Introducing Crackpipe - your decentralized, self-hosted gaming solution!
3 years ago by alfagun74 to c/selfhosted
Hey folks,
our team has worked tirelessly for a year to bring you Crackpipe, the open-source, decentralized, and liberal alternative to conventional cloud-based game platforms like Steam and Origin. We're thrilled to announce that Crackpipe is now available for everyone, and we're delighted to share it with the community as an open-source project.
With Crackpipe, you and your friends can enjoy playing and tracking games on a shared file server, free from the restrictions of traditional platforms. Embracing "alternatively obtained" games, including DRM-free titles, Crackpipe offers a flexible and open approach to gaming - think Jellyfin, but for Videogames.
Take full control of your gaming experience with Crackpipe's self-hosted approach. Explore your server's game collection, securely download, launch, and play games, and monitor your playtimes and progress - all even when the server is offline. Compare stats and play states with other users on the server for added fun.
Our server features include automatic indexing of games, metadata enrichment with RAWG API, multi-user authentication, configurable logging, health monitoring, full-text search, filters, sorting, pagination, and a fully documented API. Crackpipe's high configurability ensures it fits your specific needs.
Join us on this journey to embrace a more open, flexible, and enjoyable gaming experience for all. Try Crackpipe today and share your contributions, feedback, bug reports, and feature requests.
Link: https://crackpipe.de
You can also check out our launch at producthunt: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/crackpipe
UPDATE: here
Agreed. As an American, cool concept, rough name. There is no way I’m recommending a software called crackpipe at work.
And let’s say I wanted to use it, I’m going to install this and instruct my kids how to use crackpipe? I’m sure that will go over great with little Timmy’s school when he tells his teacher and friends.
I’d strongly consider changing it.
And it's not like you can even abbreviate it since cp has its own problematic connotations when it comes to the Internet
LMAO. Also are you excited for the LoD remake? I got some sources that say it's happening
Would be kind of funny to skew Google results for crackpipe towards a game platform though.
And let’s say I wanted to use it, I’m going to install this and instruct my kids how to use crackpipe?
I mean I get your point, but if you instruct your kids how to use a tool for managing pirated games, they are probably going to see a lot harsher stuff than the word "crack pipe"..
It's actually more racist to be afraid to bring up crack pipes when Breaking Bad counts as totally tame watercooler talk.
This is a tool for hosting pirated games. It's not meant to be safe for work or kids.
I get that the name is offensive, but it doesn't really matter. They're not going to hire a marketing team and do an IPO.
Also, the name makes sense. It's a pipe to transport cracked games.
Good point. I should definitely be more comfortable introducing my children to a software suite called “crackpipe”.
🙄
In the US specifically there’s some historical connotations back to the 80’s and how the US government fucked over black communities by flooding them with crack. I’m sure you all didn’t mean anything racist/negative with this, but wanted to flag this to y’all since you were based in the EU and likely wouldn’t have the same connotations with the term :)
Anyways, best of luck with this! It’s a cool idea.
“Amateurish”? This is literally a server for hosting pirated games, who gives a fuck.
Also, if your first thought after reading the word crackpipe is black people, maybe you’re the racist one.
And even if in the US it does have this connotation (IDK I’m not American), why should Europeans care?
tthat's why it's always best to say fuck the fascist pigs that poured crack into the streets of minority populations as a form of cynical political maneuvering at the end of every comment, just in case.
Crack is smoked regardless of skin tone. As a US resident even the backwoods hicks around here smoke crack. Just because something happened to a certain race in the past doesn't make that thing racist.
Crack is bad regardless
i'll take one please
Exactly. Probably the most famous crack user is the white son of the current US president.
HAHAHA They didn't like that one
HeroinNeedle
The name is fitting because it's for cracked games, which are piped in a single programme. I don't think it needs changing.
You can rationalize it all you want, at the end of the day when you say crackpipe there’s only one thing that comes to mind.
I’m just imaging a conversation at work talking about a new game, and someone saying they haven’t picked it up yet and a colleague overhearing their co-worker say “just hit the crackpipe”.
Honestly even calling it CrackedPipe would be better than straight up crackpipe, lmao
I'm envisioning the possible reverse scenario where you get someone wanting some crack and won't take "Uhhh, I was just talking about a video game thing" as an answer
Then again Gimp is incredibly popular...
i know right? It's so awkward for me to talk about blasting folks heads off with my assault weapons in the latest gore simulator. If the word crack even enters the conversation you better believe it'll cause some stares
Everyone gets that. It's just that sometimes things can be clever and stupid, unwise, and an automatic NO
@starstough @LoafyLemon @alfagun74 this naming thing reminds me again of DeepCreamPy, which was a version of Deep Dream (written in Python) that fills in gaps in hentai
lmao that's fucking brilliant. Might get some glances on your resume until your next future boss hires you because he is a dedicated deep cream py user
As a European, I honestly don't get what you're saying. Maybe it's worth thinking about not forcing your opinions and societal problems onto other people?
It's okay to not know what something is. Crack pipes are WIDELY known to be drug delivery devices. That's not unique to the United States.
Furthermore, advertising your product as being used to pipe "cracked" (otherwise known as ... stolen) games RIGHT there in the name of your product is like daring law enforcement to shut you down in actual record breaking time.
If you want your company to survive such things, you pick a name that is even more clever in that it isn't.... moronic.
Here’s a wiki article about the incident they are talking about. Basically it’s believed that in order to get money to arm rebels in Nicaragua the CIA assisted with importing cocaine to the US and specifically primarily black neighborhoods fueling the crack epidemic.
you're almost there bud
Much better name!! Nice job responding constructively to feedback, wish more devs had the same level of grace with these types of situations. Wishing you all the best of success with this project!
I'm not going to talk with my friends about using something called crackpipe. Might be cool software, but I can't take it seriously. This would be like if Plex called themselves bootlegpimp.
Still less embarrassing than recommending GIMP.
It’s not a big deal. But it’s ok to think the name is stupid, and that I’m not gonna use it if I think it’s stupid.
I think hyper-fixating on title irrespective of content is silly.
People are going to critique titles. Welcome to life. Life is tough. I get it.
Exactly. But sadly, nowadays its all about making as much noise as the other party, and convincing others that (insert something irrelevant here) is racist for no reason other than "it offends me".
Terrible name. Call it something like Gamepipe instead.
I for one will not be using this to introduce my kids to gore simulators where you can see chunks of peoples' heads blown off at your own hands, because it's called crack pipe, and that is where I draw the line
As others have said, cool concept, awful name.
Bad name aside Windows only client support is a big letdown and makes the application useless to me.
While Crackpipe can be used with cracked games, it does not encourage or condone piracy.
This is so fucking hilarious to me. Your logo is a pirate, and your app name is "crack"pipe (which is dumb for many reasons), and you use 'alternatively sourced' in the language instead of just talking about DRM-free games.
Cool software, but if you don't want to get shut down you certainly should reconsider your approach.
If you guys want this to take off in the US (and probably Canada too) you gotta rethink the name. If it doesn't come off as vaguely racist it will come off as edgy for edgy's sake. Low-brow and amateurish. Otherwise, it looks cool. Best of luck to you.
Due to racist propaganda in the US during the 80s and 90s. Crack cocaine was portrayed in the media as a "black" drug, and many of the news stories about crack were specifically about it's effects on black communities.
While the name isn't inherently racist, in and of itself, it does still carry some racial connotations behind it. Maybe it's different these days for zoomers, but growing up during the "crack epidemic", as it was called, and seeing the way it was covered in the news, I can understand why some people are resistant to the name.
I didnt say it was racist. I said it could come off (i.e. perceived) as racist. Mainly due to cracks stereotypical association with poor African Americans. But I think you knew that.
I love the chutzpah of it.
Creative commons isn't a licence designed for code though, consider using the AGPL instead.
How about buttcrack? Jk that would be terrible. CriticalPoint would keep the two letter combo and be a dig at steam https://en.wikipedia.org/...
CP is the second reason the name is terrible. “Let me connect to your CP server” is going to get so many people onto so many lists, unless they specify CP == CrackPipe.
There are just some names and abbreviations you do not use. And this is both of those.
I thought so too, but it isn't - it's a server that hosts your pirated games and a client that downloads from the server and installs them. It's like Steam or Epic games, but for pirated games.
I thought it was satire at first 😂
Same here. My current method is a self hosted website on my home network which showcases all available games, followed by a bash script download that will automatically generate the yml file for Lutris to fully install any of my 200+ games.
Whilst this is currently the best way I've found for my setup this app seems like the perfect thing to potentially swap to, if Linux was supported.
cool stuff but what about packaging the games? only transfering files is most of the time not enough and games need registry stuff and what not and on games that need a setup.exe to be run, is that unattended like on steam or do users need to click "next, next, finish"?
Lol, gonna be honest, it would be pretty hard telling my friends about this awesome thing I learned about called Crackpipe.
That said, it's not really something I could do anyway. My ISP doesn't let me host servers, and they're the only ISP in my area without disgustingly draconian data limits.
I've always wanted something like that, very cool!
Any plans to incorporate customizable cloud saves? I'm envisioning listing files and registry keys, maybe fetch a starting point off PCGW to give users an idea of what to expect and whatnot.
Linux client support would be great too, the Steam Deck could make great use of this.
dude why would you name it that
It was designed to work with "alternatively obtained" games such as DRM-free games. While Crackpipe can be used with cracked games, it does not encourage or condone piracy.
People, come on.
First of all the name, the logo of a pirate, using the terminology "alternatively obtained" - this is clearly for sharing cracked/pirated games. Any plausible deniability is out the window. Especially with using copyrighted game box arts in the screenshots.
If you changed the language to be something like:
It's designed to assist with sharing games with friends by providing a mechanism for downloading and managing game installations. Please review your game's licenses to ensure this is an acceptable use before sharing.
Then you'd be able to say "this is meant for sharing freeware/shareware easily and making it a social experience."
Also change the name and logo, and get those copyrighted box arts out of the screenshots and just use art from open source games SuperTaxKart, OpenRA, etc. (Technically those may be copyrighted, depends on each game, but at least you're not dealing with fucking Sony by showing a Spider-Man game).
Someone correct me if I'm wrong since I'm not familiar with all this, but would I be able to "upload and share" a game that I bought from GoG since GoG games are DRM free?
Is this like a sonarr/radarr for games?
Would have been a better name
Whoooaa. Slow down there, Charlie.!
on crack of rock please. is.. is that enough?
Lead baloon and all that.
Cool concept but the UI and icon designs are the turn-off for me. After I saw the screenshots and it was immediately no.
And I'm actually fine with the name, and I kinda see how it makes sense since its a pipe to your cracks (assuming pirated games...)
This seems cool, but damn I wish there was something like this for Steam games or something. That's the biggest thing I miss from Sony's ecosystem, and Steam's "Family Share" is pretty bad in comparison.
I'm not trying out anything with that type of name. I suggest changing it.
Oh dear...
First that name. Oh my word. Just no.
Second, pretty much directly encouraging piracy. Just... That's also a hard no.
Sorry, while the technological concept is interesting for games that don't have a restrictive license, between a lack of forethought regarding the name and the outright condonment of piracy, I'm gonna have to stay away. If these issues are readdressed in the future, it my be worth re-examining
@lemmy.world
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
Be civil.
No spam.
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
Submission headline should match the article title.
No trolling.
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.
AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
go to feed...
@lemmy.world
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
Be civil.
No spam.
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
Submission headline should match the article title.
No trolling.
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.
AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
go to feed...
Cool idea, problematic name. Have you considered any others? There’s a ton of racist/problematic connotations in the US with this name that probably wouldn’t be well understood in DE/EU…
save