Civ5 - shipping with Steamworks * plus Digital Deluxe Edition

Steam is not the devil as some people here like to think. I also had my concerns when I first used it back when the orange box came out (I was predisposed because of people whining on forums about it), but it has NEVER bothered me. On the other hand it was helpful. If you have DSL internet you won't notice a thing, if you have dial up it still has offline mode. Auto patching and online backups are convenient and I don't get why some people think otherwise
...but I'm kinda pissed about the Deluxe-exclusive Babylonians.
That's what I don't like.
 
Steam is not the devil as some people here like to think. I also had my concerns when I first used it back when the orange box came out (I was predisposed because of people whining on forums about it), but it has NEVER bothered me. On the other hand it was helpful. If you have DSL internet you won't notice a thing, if you have dial up it still has offline mode. Auto patching and online backups are convenient and I don't get why some people think otherwise

yeah, maybe people don't want Steam on their computers. maybe they wont want auto updating patches. maybe they dont want to use a heavily bloated DRM service. think about that.

i consider it useless.
 
To hell with all the whiners, you better get used to things like Steam and Impulse because they're the way of the future and you're going to be left in the dust with the other luddites

"Nah uh! I'm not putting steam on my compooter!"
It can't possibly be worse then all the warez and porn you have on there now.
 
yeah, maybe people don't want Steam on their computers. maybe they wont want auto updating patches. maybe they dont want to use a heavily bloated DRM service. think about that.

i consider it useless.

All games have some type of DRM these days. It better be steam than anything else. If you boil it down, it is just a matter of how many clicks are required to get the job done, and I don't see any problems with steam.
 
If I wasn't accustomed to the downright "Chicken Little" mentality that almost every announcement about Civ5 has had over on the official forum, I would be flabbergasted. This overreaction is embarrassing for the CivFanatic community.

Steam is simply an online verification system... for the first time you install the game.

After that, you never have to sign online again. Everything else Steam related is completely voluntary. With a recent poll on Kotaku* having 81% of users pirate PC games, is it any surprise that they wanted to do something? In all honesty, they went the easiest route they could on us. In fact, when most people are asked if there is any "DRM" they are fine with, almost all will say Steam, because of the fact that it is just a simple one time internet verification that can't be surpassed with a hack.

I was actually excited when I first saw this news, as an expatriated American, I'm constantly on the move, and Steam is the easiest way to get U.S. games abroad for a reasonable price and very little hassle. It's a damn good system, and except for installing the game, it's completely optional. This is ridiculous.

*(Yes, I know Kotaku isn't representative of the entire gaming community, and that polls have confounds... blah, blah, blah... but it's pretty damn good example of how rampant PC game piracy is).
 
"Heavily bloated," lol. I have steam running 24/7, usually with 3-4 active chat windows as well, and it uses less memory than skype while it's running idle. Most anti-steam gamers just haven't actually tried it.
 
Steam is completely free to use. It runs in the background and manages updates to games and provides other features I listed above while integrating community features (friends list, groups, chat etc). It allows you to buy games digitally and download directly to any computer with steam installed, and you can do the same with supported free mods. They frequently have great sales, esp around xmas.
It also acts as DRM, meaning you have to go online to authenticate your install first time even if you install from DVD. Thereafter internet access isn't required, you can use offline mode, though obv you'd miss updates.

It's basically a content-delivery and DRM service with some nice perks, though your mileage with those may vary.

Is it just me or this guy a paid employee of Steam? 10 posts an account that shows its been active since 2002...yet the majority of the posts are in defense of Steam with detailed info on the benefits?

I am okay with the Steam decision as I have not had a bad experience yet, but the above users posts have struck me as odd.
 
I signed up just to comment on this. I've been using Steam for the better part of 6 years. I also run servers for 4 Source based games, the main being Team Fortress 2. Which is a great example of what Valve does right. A 20 dollar game that has seen over 2GB in updates since it's release. It's also one of the most heavily modded games out there. And still played like crazy 3 years after its release.
I love steam. It's a great way to connect, and work with friends while playing games. Considering most of the bloated conjecture here. There will be no changing your minds. It's kinda sad. Sure Valve did take games away from people years ago. They did it to players who changed their country of origin so they could purchase games for pennies on the dollar.

As for the price to dlc. This is normal now. Retail is probably 59 and map is 49. To get the retail price they add content. Otherwise retail would be meaningless. This doesn't mean any DLC from Valve will be charged for. Any game Valve ever made, the DLC was free. (For PC, Microsoft and Sony have different rules for consoles.)
As for other gripes.
1) You don't have to be logged into steam to play any game in single player.
2) Steam does not bog down your system, unless your running an 8 year old machine.
3) You can turn auto-update off.
4) If you can't get Steam achievements because of mods, that's the dev's fault not steam.
5) If you have any Apple product charging off a USB port. You should not be complaining about this. The devil has a big wardrobe.
 
Customers lost: +1.

Civ :cry:

Steam is not the devil as some people here like to think.

Yeah, it's the antichrist.

To hell with all the whiners, you better get used to things like Steam and Impulse

You can also get used to getting daily slapped on the back of the head, but that doesn't make it fun.


Edit: I really want to see more rage in this thread.
 
There are two types of computer users. Those who simply use the computer and are happy if they can do what they want, and those who OWN and MANAGE the computer and actually like doing this. Steam is great for the former. Not so great for the latter.

I don't see why Steam is the future. The real future is self-publishing over the internet with no middleman. This is true not just with games but also with books, movies, music, everything.
 
It seems to me we all need to take a deep breath and have another look at the situation. Steam, like just about everything else in this world, has its pros and cons. You're certainly entitled to form your own opinion about it, but most of its deriders are forming those opinions based off of information that's out of date, incomplete, or simply incorrect. Many of the aspects they object to (e.g., system information collection, automatic updates) can be turned off or opted out of, though obviously some of them (needing to have program (if not an internet connection) running, ultimately having your ownership in the hands of another) can't. It's a tradeoff.

In this case, Steam is acting as a distribution system- and one that doesn't suffer from space constraints or a need for physical discs, at that- as well as a form of DRM. No form of DRM is going to stop piracy; few can do more than slow it down, and some (by means of irritating or offending potential customers) are said to promote it. That said, publishers and game creators are going to want to protect their livelihoods, and as nice as Stardock's "let's ignore the pirates" methods seem, the Demigod fiasco has shown that they don't really work. Firaxis (if not 2K or Take Two; I don't know who's in charge of making this particular decision) wants gamers to buy its games, but also wants them to get the most pleasure out of playing them. Can you really blame them for taking what probably seemed like the best compromise?
 
There are two types of computer users. Those who simply use the computer and are happy if they can do what they want, and those who OWN and MANAGE the computer and actually like doing this. Steam is great for the former. Not so great for the latter.

I was thinking exactly the same
Steam is for stupid people, who can't manage their own computer and the games on it
WTF is this about?
Forced steam for everyone?? Go to hell

I was going to buy Civ V as soon as it somes out.
Now I will download a pirate version instead to try it out, otherwise will stick to Civ IV BtS
Great move Firaxis, you just lost half of your core civ players for Civ V
 
There are two types of computer users. Those who simply use the computer and are happy if they can do what they want, and those who OWN and MANAGE the computer and actually like doing this. Steam is great for the former. Not so great for the latter.

I don't see why Steam is the future. The real future is self-publishing over the internet with no middleman. This is true not just with games but also with books, movies, music, everything.

Right.

Remember World of Goo? That amazing self-published PC game that had no DRM?

Over 90% piracy rate.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=world+of+goo+piracy

People can claim whatever they want, but behind closed doors, most of them will try to get something for nothing. It's human nature. Assuming anything else is naivete or just hoping you get a chance to pull it off yourself.

...

Besides, it's Steam. It's about as computer resource intensive as Solitaire.
 
"Heavily bloated," lol. I have steam running 24/7, usually with 3-4 active chat windows as well, and it uses less memory than skype while it's running idle. Most anti-steam gamers just haven't actually tried it.

its way to bloated by my (very strict) standards. it is GAME PLATFORM nothing less nothing more. putting a web browser and a way to contact your friends through steam makes it bloated. and i have tried it. the download size for most games is insane. i cant download 16 gigabytes for empire total war.

There are two types of computer users. Those who simply use the computer and are happy if they can do what they want, and those who OWN and MANAGE the computer and actually like doing this. Steam is great for the former. Not so great for the latter.

I don't see why Steam is the future. The real future is self-publishing over the internet with no middleman. This is true not just with games but also with books, movies, music, everything.

i am one of the latter. i will not have steam keeping control of MY games and MY saves and MY mods. and i would NEVER get anyone control what i do with my game. remove all DRM everywhere. sure some will still pirate it, but you'd have a lot more people buying it.
 
Steam is simply an online verification system... for the first time you install the game.

Incorrect. Steam authenticates the game every time you start it if you are online and connected to Valve's servers. You can run in "offline mode" but when you sign back online, it will re-authenticate. It's pedantic, but there is a difference to people that care about privacy and consumer rights issues.

After that, you never have to sign online again. Everything else Steam related is completely voluntary. With a recent poll on Kotaku* having 81% of users pirate PC games, is it any surprise that they wanted to do something? In all honesty, they went the easiest route they could on us. In fact, when most people are asked if there is any "DRM" they are fine with, almost all will say Steam, because of the fact that it is just a simple one time internet verification that can't be surpassed with a hack.

Incorrect again. Steam games are pirated all the time. Steam prevents casual piracy, which is "good enough" for most publishers, but saying that it "can't be surpassed with a hack" is completely wrong.

Also, not to pile on, but Steam is not "voluntary" in any way. If the game uses Steamworks, then you MUST install and patch through Steam.

I have over 50 games bought on Steam, so I'm not a hater. I like the benefits that come with Steam on some games, but I also acknowledge that buying games tied to Steam is more of a lease or rental than a purchase. Steam customers have very few rights or recourse should something happen. (It's optimistic to say that Valve has always done right by gamers and that they're in it for the long haul. It's a privately owned company. Anything could happen. Gabe Newell could sell the company to a more rapacious owner, it could just go belly-up due to mismanagement.) The point is that your game is tied to their servers. You are not in charge.

For Civ V, I am unconvinced that the benefits of Steam outweigh the negatives.
 
I was thinking exactly the same
Steam is for stupid people, who can't manage their own computer and the games on it
WTF is this about?
Forced steam for everyone?? Go to hell

I was going to buy Civ V as soon as it somes out.
Now I will download a pirate version instead to try it out, otherwise will stick to Civ IV BtS
Great move Firaxis, you just lost half of your core civ players for Civ V

Even I know I'm in a small minority.

They'll lose 3-4% of sales, that's it. In return, they get free DRM. Valve gets an exclusive that really hurts its competitors (even moreso then MW2)

The only losers are the consumers.
 
Right.

Remember World of Goo? That amazing self-published PC game that had no DRM?

Over 90% piracy rate.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=world+of+goo+piracy

People can claim whatever they want, but behind closed doors, most of them will try to get something for nothing. It's human nature. Assuming anything else is naivete or just hoping you get a chance to pull it off yourself.

...

Besides, it's Steam. It's about as computer resource intensive as Solitaire.


It's not the DRM aspect that bothers me. It's that I have some useless junk software I never wanted running/taking up space on my computer (no matter how resource-unintensive it is). Now, a lot of games/peripherals/etc. have this sort of thing. The difference here is that they're forcing you to install it and keep it there.

Now, people like Steam. Fine for them. If it's that great, there's no reason to make it mandatory. There are other ways to do the rights thing.
 
Ubisoft's all-singing all-dancing "we hate our fanbase" DRM was pirated the very next day. No DRM is inviolable.

I'm not anti-client - I buy a lot of casual or point-and-click games from Big Fish Games, who also run a compulsory client for their game (which, to be fair, I'd rather not have), but I can buy their games for £6 a pop (and all the saves and such are on my machine). I am simply not buying a game for £30 that I don't even own.
 
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