I'd like your thoughts on making Universe Sandbox DRM free.

[Dan Dixon]

Currently on Steam you have to have Steam running to use Universe Sandbox...

And the non-Steam version (standalone) requires that you enter a key.

What are your thoughts on making Universe Sandbox DRM free?

(so the Steam version won't require Steam to be running and on this website you'll download a full version once you buy, not enter a key)

DRM = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

[Unreal2004]

I prefer the key method, I HATE steam since it has to be connected almost all the time, yes I know you can go "offline" but if I am not online for a length of time it needs to reconnect.  I generally refuse to purchase anything if it needs steam to run, Bethesda (makers of Skyrim) pissed me off when I bought the DISC for it and need steam to play it hence I rarely play it since I dont have a regular internet connection.

[smjjames]

I prefer the key method, I HATE steam since it has to be connected almost all the time, yes I know you can go "offline" but if I am not online for a length of time it needs to reconnect.  I generally refuse to purchase anything if it needs steam to run, Bethesda (makers of Skyrim) pissed me off when I bought the DISC for it and need steam to play it hence I rarely play it since I dont have a regular internet connection.

Agreed here, the fact that I need to run steam in order to play it is a bit annoying, especially when there is a non-steam version available.

[Bla]

I don't have a problem with it requiring Steam to run myself, but I can easily imagine it being annoying when there are so many game platforms which all want you to run themselves all the time (Origin, Impulse...). If it had been using Impulse or Origin and there wasn't a stand-alone version I would have been very annoyed, and those who use those platforms or none at all might feel the same way.

As for having to download the full version versus entering a key, I think entering a key is easier than having to download the game (assuming you download the trial version first). And having the key saved in an e-mail or somewhere else is better than just having a downloaded version which you could lose if your hard drive brokes or someone eats your computer.
But I guess there are ways around that.

I would survive in any case.

[Chaotic Cow]

I love Steam and I don't mind keys.

[vh]

I don't like needing to use steam, so the non-drm sounds good. From what i understood of the article, the non-drm thingy won't change much, so i'm fine with it.

[pete1061]

Considering that universe sandbox can get quite computationally intensive with large simulations, it would be nice to be able to have JUST it running and nothing else so that as many system resources as possible can be devoted to a large simulation when needed.

Yeah, I know steam doesn't really take up that many system resources, but it would be nice to be able to trim the fat for some situations.

[Omnigeek6]

Entering a key works fine. As noted, it's much harder to lose a product key, especially now that they can be saved on Dropbox, GoogleDocs, or similar cloud storage.

Any form of DRM that requires you to be online all the time, or connect to an authentication server, is garbage and should be avoided like the plague.

[Dan Dixon]

For the non-Steam version... you would get an email with a custom link to a website where you could download the the premium/full version of Universe Sandbox.

And yeah... one downside is that if you already downloaded the trial you'd have to download the whole thing again once your purchase (that said... it's only like 40 MB or so).

[bodyn]

I don't consider having to enter a key to be DRM, so long as it isn't part of some "activation" process that limits the number of times you can re-install the software.  It some sense, having my own key personalizes the software and makes it feel more like I own it.

As far as Steam goes - the added utility of an online, accessible-anywhere library, plus the lower price makes up for the loss of convenience (for me).

And finally, as far as re-downloading goes...the program is so small it doesn't matter either way to me (and probably most people with broadband).