Is Steam okay for you?

[TitanAtlas]

I like Steam, heck i LOVE steam. You can get pretty solid deals, you can organise your game library well, you can interact easily with the community back and forth, and even sometimes with the moderators (wich is awesome for me when that happens).

The thing that i hate is that you NEED a internet connection and beeing logged on Steam to play some of your games, wich at times i'm away from internet (on trips or so), it kinda sucks and im left with nothing to do in the dull moments (so i pack my old ps2 and it's classic games xD).

But the engine itself works, it's user-friendly, i got so many friends and fun moments through that, i could build/ play with other people (garrys mod, and half-life2 mods), and get so many sweet deals (for games i ended not yet playing... i bought far more then i needed xD).

So yeah. I like Steam

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The reason people disagree with you is probably because you're wrong about some things. You don't need an internet connection to play a singleplayer game. Hell, you don't need one to play a lot of multiplayer games as well. I've always thought LAN play would work rather fine. It's called offline mode, it fixes that problem.

Regarding your comparison to GFWL, you're not taking into account what makes Steam better than GFWL. Namely, awesome prices, insane sales, Mac compatibility and a tonne of indie games.

 

[zidine100]

i like owning hard copys of games, i actually owning a copy of a game instead of a license to download one, i like having to hunt down patches (im not joking i find this fun), i like being able to use fan patches for old games, i like not being forced to have an account to just play a single player game aka i dislike steam.

I mean seriously come on now who wouldnt prefer to have a huge collection of games just sitting in the corner of there room. I know its impractical when it could be done digitally, but it just doesnt seem the same to me, it just feels somewhat hollow just seeing a line of text instead of a cool looking box with awesome artwork on the front, but then again i miss the big boxed games.

I do see the appeal but....

 

[Necron_warrior]

Steam is good because:
A: I'm never without internet
and
B: All my Steam bought games are accessable, never have problems downloading them and keep themselves updated.

I wouldnt say Steam is perfect, but instead of feeling its a piece of crap software designed to rape my wallet, I feel its more something that acouple of computer science guys threw together to HELP me with keeping my games together (And offers me sweet deals on single-player games).

Actually, if companies would just offer me Steam-esque services online, I'd probably buy more stuff.

Yay!, someone else on the escapist whose internet isn't a temperamental thing

OT: I actually Quite enjoy steam, It keeps all my games together without cluttering up my desktop and also updates them in the background .

 

[lacktheknack]

I fulfill all the recommended specs, have it running on the time, and fought Offline Mode into submission. It's great.

Not as mind-blowing as GOG, but still great.

 

[AngleWyrm]

I just pressed play Supreme Commander 2 button, and instead of playing the game I got a "not available at this time" dialog box. No explanation, just try later. WTF does this mean?

 

[LiL'Tic]

its free thats all it took for me

 

[floobie]

Overall I like Steam. There are some niggling issues in the back of my mind... what if Valve goes belly up? I don't really own these games, what's preventing them from cutting me off?

But, really, I've discovered way more PC games, be they AAA or indie titles because of Steam. Most of the games on my account were 5-10 bucks, which is just awesome. Overall, Steam nets a positive experience for me.

I have but one major complaint about Steam: The interface itself is a buggy mess.

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

Those are the issues I can come up with right now. Wait until (if ever) those are fixed before you start worshiping the damn thing. Until then, it's good and fills a purpose, but nothing to figuratively jizz in your pants over.

Can't tell if it was on purpose, but this line combined with your avatar made me laugh for awhile.

 

[targren]

Been a user for a long while now, and have never come across ads popping up... closest thing is a window announcing newly released titles, others that are available for pre-purchasing, new dlc packs and the like.

And those are not 'ads'... how, exactly?

I'm with the OP. As long as they have that "We can cut you off of everything you've paid for whenever we feel like it" clause in the TOS, I'll get my games elsewhere, thanks.

 

[Joccaren]

1. What's stopping you from setting up steam to load when you turn on your computer?

The fact that that would be even more of an inconvenience every time I want to play a game that isn't on Steam, as I shut down all processes not in use. Clears up my task bar a lot. I don't want to have to open task manager and kill every process as my PC loads up.

2. Most games force you to update before playing, when you play an Xbox game and there's an update for the Xbox/game then you need to update before you're able to play.

I don't use an Xbox. If you refer to games linked to GFWL, that is another stupid service that gets on my nerves. Many good games give you the option to update, but you don't have to to play.

3. It doesn't throw the ads at you.

I define a large window popping up every time I close a game as throwing them at me. I have been informed I can turn it off, why is it not off by default?

4. It's not glitching, you're just pressing shift, alt and tab at the same time for some reason.

It is glitching. Press alt tab, go into game. release alt tab. Five minutes later need to press shift to sprint or do something or other, Steam overlay pops up. I have pressed numerous buttons in the meantime that, if either alt or tab were down, would have activated hotkeys in windows or in the game. Nothing. Steam overlay, however, will pop up the moment I hit shift.

I do get why some people like Steam. It is not a practical program for me, and just gets in the way.

 

[Aegis A'Sha'Se]

I find that, for the most part, the best Steam offers is extra hoops to jump through, and less access to the game content I bought and own.
I am, realistically, a pc gamer through and through, but Steam enrages me.
I prefer physical copies in the first place, and just cannot see the apparent shining appeal of having to have access to an internet connection to use the games that, by rights, I should be able to play without all the hassle.

An added element of this is that I don't play online games with people I don't know, so I find virtually no use for Steam beyond a chat system to speak with my friends.

Nigh all the games I possess on Steam are single-player, and those few that have I multi-play I only play with friends.
Not to mention that, to access a Steam game, Steam needs to be open, and running the whole time.
Personally, I don't see the point, and miss the tried-and-true CD Key system.

Essentially, Steam is a waste of time. There. I said it.
IF you want to play online shooters like TF2, I see no reason that you can't join a server yourself, like the old days, without 'online stores' like Steam holding your hand.

 

[Phishfood]

But now that you mention offline mode, I also hate how Steam sometimes automatically updates your game the moment you go online, even if you specifically put a game into the "Do not automatically download updates" group. Seriously, it is a pain in the ass when you download an old game that doesn't support Windows 7 from steam and have to mod it in order to make it work, only for steam to put randomly turn on the update option and ruin your installation. It seems I'm not the only one who occasionally suffers from this either.

I would love for Steam to somehow upgrade their games to be windows 7 compatible, but I understand that it's not in their power to do so.

Now THAT is annoying, I haven't hit any with w7 compatability issues yet however I do occasionally use a mobile internet connection on my laptop. Always good to use half your months allowance in a day before you realise steam is downloading updates.

 

[teebeeohh]

Steam is great.
sure it's not perfect but over the years Valve has build up enough goodwill with me so i am not too bothered by the shortcomings.
besides most of the stuff that annoyed me can be turned off, like the auto-updating, the ads on quitting it has a working offline mode.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It can be improved, but overall it's a good service.

 

[Maze1125]

I define a large window popping up every time I close a game as throwing them at me. I have been informed I can turn it off, why is it not off by default?

Er... Perhaps because they want you to see the ads...
The fact you can turn them off at all is incredible, I don't know of any other service that does that. Whenever I go to GOG.com, for example, they give me ads about their games, and I can't switch those off, and on the Escapist, I have to pay if I want to turn the ads off.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

I don't like it, but I tolerate it more than I used to. Otherwise I find it's not terribly user friendly and features a few baffling design decisions. It also features some appreciated ones, though, like the gifting and chat functions; not having to alt-tab out of supported games is very convenient. I also found the fact that you can add non-Steam games to your game list cute, and depending on how they were developed, they too can be used with the Shift+Tab chat function.

 

[Aprilgold]

I agree with you. Steam is definitely the best form of DRM out there, but it's still DRM. The store is good, I guess... but then you compare to, say, GOG.com - which has no DRM - and it starts to falter again.

And no, it doesn't have an offline mode. It does not count if you have to be online first.

Want to know why? To stop people from logging on as anyone they want, the online mode is there so that you can log in, and is to stop people from accessing your account on another computer. If I want to log in as my friend, then I can do so from a different computer, however, they will verify that you want to use Steam on another computer VIA E-mail. Its a form of DRM for your account to keep your account safe. However, it will some...

What's with all these people saying you have to be online to go into offline mode? My internet had a little hiccup when I turned the computer on and then Steam popped up with a failed to connect message and gave me the option of either retrying the connection or starting in offline mode.

This is true also. As I was saying, Steam will allow you to go into Offline mode if you can't connect to the internet, it may have something to do with having it used on the same computer.

Don't like steam one bit. It annoys me that I have to face some pop-up box with commercials about games before I can actually just play a game I paid for!!! So that's the 'thanks' you get for your purchase "here, have some more of where that came from!!!".... yeah...>_<

You can turn them off in the options. It says right there. In fact, it only ads you AFTER you start and exit a game. And only once per session. "HOLY SHIT, ITS SHOVING IT DOWN MY THROAT ONCE THEREFORE THE SERVICE IS BAD!" Is what you sound like to me.


Steam is the single handed leader of Digital Distribution because it is a very good service, and gives the user plenty of options on things within the service. Quite honestly, if you hate it because you can't play offline, then why in the hell are you downloading games for a service that requires you to download the games before play. You can also go into the Steam folder and click on a file named after the game and you can usually find a way to boot the game through that.

I find that, for the most part, the best Steam offers is extra hoops to jump through, and less access to the game content I bought and own.
I am, realistically, a pc gamer through and through, but Steam enrages me.
I prefer physical copies in the first place, and just cannot see the apparent shining appeal of having to have access to an internet connection to use the games that, by rights, I should be able to play without all the hassle.

An added element of this is that I don't play online games with people I don't know, so I find virtually no use for Steam beyond a chat system to speak with my friends.

Nigh all the games I possess on Steam are single-player, and those few that have I multi-play I only play with friends.
Not to mention that, to access a Steam game, Steam needs to be open, and running the whole time.
Personally, I don't see the point, and miss the tried-and-true CD Key system.

Essentially, Steam is a waste of time. There. I said it.
IF you want to play online shooters like TF2, I see no reason that you can't join a server yourself, like the old days, without 'online stores' like Steam holding your hand.

You have the right to think what you want, I'm not here to shove my opinion down your throat, but I feel like your argument is weak as hell. You can mainly start many games through the Steam folder, I know that I've done so with things like Left 4 Dead before.

Next, having a plastic disk that has a chance of breaking is the appeal of not having a disk. If I buy a game through Steam, it will forever be bound to my account, and can't really break until the service itself is dead.

So, on your TF2 thing. I'd like to point out that is the whole point of multiplayer, playing with others. Either friends or strangers. Then you must hate Shooters in general because lets face it, if you want a full game on certain ones, you need a total of 60 friends to play with for a full lobby, in some.

I'd also like to ask, if your disk breaks, what do you do, you go buy another? Don't you. Unless you catalogue and store all of your receipts in one place, even then that only gets you so far. Online Stores being more convenient is no the same as holding your hand. Thats like saying Fast Food joints are stupid because they get you your food in under 5 minutes. Its really the same concept at works, are fast food joints holding peoples hands because it is faster then waiting 2 hours at a restaurant to get your food?

3. It doesn't throw the ads at you.

I define a large window popping up every time I close a game as throwing them at me. I have been informed I can turn it off, why is it not off by default?

4. It's not glitching, you're just pressing shift, alt and tab at the same time for some reason.

It is glitching. Press alt tab, go into game. release alt tab. Five minutes later need to press shift to sprint or do something or other, Steam overlay pops up. I have pressed numerous buttons in the meantime that, if either alt or tab were down, would have activated hotkeys in windows or in the game. Nothing. Steam overlay, however, will pop up the moment I hit shift.

I do get why some people like Steam. It is not a practical program for me, and just gets in the way.

On number three. They have to have money to hire and support employee's. Thats the reason you have ads popping up, and for the sake of simplicity, it only appears once. Throwing them at you would be forcing them to appear every single time you exit and start a game.

On four. You can change the hot keys, so if your bothered because you'd rather have the system automatically know you and your preferences that it possibly can not know until you tell it, then why not be mad at your computer for not realizing that you wanted to press M instead of N. Its a program, not a mind reader.

 

[Maze1125]

My problem with it is that it is DRM.

Then you're not thinking rationally.
DRM is just Digital Rights Managment. It could be any digital method that a publisher uses to ensure people do not misuse the software licence. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that concept, a perfect DRM method would stop all piracy without inconveniencing legitimate customers in any way, and such DRM would be 100% a good thing, unless you were a pirate.

The problems with DRM today, is not that they're DRM, but that the methods most of them use do inconvenience legitimate customers. If DRM doesn't inconvenience customers, or provides advantages that compensate for any inconvenience, then that DRM is good, not bad.

Now, you may personally believe that the advantages of Steam fail to outweigh the inconveniences, but that just means that you have an issue with the way that particular DRM works, not that you have an issue with the fact it is DRM.

Edit: Unless you're a pirate of course, then I could certainly see why you'd have an issue with it simply being DRM.