youth clubs / steam

I'm looking at setting up a couple of old boxes that can be used to
keep local kids from killing each other (literally, there have been
some shootings around here recently!) - thinking it'd be better to let
them slug it out in CS or NS than in real life...

The idea is to get a bunch of old kit, teach them how to build a
machine from scratch, then get down to some fragging to keep them
occupied (probably under linux / wine if possible, to save any
Microsoft licence problems).

I know there's an offline option for Steam, but does anyone know how
that would apply to a LAN party environment without internet access,
or whether Valve do a licence option for youth clubs ?

Licencing a few copies of HL wouldn't be a problem* it's more a case
of whether it can be used without going online.

*the b*stards at Valve have upped the price again I notice

"Colin Wilson" wrote

> I'm looking at setting up a couple of old boxes that can be used to
> keep local kids from killing each other

Good thinking

> The idea is to get a bunch of old kit, teach them how to build a
> machine from scratch, then get down to some fragging to keep them
> occupied

The steamless project might be somewhat usefull
http://v4.steamlessproject.nl/

I assume its still live and kicking?

> I know there's an offline option for Steam, but does anyone know how
> that would apply to a LAN party environment without internet access,
> or whether Valve do a licence option for youth clubs ?

Using Steam in a mostly offline situation would probably give more
downtime/headaches than you're prepared to deal with when leading such a
project

- Peter