Anyone else starting to feel like Steam owns their soul?

[MSI Magus]

I havnt been into PC games for some time. Part of it is that it just seems there arnt enough good PC exclusives anymore. Another big part of it is it seems like half the time whenever I get a PC game its a huge ordeal. The game must install several disks, then patch.....but the game doesnt like my firewall so I have to fuck around with it to get it to patch, then when I click play it turns out the game doesnt like some version of some peice of software or some other stupid thing. It means its often hours later before I actually get to sit down and finally play my game! Then if I decide I want to replay the game I have to hunt it down from a box in storage somewhere since PC games till recently took up more shelf space and didnt get replayed as often because of these problems.

But then came steam! I saw people posting under video game deals about different steam games and was kind of reluctant until I saw Peggle on sale for $1. I had pirated peggle in the past and loved it and had always said if I saw it for $5 or below would buy it. I also knew it would have my fiancee out of my hair every night since she would be addicted again too! Buying peggle was just such a streamlined process that it left me really impressed with steam. I clicked paypal payment, the game downloaded, it installed and then imagine this.....IT PLAYED! I figured that it must just be because peggle is such a new game and a small casual game but when I picked up Half Life at the $1 sale it was the same experience. Since then I have purchased another dozen or so games and find myself checking every weekend to see what they have on sale excitedly, and I find myself playing these games enjoying the abilty to install and uninstall/play in a blink.

The final thing that made me realize that I wasnt just a steam fan but that they actually have me hooked/addicted to their service was today when I decided I wanted to buy Civ 4 complete. I looked it up and saw it was still $50 on steam and then looked on ebay and some other retailers and saw it was only $30. Despite the price difference I was seriously tempted to buy the damn game from steam, and even though I didnt buy it I decided to wait till steam had a sale or price dropped it!

Does anyone else feel this way? It really does seem like Steam may not have got me excited about PC gaming again....but they at least have my attention and when I want a PC game I want it through their service only!

[xycury]

with GOG.com and Steam, I'm in the same boat.

But I've always considered myself a PC gamer anyways.

It is truly slick how most of these all just work. almost too console-ish ;)

Anyways I am always eager to find out what Steam has for sale.

And yes... Steam stole my soul a long time ago.

I wish for more of the pc gaming underground to go digital distribution, but there is always the licensing and the legal way of doing all of it that most of it is out of any control from a gamer standpoint.

It's all for money anyways, and if someone isn't making something from it, it'll never see daylight, which stinks.

Hail to the future. Gladly accept Steam, as long as they still stay in business for decades to come.

I suppose the only thing I would want is to be able to give up a Steam game to someone else... but probably some way around that through a backup and offline play.

[MSI Magus]

with GOG.com and Steam, I'm in the same boat.

But I've always considered myself a PC gamer anyways.

It is truly slick how most of these all just work. almost too console-ish ;)

Anyways I am always eager to find out what Steam has for sale.

And yes... Steam stole my soul a long time ago.

I wish for more of the pc gaming underground to go digital distribution, but there is always the licensing and the legal way of doing all of it that most of it is out of any control from a gamer standpoint.

It's all for money anyways, and if someone isn't making something from it, it'll never see daylight, which stinks.

Hail to the future. Gladly accept Steam, as long as they still stay in business for decades to come.

I suppose the only thing I would want is to be able to give up a Steam game to someone else... but probably some way around that through a backup and offline play.

It being consolish is why I am enjoying it so freaking much. You get the great PC mods and for games like Civ and FPSers the great controls, but you get the simplicity of use of consoles which is freaking amazing. This is the first time in I don't even know how long that I have found myself thinking I am going to buy the PC version of stuff vs the console one. If my PC will run them I am going to get FO3 and L4D on the PC vs the console.

I have looked at GoG and even have an acount but I have yet to buy anything from them. Nothing has jumped at me as I have to have this and I also hate having to purchase from 2 different services. Monopolies are bad....but part of me almost wishes Steam had one.

[Chacrana]

No, since I don't use Steam.

[Serik]

Heh, according to my community profile, I've been using Steam since September 2003. I've had zero problems with it in the last six years and really enjoy the service. It's has spoiled me rotten, though. I love being able to browse my game library (or Steam steam), click, download, and play without ever leaving my house or searching for CD keys.

Digital distribution also gives more money to the people who actually make games. I'd rather my $40 go straight to Valve than to Target.

[ninja dog]

Not really. I still buy the game where I can get it cheapest. or day 1 in-store so I don't have to spend time downloading. I don't think Steam's automation is always a good thing. If I boot it up for the first time in weeks just to let my niece and nephews play peggle, shit gets bogged down when I have to download updates for a bunch of my games.

I buy from them when they have their occasional amazing deals.

[necrojustice]

I pretty well love steam. Having said that, I'm extremely cheap. I bought some stuff from them during the Christmas/New Year sale and haven't bought since. I do love it though.

[darthbudge]

I have really come to love Steam ever since they started having weekend deals.

[xycury]

Not really. I still buy the game where I can get it cheapest. or day 1 in-store so I don't have to spend time downloading. I don't think Steam's automation is always a good thing. If I boot it up for the first time in weeks just to let my niece and nephews play peggle, shit gets bogged down when I have to download updates for a bunch of my games.

I buy from them when they have their occasional amazing deals.

Don't blame Steam for user error.

All the games can be configured to check for updates automatically. Just switch it to never and update yourself whenever you have time.

Just update when you play it when you want to. Something for like TF2 might need them, but for Peggle, maybe not.

[jalu6]

Yes, they do. In fact, my steam password is the most secure one I have. I guard it with my life.

[crystalklear64]

Steam is fairly convenient and their sales make me buy games I would normally.. not pay for. However, the requirement to be online to play certain games (ie. I tried playing portal at my parents house setting up my comp in the living room to impress on the hdtv with no internet connection and it refused to launch) is a bummer, selecting Work Offline never works which is funny because the error it gives for Work Offline is that it cannot find an internet connection.

Also, with the size of games these days and my download speeds being around the 40-70kb area, I'll often just go to a store and buy the game so I don't have to wait 2-3 days to download it, so it removes the convenience, though it is nice that you can buy some games and have it integrate with steam.

Another thing that is minor compared to the rest is the startup times of the games. The initial startup of a steam game takes quite a long time, 2-3 mins, then when you join a game, such as a tf2 server, it takes another 2-3 minutes the first time (after that first time it takes about 10 seconds to load into a different server). If the games would launch via their own executable rather than through steam, this time is cut down quite a bit (see Mass Effect). So, this stops me from playing the games for some reason. I'd rather just click on my special copy of Dawn of War, Diablo 2, or Guild Wars which takes about 5 seconds from clicking the icon to being in the game and then loads up instantly.

My final issue is that there is no way to trade or sell your steam games. The market for used PC games has shrunk to almost nothing, but for some of us, I don't care if the CD-Key is already used for a game, I just want the discs so I don't have to spend forever and a day downloading stuff. I can find the CD-Key by itself later for cheap or free. So, if I could simply buy a game license from someone for cheap and then buy the discs from someone else on the cheap, that'd be fantastic.

Overall, its a nice platform, but its a little too automated (I can't choose to patch up to a certain point), and while not really legal, it does remove much of the fun from LAN get togethers of game swapping and playing for the night. Maybe not many others still do that, but its one of the few ways I can enjoy lag free gaming with friends. I'd gladly pay for better internet if it was offered, but for now I don't have that option.

And finally, fuck any sort of DRM, steam included.

[cgarb84]

Yeah I love Steam. At first I was like everyone else, talking about what a piece of shit Steam was. But in the years since its launch Valve has salvaged it into a real work of art. And I appreciate how they aren't just sitting around on their giant piles of money, they are continuing to add and tweak features to help improve the service.

[MSI Magus]

Steam is fairly convenient and their sales make me buy games I would normally.. not pay for. However, the requirement to be online to play certain games (ie. I tried playing portal at my parents house setting up my comp in the living room to impress on the hdtv with no internet connection and it refused to launch) is a bummer, selecting Work Offline never works which is funny because the error it gives for Work Offline is that it cannot find an internet connection.

Also, with the size of games these days and my download speeds being around the 40-70kb area, I'll often just go to a store and buy the game so I don't have to wait 2-3 days to download it, so it removes the convenience, though it is nice that you can buy some games and have it integrate with steam.

Another thing that is minor compared to the rest is the startup times of the games. The initial startup of a steam game takes quite a long time, 2-3 mins, then when you join a game, such as a tf2 server, it takes another 2-3 minutes the first time (after that first time it takes about 10 seconds to load into a different server). If the games would launch via their own executable rather than through steam, this time is cut down quite a bit (see Mass Effect). So, this stops me from playing the games for some reason. I'd rather just click on my special copy of Dawn of War, Diablo 2, or Guild Wars which takes about 5 seconds from clicking the icon to being in the game and then loads up instantly.

My final issue is that there is no way to trade or sell your steam games. The market for used PC games has shrunk to almost nothing, but for some of us, I don't care if the CD-Key is already used for a game, I just want the discs so I don't have to spend forever and a day downloading stuff. I can find the CD-Key by itself later for cheap or free. So, if I could simply buy a game license from someone for cheap and then buy the discs from someone else on the cheap, that'd be fantastic.

Overall, its a nice platform, but its a little too automated (I can't choose to patch up to a certain point), and while not really legal, it does remove much of the fun from LAN get togethers of game swapping and playing for the night. Maybe not many others still do that, but its one of the few ways I can enjoy lag free gaming with friends. I'd gladly pay for better internet if it was offered, but for now I don't have that option.

And finally, fuck any sort of DRM, steam included.

Compltly agree with the complaints. Their service has won me over but there are ways they can improve such as allowing better offline play and load times. What is their DRM policy anyways? I thought it was better then MS's. O and the ability to resell your games would own all.

[Serik]

Impulse is a better system simply because you never have to see the client after you install a game (unless you want to check for updates). It also gives you the option of where to install the game.

[MSI Magus]

Impulse is a better system simply because you never have to see the client after you install a game (unless you want to check for updates). It also gives you the option of where to install the game.

Whats impulse?

[ninja dog]

Don't blame Steam for user error.

All the games can be configured to check for updates automatically. Just switch it to never and update yourself whenever you have time.

Just update when you play it when you want to. Something for like TF2 might need them, but for Peggle, maybe not.


"User error" my ass! There's no error here, this is how the platform works--it's designed so that you should leave it on 24/7. I don't use it as much these days, so I'd rather not. The whole idea of Steam is that it can take care of stuff in the background, so you don't have to sit there for an update when you want to play. But when you aren't on for a month or two, they pile up and you may as well get them so that next time isn't so brutal. And I forgot to mention the lovely steam platform updates which require restarts as well.

Since I'm not connected at the hip to the platform, it's not as godly of an experience for me.

Sorry for pointing out a problem with Steam.

[Serik]

Whats impulse?

A digital distribution service from Stardock. They don't have as many big-name publishers, but plenty of indie games and Stardock-published games (GalCiv2, Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod)

THQ's catalog is now on Impulse though.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/

[xycury]

"User error" my ass! There's no error here, this is how the platform works--it's designed so that you should leave it on 24/7. I don't use it as much these days, so I'd rather not. The whole idea of Steam is that it can take care of stuff in the background, so you don't have to sit there for an update when you want to play. But when you aren't on for a month or two, they pile up and you may as well get them so that next time isn't so brutal. And I forgot to mention the lovely steam platform updates which require restarts as well.

Since I'm not connected at the hip to the platform, it's not as godly of an experience for me.

Sorry for pointing out a problem with Steam.


I NEVER run steam 24/7.

I'd still say user error because there is a feature you can simply say don't update if i you don't want it to.

Again I agree, you should play whenever, but most of the updates are quick, and when you want to, if you configure your steam correctly.

I'm not connected at the hip either... but making a problem out of laziness is not really a problem.

I used to hate on steam too, but it's turned me around with the sales it's been having. Much better than having to resort to the old CDs that may not work.

[hero101]

Steam used to own my soul when it booted up with windows. I hate downloading games since it is slow on my internet. However, the yearly sales are pretty good.

[MSI Magus]

A digital distribution service from Stardock. They don't have as many big-name publishers, but plenty of indie games and Stardock-published games (GalCiv2, Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod)

THQ's catalog is now on Impulse though.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/

Do they have sales ever and whats their DRM? Also have you found the games boot up as effectivly as they do on steam or are their problems?

[keiblerfan69]

I recently started playing CS: Source again because two of my friends started playing it. I am now in love with Steam and partly because of this I am building a new gaming machine. My personal opinion is that Steam is the greatest thing to happened to PC gaming and if it was for Steam PC gaming would be dead right now.

[KingDox]

The only problem I've had with Steam was Company of Heros kept asking for a CD. But I think that was related trying to download the game over my company network. The problem seemed to be the corp firewall was blocking a port the game needed to use. At home the game worked fine.

[Koggit]

I wish Steam gave you the option to order a physical copy if you wanted, for like $10 extra or whatever... that's what a lot of productivity software companies do, for digital distribution. $70 for a download & CD key, $10 - $15 extra for a physical copy mailed to you.

But yeah I like Steam.

[paintball745]

i just got saints row 2(i know i know) from gogamer.com and the wway you activated it was you punched in the cd key in steam and downloded it.and you still had your physical copy.

[Sokkratez]

I want to have babies with Steam. I'm just about to the point where I simply won't buy a game if it isn't on Steam.