of potential trouble that SI have no control over).

So then, if it's only an activation thing, could you not do your own activation, through a secure website? That way we wouldn't have to keep Steam installed and running in the background. Rhetorical question, of course you actually could do that...but that wouldn't put money in SEGA's pockets from Valve. However, I frankly don't care about SEGA's lucrative deals with game distributors, I'd rather SEGA focus on user experience and rewarding those who pay for the game by making our experience the easiest and most enjoyable possible.

SEGA can keep claiming they've thought this through, but the only angle they've thought about is how to make some extra cash, and make it easier for themselves to avoid piracy (Steam will change nothing though, the game will be pirated as soon as it's out). They obviously haven't thought it through from a usability perspective.

And it's a shame that the thread is a civil war between those who like Steam and those who don't - we're not against each other, we just have different preferences.

I'd also be interested in hearing the (lack of) discussion about this at SEGA - about the fact that this thread is mainly negative against their chosen "anti-piracy" system. Many of their customers are unhappy, but do they care? My guess is no.

Exactly if this system is ONLY about piracy then why isn't another option being offered????

There is much more to this than just piracy it is a cash cow organisation like Sega trampelling on the community that has MADE FM and continues to devote FREE time to making the game better.

It may not be the biggest issue in the world but if people don't stand up for these small things then they will feel that bigger things can just be done as no-one will stand up for themselves.

[Guest PW]

you shouldn't have asked that! You'll get replies like, go to your local library

or walk down your street until you find someone who has not put a password on there broadband

or oh my god you haven't got the internet

Exactly they don't care whether you have internet or not, they just care that you buy the game, that they get more money out of you, and that you remain quiet and say please while they screw you over.

I cannot believe with just over a month to go that Sega has announced something so controversial without at least getting feed back from the community that have put so much into this game.

No surprise that Sega once a giant in the games industry was destroyed so completely by it's rivals is it if they treat people this way!

[Guest PW]

I have a question to staunch and experienced Steam users.

Further to my previous posts on Friday, I bit the bullet and downloaded Steam last night and left it running in Offline mode. I did this to check how much memory it uses on a laptop (my main FM machine). One of my main bugbears with it is that previously I have had problems with it both in terms of memory use but have had issues with game performance on Black Ops on a main pc (to the extent that I no longer play that game at all). Memory usage on a laptop was fine, so whatever the previous problem was on that front it is fixed.

My question is a simple one. Why am i getting pop-up adverts when the damn thing is in offline mode? Why does Steam in offline mode crash when I turn my router off at the wall? Why does it need an internet connection if it is in offline mode?

My understandig from other peoples opinions and some quite good tech people is that 'offline' mode (if you still have an internet connection running) isn't quite 'offline' at all.

By the way the next Sega announcement for tomorrow is:

'Before being allowed to watch a game in 2D or 3D there will now be a 30 second commercial before every game...................we thank our advertisers for allowing us to stiff our gamers'

(yes I am being sarcastic but watch this space!!!!!!)

[edwingray]

I understand that the idea to use Steam is to combat piracy, but if it's possible to play the installed game on any computer around the world, what is to stop someone from installing his copy ofgame on Steam and then giving say 1000 people his login details?

Or have I misunderstood something?

[data6930]

And the point of releasing a retail boxed version is..........?

I can assume that you will have on the front of the box in large print "You are required to play this game using the 3rd party platform steam". My guess is it will be in the smallest print possible on the reverse of the box in the hope people don't realise they have to use steam and Sega/SI still get a sale.

This thread now has double the responses that the release of the game thread had ..... that speaks volumes!

It will be interesting to see what those in favour of steam have to say when they encounter guaranteed issues on the day of release, every year steam has been a shambles.

Sega are running the show now, not SI and that is very sad indeed.

[mrstef]

I understand that the idea to use Steam is to combat piracy, but if it's possible to play the installed game on any computer around the world, what is to stop someone from installing his copy ofgame on Steam and then giving say 1000 people his login details?

Or have I misunderstood something?

That is a very interesting point. Id like to hear what people have got to say on this one

[Wakers]

I understand that the idea to use Steam is to combat piracy, but if it's possible to play the installed game on any computer around the world, what is to stop someone from installing his copy ofgame on Steam and then giving say 1000 people his login details?

Or have I misunderstood something?

An account can only be logged in at one place at one time.

And then a game on an account can only be played in one place at one time. So you can't share it with someone and play with them at the same time.

[mrstef]

An account can only be logged in at one place at one time.

And then a game on an account can only be played in one place at one time. So you can't share it with someone and play with them at the same time.

He didnt mention anything about playing with them at the same time

[mantralux]

An account can only be logged in at one place at one time.

And then a game on an account can only be played in one place at one time. So you can't share it with someone and play with them at the same time.

Not really true though - if you're both in offline mode, how will Steam know you're both playing at the same time?

[El Zar]

Combat piracy by treating all your customers as potential pirates.

I can guarantee that some hacker will get around the Steam activation method and then SI/SEGA will see for themselves the drop in users through Steam's monitoring system.

[Wakers]

He didnt mention anything about playing with them at the same time

Right..so if he hands out his details to, even dozens of other people - the chances of two of them trying to play at the same time are near 100%.

Not only that, but if Steam detects multiple logins coming from different regions of the world (or same country), or if it detects someone trying to log in to an account that is already logged in, then it will likely lock that account until they can figure out what's going on.

[The Welsh Lad]

FM11 had no required activation. You could install and either play via disc-in-tray, or register via Steam and then there was no need to have your disc to play. And you could access FM on any machine via Steam. Last year we looked for a method to combat piracy, but didn't feel there was an acceptable solution that was balanced the battle against piracy without penalizing genuine customers. This year we feel we've found that solution.

I know this post is from ages ago.

But something came to mind, if what is happening now with the activation through Steam wasn't an acceptable solution for FM11, how is it now for FM12

[mrstef]

Right..so if he hands out his details to, even dozens of other people - the chances of two of them trying to play at the same time are near 100%.

Not only that, but if Steam detects multiple logins coming from different regions of the world (or same country), or if it detects someone trying to log in to an account that is already logged in, then it will likely lock that account until they can figure out what's going on.

Sorry, good point

[Wakers]

Not really true though - if you're both in offline mode, how will Steam know you're both playing at the same time?

Because you have to go online at some point to login (i.e. the first time you install Steam.)

[SCIAG]

I know this post is from ages ago.

But something came to mind, if what is happening now with the activation through Steam wasn't an acceptable solution for FM11, how is it now for FM12

They probably feel that the balance has been shifted by the pre-release piracy that started in Russia. Piracy needs to be battled a bit more, so genuine customers can be penalised a bit more.

[Viking]

There. Pre-order of FM 2012 cancelled. You will not force me to install third party software on my computer.

[edwingray]

Right..so if he hands out his details to, even dozens of other people - the chances of two of them trying to play at the same time are near 100%.

Not only that, but if Steam detects multiple logins coming from different regions of the world (or same country), or if it detects someone trying to log in to an account that is already logged in, then it will likely lock that account until they can figure out what's going on.

In an earlier post SI confirmed that I could install the game on my computer, but play it anywhere around the world. You are saying that Steam would detect this and block it. So, which answer is correct?

Also, the number 1000 was exaggerated, but what if 1000 people only gave their login details each to only one person (the chances that they coordinate when they play are quite good), the effect is the same. In the past it was possible to start and save several games with different teams. If you have Steam can you only have one saved game at a time?

[davidbowie]

There. Pre-order of FM 2012 cancelled. You will not force me to install third party software on my computer.

E

Except this already happens with pretty much every game. You just didn't know about it.

At least it's upfront this time.

PS: For anyone who might have issues with Steam but who have perfectly fine internet speeds and download caps, give it a try. Try out Team Fortress 2 for example which is free to play. Or Portal I believe is also free.

[Wakers]

In an earlier post SI confirmed that I could install the game on my computer, but play it anywhere around the world. You are saying that Steam would detect this and block it. So, which answer is correct?

Also, the number 1000 was exaggerated, but what if 1000 people only gave their login details each to only one person (the chances that they coordinate when they play are quite good), the effect is the same. In the past it was possible to start and save several games with different teams. If you have Steam can you only have one saved game at a time?

No, of course not. You can have as many saved games as you like

Yes, you can take it around the world with you. The point being that you will be moving gradually from place to place. What Steam looks for is someone logging in in Glasgow one minute, and then 30 minutes later they're in Bournemouth. Or one minute someone is playing with an account that's been created in the UK, and 2 minutes later someone from the USA has logged in to the same account.

Bear in mind, that if you have Steam running in offline mode, you can't switch accounts without logging into their servers.

[mrstef]

E

Except this already happens with pretty much every game. You just didn't know about it.k

At least it's upfront this time.

PS: For anyone who might have issues with Steam but who have perfectly fine internet speeds and download caps, give it a try. Try out Team Fortress 2 for example which is free to play. Or Portal I believe is also free.

you work for steam dont u. im on to you

[HonoDelLoce]

In an earlier post SI confirmed that I could install the game on my computer, but play it anywhere around the world. You are saying that Steam would detect this and block it. So, which answer is correct?

I know for both FM09, 10 and 11, I've purchased the disc, activated it through steam and been able to play it on which ever computer I wanted to.

At home, I have a laptop and a work-station. In all three cases (09, 10 & 11) I've installed with the disc on the laptop and then set my workstation to automatically install it once Steam had registred my activation.

In one case (I believe it was FM10) I was at my parents house for a couple of days, and didn't have my computer with me. I installed Steam on my mothers laptop, logged in on my own account and downloaded and installed FM without hassle.

[mantralux]

if it detects someone trying to log in to an account that is already logged in, then it will likely lock that account until they can figure out what's going on.

Well again, how would Steam know, if you're in offline mode?

[edwingray]

No, of course not. You can have as many saved games as you like

Yes, you can take it around the world with you. The point being that you will be moving gradually from place to place. What Steam looks for is someone logging in in Glasgow one minute, and then 30 minutes later they're in Bournemouth. Or one minute someone is playing with an account that's been created in the UK, and 2 minutes later someone from the USA has logged in to the same account.

Bear in mind, that if you have Steam running in offline mode, you can't switch accounts without logging into their servers.

I understand, but the examples given are equally as exaggerated as my intitial ones. As already said, if someone has the idea to "share" the game with his next door neigbour, I doubt whether this would make Steam suspicious. If 1000 people spread across the UK/World did this, would Steam realise what is going on? If not, it sort of weakens/defeats the "doing it to combat piracy" argument.

Just to emphasise, I am not condoning or suggesting people do this. As earlier posts show, my main concern right now is that people living here in Germany might not be able to activate the game at all.

[Wakers]

Well again, how would Steam know, if you're in offline mode?

At some point, someone would go online.

That and offline mode isn't exactly stable. It does try and connect to the internet quite randomly, whether you want it to or not.

[Wakers]

I understand, but the examples given are equally as exaggerated as my intitial ones. As already said, if someone has the idea to "share" the game with his next door neigbour, I doubt whether this would make Steam suspicious. If 1000 people spread across the UK/World did this, would Steam realise what is going on? If not, it sort of weakens/defeats the "doing it to combat piracy" argument.

Just to emphasise, I am not condoning or suggesting people do this. As earlier posts show, my main concern right now is that people living here in Germany might not be able to activate the game at all.

And you think it wouldn't notice that there are a great number of activation codes being duplicated?

Steam is not a new idea. I'm pretty sure this is one of the first things they found a way to monitor and take action against.