How not to boycott Modern Warfare 2

I find it likely NONE of the copies there are pirated, but all legitimate purchases. Let me run you through my reasoning:

1) Only games on the Steam games list, either games bought on Steam or manually added to your local list using the import Start Menu shortcuts tool, will change your status while you play them.
2) As I understand it from hearing about the "retail MW2 is unlocked on Steam two days before the Steam version" bit, retail MW2 requires Steam. Thus, if you install the retail version, it will show up in your Steam games list and you need to be running Steam to play it (see point 1).
3) Pirated Steam games cannot use Steam because of the built-in DRM, so they are forced to disconnect them from Steam and re-build features Steam provided such as server browsing.
4) Because of 3, the pirated game will not show up in your Steam games list unless you manually add it, as in 1.

I don't think many people would willingly advertise they are pirating games like this (it would be denoted a "non-steam game" while you were playing), let alone a whole list like in the picture. Thus I think it is safe to assume most, if not all, bought the game legitimately.

pew pew pew bang your dead have at you silly person

Maybe we had it backwards the entire time. In that case, I support Modern Warfare 2 with all my heart, and I'm boycotting Battlefield forever!

actually if it says "in game" like that, that means they bought the game thru steam.

You can't make this stuff up.

Be sure to check the L4D2 boycott group next week also.

I didn't mean to turn this into a debate just pointing out this has been on Kotaku for a while and the novelty has worn off [for me].

I bet you most of those people always intended to buy it and just joined for the lols.

Lmao Owned

I'm mildly disappointed but not overly surprised; some of the game's harshest critics were the first ones to cave in and shell out $60 (knowing full well it would condone IW's actions). At the same time, however, I'm pleasantly surprised that, out of 32 pages worth of boycotters, only 3 were weak; the rest are sticking to their guns.

What annoys me more than the "scabs", however, are the throngs of fanboys verbally attacking anyone who agrees with the boycott in any and every related forum. Infinity Ward delivered a game that exceeded the already high hopes for it on the console platforms; it is, in almost every way, an improvement (sometimes subtly so) over COD4 on the Xbox 360 or PS3. Having said that, Infinity Ward was outright dishonest with us up until the game went gold early last month. We were promised, as late as mid September, that every feature we enjoyed with the previous iterations of the series would be found in MW2 even though they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they would be delivering something else entirely. IWnet, like Rome, was not built in a day and it's obvious that IW spent many months as well as man hours trying to implement their own matchmaking system. They could've been honest with us from the very beginning, allayed any fears we had regarding the changes they were going to make, and temper any frustrations we had; they chose not to just weeks before their title was due to hit shelves. The "bait and switch" is not acceptable, especially from a top tier developer.

The dishonesty, in and of itself, is a reason to not buy a game from them. The patronizing, condescending "We know what you want better than you do", "It's not a straight port because you have adjustable graphics, mouse, and keyboard controls" and, "We respect our fans but won't listen to them" that made its way into every PR release for the last month is, likewise, another reason to not own the game. We, PC gamers, kept the Medal of Honor juggernaut from burying their first COD game and they're treating us like a problem instead of (even if it's financially driven) even the slightest amount of respect.

As for IWnet? Infinity Ward said it would: simplify online multiplayer, it would bring about smoother gameplay, and that the system would ensure fair play by providing hack/cheat free games. We countered, pointing out that every matchmaking system previously implemented on the PC (even from developers with a pedigree comparable to Valve's) had failed. No matter what was promised, games that used matchmaking inevitably suffered from large amounts of lag, host migration, host advantage, connection instabilities, they were incapable of supporting a large number of players, and unsportsmanlike players (cheater, hackers, and/or griefers) would ruin the game because there wasn't an admin who could remove them. We started off with matchmaking first for our online multiplayer needs and migrated to dedicated servers once they became an option for a reason.

We said IWnet would be no different and we were right. MW2 wasn't out for 12 hours before someone had come up with and implemented a wallhack; there's no way of kicking out these cheaters. By the time IWnet catches onto them, there will be another exploit and another. There are griefers and all we can do is ignore them where, previously, we could've had them banned; the same applies to team-mate killers. Infinity Ward's own forums are alive with players who can't connect to a game because they have specific ports blocked (half of which Windows blocks by default for security purposes) or a firewall is blocking IWnet from establishing a connection; this was never a problem with dedicated servers. Players are complaining of host migration and there are widespread complaints of lag; for every one player who has a decent experience (decent meaning they only have to suffer from one or two dropped games every few hours), ten are complaining of terrible lag (red bars). When the host gets pissy that he's starting to lose, he jumps out, and that throws off the game for everyone. There are widespread complaints of the "lag armor" effect; you can empty a clip into the host and he will still kill you first because, technically, you're just now seeing what he saw moments ago. There are widespread complaints of being unable to enjoy a low-latency game because IWnet's connecting players from halfway across the globe; a player in Washington should probably be playing someone near him rather than a gamer in Southern Europe or the land of Oz. Infinity Ward's silence about all of this is defining.

The boycott, in the end, boils down to more than just dedicated servers or mod support. It's not about being elitist and it's not about being self titled. It boils down to a community being unashamedly lied to and being treated with outright contempt as the company they single-handed pushed into the stratosphere delivered a product that is subpar even when compared to its 4 year old predecessor outside of the campaign. It boils down to showing the industry we won't tolerate these antics and we will not allow these "quality features" to infect out platform on a large scale, rotting it from the inside out. MW2 might have a stellar, awe inspiring single player campaign (I wouldn't know, because I will never own or play the game) but the multiplayer component was reduced to a turd (not even a polished turd) for no real good reason. Again, our dire predictions became a reality within a matter of hours after the game was released; their promises have not yet materialized. I'll be downranked for saying it but if this is a glimpse of things to come, I hope Infinity Ward never releases another COD game on the PC; they aren't only completely out of touch with our needs, but they can't be trusted.

Hahahahahaha. That's so funny. I think it's sh!tty u can't make mods, console, or that they didn't do as much as they could to make the pc graphics kick butt. But it's still a great game. N haven't encountered any cheaters (yet). But the game that's availible on pc is still great & fun. With or W/o lean lol, which I never used, & crysis level graphics. It's not like they just didn't make a pc version, or did a terrible glitchy port. Heck the pc mp never even went down like the ps3's. As an nhl fan, & seeing how ea did their pc versions, I'm thankful the game is as good as it is. (NHL 09 for example, was the ps2 version of the game. N it ran terrible n had awful graphics n terrible glitches n gameplay.). At least they didn't fo that. N I'm pretty sure they had dedicated servers tho ;p lol jk

Hahahahahaha. That's so funny. I think it's sh!tty u can't make mods, console, or that they didn't do as much as they could to make the pc graphics kick butt. But it's still a great game. N haven't encountered any cheaters (yet). But the game that's availible on pc is still great & fun. With or W/o lean lol, which I never used, & crysis level graphics. It's not like they just didn't make a pc version, or did a terrible glitchy port. Heck the pc mp never even went down like the ps3's. As an nhl fan, & seeing how ea did their pc versions, I'm thankful the game is as good as it is. (NHL 09 for example, was the ps2 version of the game. N it ran terrible n had awful graphics n terrible glitches n gameplay.). At least they didn't fo that. N I'm pretty sure they had dedicated servers tho ;p lol jk

A good game gets played, dedicated servers or not.

im also sure you know that one of the popular torrents works with steam?

also griffin, i don't know what kind of sad "fanboy" (would that be right? or something, maybe childish?) you must be to make this post, i mean come on, what exactly are you trying to point out here?

monitor your actions accordingly u wouldn't wanna start a war now would you?

muw ha ha ha foolish actions mean nothing when face to face with a god

Duh? Like online petitions ever do *shit*? Of course these MF's bought it.

And sadly this is what happenes to many of these so called "boycotts". It's a simple manner of many gamers just getting caught in the moment. Everyone is getting angry so they also get angry as well, and when a petition is being signed they jump right on it screaming: "FUCK IW AND FUCK CoD!!!" It's kind of like a mob mentality thing.

But after a few weeks, people start calming down and when the reviews start coming in people start asking themselves, "Why am I pissed off at this game again?" Eventually they cave in and buy the game so they can play with their friends or whatever reason they have. It's why boycotts almost never work, unless it's an incredibly shitty game, most gamers won't take it seriously and will eventually buy it.

FPS fanwhores fail

For those who insist all boycotts are created equal, a reminder: L4D2 pre order was $45. CoD6 was $60. For PC. $60. With LESS features. $60.

$60.

People seem to have forgotten the term "boycott". Stay in school, kids.

WE WANT DEDICATED BOYCOTTERS

wow. they're losing out. obviously the developers had a good reason to leave dedicated servers out, so if you don't like it stop complaining and get a console version. much better.

much ado about nothing, except the biggest entertainment launch of all time and a half hearted boycott of same. Reminds me of the time I boycotted Starbucks at work for the first day but I caved in when I realised it tasted so good. I do dislike Activision and their shoddy digital rights and attempts to stop people playing pirated versions of the game by using Demonware authentication … and now this:

http://atoast2toast.com/2009/11/13/boycott-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/