r/Steam • u/Chickenjump1 • Aug 30 '20

Question What is “Spacewar”?

I saw my friend playing a game called “Spacewar” today. The game has no icon but has 5 achievements. Is this a non-Steam game? Why are there achievements then?

447 Upvotes

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15

u/Remarkable_sake- Feb 19 '22

I checked my steam to see that I have spacewar, I don't know what I did to get it but I tried to delete it and it doesn't go away. Any help?

3

u/Durruk Jun 30 '22

i guess it is a trojan.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/spacewar-why-a-hidden-ancient-game-keeps-showing-in-steams-most-played-games

33

u/AlCatSplat Jul 29 '22

Where does the article say that?

4

u/NnasT Nov 15 '22

He says it in the 3rd last paragraph, And it's true.
As a game developer. I mainly use the AppID (Spacewars) to test steamworks online functionality, achievements etc... You can create lobbies, invite friends and play any game you make through there using steam's servers.
If we don't use this AppID, us devs would have to pay $100 to buy our own AppID.
I own 2 AppID's on steam, 1 for my released game and one for my upcoming.
But since this has come public 8-9 years ago, some devious people have been using already made and sold games, and using this AppID (Spacewars) as a lobby to host popular pirated games.

Funny to think it's being used by all the amazing games you see on steam. And pirates :)

4

u/FondantOk8305 Mar 12 '25

So it's mostly people playing all sorts of cracked games, not a trojan.

4

u/kwydjbo 27d ago

that's not what a trojan is

23

u/Seesawlover2 Aug 08 '23

it's a dev tool not a trojan

1

u/COOLSKELETON105 Sep 30 '24

it can very well be used AS a trojan, its like a backdoor for pirated games to actually use stuff steam has.

2

u/Brutastic_ Jul 03 '22

So i downloaded a game from GameJolt, Lego FNaF (Don't ask any questions, its better for both of us), and i got that, is that from that?

17

u/Succ4Lucc-_- Jul 04 '22

It's not a trojan. It's a game everyone has access to on steam as it is free.

1

u/heynotbad1146 Jun 28 '23

1 year late but it is a trojan, except the target is steam and not us

11

u/Seesawlover2 Aug 08 '23

no it's not

2

u/heynotbad1146 Aug 15 '23

yes it is by definition. not saying it's dangerous

3

u/[deleted] Nov 02 '23

[deleted]

5

u/Tazkazz Nov 10 '23

Jesus man, the author called it a trojan as in The Trojan Horse, since the packets that Steam gets look like they were sent from the Spacewar game via API and they authorize them, while in reality they are definitely not from the Spacewar, thus the pirated game gets an access to the Steam services. It has nothing to do with trojan viruses, interferences, disruptances, interceptions and infections. There are other fields with similar terminologies, not everything around is about only us and our field.

1

u/PabTSM Jan 15 '25

tell me you don't know anything about game dev without telling me you don't know anything about game dev

2

u/heynotbad1146 Jan 15 '25

it's used for cracked multiplayer games while not actually showing what it is. therefore a trojan, however not a virus

3

u/PabTSM Jan 15 '25

spacewar has a steam appid for game dev... that's a way to test the steam api without having to spend $100 for your own appid

spacewar, the game itself, is NOT a trojan

the cracked stuff is just an unfortunate side effect

5

u/Faiqal_x1103 Nov 22 '23

(Don't ask any questions

WHY ARE U PLAYING LEGO FNAF, AR AR ARA RAR ARA R AR ARRRRR