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Free to Play Halo Online (Saber, H3 eng) announced, only for Russia [First Info]

Synth

Member
You Sure? How hard have you tried? What service are you trying to watch in London?

I haven't tried at all really. I'm well aware that it's possible for me to gain access to services that aren't being directly provided.. but that isn't really the point.

What is the payment model? As far as I know no one knows exactly that at this point. We know its free to play with aspects that are micro transaction based. If that's the case, one could absolutely play this game entirely freely without paying a cent, ever, like most free to play games. This is all getting a bit sensationalist. What we are talking about here is a program that allows you to walk around maps with a completely uncustomized default character by yourself. That's it. You can't even access a complete menu system. There is no networking. No servers. Nothing of the sort circumventing any payment models at all aside from being able to test out a number of weapons with slightly different textures in an isolated sandboxed environment. It hardly even qualifies as playable. I'm not saying it's going to happen any way with regards to piracy like you're suggesting I'm defending it or something, which I'm not so just stop accusing me of that. I'm talking about this modding tool that received a DMCA takedown notice on github. That people are going to mod the game, anyway. That is expected simply because its a PC game. Oh noes, some people downloaded a free game from their website and are able to spawn themselves by themselves in a custom lobby that's completely disconnected from the game altogether and replace a s upers projectiles with rockets. So evil. Even if you could somehow unlock weapons for yourself in the main game using this tool, which you can't, that's an issue with the game's server side security and it should be fixed for launch. It would be bad if people were able to circumvent the payment model to have an unfair advantage against those that do play, but this isn't even anywhere close to that, yet people are acting like it is just because it might potentially get to that point one day maybe. Right now the reality is that the game is unreleased and people are exploring the content that is in the data files in a way that is not damaging or even affecting anyone that would actually be playing the game as intended. The files were made available for free, and as far as I'm concerned you should be able to do whatever the heck you want with those files once they're on your PC so long as its not at a detriment to the service that will be made available to Russia. And this thing is nowhere near a detriment. You can't just automatically call tinkering and modding piracy because people are playing with a game not as the developer intended. So what? Tough. People are gonna mod, it comes with the platform and Microsoft is more than aware of that since they build Windows. It would be different if you had to pay up front for the files but you don't (or didn't) so this is at most against terms of use. But even then that only applies to their servers and matchmaking systems, not people mucking about in a glitched forge (with no saving or sharing system at all) on guardian offline disconnected from every single system that makes this game tick exclusively in Russia. This is akin to photoshopping a texture file and viewing it in mspaint. Get out of here with this piracy crap.

Well, from what we know so far, the payment model is based around rented equipment, similar to how Spartan Assault allow you to rent weapons on a time-limited basis using microtransactions. I'm not at all concerned about the possibility of people acquiring these items freely on the Russian servers, as that would almost certainly be dealt with on their end as you suggest. The real issue is actually that people are looking to put up their own servers that would allow people to play the game, whilst cutting out the segment of it that allows it to generate revenue. The game isn't created with the intentional people never spending money on it. They're not that generous (or stupid).

I already stated that it doesn't matter where you got the files from. If you play a 48hr Titanfall trial via Origin, EA would be legitimately giving you all the files required to play Titanfall in its entirety. If you fuck with those files in order to prevent having to pay for it once those 48 hours are up, then you're stealing it. You shouldn't be able to "do whatever the heck you want with those files once they're on your PC" in this case. It doesn't matter if you don't have it fully working right now, that just means you're in the process of stealing, and haven't quite got there yet.
 
Yeah, that's the payment model.

Alright, I'll take a step back from my own position in the interest of diplomacy. Yes, playing a beta release with bare functionality harms essentially no one.

My comments on piracy we're mainly directed toward the beginning of your post. You cannot assert "I can't play, I can't pay, ergo I can download and play." That is piracy.

I also think there's an underlying attitude of - and I use this word intentionally knowing what it calls to mind - entitlement. No one is entitled to play Halo on PC; it may be the case that we just don't get to. Even if the release is locked to Russia circumventing their system to play the game free from their payment model is still piracy.

The files were made available to download for free on their website. It may have been a temporary slip up, but that is what it is.

This isn't circumventing their system to play the game free from their payment model. The point I'm trying to put forth is that this tool DOES NOT allow you to play the game (meaning: executing the files as the developer intended). The payment model is optional as far as we know, as well. The files are/were made available for free. What they are charging for is weapon skins, armor skins, etc, to be used on THEIR servers with people playing in Russia within the confines and framework of that system - everything outside of that system is fair game. Doing something against their terms of service is not piracy. Developing a tool that explores the content is not piracy. The only way this could be construed as piracy is if or when someone is able to play against someone else with a weapon or armor piece that is meant to be for pay, without paying for it, and only in the case that they're doing so on the system that is being run by 343i. This is not that. And just because someone may do that one day, doesn't mean what this tool is doing today is piracy.
 

Reebot

Member
The files were made available to download for free on their website. It may have been a temporary slip up, but that is what it is.

This isn't circumventing their system to play the game free from their payment model. The point I'm trying to put forth is that this tool DOES NOT allow you to play the game (meaning: executing the files as the developer intended). The payment model is optional as far as we know, as well. The files are/were made available for free. What they are charging for is weapon skins, armor skins, etc, to be used on THEIR servers with people playing in Russia within the confines and framework of that system - everything outside of that system is fair game.

Actually no, that's not correct. You're implying the files exist separate from the intention to sell access to them which is not correct legally, morally, or financially.

Doing something against their terms of service is not piracy. Developing a tool that explores the content is not piracy. The only way this could be construed as piracy is if or when someone is able to play against someone else with a weapon or armor piece that is meant to be for pay, without paying for it, and only in the case that they're doing so on the system that is being run by 343i. This is not that. And just because someone may do that one day, doesn't mean what this tool is doing today is piracy.

Again, no. This is somewhat akin to arguing for eating at a restaurant's tables without paying so long as you bring your own food. You're arbitrarily separating two parts of a product and claiming the right to use one of them.
 
Well, from what we know so far, the payment model is based around rented equipment, similar to how Spartan Assault allow you to rent weapons on a time-limited basis using microtransactions. I'm not at all concerned about the possibility of people acquiring these items freely on the Russian servers, as that would almost certainly be dealt with on their end as you suggest. The real issue is actually that people are looking to put up their own servers that would allow people to play the game, whilst cutting out the segment of it that allows it to generate revenue. The game isn't created with the intentional people never spending money on it. They're not that generous (or stupid).

I already stated that it doesn't matter where you got the files from. If you play a 48hr Titanfall trial via Origin, EA would be legitimately giving you all the files required to play Titanfall in its entirety. If you fuck with those files in order to prevent having to pay for it once those 48 hours are up, then you're stealing it. You shouldn't be able to "do whatever the heck you want with those files once they're on your PC" in this case. It doesn't matter if you don't have it fully working right now, that just means you're in the process of stealing, and haven't quite got there yet.

If they aren't interested in having people pay nothing for the game, then they wouldn't have released it for free. I'm not talking about "unlocking" a trial for a game that normally costs money, I think that's a false equivalence. I'm talking about a free to play game that people are modifying to their own uses. Would you call me a pirate if I played League of Legends and never spent a cent on it? Doubtful. And yes, I do believe that once you have the files you should be able to do whatever you want with them as long as it doesn't interfere with the closed system they have in place. If someone wants to set up a custom server for LoL and modify their speed to 100x and twerk around with some goofy characters abilities and textures, go nuts. But you're cut out of rankings, matching, and a whole swathe of other things that you would get were you to play on official servers. Same deal here. The game files cannot be pirated if they are freely made available, what you'd be "pirating" is access to the official servers that would normally be supplemented by the potential of a user spending money on it - not guaranteed or forced to in any way, mind you. Free to play games that follow this model are absolutely made with the potential that someone may just spend zero dollars and zero cents. That's the whole pitch. If someone wants to set up hacked custom servers and run their own matching system and pay to host all that stuff, then I don't agree that's piracy either. It's only piracy if I can do all that on their official servers against all the people that would be playing within their system. No one has done anything close to that mind you so all this is just being upset about something not based in reality.
 

Synth

Member
If they aren't interested in having people pay nothing for the game, then they wouldn't have released it for free. I'm not talking about "unlocking" a trial for a game that normally costs money, I think that's a false equivalence. I'm talking about a free to play game that people are modifying to their own uses. Would you call me a pirate if I played League of Legends and never spent a cent on it? Doubtful. And yes, I do believe that once you have the files you should be able to do whatever you want with them as long as it doesn't interfere with the closed system they have in place. If someone wants to set up a custom server for LoL and modify their speed to 100x and twerk around with some goofy characters abilities and textures, go nuts. But you're cut out of rankings, matching, and a whole swathe of other things that you would get were you to play on official servers. Same deal here. The game files cannot be pirated if they are freely made available, what you'd be "pirating" is access to the official servers that would normally be supplemented by the potential of a user spending money on it - not guaranteed or forced to in any way, mind you. Free to play games that follow this model are absolutely made with the potential that someone may just spend zero dollars and zero cents. That's the whole pitch. If someone wants to set up hacked custom servers and run their own matching system and pay to host all that stuff, then I don't agree that's piracy either. It's only piracy if I can do all that on their official servers against all the people that would be playing within their system. No one has done anything close to that mind you so all this is just being upset about something not based in reality.

This really doesn't seem to be worth discussing with you, as you'll simply choose to use any tenuous justification as to why it's fine to take whatever you want. Maybe it helps you sleep at night, I dunno.

I wouldn't call you a pirate for playing LoL and not spending money on it, no. I would call you a pirate for using a modified LoL client to play on a private server that provides all of LoL's paid content for free though. When you load up the League of Legends client does it ask you if you'd like to connect to a private server instead? No. Because the files you are given are for use on the service they provide. In order to use them elsewhere you have to strip out the parts of the client that phone home. This is in effect no different than stripping other forms of software or media of their DRM, or cracking software that has discreet "free" or "paid" behaviour. You say the comparison with unlocking a trial is a false equivalence, but you haven't explained why. In both cases you obtained all the required files under legitimate circumstances, and in both cases you'd be altering those files in order to access the "paid" functionality without actually paying. F2P games don't generally force you to pay... but they do force you to remain in their ecosystem whilst using the software. The reasoning for this is obvious, as divorced from that ecosystem, the software can't make money.. and that's the reason the software was created in the first place, just like any other paid product.
 
I wouldn't call you a pirate for playing LoL and not spending money on it, no. I would call you a pirate for using a modified LoL client to play on a private server that provides all of LoL's paid content for free though.
That's not what's happening here either. People are able to load up and walk around the maps and spawn some guns. They don't have access to the shooty-shooty part of the game, which I'd argue is the bulk of the product.
 
We don't even know if they'll even be a way to use any of the micro transaction stuff. ElDorito's plan is to eventually have peer to peer multiplayer, so I doubt we'll even have access to any of the paid content.

Either way, right now this is the equivalent of using some of the open source League debug clients that allow you to adjust your gold and level.
 

Synth

Member
That's not what's happening here either. People are able to load up and walk around the maps and spawn some guns. They don't have access to the shooty-shooty part of the game, which I'd argue is the bulk of the product.

Yea.. as of now...

Does that seem like the intended goal to you? I mean... just read through this thread. The only reason people aren't yet running around shooting each other is because they haven't made it work yet. It'd be like returning to your car to find someone picking the lock, and when you confront them about it they're like "I can't even drive it yet. Educational fair use!".

We don't even know if they'll even be a way to use any of the micro transaction stuff. ElDorito's plan is to eventually have peer to peer multiplayer, so I doubt we'll even have access to any of the paid content.

Either way, right now this is the equivalent of using some of the open source League debug clients that allow you to adjust your gold and level.

The microtransaction stuff would be a server toggle. They'd have all that working long before getting a playable match going. Getting around that would be a subset of the problems required to solve to have a game up and running.
 
This really doesn't seem to be worth discussing with you.

Fair enough. Agree to disagree. Either way I'll continue to play MCC on my Xbox and hope one day it has a proper release on PC in Canada so I can mod the ever living crap out of it.

It'd be like returning to your car to find someone picking the lock, and when you confront them about it they're like "I can't even drive it yet. Educational fair use!"

Nah, it's more like you're handing out copies of your car for free as long as I use your fuel and drive on your tracks. I accept the copy, and then give you the finger, put a custom fuel injector that allows me to use whatever fuel I want, add a turbo, some spiffy new headlights, repaint it from the ugly puke yellow that you wanted all your car copies to be, and then drive it on my own, better tracks in my country instead while blasting Rush instead of Spice Girls that you insisted we all listen to. Thanks for the free car though!
 

Reebot

Member
Nah, it's more like you're handing out copies of your car for free as long as I use your fuel and drive on your tracks. I accept the copy, and then give you the finger, put a custom fuel injector that allows me to use whatever fuel I want, add a turbo, some spiffy new headlights, repaint it from the ugly puke yellow that you wanted all your car copies to be, and then drive it on my own, better tracks in my country instead while blasting Rush instead of Spice Girls that you insisted we all listen to. Thanks for the free car though!

...So you admit its theft? Odd choice of an analogy there.
 
...So you admit its theft? Odd choice of an analogy there.

Yeah I'm stealing the free car. So long as your definition of stealing fits your argument!

Although what I'm actually doing is breaking your terms, not the law. If you look closely, no theft took place. And I made a better car. You can keep your fuel and tracks, I'll use the free car as I see fit.
 

Synth

Member
Nah, it's more like you're handing out copies of your car for free as long as I use your fuel and drive on your tracks. I accept the copy, and then give you the finger, put a custom fuel injector that allows me to use whatever fuel I want, add a turbo, some spiffy new headlights, repaint it from the ugly puke yellow that you wanted all your car copies to be, and then drive it on my own, better tracks in my country instead while blasting Rush instead of Spice Girls that you insisted we all listen to. Thanks for the free car though!

Nah, it's more like your company gives you a car to use for work, and then you just drive off never to be seen again.
 

Reebot

Member
Yeah I'm stealing the free car. So long as your definition of stealing fits your argument!

Although what I'm actually doing is breaking your terms, not the law.
If you look closely, no theft took place. And I made a better car. You can keep your fuel and tracks, I'll use the free car as I see fit.

Alright, once again, no, that's not correct. For one thing you cannot just disregard the terms of use for a given product. They're a contract, not a suggestion. And that's before we get into international IP law.

Look, I get that you want to play Halo on PC. Its not like I work for Microsoft; I really don't mind. But you cannot continue to claim total innocence. Taking these files, modifying, distributing them, or even just playing them outside of there original use is not a clear cut legal or moral action.

No matter how many inane free car situations you invent.
 
Alright, once again, no, that's not correct. For one thing you cannot just disregard the terms of use for a given product. They're a contract, not a suggestion. And that's before we get into international IP law.

Look, I get that you want to play Halo on PC. Its not like I work for Microsoft; I really don't mind. But you cannot continue to claim total innocence. Taking these files, modifying, distributing them, or even just playing them outside of there original use is not a clear cut legal or moral action.

No matter how many inane free car situations you invent.

I disagree that its illegal or immoral, but, you're probably right though about EULAs and what not, but I've heard of many cases where they're not legally binding for all sorts of reasons. Seems to be a matter of opinion in a lot of them, but I'm not about to claim I'm an expert by any stretch. Either way, its certainly not clear cut illegal or immoral. I guess Microsoft will have to sue all the non Russians who will without a doubt download their free game against their terms. There'll probably be a lot of them, and they'd probably make more money off that than this game will there. Maybe that was the plan all along? Sounds more like 90's Microsoft to me, rather than the one that put out Halo Custom Edition all those years ago. At this point though, none of what we're discussing is even possible, so we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. My money's on a very active and healthy mod community around this game, though, if anything. Custom rocket race servers with Rush and all.
 

Compsiox

Banned
After Multiplayer support comes out that's when it will be considered piracy because then it will be considered a game. Right now you just hop around and spawn shit. That's not a game.
 

Synth

Member
After Multiplayer support comes out that's when it will be considered piracy because then it will be considered a game. Right now you just hop around and spawn shit. That's not a game.

Piracy isn't really determined by how much fun you can have with it.

It'd be pirating an arcade game, even if MAME could barely get past the title screen.
 

Compsiox

Banned
Piracy isn't really determined by how much fun you can have with it.

It'd be pirating an arcade game, even if MAME could barely get past the title screen.

I realize this but if you can't even play online it's pointless. Until there is people will still play Halo Online.
 

Synth

Member
I realize this but if you can't even play online it's pointless. Until there is people will still play Halo Online.

Yea. I can agree that this has pretty much zero impact until it begins to actually approximate the experience that would be had by the official release. But with basically everything being done to it simply be a push towards that goal, I don't think the question of morality is really affected at any stage.
 

Compsiox

Banned
Yea. I can agree that this has pretty much zero impact until it begins to actually approximate the experience that would be had by the official release. But with basically everything being done to it simply be a push towards that goal, I don't think the question of morality is really affected at any stage.

They're technically pirating a very old game that is being made into a F2P title. So now this brings us to emulation. Which is old games and widely accepted.
 

Synth

Member
They're technically pirating a very old game that is being made into a F2P title. So now this brings us to emulation. Which is old games and widely accepted.

No they're technically not lol. It being based on the foundations of an old game doesn't really mean anything. It has an old engine. So does Call of Duty.

Emulation of old games is a greyer area (still piracy though), because the games have already had a chance to obtain most of the revenue they'll see. Even then stuff like the Virtual Console and re-releases dispute this idea.

Halo Online hasn't even BETA'd yet, let alone had time to secure its revenue stream. It's completely different... and potentially more harmful than standard piracy, as every person jumping onto the "free" version creates incentive for anyone else they know to join them there instead of the official servers. At least if you pirate CoD, your friend who wants to play with you may buy a legit copy.
 

Compsiox

Banned
No they're technically not lol. It being based on the foundations of an old game doesn't really mean anything. It has an old engine. So does Call of Duty.

Emulation of old games is a greyer area (still piracy though), because the games have already had a chance to obtain most of the revenue they'll see. Even then stuff like the Virtual Console and re-releases dispute this idea.

Halo Online hasn't even BETA'd yet, let alone had time to secure its revenue stream. It's completely different... and potentially more harmful than standard piracy, as every person jumping onto the "free" version creates incentive for anyone else they know to join them there instead of the official servers. At least if you pirate CoD, your friend who wants to play with you may buy a legit copy.
Halo Online is just old maps and f2p elements. Maybe 1 or 2 new maps. The games that originally had the maps made money. And lots of it. So it's like emulating an all in one Halo package. I get what you're saying but there is nothing new that took effort. Other than the actual porting process.
 

Synth

Member
Halo Online is just old maps and f2p elements. Maybe 1 or 2 new maps. The games that originally had the maps made money. And lots of it. So it's like emulating an all in one Halo package.

When Capcom did that for Marvel vs Capcom and Marvel vs Capcom 2, they were considered new games. Because they were.

I assume you'd be cool with the piracy of next years sports games as well, because really, it's a bit like emulation...

Let's not be ridiculous here. It's a new product that's still currently in development. That development is currently requiring the talents of numerous individuals that all need to be paid. The game needs to earn its own money.
 

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
I get what you're saying but there is nothing new that took effort. Other than the actual porting process.

You can stop with that bullshit. There is a ton of work that's going into the game. You can try to justify piracy if you want, but don't go pretending the hard work of the developers doesn't exist.

Game Content:

Menu - all new
Spartan Armour and Weapon Customization System - all new
Armour and Weapon Models - most borrowed, some new additions
Port and Engine Optimization - all new
Spartan Abilities - completely redone/new (ideas borrowed from 3 and 4)

Levels (in beta):

Valhalla - ported
Guardian - ported
Avalanche Remake - all new
Edge - all new
Turf Remake - all new
Reactor - all new

Nothing new that took effort? Seriously? Games don't just magically appear. There's been a lot of time, effort, manpower and money spent on this project already. You may not agree with the F2P model. You may not like the direction 343 is taking the franchise. You may even support the the guys hacking the game files.

Don't pretend that the developers haven't put in a lot of work.
 

Compsiox

Banned
You can stop with that bullshit. There is a ton of work that's going into the game. You can try to justify piracy if you want, but don't go pretending the hard work of the developers doesn't exist.

Game Content:

Menu - all new
Spartan Armour and Weapon Customization System - all new
Armour and Weapon Models - most borrowed, some new additions
Port and Engine Optimization - all new
Spartan Abilities - completely redone/new (ideas borrowed from 3 and 4)

Levels (in beta):

Valhalla - ported
Guardian - ported
Avalanche Remake - all new
Edge - all new
Turf Remake - all new
Reactor - all new

Nothing new that took effort? Seriously? Games don't just magically appear. There's been a lot of time, effort, manpower and money spent on this project already. You may not agree with the F2P model. You may not like the direction 343 is taking the franchise. You may even support the the guys hacking the game files.

Don't pretend that the developers haven't put in a lot of work.

I'm not justifying piracy. I like where 343 is taking the franchise. I said the porting did take effort. The abilities are from Halo 4 and other games. I mentioned the few new maps. The spartan armor took effort yes.

I appreciate developers a lot. I wouldn't want to hurt them I'm just saying how it is.

Also when multiplayer support does start I won't be playing. Ill wait for Halo 5.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Man this really is using a large sum of Halo 3 lol

NOT MINE
CCA4105WgAIk7NY.jpg:large
 

Synth

Member
Does Microsoft have PayPal? I'll gladly give them 15 bucks so it's not considered piracy on my part.

Doesn't work like that unfortunately. That's a bit like breaking into a closed shop but leaving the cash value of the items you stole.
 
I don't think the circular arguments: this is wrong this, no is right changes many minds of GAF readers. I don't like to criticise the discussion but I don't see many people changing their point of view. One group makes sensational claims the other downplays them. Reality is somewhere in the middle. Yes it's wrong but the company isn't serving an audience that want to be served. Valve localised Russian games to try and curb "piracy" in one shape or another.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Halo Online is just old maps and f2p elements. Maybe 1 or 2 new maps. The games that originally had the maps made money. And lots of it. So it's like emulating an all in one Halo package. I get what you're saying but there is nothing new that took effort. Other than the actual porting process.

There's a substantial amount of effort in Halo Online.
 
I just played a match on Guardian and not a single person in the match sprinted. It was very fun. A few lag spikes. But definitely playable. No problems at all.
 
Definitely interested in the modded version if it's okay to talk about here. Microsoft made a really dumb decision not just porting the damn games.
 

LilJoka

Member
I tried in the EU party and was flawless in terms of the core aspects.
Some audio bugs and the sensitivity doesn't effect game pads so it feels like aiming in mud at the moment.
 
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