Steam's Offline Mode Was Designed To Be Indefinite, Says Valve

News
By
published

So you know how there was this big thing over the Xbox One and it's original DRM policies (before Microsoft did all the 180s), and how everyone supporting the system said that it wasn't that bad and that the policies were just like Steam, but better? And you know how everyone pointed to Steam's offline mode requiring a periodic check-in as being the same as the Xbox One's 24-hour check-in? Yeah well, they were wrong.

Blues News spotted the post from a Valve developer, Henry Goffin, on a Steam Community thread about Steam's offline mode. Goffin makes it clear that the offline mode's check-in is actually a bug... yes, it's a bug. Addressing a user's misinformation about Steam's two-week check-in for offline mode, Goffin writes...

“This is not actually true - Offline Mode is designed to be indefinite. You can't access any of Steam's online features such as friends lists or saved game synchronization, of course, but the client should allow you to run in Offline Mode for as long as you like.“That said, there are many components involved in Offline Mode, and some of them have known issues and bugs which we are continually working to improve. We're aware that it doesn't always work as flawlessly as we want it to, but please keep reporting bugs with Offline Mode. It is not broken 'by design'.”

Well there you have it, folks.

Even broken, Steam still managed to trump the Xbox One's old policies. Once the issue gets fixed it means that the Xbox One's original DRM policies would have looked like a putrid, pulsating pile of diarrhea as opposed to simply looking like a smelly cat pie in a litter box.

The only thing that is kind of bothersome is that the post was only recently discovered, but that conversation took place back during June of this year. Given the attention of the news, the thread has been turned into a forum necromorph, getting attention and new posts due to the discovery of Goffin's admission of fault to Steam's offline mode being buggier than a launch day game from Bethesda.

Now, for those of you wondering why Valve has yet to fix the issue, rest assured that they will get around to it, except they're encountering a bit of a staffing issue. Henry goes on to say that...

“We have been working very hard on upgrading the underlying technology in Steam. We have no community managers or PR people, so all the time that we spend on forums is taking away from development time. That said, I know that it's frustrating to get no response, and it looks like we aren't doing anything about it. “

So uh, use some of Jedi Lord Master GabeN's billions to hire a few neckbeards to patrol the forums and social media sites as community managers? Heck, with Valve's good will, they might even be able to hire some of the frothy PC Master Race fanboys to patrol the Steam community for free. You know, they could even do it Foxconn style and hire in high-schoolers for $0 wages and threaten to cancel scholarship funds if they don't work aggressively and with corporate patriotism. Nationalistic capitalism for the win.

Anyway, until Valve decides to hire in more people or build a concentration camp like Foxconn and make people work 80 hour weeks, things will continue to move slowly when it comes to updates and fixes for some of Steam's big (or small) issues.

Will Usher
Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.