Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

[HicRic]

This is a general information announcement design to put some people at ease and also to inform others who are misguided.

Please note throughout this post I am talking about legal game downloading, for example, using Steam or EA Downloader.

Time and time again I see people who are very anti-game-downloading. Common arguements include:

• What if the download is interrupted/corrupted?
• What if I want to reformat, get a virus, etc.?

And many more. I'd like to clear up a myth and set some people straight on this matter.

When you buy a game on something like EA Downloader or Steam, you are NOT buying a single, one-off download. You have an account with the company in question, and when you buy a game, it is stored in their records. This means that you can simply log in to your account and download the game.

Then, say you undergo a fit of madness and instantly delete the game. Oh no! It's gone! You'll have to buy it again!

NO.

You log in to your account and download it again. That's all. You can download it as many times as you like, but only pay for it once.


I'm sorry to all those people who already knew this and are now demanding a refund of their precious time wasted, but I'm seeing posts time and time again that are incorrect on this matter.

Of course, for those who want to keep Euroforce for all time in preperation for the day in the far future when it won't be around to download any more, you could burn it to a CD (or to take it to an offline computer, for example).

In a way, this is MORE safe than a hard copy. If you lose, scratch or break a CD-ROM, you have to buy a new one. If you lose or delete a downloaded game like Euroforce...you can get it back for free.

Please note that this is not a pro-euroforce thread, I'm not telling you all to get out there and download it ASAP. I certainly won't be. But it's just a point of general info for you all.

Hope it helps someone.

[WTurbiasz]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

Correct me if Im wrong but I think the biggest issue people have with it is the case in point where your a teen and you dont have a credit card. Then what do you do. I suppose you can always ask mom and dad but what if they dont have one. A bit of a stretch I know but guess thats the biggest issue people have. Plus they dont get the nice case to display on the shelf.

[HicRic]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

The credit card thing is the main negative point, but it wasn't what I was really thinking about when I made this post.

I don't know how things work elsewhere in the world, but I don't have a credit card and can still get the game: I have a debit card, which works the same way online as a credit card does.

[KHAN]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

The only thing that worries me is bandwidth. Going to be alot of people downloading exactly the same time. Are they prepared for that?

[Uncleadolph]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

^ Apparrently you will get a fast 'non lag' server with a high bandwidth.

-Ben

[PermenentMarker]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

I am thinking of pre-paying redorchestra thru steam, however, I just dont like handing over my credit card number to SkyNet... ehh steam.... yea...

[Rez_K'awil]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

Let me get this straight... Are you saying that one person could pay for the download, make the account, and then their friend can log on as that account, and download it again? I don't understand how that would limit pirating. With a CD, you basically have to have the disc in the computer to play the game. Surely EA has taken steps to prevent people from everyone sharing the download from one account. I am not an expert in this area, but I'm curious and confused. Does this not make economical sense to anyone else?

[<EsP>Fury]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

The credit card thing is no problem.

If you have a checking account with a Visa or Master Card debit card this will work.

If that does not float your boat you could take cash go to the bank and get a Visa or Master Card or American Express gift card I think $25 is the smallest one you can buy any unused balance can be used in any store that takes Visa or Master Card etc. This solves the problem of kiddy not having a credit card or will solve the paranoid I don't want them to have my credit card number problem.

[HicRic]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

Let me get this straight... Are you saying that one person could pay for the download, make the account, and then their friend can log on as that account, and download it again?

The particular euroforce download you get in your account is probably linked to your CD key.

[tsh2005]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

The particular euroforce download you get in your account is probably linked to your CD key.

yea go to directdrive.com and in there fax they talk about it. Can only be used on one computer. not just for bf2

[Solver]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

The two biggest arguments are actually usually different.

1. Lack of credit card. It's a complete misconception that this is only the case if you're a teen. Most probably in the USA, yes, but not elsewhere. For example, here, the card that your bank would issue you is good for ATMs and any payments within the country, but it's not suitable for foreign payments - Amazon.com, Steam or EA downloader just won't accept the card. To get a card that's valid for those, you have to pay an extra free, which is, by local standards, considerable enough.

2. Slow connection. Not everyone's running on cable modems. I'm very lucky in this regard and have a very fast connection, but people who are running on 56k(gosh) or even 128k ISDN aren't going to be very happy about downloading full games. A smaller thing like EuroForce isn't too much of a problem, but full games like the SF expansion or, god forbid, Half-Life 2, can be a nightmare for these people.

[WarGimp]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

Don't forget that apparently EA will be selling "Booster Cards" via retail.
These will work like phone cards. You pay for 'em at a store, take it home, scratch off the gunk over the DL key, and use it to pull down your boosterpack.

It's not a bad idea.
Keep the card for future use incase you lose your DL.

[Twisted-]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

My biggest issue is the same things happening with special forces again.

Firstly i couldn't download any faster than 15kb/s and it kept crashing half way through the download, EA was no help so i had to start again. I finally get it finished at 15kb/s then i recieved an error message whenever i tried to install it, i contacted EA and their reply was along the lines of "uhh maybe redownload it"

So here i am redownloading it for the third time at 15kb/s only to get the same error message when i try install it, once again i contact EA and guess what they tell me to do "your best bet is to redownload it". At this point i decided to download it off a various torrent site and use my cdkey from ea downloader. No complaints about Steam, but Ea Downloader is a joke.

[jdrou]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

2. Slow connection. Not everyone's running on cable modems. I'm very lucky in this regard and have a very fast connection, but people who are running on 56k(gosh) or even 128k ISDN aren't going to be very happy about downloading full games. A smaller thing like EuroForce isn't too much of a problem, but full games like the SF expansion or, god forbid, Half-Life 2, can be a nightmare for these people.

This is not really much of an issue in this particular case since EA doesn't care much about SP users, only online and those people must have broadband to play the game.

[Teaves]

Re: Downloading games: clearing up a myth [euroforce related]

isnt "broadband" considered to be above 256K though (worldwide) i know an English guy that has some sort of cut down DSL that can only get ~25kb downloads

Thats still going to take a few hours for most game (SF is 800MB = 8-10 hours?) and if we are talking all games the steam package is what 4 gig? = 40-50 hours!!!