Can anyone tell me whats wrong with Steam?

[Shockolate]

Most of the hate I see is not because of Steam itself, but the idea of digital distribution.

 

[The_Critic]

What wrong with steam other then it's the devil incarnate????

Lol just kidding, I don't like steam for several reasons. It slows down my computer, I don't trust not owning a physical copy of the game,and I hate I can't trade a game in if it sucks.

Trading in games is very important imo. It's the only way you as a consumer can "punish" companies for making shoddy and bad games. For instance, if you couldn't trade in sonic freeriders you'd be very sad an angry and probably ding dong ditch sega. Trade in games keeps everyone else safe.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Steam snoops at your system specs and installed programs.

Steam will only collect that info if you go to "Help -> System Information" in the main Steam window. It takes a minute or two to actually scan your system then spits what it found back out at you. Further, if you click on that link on the bottom of the window that pops up, it brings you to a page with this on it.

Steam conducts a monthly survey to collect data about what kinds of computer hardware and software our customers are using. Participation in the survey is optional, and anonymous. The information gathered is incredibly helpful to us as we make decisions about what kinds of technology investments to make and products to offer.

Notice how the survey is optional, and I can vouche for that part since every now and again when I boot up steam I'll get a text box asking if I want to participate by letting it collect my system info. So yeah, it's rather hard to call it "snooping" if it only collects and uses the info with your permission. (an opt-in collection instead of an opt-out like most companies will do)

 

[Rad Party God]

Most people complain about it's "draconian" terms of use that you're not the real owner of the game, blah the fuck blah.

Screw them, I want to enjoy my 200+ Steam games library while I still can, before Valve decides to "shut itself down".

Also, the program itself is quite neat and I use it in as many games as possible, I even love the "Non Steam Games" feature, I also use it to stay in touch with many friends.

 

[SinisterGehe]

(1) If the service goes down permanently there's legally nothing you can do to get access to your games. Valve has double-dog swore that should such an event occur they'd release a patch that would free all their games from steamworks, but that isn't worth much to some people.

(2)You MUST log in once a month even when using offline mode, or your games will not launch.

(3)Most games require steam to be running in the background while you play it, eating up system resources.

(4)Another password/account name to remember.

(5)You don't really own your games, you're just renting them.

(6)Steam snoops at your system specs and installed programs.

(7)Their prices are pretty terrible, except for their holiday sales.

(8)Its not as good as DRM free.



^^That's all I got.

1. They have announced that they have made such a system if steam would ever come down, what I heard it is something similar like cracking steam games, it is just a few files to be downloaded or that it is few files to be downloaded and modded in your steam client. But what are the odds of steam going down srsly.

2. Ok this makes partially sense, think it from their perspective. Would you give the keys to your office to some stranger without him ever coming back to you and say "I still got the keys safe and secure". It is all about trust and as we all know majority of people can not be trusted (90.0%)

3. Lets see Steam in small mode, friend list offline (Steam.exe *32 - Sinister - Processor% 00 - Memory usage 18400kt. Yeah um... My soundriver takes more, my gaming mouses driver takes more. And most of my basic windows application takes as much CPU and memory as steam does. (And I do not have expensive computer)

4. Umm... That isn't really Steam's fault is it now

5. Read the EULA and ToS of other games. Also I have 3 music editors, none which I own, I just have their licenses. Hell you do not even own your windows, you own a license to it.

6. It asks them in a query that pop ups sometimes and always asks your permission and you decline it, but it will ask again after a while if you haven't agreed to it and you can decline again (also if I recall right you can set somewhere in the options that you do not want to participate in these queries at all. At least it isn't as invasive as origin... Which ToS breaks the Finnish law...

7. Well not really, cheaper than my local gamestop must of the time, I just bought 2033 for 2,5euros when it is 20euros in my local game stop, but in general new releases are just as expensive. But I prefer buying from steam due to easy updates and easy access to support.

8. Well can you make the whole gaming community trustworthy people who can be trusted to buy the game instead of pirating it every time there is a change for it. DRM is there for a reason, because majority of people can not be trusted.

You had good points, but they really weren't such a bad flaws in steam and they have a reasonable reason behind them. And beside the system works better and is better than some of the other ones I have tried, I would take steam over Origin anytime and anyway.

Well I give you A for effort for trying to come up with reasons to hate it.

 

[Lim3]

I love steam! It's way better the the bricks and mortar retailers here in Australia.

Origin sucks though.

 

[saxxon.de]

Mandatory patches is another complaint many have. Some patches break the game for some people, and they want the ability to roll back to an earlier patch so they can still play their game, instead of needing to wait for the next patch. The ability to choose whether or not to update would be nice, too.

Right click on the game in your library -> properties -> updates -> automatic updates -> "do not automatically update this game"

Problem solved.

Steam gets the most hate for things that were issues a long time ago and have since been changed and the simple fact that you can't sell your used games. Also, if you happen to get banned from steam or the servers shut down, or valve goes bankrupt, or in case of the apocalypse, your potentially hundreds of games are gone for good.

Oh, and as for the "you don't own your games" argument: You haven't owned any game you bought ever. You ALWAYS only buy the license to use it. Read you EULAs, eveytime you buy a program you only purchase a license to use it - usually even on one computer only and it's illegal to install it on your PC and your laptop simultaneously. But in contrast to a purchase of some program on a disc, Steam can actually reinforce this fact and hinder you to use the same license on all your computers.

 

[Gustavo S. Buschle]

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

 

[Bobbity]

Steam is awesome, except that here in Australia the download speed for patches hovers at around 100kb/s. That sucks.

 

[Gudrests]

The hate has to do with the inability to resell and rather than being sold a product you are basically buying a voucher that says let me download this from steam without having real physical ownership.

Its a tough situation, i like steam myself but i wouldn't mind a better alternative.

^ thats kinda why we get these sales on steam....not selling a physical product.

 

[Fugitive Panda]

It's a good and solid platform for people who have access to decent, unlimited broadband. To those who have metered connections, or unstable ones, some of Steam's can be a downright hassle to deal with.

This. My connection jumps back and forth between 'serviceable' and 'just put the mouse down and go outside already' pretty rapidly. Sometimes I just keep Steam in offline mode when I'm playing a single player game, otherwise it just takes forever to boot up.

That said, I think the world is a better place with Steam in it, and I will continue to use it.

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

SO STUPID

 

[Smooth Operator]

It is forced and completely unnecessary spyware, they data mine all your activities and info, luckily Steam only concentrates on info surrounding Steam games, unlike Origin that data mines your entire PC, yes all the data you have on it will be scanned and collected.

Luckily as a PC users there are plenty of patches for that shit.

 

[SammiYin]

Personally I find it completely unnecessary, it's just a bit of software you need to open, before you can open another piece of software [the game]. Now, maybe I'm being stupid, but wouldn't life be a whole lot easier if we just...opened the game? No middle man trying to flog me games I already have, or stopping me playing because there's a patch I don't want and that's taking an eternity to download.
The only positive thing I have to say about steam is it's amazing sales, everything else is just stupid and pointless.

EDIT:

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

And this, My god this.

 

[GenericAmerican]

RAGE SNIP!!!

You get taxed? I don't...I guess living in America is finally paying off for me. But don't all game in Australia get taxed, I remember Yatzhee mentioning something about the prices.

 

[Kathinka]

Personally I find it completely unnecessary, it's just a bit of software you need to open, before you can open another piece of software [the game]. Now, maybe I'm being stupid, but wouldn't life be a whole lot easier if we just...opened the game? No middle man trying to flog me games I already have, or stopping me playing because there's a patch I don't want and that's taking an eternity to download.
The only positive thing I have to say about steam is it's amazing sales, everything else is just stupid and pointless.

EDIT:

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

And this, My god this.

this, and for me another important fact:

i constantly travel back and forth between the czech republic and germany. now it occasionally happens that the games i have legally bought with my hard earned money in the czech republic can not be started in germany. they are "not avaiable in this region", as it seems. now this doesn't roll with me. the whole concept of steam bugs me, to just let me play the games i bought and payed for when and if our mighty valve overlords see it fit that i should be allowed to play.

fortunately i live in a country where the downloading of copyrighted material is not illegal. i shall therefore continue to pirate the shit out of every single game that pulls this kind of bogus stunt.

if they want my money, they'll have to get their thinly veiled DRM scheme straight.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'm not a Steam "hater" but I don't use it.

It's quite expensive compared to the like of Amazon. I know when I have a physical copy of a game that it's mine and should the internet disappear or Steam ever go offline completely that i'll always have my games.

I did try it once though. Fallout 3 on a sale so I got it. I'm a modder so thought it would be a good way to kill some hours doing some mods for Fallout 3 (I had it on the 360 so hadn't attempted to mod this one up to then). Steam didn't like that at all. I had some issues trying to run the game with my mods on.

But it's mainly the price thing. Why would I pay £34.99 when I can get it for £20 on Amazon and have a physical copy.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

What wrong with steam other then it's the devil incarnate????

Lol just kidding, I don't like steam for several reasons. It slows down my computer, I don't trust not owning a physical copy of the game,and I hate I can't trade a game in if it sucks.

Trading in games is very important imo. It's the only way you as a consumer can "punish" companies for making shoddy and bad games. For instance, if you couldn't trade in sonic freeriders you'd be very sad an angry and probably ding dong ditch sega. Trade in games keeps everyone else safe.

But... You can't trade in PC games (generally). The CD Key exists for this very purpose. Granted, some games you just need the key and the disc, but often the CD key binds to you (battlefield series), or you get limited installs (a la Spore). Dawn of War for example binds your CD key to your multiplayer alias. You can install it on multiple computers, but the multiplayer outside of LAN games is only possible on one computer at a time. Gamestop is not going to resell a pre-owned title in which their customers have to share the multiplayer portion with the last person to own the game.

And I don't know where you got the idea that trading in a game somehow "punishes" a developer, producer, or anyone who worked on the game. I don't mean to burst your bubble or be a dick, but all you're doing when you trade in a game is giving GameStop or Best Buy or whatever a way to make money off of reselling your games. Nobody who worked on the game gets a dime off of used game sales, and they aren't the ones who pay you for your games. GameStop and any other place that buys used games pay you for your games out of pocket, because they know they can get the next poor schmuck who walks in to pay more to buy the game than they did. So you're not punishing anyone. The only people I know of who might be even the slightest bit sad that you returned their game is Bungie, and even then they're not losing money, they just care about their customers. Good Developers stop caring once you've decided to no longer be a customer, Bad Developers stop caring once you become a customer. Either way a return has literally zero effect.

I don't mean to be confrontational, I just found your reasons for disliking Steam a bit strange. I can only speculate as to your computer's specs, but I've used steam on 3 desktops, one laptop and a macbook and Steam has never had any impact on the resources available. As for the physical copy vs. digital copy, I've said all that needs to be said. PC gamers don't generally have the ability to return games anyway, so not having a physical copy isn't really the biggest deal. You've got as much right to the game with a physical copy as you do with Steam. If you lose the disc, no big deal. If you lose the CD Key, you have to buy a new copy. Because the CD key IS a license. So with steam you're just buying a CD key you can never lose.