why is Origin= Bad...Steam =Good?

[V8 Ninja]

I believe the reason to be is that Steam is much more than just a service; it's a great place to get good deals, it's a great social platform for video game players, and the game features that Steam provide are top-notch. While on the other hand, Origin appears to be just another barrier for paying customers wanting to play their games (I haven't used Origin myself, hence the "appears").

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

I think it's the way you can compare the two services based on who's giving them.

Origin seems to be rather restrictive and tightly woven into games weather you like it or not.
Steam is more or less looser and open and is optional if you wish to buy a game through their service.

 

[Bradeck]

Also, and I am unsure if this is true, but I heard that EA's Origin has a maximum ammount of downloads you are allowed before having to repurchase the game, which obviously does not exist on Steam.

Can anyone confirm or deny? Thanks in advance.

PS - No: "I haven't had a problem." posts. Thats a bullshit cop out. I want to know matter of factly if it's true, that you can only re-download a game so many times on Origin.

 

[Joccaren]

It's EA's way of monitoring their audience. Origin basically takes the information on your computer, operating system, and the hardware and software you have installed, and gives it to other companies for marketing.

Do you have Facebook?
Do you have Steam?
Do you have any program on your computer that connects to the Internet?
Its scanning you and handing your info out. Origin doesn't hand it to other companies, only EA. If you are that paranoid about your info being got, don't download anything, don't use anything that connects to online and stay offline your whole life. Origin ain't the first, worst or even most common. People just don't trust EA, which more recently I have begun to fade off - until their next mistake, but eh.

Current games that release on the PC require you to have an Origin account to play them. And you can't play games offline anymore, regardless of whether you own retail or digital.

So... To play EA games you need an Origin account, just like to play Valve games + any number of other titles added to Steam you NEED a Steam account - even if you bought retail. And I call BS that you can't play offline - I've done it many times when my ISP started Derping, you just can't play online multiplayer offline (As if anyone would ever think you could)

If it were optional, I wouldn't have a problem with it. The fact that EA wants to make this permanent is what presses my buttons.

Steam is not optional. Valve wants to make Steam permanent, and largely has. It is my problem with digital distribution on the whole, but this does nothing to prove Origin is worse than Steam.

 

[willis888]

You've begun from a flawed premise.

"Everyone" does not love Steam.

I don't use either service, and if more digital distribution channels open that prevent you from playing your games without their server's approval, I'll avoid using those as well.

 

[Richard Keohane]

It took Steam nearly three days to respond to my email about resetting my password. After that it took another two days to actually work. Why is their no "I forgot my password" link to click on. Hell even Origin has that.

There's a button to recover lost account info. Look harder.

 

[Richard Keohane]

- Origin accounts being linked to EA forum accounts, frankly that is beyond a joke. Bans on the forums result in you being unable to access games.... really?

To be fair, if you get banned on a forum you probably should go to your room to think about what you did and not come down and play videogames until you learned your lesson.

Unless there is some Orwellian moderation going down on their forums I really can't help but like this.

 

[Vrach]

The hate comes mainly from the privacy breach. Origin's pretty creepy as far as computer monitoring goes. This is the absolute main issue that Origin hate is based on, but all of the below fuel it further and make it a bigger deal.

There's also the fact that EA reserved some of its games, as far as digital download distribution goes, to Origin or made them unavailable to Steam (the latter for which I think they're wrongly blamed as it's perfectly ok imo that they don't want to accept Steam's DD terms)

Then there's also how shitty Origin is compared to Steam. Now, if this was restricted to the deals they were offering, that'd be one thing. Steam's been there itself. But the UI and the way it handles is absolutely atrocious and not something you can blame on it being a new application. For example, when playing Battlefield 3, I open my Origin overlay and when I close it, it sometimes "restores" Battlefield 3, immediately throwing it back into fullscreen upon clicking something, costing me some 10 seconds of downtime. Yeah, not much, but the whole point of overlay is to avoid that downtime, so it basically fails at what it's trying to do.

Now, couple those completely legit complaints with the general hate that comes with being a big company and EA in particular and you get a nice hate cake, sprinkled on top with the fact that it has Steam to compare with, which is like comparing a Yugo to a Ferari in a situation where you're not paying to choose one of the two.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I have no experience with Origin. With the idea of the monopoly though, it allows everyone to play together, and where's the harm in that?

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

here I thourght I had

Origin...everyone hates it, more or less,its become a symbol of how awful EA are

and then there steam..EVERYONE loves steam..steam are an example of how awsome Valve are

now I acutally like valve..espeically compared to EA

but WHY is this? I mean is it really a good thing for one digital distribution service to have a "monopoly" on the market? Steam has screwed me over a number of times (losing my game data, forcing my to use it and download a whole load of data before I can play my game...on a game I got retail..no less)

I know origin is aparently not perfect as a platfrom/service but some people seem to hate it for the fact that it exists, and that it isnt steam

so tell me...why is steam so great when origin is so awful?

Well if you want an idea of why people don't like Origin, just look at this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113314-EA-Changes-Origin-Terms-of-Services-Forbids-Class-Action-Lawsuits], this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112559-Internet-Explodes-Over-Origins-Invasion-of-Privacy], this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.328868-EA-now-issuing-permanent-Origin-bans-through-content-filter], and this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114273-Questions-Still-Swirl-Around-EAs-Origin-Bans]. Does that give you an idea of why people might have a less than positive view of Origin?

 

[Richard Keohane]

this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.328868-EA-now-issuing-permanent-Origin-bans-through-content-filter]

Sweet mother of pearl. That's low, even by EA's standards.

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

TF2 and other games require you to download Steam. What's so bad about Origin? My guess is people are saddlesore from DA:2 and BF3 and are now taking it on anything that smells like EA.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

I don't oppose a monopoly as long as they are run by people who care for us.

 

[midget_roxx]

For me it's the privacy issues. I kinda like Origin at least in terms of looks. If it didn't constantly send my details to some arbritary database I wouldn't mind giving it a decent go

 

[Rottweiler]

I'm a little confused...how can you say 'sure they have access to my computer...but that's okay?'

Dude, I don't volunteer for my *friends* to do that, why would I allow a company who intends to profit from it do so?

So you don't care about your porn...how about your email addresses? Those are in there. Passwords? What other information is there, that could be taken without your knowledge or consent?

I don't have any idea how much data they could get- but I am leery of any large profit-making company being willingly given that much access to my computer. *Especially* when they are legally covered in doing so.

 

[Aprilgold]

Because too many PC gamers are Valve fanboys that will bend over and take anything from their digital distribution service while just smiling and asking for more Half-Life. While any similar wrong doings from the main digital distribution service for EA will just be taken as proof of their 'See EA is evil and shouldn't be trusted' mentality.

Or, you know, the fact that EA is a giant dick to the whole industry and that EA is the ultimate bad guy. And they shut down Pamdemic Studios, those fucking assholes. Quite honestly, I despise EA just for shutting down Pamdemic before letting them try and develop two games under EA.

Origin is literally just Steam in a less finished version. Doesn't bring anything new to the table and, with several hundred customers not getting their games or DLC's even after paying for them is atrocious. Onlive is a better then Origin, since it brings something new to the table and acutally manages to be reliable, and then Steam is top dog because it was such a game changer.

Also, I'd like to point out that a large amount of PC gamer's know why Valve is top dog, and thats becuase of Half Life 2, which introduced cinematic action. What Cinematic Action is, to put it simply, being able to play through a sequence that would usually be reserved for a cut-scene. Also, physics. Half Life 2 had mindblowing physics back in the day.

Also, Steam didn't have me on customer support for 7 FUCKING BRAIN WAGGLING HOURS before finally getting someone who tried to help my problem, failed and then I said fuck it and lost 60$ which went right up EA's bumhole.

To break it down simply, this is the internet. You are required to hate EA and any/everything that they do. You are also supposed to love Steam unconditionally. However their are flaws with this thinkig. For example.

Steam = Constant updates, Constant Discounts (Daily/Mid-Week/Weekend), Friendly, and Fast customer service.

It took Steam nearly three days to respond to my email about resetting my password. After that it took another two days to actually work. Why is their no "I forgot my password" link to click on. Hell even Origin has that.

Welp, theres good reasons why people hate EA. I was stuck on Customer Support because after a game purchase for Origin, Origin did not start and the game did not appear in my libary. I contact customer support, and tell the lady the problem, and then disconnect. Then came this man who was going to connect me to his boss. This took three hours to do, and then disconnect. I get another lady who had a very difficult time understanding my problem, and leaves, took two hours for her to finally disconnect. And about a hour of waiting time between the boss transfer and the second lady. On the seventh hour, a lady asks how I'm doing, and then disconnects. The game I bought was 60$, and all that money went straight to them, I lost all of it and never got anything to compensate.

I could sit here all day telling you exactly why EA is a bad company, marketing M rated games to kids, upsetting the Baby Sitter Association, milking franchises, destroying dev teams ripe with potential before their second game can come out. Hiring teams that don't fit with their strategies on development. Treating every gamer as a pirate waiting to happen and more. Steam has never made me feel like they thought I was going to turn around and pirate their whole library of games.

Also, theres a button that says RECOVER LOST ACCOUNT INFO or something to that degree. It does what it says.