Steam - love or hate?

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Their discounts are nowhere near as good as Steam's or other Digital Retailers. During the holiday sale Steam had ~1300 games/packs on sale.

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What the hell am I supposed to do with ~1300 games/packs? I'd rather comparison shop for the odd game I want (like once every 3 months) and 'own' it a bit more than with Steam.

Its not really a D2D model, as they aren't the only ones who use it. You also still need to log in to D2D to get patches (provided the game doesn't have its own patching service, which most don't)

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And some do. I should have said Caveat Emptor. But once again, I'm not interested in 'most' - I'm look at specifics and checking beforehand. (And what is it with all this bulk buying of games anyway?)

It wasn't exactly kept a secret that Civ5 was going to use Steam, its also listed on the back of the box (though bigger fonts would be nice), and it isn't a net provider.

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That is partly my bad. I instantly pre-ordered Civ5 when I heard about it out of total loyalty and expectation (never again) - but what do you mean about the 'back of the box' - my order was from Amazon, not a high street shelf.

Yes, wrong terminology, not provider, but 'service'...
 
Hate Steam. I would grudgingly accept it if it actually prevented piracy, but it doesn't prevent piracy in the slightest. It's my understanding that priated copies of CiV were available for download within days of release, which is basically the same timeline I've seen reflected in other Steam supported games.

Steam prevents piracy like damn near nothing else. A lot of piracy, the type that can be quantified into a monetary value is casual piracy -- people passing around a game install disk.

What the hell am I supposed to do with ~1300 games/packs? I'd rather comparison shop for the odd game I want (like once every 3 months) and 'own' it a bit more than with Steam.

'own it a bit more'? Really? Take a look at a license for a game. You don't own it any more than you do a Steam game. Steam just provides some added benefits to said lack of ownership.

And some do. I should have said Caveat Emptor. But once again, I'm not interested in 'most' - I'm look at specifics and checking beforehand. (And what is it with all this bulk buying of games anyway?)

Even games that have their own patching service have to specifically note or redirect D2D users to D2D.


That is partly my bad. I instantly pre-ordered Civ5 when I heard about it out of total loyalty and expectation (never again) - but what do you mean about the 'back of the box' - my order was from Amazon, not a high street shelf.

He meant the back of the box, in your case, the digital one. The section on Amazon which specifically states:
Amazon.com said:
Other Requirements
Initial installation requires one-time Internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries and Microsoft DirectX.

[Frankly Steam disgusts me, I was shocked when I found that the software I 'bought' as Civ5 was not standalone and depended on a third-party net provider (no, I haven't been buying many games lately, got a bit behind the times). And no, I do not want to be a part of the wretched Steam Gamers community. I play specific games and those game communities do interest me, not Steam.]

You want to be part of the Civ 5 community? Welcome, we're a part of the Steam community because Steamworks is required...well, actually, its not just required, it is a part of Civ 5. The two are inseparable.

Yes, wrong terminology, not provider, but 'service'...[/QUOTE]
 
Steam only became a success on the back of Half Life.

More cunning and despicable marketing strategy.

"If you are in sales or marketing, kill yourself. I'm not trying to make a joke, just seriously, kill yourself" - The late, great, Bill Hicks.
 
I'd never heard of Steam before Civ5 and I love it. I like the friend list and the holiday sales were fantastic.
Sadly, they weren't the best they've been in years past, relatively speaking. Amazon, GoG, and to a lesser extent Impulse have caught on that selling 5 copies of a game at 2/3 off is much better than 0 copies at full price, especially when distribution of the product costs just pennies, so Steam didn't have quite the lock on amazing holiday discounts they did in years past.

Steam still won hands down for scope though. Impulse had a couple hundred items for sale, Amazon a few dozen, GoG a few dozen, Steam had over 1,000 items on sale and dozens of packages of on-sale items for a further price reduction. Got quite a few items that I had heard good things about but never really considered for very good prices.
 
Steam only became a success on the back of Half Life.

More cunning and despicable marketing strategy.

"If you are in sales or marketing, kill yourself. I'm not trying to make a joke, just seriously, kill yourself" - The late, great, Bill Hicks.

Not really. If it was just Half Life 2, then Steam would be just about dead by now. It became a success because it offered something that no other service did at the time.
 
Iirc GoG had every game on sale, however they only have a few hundred games (sadly).

What the hell am I supposed to do with ~1300 games/packs? I'd rather comparison shop for the odd game I want (like once every 3 months) and 'own' it a bit more than with Steam.

Nothing is forcing you to buy all ~1300 things on sale... that would be ridiculous (I'm still working through the ones I bought over a year ago!). just pick and choose the ones you want. Would you rather they only have a few dozen sales on games you don't want?


(And what is it with all this bulk buying of games anyway?)
Who said anything about bulk buying games?


That is partly my bad. I instantly pre-ordered Civ5 when I heard about it out of total loyalty and expectation (never again) - but what do you mean about the 'back of the box' - my order was from Amazon, not a high street shelf.
As Gbunny pointed out, its in even bigger writing on Amazon. However you learned a valuable lesson, it is good to always do research and ask around before purchasing (feel free to ask about a game in the All other Games subforum on CFC). And always take "professional" (hah, professional :lol:) reviews with a grain of salt. Some of them are good, many are not.
 
I'd never heard of Steam before Civ5 and I love it. I like the friend list and the holiday sales were fantastic.

Yep, same here. The best thing about Civ V was that it introduced me to Steam. The convenience alone has lead me to buy and enjoy more games than I'd otherwise have, and the sales are just a great bonus. I'm not making great use of the friends list, but it'd be useful if I... weren't a loser without friends >.>

Anyway, count me as a lover. The only negative thing I have to say is that it takes a legit 1-2 minutes to start up for some reason, which seems like a long wait sometimes. But yeah, hooray for Civ V for "forcing" me to get Steam, it's the best thing the game has done.
 
Iirc GoG had every game on sale, however they only have a few hundred games (sadly).



Nothing is forcing you to buy all ~1300 things on sale... that would be ridiculous (I'm still working through the ones I bought over a year ago!). j

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Who said anything about bulk buying games?

Sniggers a little bit...

Moderator Action: Replies such as this do not add to the discussion.
 
I'm glad you find that funny, but that doesn't answer anything.

Go figure.

In answer to earlier stuff, I now have a perfectly good paid-for copy of EUIII HttT that I 'own' (i.e. can back up, put on another computer), can burn it to disk, whatever. I'm massively in favour of downloadable distribution, but not where it punishes the customer because there is mebbe 5% chance they may be dodgy.

And puleez don't come it with the 50 billion games on Steam that I need to stack up for the rest of the year, because I don't. I buy about 30-50 times more books than PC games (maybe 4 games a year at best, wouldn't want any more). But RL bookstore owners don't look at me like a criminal when I walk through the door (in fact we have rather good talks about how the demand is going and whatnot). In fact sometimes they provide comfy chairs and coffee. Does that make me buy more product? Damn straight it does.

Essentially, don't keep punishing the paying customer. (You should never have punished them in the first place, of course.)
 
In answer to earlier stuff, I now have a perfectly good paid-for copy of EUIII HttT that I 'own' (i.e. can back up, put on another computer), can burn it to disk, whatever. I'm massively in favour of downloadable distribution, but not where it punishes the customer because there is mebbe 5% chance they may be dodgy.
As I said you can back up Steam games too, though they will still require Steam. Paradox is good in that they don't use DRM beyond a CD key, but they are not in the majority.

And puleez don't come it with the 50 billion games on Steam that I need to stack up for the rest of the year, because I don't.
And no one ever said you had to buy many games on Steam or any other website, all I did was point out that Steam had the most games on sale.

I buy about 30-50 times more books than PC games (maybe 4 games a year at best, wouldn't want any more).
Different people have different needs/hobbies/whatever, I don't see why this is an issue.

But RL bookstore owners don't look at me like a criminal when I walk through the door (in fact we have rather good talks about how the demand is going and whatnot). In fact sometimes they provide comfy chairs and coffee. Does that make me buy more product? Damn straight it does.
I've never felt like I have been treated as a criminal when buying games, and when a company has really tried to treat its customers as criminals I don't buy their products (such as Ubisoft's current DRM scheme). Sure having to always log into Steam in order to play your games on there isn't always ideal but I've never had a problem nor have I felt like I have been treated like a criminal.

Not to mention the fact that (used) bookstores are a very different buisness model than game retailers. I also can't sit around a gamestore and start playing my game when my computer is at home (not that I would want to anyways).

Essentially, don't keep punishing the paying customer. (You should never have punished them in the first place, of course.)
Then don't buy games off Steam if you don't like it. As you are aware of there are other websites and ways of getting them.
 
I don't like it and I hate it. Since it was already on my system I bought another game too. I hate going to the store even more.
 
Surely a false dichotomy? There are 4 choices, not 2. In between Steam and high (main) street retail stores, there is obviously and firstly online ordering, Amazon and others. I can tell you that they massively discount PC games sometimes even when they are less than a year old. Go look.

Secondly there is also the D2D model, you pays your money and you gets a straight download. You have it right there, you can burn it to CD, do whatever with it. Once you've done that, you certainly do not have to log on and have an ongoing account with the provider to play the game, or to patch it. An example here is Paradox's EUIII expansion packs that you can get from Gamersgate and others. Once again, lots of discounts are available, I just got EU Heir to the Throne for a mere £7 from Impulse.

[Frankly Steam disgusts me, I was shocked when I found that the software I 'bought' as Civ5 was not standalone and depended on a third-party net provider (no, I haven't been buying many games lately, got a bit behind the times). And no, I do not want to be a part of the wretched Steam Gamers community. I play specific games and those game communities do interest me, not Steam.]

You may want to educate yourself more on Steam and d2d. Having an opinion is one thing, but you are simply incorrect on many things. As you say, you are way behind the times.

If you bothered to educate yourself just a little, you'd see that your fears are just from your unfamiliarity with Steam.
 
You may want to educate yourself more on Steam and d2d. Having an opinion is one thing, but you are simply incorrect on many things. As you say, you are way behind the times.

If you bothered to educate yourself just a little, you'd see that your fears are just from your unfamiliarity with Steam.

That is too vague to be helpful, and too dismissive to be nice.
 
Been using steam for 4 years, never had a single problem with it.
 
I've had 2 games with steam's spyware and I will never buy another again. It is a pain in the ass to load games, takes time and resources and doesn't work some of the time. Never again.
 
I've had 2 games with steam's spyware and I will never buy another again. It is a pain in the ass to load games, takes time and resources and doesn't work some of the time. Never again.

Its very challenging and time consuming to click a game in your library, a few next buttons, then let it install. Don't get me started on actually launching games, that one click is brutal. As someone who has 63 games on Steam, I know exactly how you feel.
 
Its very challenging and time consuming to click a game in your library, a few next buttons, then let it install. Don't get me started on actually launching games, that one click is brutal. As someone who has 63 games on Steam, I know exactly how you feel.

I feel your pain man. Ive got 93 games I have to deal with.
 
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