You do know that GOG exists, right? It has thousands of games on it, some of them even quite recent, and their big selling point is that they have no DRM at all.
Clearly there is room in the marketplace for all sorts of game distributors, including GOG. I never disputed this.
So I'm having to explain why DRM is anti-consumer, despite several examples already given? Why?
We're talking about two completely different things. I am talking about Steam the platform and you are talking DRM *the concept*. You say DRM is inherently anti-consumer. My position is that context and implementation matter (quite a bit)
Yes, I understand that DRM puts limits on what you can do with the software. Has this affected me in any way in the last decade? No. The implementation does not seem very anti-consumer to me. If it was so anti-consumer, how come all the games I play allow mods, were sold to me for for the most part for a very cheap price, how come I can play them on whatever device I want, how come can I install it an infinite amount of times, how come can I copy the game files if I want, how come do I feel like this was a platform for gamers designed by gamers? and.. so many other positive things I am getting out of the experience.
If you want me to agree that DRM puts limits on what you can do with your software, then I'd be a fool to disagree. That's essentially what it's designed to do. If you want me to agree that my gaming experience is anti-consumer and has been for the last 10 years, then I can't agree because that would be a lie.
This actually is the crux of the problem. There was a span of several years where this wasn't true, and only very very hard work made it not a permanent state of affairs. Valve created the environment "if you want to play games, you have no choice but Steam," and if they had their way that would still be the case now and into the future.
But what about Gog? What about Epic games? What about standalone games you can still (I think) buy in stores? There seem to be so many gaming stores online where you can buy games. The options for gamers these days seem so much more incredible than what we had in the 90s.
What about all the indie studios that have popped up during this .. well.. gaming golden age? You can buy many of those games directly through the publisher. That's how I initially bought Kerbal Space Program. Then I was given the
option of transferring my ownership license to a steam key.
Is it a problem? What's the alternative? How are you going to put up an online store selling games without DRM in a way that involves the major players? It seems to me that if this was possible people would be already doing it. Some online stores are doing that (I think), but they have fairly limited catalogs. That's because the major players, who own the rights to many of these games, will always insist on some sort of DRM to protect their intellectual property. If that wasn't the case, there would be no need to build a gaming platform w/ DRM in it. It's extra overhead
I remember being all outraged when companies started doing this stuff.. I have to install a thing to install my games?? It totally did not work with my 90s mindset and approach to gaming. You buy a game, you get a box, you put it on a shelf, you get a nice manual inside, and when the disk or CD gets destroyed you have to buy a new one.
I relucantly got a steam account many years later and have literally had zero problems. I now own 700 games. I can play them on my TV or computer or I can fly to Nepal and play my games there. . I don't have to bring anything and installation just takes a click. There's no way for my games to get corrupted and me having to pay for them again. I spend less money on my games than before.. There's only positives here from a consumer's point of view. The fact that I am technically not allowed to copy my game files or whatever does not matter to me at all. I don't have a need to do that, given how they've set everything up.
I've seen other DRM systems and I don't like them for the most part. There are several I quite hate and just stopped playing any of the games.. There are games you have to log into once you launch the game.. What? I stop playing games like that. That's way too obtrusive for a lazy gamer like me. Steam makes everything unobtrusive and easy. It's designed with the needs of the consumer in mind.
I will agree Steam is anti-a-small-subset-of-consumers-who-have-very-specific-gaming-needs-which-are-not-compatible-with-the-platform
For the rest of us it's awesome