AAAHHHHHHH

[Thorton_AP]

It seems the piece of mind of feeling they aren't restricted from playing any game they have paid for at any time, without worrying about jumping through hoops.

 

I can understand if someone is dead-set against DRM they shouldn't buy games through Steam.

[Azdeus]

I get the whole physical copy thing, I really do. If I'm going to pay $50, I want a nice box and a DVD. But protesting against Steam completely strikes me as cutting off the nose to spite the face. Steam has a ton of great games on it, many for insanely low prices. It has had technical problems, but I've seen a very steady improvement in the software since it was launched. It is extremely successful, so if you are worried about losing the games you have on Steam, that is crazy.

 

It makes it easy to buy and play games. I'm not sure what else you folks need.

 

Sure, as a medium for buying low-cost games it's unbeatable. But I don't want to rely on something as untangible as an digital library when it comes to money I invested into my entertainment library, especially if I pay 500 sek per game, considering I earn(ed) roughly 9000 sek a month. There is no certainty that Steam will stay alive for aslong as i have had many of my physical games; Hell, many of the companies of my favourite games are long since dead ( Some developers at Obsidian are from those companies), but I still have my physical copies.

 

And if Steam collapses, there is no real guarantee that the games you bought will be available to you afterwards in the same way.

 

That and I hate the forced updates it "provides" me with.

 

Edit;

It seems the piece of mind of feeling they aren't restricted from playing any game they have paid for at any time, without worrying about jumping through hoops.

 

I can understand if someone is dead-set against DRM they shouldn't buy games through Steam.

 

The DRM part is also a source of annoyance, though compared to what I wrote before it's somewhat minor - as DRMs go that is.

 

Edit 2; Flood control is also a source of annoyance to me right now.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Azdeus

[Thorton_AP]

Hell, many of the companies of my favourite games are long since dead ( Some developers at Obsidian are from those companies), but I still have my physical copies.

 

I still have my ex-Obsidian dev games through Steam too, so that's somewhat of a moot point.

[Azdeus]

I still have my ex-Obsidian dev games through Steam too, so that's somewhat of a moot point.

 

Granted, but I still have the physical copy - wich I am quite certain will last longer than your Steam copies. Wich I did touch at in my previous post.

[Thorton_AP]

I still have my ex-Obsidian dev games through Steam too, so that's somewhat of a moot point.

 

Granted, but I still have the physical copy - wich I am quite certain will last longer than your Steam copies. Wich I did touch at in my previous post.

 

 

To each his own. I am quite confident that my physical copies wouldn't last longer than my steam copies. Since I had already lost my physical copies.

 

Basically though, you're stating that you feel that Steam is guaranteed to fail?

[Hurlshort]

I still have my ex-Obsidian dev games through Steam too, so that's somewhat of a moot point.

 

Granted, but I still have the physical copy - wich I am quite certain will last longer than your Steam copies. Wich I did touch at in my previous post.

 

I doubt that. Getting old games to work on new computers is a crap-shoot. At the least, you will need to jump through a few hoops to get the game to work.

 

Your Steam library, on the other hand, will move forward with the technology.

[Azdeus]

To each his own. I am quite confident that my physical copies wouldn't last longer than my steam copies. Since I had already lost my physical copies.

 

Basically though, you're stating that you feel that Steam is guaranteed to fail?

 

Don't rightly know, I'm not an economist - but I don't like to gamble either. And I've yet to loose track of a game I've lended to someone, or misplaced/broken any CD's.

 

I doubt that. Getting old games to work on new computers is a crap-shoot. At the least, you will need to jump through a few hoops to get the game to work.

 

Your Steam library, on the other hand, will move forward with the technology.

 

It's not that bad, I've gotten most of my old DOS games working, although I have'nt tried it on this specific computer yet.

 

The Steam library might do it automatically, but there are strings attached. For instance; I've lost track of the number of games I've bought and sold second hand. If I buy a Steam game and I am displeased with it, I'd have to sell my account with the game aswell (Wich the TOS does'nt allow. Pricks.) or just plain keep it.

[Purkake]

Man, lots of folks who don't like Steam around these parts. Maybe it is somehow tied to being an old school PC gamer and disliking change?

 

Maybe we should have a for/against Steam poll?

[Azdeus]

Oh, gee thanks for that slap in the face. It's got **** all to do with change, I would've disliked it even if it was an 20 year old idea.

 

Would'nt mind a poll though, sounds fun.

[Thorton_AP]

The Steam library might do it automatically, but there are strings attached. For instance; I've lost track of the number of games I've bought and sold second hand. If I buy a Steam game and I am displeased with it, I'd have to sell my account with the game aswell (Wich the TOS does'nt allow. Pricks.) or just plain keep it.

 

I've never sold a second hand game either, so this also doesn't affect me.

 

You are a very organized and meticulous person. I am not. Hence, Steam offers me very distinct advantages over physical media.

[Morgoth]

I totally embrace Steam and all, but as long as retail games are 15-17

[Thorton_AP]

That makes perfect sense and I'd probably do the same.

 

Where is Steam most prevalent? I have heard Europe, but that seems surprising in the face of its pricing.

[Purkake]

Oh, gee thanks for that slap in the face. It's got **** all to do with change, I would've disliked it even if it was an 20 year old idea.

 

Would'nt mind a poll though, sounds fun.

Just proposing a hypothesis, people around other parts seem to have embraced Steam much more. Maybe it's a geographical/cultural issue?

[Azdeus]

I've never sold a second hand game either, so this also doesn't affect me.

 

You are a very organized and meticulous person. I am not. Hence, Steam offers me very distinct advantages over physical media.

 

 

*Looks around the room, coughs* Right, whatever you say. *Grin*

 

I'm not saying Steam does'nt have something for anyone, but I just don't happen to need any of it.

My mate got his Steam account shut down for cheating, though knowing that he's never cheated at anything during the 15 years I've known him, and the time he was supposed to be playing he was doing something completely different - we both suspected he'd had his password stolen/hacked. He still lost his entire game library due to that.

 

@Purkake; I live across the Baltic Sea from you, so sez the location indicated in my profile.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Azdeus

[Thorton_AP]

I'm not saying Steam does'nt have something for anyone, but I just don't happen to need any of it.

My mate got his Steam account shut down for cheating, though knowing that he's never cheated at anything during the 15 years I've known him, and the time he was supposed to be playing he was doing something completely different - we both suspected he'd had his password stolen/hacked. He still lost his entire game library due to that.

 

Just to be clear, you're saying that Valve completely revoked access to his Steam account because the account was compromised and was caught cheating?

[Azdeus]

He's saying that, I don't have his account details and I have'nt spoken with him in a while, don't know if it was temporary or not - only coherent information I could get from him at that time was "The #

[Purkake]

I've never sold a second hand game either, so this also doesn't affect me.

 

You are a very organized and meticulous person. I am not. Hence, Steam offers me very distinct advantages over physical media.

 

 

*Looks around the room, coughs* Right, whatever you say. *Grin*

 

I'm not saying Steam does'nt have something for anyone, but I just don't happen to need any of it.

My mate got his Steam account shut down for cheating, though knowing that he's never cheated at anything during the 15 years I've known him, and the time he was supposed to be playing he was doing something completely different - we both suspected he'd had his password stolen/hacked. He still lost his entire game library due to that.

 

@Purkake; I live across the Baltic Sea from you, so sez the location indicated in my profile.

You can easily get your account re-enabled if it was a mistake from what I've heard, especially if he got his password stolen.

 

I wasn't speaking about your location specifically, but in more general terms. Steam is fairly popular here in Estonia from what I know.

[Azdeus]

You can easily get your account re-enabled if it was a mistake from what I've heard, especially if he got his password stolen.

 

I wasn't speaking about your location specifically, but in more general terms. Steam is fairly popular here in Estonia from what I know.

 

During the time I spent with him they refused, even though we could show them video evidence and paper evidence he was nowhere near a computer (Besides the ECU of the car, and the laptop programming it). This was only a few days though, don't know what happened later since I have'nt discussed matters of computergames with him afterwards.

 

I can't generally comment on Sweden, and most of my friends are members/voters of/for Pirate Party so their opinions are'nt exactly mainstream.

 

Though the Swedish PC Gamer forums seems to have quite a few Steam users, I don't know if they really like it or just use it because it's comfortable.

[Purkake]

At the end of the day you're exchanging convenience for potential long-term safety.

[LadyCrimson]

Man, lots of folks who don't like Steam around these parts. Maybe it is somehow tied to being an old school PC gamer and disliking change?

 

Maybe we should have a for/against Steam poll?

While I'm sure some ppl are just stubborn like that, I'm not sure how disliking the chance (even if it's not a huge chance) that maybe one day you'll lose access to all those games you paid for is being old-school. So I don't think it's just being 'old school'....I know quite a few much younger than myself who dislike Steam as well.

 

There's also (or at least there was, assume that hasn't changed?) the aspect on Steam where you can't control what patch is applied to the games you buy, since it auto-updates when you login to that game or something. So for me there's also a control freak issue in there, because I don't always want to play the patched version of a game.

 

Cultural I could maybe see...liking to feel like you own something, rather than rent it, and CD/DVD=physical manifestation of ownership.

Edited July 15, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[Calax]

I totally embrace Steam and all, but as long as retail games are 15-17

[Purkake]

Man, lots of folks who don't like Steam around these parts. Maybe it is somehow tied to being an old school PC gamer and disliking change?

 

Maybe we should have a for/against Steam poll?

While I'm sure some ppl are just stubborn like that, I'm not sure how disliking the chance (even if it's not a huge chance) that maybe one day you'll lose access to all those games you paid for is being old-school. So I don't think it's just being 'old school'....I know quite a few much younger than myself who dislike Steam as well.

 

There's also (or at least there was, assume that hasn't changed?) the aspect on Steam where you can't control what patch is applied to the games you buy, since it auto-updates when you login to that game or something. So for me there's also a control freak issue in there, because I don't always want to play the patched version of a game.

 

Cultural I could maybe see...liking to feel like you own something, rather than rent it, and CD/DVD=physical manifestation of ownership.

I wasn't implying that it was only that.

 

Also, you can disable auto-patching in the options.

 

If that DVD requires online authentication, it might as well be a shiny coaster.

[LadyCrimson]

I wasn't implying that it was only that.

 

Also, you can disable auto-patching in the options.

 

If that DVD requires online authentication, it might as well be a shiny coaster.

The wiki (which I know isn't always reliable...) still says: "While there is no option to globally disable automatic updates, it is possible to set a specific game to only update when requested by the user. Steam requires that games be fully patched before they can be played, however."

 

So that isn't true anymore, then? It's been 2-3 years since I last tried it....and like I said, I was considering installing it again for purposes of a few minor games here and there, but haven't yet.

 

In terms of online auth upon install...yes, that's true. I don't like that either, so I either have to really really really want a game to buy it or have it be a game where I figure I won't care much about reinstalling it a couple years from now anyway. 8-)

Edited July 16, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[Purkake]

Can't say that I have tried it personally. I do know that you can disable automatic updates and yes you'll have to do it game by game. I was under the impression that only online games required to be up to date to be played, but that's just speculation on my part. I'm sure someone could test it out, though.

 

Forget the power of the physical medium and retail stores, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of innovation and free market, for in the grim darkness of the far future there is only Steam.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Purkake

[Hurlshort]

I have automatic updates turned off due to a weak connection, I just choose when I want to update specific games.

 

Also, Steam has done well for itself. Maybe 20 years down the road, it won't be as strong and will have to shut down. But be honest about the lifespan of your hardcopy games...games that pre-date 1990 are very difficult to run on modern OS's.

 

I think it is more likely that Steam will be even stronger in 20 years as high speed internet becomes even faster and social networking becomes part of the everyday experience.