Quoting: SalvatosYou're not allowed to photocopy a paperback either

You are allowed, for your personal backup. It's called fair use. DRM takes that away.

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Never heard of Hacknet, it reminds me Uplink. And I love DRM free games!-)

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Quoting: ScooptaI disagree simply because once you download a game from steam(assuming it doesn't use the steam DRM) nothing stops you from making a backup of it.

Did you even follow the discussion above? You aren't allowed to do it if you are using Steam.

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Quoting: x_wingWish devolver digital brings Shadow Warrior 2 to Linux though...

Did you see any updates on that?

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Quoting: MblackwellSearch for the words "backup" and "copy" in the Steam TOS and be amazed.

The only mention of backup that I see is about backing up your system itself, before using any beta versions (I assume as a precaution in case they bork your whole system). So it's unrelated to the above:

If you decide to install and/or use Beta Software, you shall only use it in compliance with its purposes, i.e. for testing and improvement purposes and in any case not on a system or for purposes where the malfunction of the Beta Software can cause any kind of damage. In particular, maintain full backups of any system that you choose to install Beta Software on.

Regarding copying, here is the relevant part I assume you are referring to:

You may not use the Content and Services for any purpose other than the permitted access to Steam and your Subscriptions, and to make personal, non-commercial use of your Subscriptions, except as otherwise permitted by this Agreement or applicable Subscription Terms.

Except as otherwise permitted under this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use), or under applicable law notwithstanding these restrictions, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, publish, distribute, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on, or remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Content and Services or any software accessed via Steam without the prior consent, in writing, of Valve.

TL;DR: you may not copy.

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downloadable-content pack

They should stop using this term already. Just call it expansion pack. Kerbal Space Program developers got it.

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It would be useful to add VRAM in addition to regular RAM.

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Quoting: DuncNothing. You copied some files. There are no “measures”.

Accessing the files outside the client can be viewed as circumventing in this case. You don't buy files through Steam, so it can be viewed that you aren't supposed to access them. But again, I'm not really interested in debating this topic since it changes nothing. You still can't legally back things up in DRM-free fashion. Ergo, Steam is not DRM-free.

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Quoting: DuncBut we're not arguing about rights; we're arguing about the management of rights.

Those are tied together. Same as anti-circumvention garbage is tied to it. If that wasn't clear enough, DRM-free above obviously meant legal DRM-free when referring to stores, not simply ability to remove DRM and get DRM-free result, or get it through violating the TOS.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyNo, it leaves lots of clear options for DRM-free backup. Just no options which don't arguably violate Steam's TOS.

That's out of scope. You can also go ahead and break various DRM, producing DRM-free backup. Personally I don't have a problem with people breaking DRM for their personal use (DRM in fact is aimed to forbid otherwise completely legal fair use), but we aren't talking about that.

Quoting: Purple Library GuyThus, it is not factually DRM and doing the backups does not trigger legal penalties for circumventing DRM so it is not legalistically DRM either.

I wouldn't be so sure. The client itself can be viewed as an installation "measure", and skirting its use can be viewed as "circumventing" it. DMCA-1201 abusers come up with even weirder ways to mess things up for those unfortunate who happen to be subjects to some DRM schemes.

I call it DRM, because they don't provide legal ways to make DRM-free backups. That's about it.

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