Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, I really don't care about any of that. DRM has never ever been a concern to me nor has it affected me in even the slightest way. All those quotes you make are not even part of my consciousness. I don't consider myself a "Steam" fan per se. I use the service along with several other DD offerings. I just don't understand the hate Steam gets here. It's never caused me even one issue...ever.
I don't care how old it is compared to other companies. All that matters really is that in "computer" years its been around for ages and is stronger than ever. Who cares if Valve had a better platform to launch there service? Why does that make you hate the company? Because they were successful? I just don't think you are making any point with that at all.
I think as PC gamers we should be happy with any companies existing out there that promote the distribution and development of PC gaming. For years, all we've heard is PC gaming is dying. Yet it still seems to be plugging along quite nicely and moving with the times.
I don't hate VALVe because of...
...issues I've had with Steam. It works.
...a resistance to digital distribution. It is here to stay and should be available to those that want it.
...their success as a company. I have no problems with successful companies in general.
I do hate VALVe because their marketing is absolutely chock full of misrepresentation, and has created (not meaning you Lymond) an unbearably sycophantic fan base. Many people repeat false VALVe PR (this does include you Lymond), but when I point to the sycophantic fan base I'm thinking more of the 'how dare you hate VALVe you demon spawn' types, not people like you who are willing to have reasonable discussions. The repetition of VALVe's PR in your case, as in most cases, is just because it is repeated so often that it becomes a sort of 'common knowledge'.
So, back at the VALVe misrepresentations at hand.
I don't expect anyone to care how old VALVe is...I was just pointing out that the widely held and VALVe promoted idea that they invented and are the sole providers of DRM that allows unlimited installs and freedom from CDs is false. I know you aren't saying that, and in fact have said the opposite, but it was said.
"DRM is bad, but Steam is the best there is as long as we are stuck with DRM"
It was said, as usual, in the context of 'DRM is bad but we are stuck with it and Steam is the best there is'...while from a DRM standpoint Impulse is actually far more seamless to the user. Stardock may not have had as smooth a digital distribution client, but just the fact that
their (now GameStop's) digital distribution client can in fact be removed once the games are installed and the DRM on the game doesn't fail the game over it makes it less intrusive as DRM.
A core element of the DRM VALVe sells to publishers is 'by the way, we get to use
your game as a hostage to keep
our marketing portal open, hope you don't mind'. That element does not benefit the publisher (by improving anti-piracy), or the user (by making the DRM less obtrusive), it just benefits VALVe. Obnoxiously enough this expanded into publishers putting VALVe DRM on products not sold through VALVe, so not only do the hostages keep their portal open, in many cases it is only due to the hostages that the portal gets opened in the first place.
"PC gaming is dying, and VALVe saved us all!!!"
The first I heard that PC gaming was dying was in a very passionate plea/justification for DRM. It included such heartfelt throbs of 'no one, including us, will be able to continue providing quality games for our beloved customers if we don't do this, because piracy will drive everyone out of this business and it will die' that I almost bought in...but ultimately I recognized that piracy had been around far longer than VALVe and had not kept them from getting IN the PC gaming business, nor had it kept them from THRIVING in the PC gaming business to that point.
Yes, that impassioned plea was included in the Steam iteration that came with Half-Life 2. At that point they were not in any way shape or form trying to pass it off as
anything but the DRM that it is. It only became 'well, it isn't actually about DRM' when it became clear that defending DRM, no matter how passionately they did it, was putting them clearly on the wrong side of their customers.
But back at 'PC gaming is dying'...you and everyone else has noticed that many stores don't carry games on disk any more. That has happened
since Steam, not before Steam. So it is incorrect to point to that as symptom of something VALVe is saving us
from. It is in fact a symptom of something VALVe is eager to
cause...a market shift towards digital distribution. (Another, and perhaps larger, cause is the market shift to on-line sellers...and you can be sure VALVe is trying to kill them too)
I have nothing against them wanting the market to shift towards digital distribution...
that's the business they are in. I don't appreciate their success at causing that market shift, because I like buying games in stores, but as stated I don't hate success per se. I do really despise their marketing themselves as
the savior when other then them no one saw anything that we needed saving from (piracy overwhelming the gaming industry and destroying it) and pointing to something they in fact are partially responsible for causing and benefit from as a symptom of what they are 'trying to prevent'...which wasn't happening in the first place.
