Quite possible. I remember when last I installed Punkbuster (for a battlefield game), PunkbusterA.exe or something similar was always in my processes, even when the game was long closed.

I don't know how it works on your PC, but that's how it works on mine. If my PC does not have an internet connection when it turns on, steam will automatically enter offline mode without asking me about it.

Edit: Just realized that you want it to do this as well if you have a connection. In that case I'd agree that an option like that would be nice.

That is probably how it is then, I've never tried turning off my router and then resetting my pc to see if it automatically starts in offline mode. My internet is always on anyway, what I meant is, is it possible to start your computer with internet connected and not have the "Would you like to start steam in offline mode" message bug me, but just silently start in offline mode.

The computer in my den is hooked up to my home network and the internet via a USB wireless adapter that I plug right in the front of it.

I'm going to take it out, and leave it out, and see how long I can play my Steam games that I purchased. If I get to one year of playing all of my games with no problem, my gripes with Steam will be formally over. I will post here (start a new thread obviously) at any point before then with news of not being able to play ALL OF MY GAMES.

Anyone wanna take any bets on the results of this little test??

I'm going to spend today making sure each and every Steam game is installed and up to date, and will start this exercise tomorrow.

I should be able to do this because if there are new video drivers (almost assuredly) that any new games require that I may want to play then I have my other main system in my room. I'm going to let this computer be a stand alone, unconnected gaming PC for one year, although if I were a betting man I'd bet I'm going to run into trouble way before one year is over.

At which point I'll stop the experiment, and post here. (again, not this thread, unless it's within the first week lol).

I'm blessed with such a family that I have 2 awesome gaming rigs (built both) AND an incredibly awesome laptop they gave me last year, so I have plenty of gaming and intertoob surfing options other than this PC in the den.

In fact, I've gong months before without even turning that one on. So this is not going to be some huge obstacle to me.

I'd take a punt on two weeks tops but I'm too cheap to actually bet anything :p

So I take it offline mode still doesn't work
Steam DRM
Giving impression of not needing internet and then crushing dreams since 2003

Steam offline mode certainly works fine here. I have played Steam games while phyisically disconnected from the internet plenty of times.

For how long where you physically disconnected?

It works for me too for some reason I wanted to make sure that it didn't break would be very inconvinient

About two years ago I had in issue with offline mode when it worked for everyone else, as it turns out in order for it to work one must have had to ensure that they officially exited Steam (clicking options and selection "Exit Steam") before offline would work.

Once I did that, it worked fine for me every time I tried, but was never physically offline then either. I don't know if the requirement to actually exit Steam before offline mode will work is still applicable though because there have several Steam client updates since then and it was a well known issue and I would guess it was changed, but don't know for sure.

I'm going to give this a fair test. Fact is, I hate Steam, always have hated Steam, but ONLY because of the DRM issues. Because the fact ALSO IS that some of the things Steam offers are indeed very likeable, to the point that some of them one would probably be willing to pay for. For example, having all your games update automatically without worry. That's pretty darn cool. Also some of the other benefits of Steam are very much liked and likeable so if I could prove to myself that I'm overreacting about the DRM issue, I will happily give up my hatred of Steam.

But if this little test proves that one can't play games one has bought and paid for at ANY TIME then my hatred of Steam will be permanent. Fact is my internet (includes phone to be fair) is over $100 a month, and being on disability means it's likely only a matter of time before I have to give that luxury up. And I should NOT lose out on the ability to play games like Skyrim and Civ V and FNV.

Just wanted to confirm that I have now started this little experiment.

I hadn't played any of those games on that computer in so long though that it took all of yesterday and most of this morning for me to be able to click on all of my games and play them as they all needed updates, some of which apparently were quite large.

So I wasn't able to disconnect until today. But I verified that I could play all of my games while connected, then clicked on Steam in the upper left hand corner and clicked on "Go to offline mode."

I then removed the USB wireless adapter, folded it up, and put it away, where it will stay. So we'll see if one really can play their games after losing internet access. It's July 14, 2013. If I leave the wireless adapter out until July 15, 2014, that should be a fair test as it is over one year.

I sure hope one can still play their games after losing internet, because at some point I might really lose it.

That's a better test than I could/would ever be able to do. +1

Looking foward to it, good luck testing it!

Steam offline mode seems to work just fine... except when it doesn't. My fresh example:

Here abroad I'm only sometimes connected to internet, so I'll be utilizing the Steam offline mode on and off on both my Win7 and Win8 partitions, mostly the latter. I use the Steam the same way in both partitions, ie. log out/exit the client properly etc.

So far, in Win8, it always started in offline mode no problem whenever I didn't have internet available. Today I noticed that it had downloaded a Steam client update on the Win8 side, so I decided to boot also to Win7 and download the Steam client update to it too.

On Win7, I had problems getting the USB-tethered 3G mobile internet connection to work at first. But that's ok, without internet, the Steam client will just normally start in offline mode, like it normally does for me too? Ooops, not this time. Now it complained "Steam offline mode is unavailable blaa blaa blaa because you have no login information stored etc.". Uh, yes I did, unless Steam had deleted it itself.

Anyway, after little tinkering I was able to get the 3G mobile connection to work, and connect to Steam client. Yeah, there was the Steam client update waiting, I checked for the client update manually and currently downloading it. I don't know if the failing offline mode was somehow related to the pending Steam client update? This is similar problem I had already several years ago, when I lost internet connectivity and Steam client refused to go to offline mode and demanded to connect to internet (for a client update?) before it would proceed. Weren't these kind of issues supposed to be fixed long time ago already?

Come to think of it, it could be I had not started the Steam client on the Win7 side (online or offline) during the couple of weeks I've been here, so the last time I used Steam on Win7 side was back in Finland a couple of weeks ago, not sure. So not sure if this was actually the alleged "two weeks offline mode limitation"-feature.

Anyway, now I have the latest Steam client update also on the Win7 side, now the offline mode is supposed to work 100% perfectly, right? Just like always before? ;)

i was able to play my steam games offline back in 2010 for over 5 months cause i moved to a new place and it took a long time to get net connection, steam does not count achievements or game time in offline mode though, some games may allow achievements in offline