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ValveSoftware / Source-1-Games

Source 1 based games such as TF2 and Counter-Strike: Source
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[SteamCMD] Legalities of integration in game server management tool #3206

Open mrphil2105 opened 4 years ago

mrphil2105 commented 4 years ago

I am not sure where the best place is to post this question, and after days of research without much of an answer I decided to post it here.

I'm working on a game server manager that can create Team Fortress 2 servers without much of a hassle. The idea behind it is that it uses SteamCMD to download and install the game server. This means my program integrates SteamCMD (by launching it as a process) and puts an easy to use user interface on top, in order to give the TF2 Community an easy way to create their own dedicated server.

My question is, does Valve allow integration of SteamCMD in a program like mine with or without distribution? (Without distribution I'll use a downloading script that gets SteamCMD from steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net) And where can I find the terms that permit/don't permit me to integrate SteamCMD?

I just want to be sure that I am staying on the legal side of things. Thanks a lot.

Yetoo1 commented 4 years ago

I'm not a lawyer, but there's technically no license for the software itself so this use may be considered fair use for this singular association of the software. But it appears it is also covered by The Steam Subscriber Agreement which mentions developer tools but doesn't give any explicit right for re/distribution of the binary and doesn't mention those rights when talking explicitly about provided Steam tools for creating user generated content other than the use for creating user generated content (user generated content part paraphrased and overly simplified). You can try contacting sourceengine@valvesoftware.com (the SSA talks about using the address for contact for queries regarding "the Source Engine SDK or other Valve Developer Tools for commercial use"). Judging by this thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/valve/comments/2gggpp/contacting_valve_about_a_legal_question/) you can also try contacting frontdesk@valvesoftware.com. If you can't get a reply from those contact methods, you can try mailing a letter to the following address: Valve PO BOX 1688 Bellevue, WA 98009. USA

In terms of legality, I would still be wary about a downloader for the tool and ask them if it violates the SSA or any other agreement or license just in case you don't want people downloading it to be liable for being DMCAed or somehow having a program downloading a publicly accessible copyrighted software (and also may be allowed under the SSA due to Valve providing access to 2 C. License to Use Valve Developer Tools and 6. USER GENERATED CONTENT) being considered a form of distribution in some US jurisdiction.

As for the concept: I would just have a downloader script to reduce maintenance time/cost of needing to continually checking for an updated version (it's not versioned btw) and repackaging. Though, I would expect some part of the software to check for updates via hashes or whatnot (Yes, this part could be used as part of automation of packaging, but I feel pain thinking about it).

mrphil2105 commented 4 years ago

It's important to note that my project is non-commercial and open-source. If I can't distribute or download copies of SteamCMD, then I'd have to ask users to download the executable manually. This is of course assuming that I can even integrate SteamCMD. SteamCMD updates itself on launch, and the executable downloaded from the internet seems to be from 2013. So this means I don't have to check for new versions of SteamCMD myself, it's pretty much single download, endless reuse.