So was the ingame multiplayer menu and the autodownload of patches in CIV IV.
But I mostly downloaded the patches here as the ingame patching often sucked and reading about it, it seems Steam will do exactly that, too.
Btw.: if Steam is part of the game, no need to install 2 programs then? It is in the game, isn't it? This sounds pretty odd to me and not necessary for the average single-player offline-gamer. Ah, wait he shall get hooked up on DLC, so Steam is forced to be used. Admit it.
It's not 'forced to be used', it *is* part of the game. You do not have a choice, that is what they've developed for the PC version!
When you buy most other DVD games these days, you are actually running all sorts of 'unnecessary' 3rd party software; look at
SecuROM, and all of the dramas surrounding it. Now, I won't be making a case for anti-piracy measures, but they are a fact of life in PC gaming in this day and age. Steam just happens to handle this in a superior way than any other system I have seen.
Not that this matters to you, but Steam games also have the best generic multi-player system available today.
If you want mods and hate DLC, that's cool too; just download mods as you have previously and install, and don't buy or install any downloadable content. DLC does not stop or limit modding in any way shape or form, (if anything it encourages it). What it does allow is a platform for the developer to value add... and surprise surprise, there is a massive market for it.
People are crazy to suggest that Steam is going to make them not buy a game; but guess what, 2K came out and told you all well in advance and have a rep here wasting hours responding to your criticisms. So if you're still so paranoid about it, just do what you threaten to do, don't buy it.
However if you're prepared to *gasp* go online for all of 2 minutes after installing from a DVD, sign up, login in and Steam will validate your copy of Civ V. After that if you want Civ V for off-line single player, put Steam in off-line mode and/or don't auto-update. If you do that, then all you're doing is what you've always done to play a game, put a Civ V icon on your desktop, and double-click to play. That's it.