Poll: Educational debate about Steam

[Iwana Humpalot]

Steam is great when they have sales, and i don't care if they are selling games above the store prices from time to time. Because if that happens i just go to store and buy game from there, it's not too hard.
I usually played my games on consoles but about 6 months ago, steam brought me to pc-gaming, and more importantly to TF2. It has been a blast, thanks steam.

 

[Eumersian]

Well I, for one, think it's OK.

I don't have many games for it, because I don't spend a lot of my time playing games on my computer. So I really can't determine if it's good or not.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm a Canadian in good standing, and I'm not paranoid that Steam is out to get me, so I have absolutely NO reason to not like them.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I love them, despite my account getting shut down. If only the people who need to fix it would get off their fat asses...

 

[varulfic]

Steam makes it faster and easier to purchase games than it is to pirate them. It's the best thing to happen to PC gaming since the invention of broadband.

 

[SonicKoala]

Steam is what you get when you mix two of the worst threats to gaming.
It's a digital distribution service, run by Valve.
No redeeming qualities there.

How is digital distribution a threat to gaming?

 

[WanderingFool]

I dont really love it or hate it. I only use it to play COD: Blops. [sub]Why do I feel like im a sinner constantly saying that?[/sub] Though I do dislike the fact that I cant seem to play the SP campaign without being connected to Steam, and I still cant get the Offline part to work...

 

[Cronq]

I have a Steam library of 80 games, and I've only spent ~$300 on it. Had I been a console gamer, I would have already spent $4k and another $60 a year just to play the games online. I used the amount I saved on the games to buy the required $2k gaming PC, which I only spent $800 on.

Almost every PC game now comes with DRM, and since I am connected to the internet 99.99% of the time and Steam has a functioning off-line mode, I don't even notice it as being DRM. Also, being from the US, I don't regularly cry about regional price differences.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I like steam for games but I hate that it interferes with xfire as xfire in my opinion is much more superior when it comes to talking to friends as I could talk to people on things like msn if I wanted to, take screenshots, videos, broadcast live on the internet and a couple of other nifty things in one program.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I love it, but I hate how some games are way over-priced or region locked, but that's not their fault, but that of the publishers.

I like buying games from Steam when they have sales on, and I like the Steam overlay that allows me to chat with friends while I'm playing games. That being said, I don't like buying retail games and being forced to play them through Steam. DRM is still DRM regardless of all the shiny bells and whistles that come with it.

And for why I hate Steam, unless there's a sale on, it's rarely. fucking. cheaper. It is beyond ridiculous when I can buy discs, with cases and manuals, for cheaper than I can get a goddamn digital download.

Spoiler

Fuck you Steam, I bought that for $49 in a retail store.

I don't think i ever saw the price of that game at $90 when did this happen?

Not when, but where. You'll find that almost all games cost that much in Australia, despite our currency being basically the same as yours.

Didn't Kotaku explain it, here? [http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/05/monday-musings-the-price-is-right/]

That's in the context of retail though. Digital distribution should cost the same amount of money after conversion for everyone.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Steam can do annoying things at times (especially if you use offline mode at all), and the prices are all over the place.
They have a lot of stuff, frequently on sale. But if it's not on sale, things can get a little messy.

But, it does tend to actually work.

Atari's direct download service on the other hand... >_< on the plus side, Atari isn't trying to get you to install some stupid client like steam.

On the downside, they use SecuROM on their games, and because you don't get a disk, that requires online activation... On top of that, the game I downloaded expects a CD key (despite not being delivered on a CD), which... They haven't given me. And after half a dozen emails to them, I still can't get them to understand this basic fact.

So... Yeah. Steam can be irritating sometimes, but it beats out the competition for a reason. At least if I buy a game on steam, I'm fairly confident it will install and work properly.

 

[Gindil]

Those who dont like in the US get fucked over by steam on the pricing. Those who do like in the US get fucked over because games are cheaper in retail stores. Other then there sales which there is tops 1-2 decent ones a year steam rips off everybody with there prices. Its really kind of funny since digital copies have less costs associated with them they are still more expensive then the physical copies. Ok for about half of their games they do match the price of retail stores.

Ok, starting off good...

The biggest thing about steam is they have never once given me a reason to like them. Almost everything they do just makes them seem like a bunch of greedy bastards.

Ok... Opinion... Easily dismissed...

I have a Steam library of 80 games, and I've only spent ~$300 on it. Had I been a console gamer, I would have already spent $4k and another $60 a year just to play the games online. I used the amount I saved on the games to buy the required $2k gaming PC, which I only spent $800 on.

Almost every PC game now comes with DRM, and since I am connected to the internet 99.99% of the time and Steam has a functioning off-line mode, I don't even notice it as being DRM. Also, being from the US, I don't regularly cry about regional price differences.

Really thats not a fair statement to make. Im pretty dam sure you didnt buy 80 AAA titles the day they came out and all for only $300. Because that is exactly what your saying with your statement. Either that or your trying to compare the prices of indie or two year old games with brand new releases, which again is rather stupid and doesnt work.

And here's where the problem starts... Your opinion on every game needing to be a AAA title interferes with the fact that there can be a lot of good games for less than $300. All that Cronq seems to say from what you quoted is that he's spent ~$300 on the games he's bought. If anything, he's also saying that his games may cost extra on consoles since things such as Xbox Live cost extra money per month to maintain their servers. There's no need to try to chastise him just because you don't like Steam.

 

[TimeLord]

Steam is fantastic for getting cheapy cheap indie games and they have awesome sales like the recent Dawn of War 50% sale xD

 

[Abedeus]

Love for making things easier and indie games. Hate for USD = EUR.


However, even if I buy something at retail or other downloading site, I can still use Steam Overlay. Is awesome when playing games like The Last Remnant, when you press few buttons, then wait for the characters and enemies to brawl it out with each other. I just watch live streams while they do it.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I don't see a reason to hate Steam. It's easy to use and has some of the best sales for no reason at all. The only valid argument I get against Steam is that you really don't own the games completely, and should Steam ever go under you will likely lose your games.

However, Steam is raking in around a billion a year right now, so it'll stay around for some time.

 

[D_987]

Then I thought about Extra Credits, probably some of the best discussion on videogames out there.

Um...if you say so I guess...

As for Steam; it's a fantastic system, it's convenient, well-designed and offers plenty of games for lower prices.

 

[Aphex Demon]

Wait, is it standard to pay almost 50 dollars more for games than North America does?

Something like that. PC games are in the $70-90 range over here when they first release, so big name games are usually $90 on PC. And PS3/360 games are usually $110 on release/are still at $110 if its name is Modern Warfare 2.

It's even worse in the UK.

Yeah I bought Black Ops on release for £50 (Xbox)

OT: They're needs to be a middle descision. At times I hate it, at times I love it. Therefore a choice cannot be made.

 

[Wintermoot]

I LOVE it, it automaticly updates your games and there is no messing around with discs and codes

 

[tharglet]

at first I hated steam because it prevented me from playing a game I brought if I didnt have enough internet to update the thing (I still cant play left 4 dead untill I find 1900mb of data)

but Ive learned to live with it and its not bad other than that

I see you're from Australia in your profile... have you checked if your ISP has Steam content servers? I've heard a few of the Aussie ISPs have them, so that you can download stuff with Steam, without it counting towards your cap.

(I have no such issues as I have an uncapped connection in the UK)


On topic: I'm a Steam fan. Can get games for cheap when they're doing a sale. Not had much trouble with it.

 

[Vault101]

at first I hated steam because it prevented me from playing a game I brought if I didnt have enough internet to update the thing (I still cant play left 4 dead untill I find 1900mb of data)

but Ive learned to live with it and its not bad other than that

I see you're from Australia in your profile... have you checked if your ISP has Steam content servers? I've heard a few of the Aussie ISPs have them, so that you can download stuff with Steam, without it counting towards your cap.

(I have no such issues as I have an uncapped connection in the UK)


On topic: I'm a Steam fan. Can get games for cheap when they're doing a sale. Not had much trouble with it.

I actually did look into that

basically its two providers internode and Telstra

even then from what I understand (at least with telstra) is its still no garuntee that steam will only use that server, you can get a program to bypass that but last thing I want to do is screw around with steam, plus I think this dosnt apply to our telstra plan (being satleite) anyway I wouldn't dare try it, we have teltra at home and if I go over our doawnload limits one more time mum will skin me alive

when Im not at home I use virgin

so yeah, but thhanks for the suggestion!