Your opinion on Steam

Technology and Gaming
#41

I researched this myself a week or so ago, and you will find MANY threads on the Valve forums (with NO official responses) about this topic. In other words, the “last patch to remove DRM” is an unfounded rumor that nobody can find proof for. Evidently, there was a vague mention in a sidebar of some magazine by Gabe Newell (that’s the best I’ve found as far as “fact”) but no one can seem to remember the magazine, issue #, etc.

Wish Valve would have an official standpoint on this. I think I’ll just install Steam on my home server and download every game I own to it so I can do a backup.

#42

I believe you are mistaken, sir.

#43

Not about the first part at least.

#44

Steam did bog down my ol’ mono core 7600 GT computer back in 05’, but it’s came a long way- and so has my computer.

#45

steam can get hot

#46

@someonerandom: You shouldn’t need additional software to play a game, this is the problem I have with it. Especially if the game isn’t MP like HL2. Remember Half-Life? Didn’t need anything else to run that. Black & White? Nope. Commandos 2? Nyet.

Also, this household only has one pc. My steam account contains games that have all been bought for me (birthday and xmas presents), all except one by my dad. Thusly, the games are all on one machine. If he should choose to want to play any of the games I own, my dad either has to use my account (neither of us want that due to friends networking and achievements) or BUY THE GAMES AGAIN. Which is bullshit. He’s already bought the games once, why should he have to pay again for something he’s already paid for?

@medevilae: If you can’t keep it civil, don’t post please. But in reply to you, see above.

#47

I love Steam, and I can’t imagine PC gaming without it anymore. The thing that bugs ME, is that in this day and age, when Steam controls 50 to 70% of the digital distribution market, companies like EA are still using ass-backwards ways of online play like forcing you to register with freaking gamespy of all things. They already are selling games and offering demos through Steam, couldn’t they just work with Valve a little more and use Steam for their multiplayer? Or is Valve just keeping it for themselves? Either way, I wish more games would better integrate with Steam.

Some people might not want PC gaming to become too consolized, and neither do I, but there’s really no benefit to signing up for dozens of different services to play each online game you own.

#48

Companies don’t like other companies getting monopolies.

#49

First point is = Not true. I’ve played plenty of games offline since steam showed it’s face alongside HL2. You didn’t know you can do that?

Second point) What exactly is your situation that is bothersome? You want to play a single player game in your own account or multilayer account and don’t want to share? I don’t understand. Just like if you were to buy a hard copy you buy the license which is technically only for the person who bought the game. Like going out to a restaurant to eat. You buy a meal for one person, but you can share if you like. If you want the full meal buy your own.

Also, I have no issues with steam. Shady doesn’t really come to mind when I start steam up and jump on any of the games I can play for the rest of my life without worrying about scratching up the hard copy disc. I guess Steam is meant for a single gamer. Not household family leisure gaming.

PS. I haven't read through the whole thread so I do apologize if I'm repeating what others have said.
#50

When Steam was first released, I hated it for being very unstable. But since they fixed that problem soon after, I fell in love with it an try to only buy games over it.

#51

oh boy i remember when steam was first released when cs 1.6 came out and they shut down the WON servers

the constant crashing, the 100% RAM usage, friend system that never worked for 2 straight years

steam sure sucked huge ass balls back then, everyone hated it

nowadays it runs on my pc 100% of the time and i’m fine with it, and i haven’t bought a physical copy of a game for probably 6 or 7 years now

#52

Ever heard of the magnificient piece of hardware called FLASH DRIVE?
Sorry for sarcasm. You could ask the internet where your game of choice saves your savegames. Go into that folder, copy what you find onto a flash drive and import the files to the same folder on your other pc. Usually works.

My opinion on steam is mixed, if I would live in the US I could clearly claim a positive view… Sadly I live in goddamn fascist(not the old fashioned way) game hater state of Germany where the state thinks it knows what is best for you even if you are “adult”.
Good aspects of steam are:
-Instantly being able to buy stuff and finding out about new stuff in the shop
-Metascore and links to reviews
-community stuff/functions in general
-news even though they’re sometimes quite late
-simplicity and ingenuity of UI
-Most games in multilanguage

downsides:
-Price differences in different regions
-No “hard copy” of the game if you buy it(of course shipping hard copies would push the price again, I find it kinda sad anyway)
-censorship and not being able to buy some games with multilang due to that(cuz I fucking hate german synchro for 90% of the games)
-Always having to download all the languages. it would be smarter if you could choose before downloading, maybe in the settings
-Forcing online activation

#53

Harun, just get a VPN, use a Visa, and buy US games while living in Germany. Cheaper (dollar < euro), uncensored, and no dubs.

Back to the steam topic. I think Steam has revolutionized gaming, and the people that don’t like it either are not very familiar with the interwebs, too cheap to pay for internet, or have the disadvantage of being in a country that has internet issues.

The argument of Steam being bullshit, etc, is null and void. Just like saying, damn you linux for being not so user friendly, when there are other solutions like Windows for those not willing to think or learn. Not a Windows bash, I use it as well. Just stating that there is a choice, and one choice will allow you to not have to leave your comfort zone.

#54

only that both the VPN(provided I would like to get an actually usable one) and the Visacard cost money and I don’t buy games so often that the saving compensates for the expenses. Besides I think I could (at least) get my steam-account banned with that.
The downsides I stated weren’t meant to give an overall bad image on steam. I definitely like it.
I find myself looking through the shop, like, every day at least one time

#55

I’m generally happy with steam but there are a few niggles, firstly i think that the drm means that gamers have to take a gamble over whether that software will be available in the future I believe steam could be a threat to the future use of that software should it go down without no patch.

Secondly I really hate the fact there is no native client for Linux, which forces me to go through the slow route of wine and if that fails I have to go back to windows. Steam for Linux would really make steam more useful for me.

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