Steam

[Narnia]

This is going to sound really dumb but what is steam? What can you tell me about it? What are the pros and cons of it and finally, does it cost money/do I need a credit card? Also, is it safe to use? Will I get a virus/malware/spyware from using it?
Thanks

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=steam+games

3rd result.

btw, some of these questions could go here. no need for a separate thread for them all.

 

[Maniacal]

This is going to sound really dumb but what is steam? What can you tell me about it? What are the pros and cons of it and finally, does it cost money/do I need a credit card? Also, is it safe to use? Will I get a virus/malware/spyware from using it?
Thanks

Hi Narnia,

First of all, you won't get a virus/malware/spyware from Steam. Steam is also compeltely free for the user (though except for a few free games like Alien Swarm, every game costs money).

Steam is developed and owned by VALVe, an independent game developer who originoally created Steam to swiftly deliver patches to all Counter-Strike players. VALVe considers the first months of Steam when it was released in 2004 as one of its biggest mistakes. They have since vastly improved and added on to it.

Steam has the following features:

-Automatic patching of games.

-Unlimited downloads.

-No more looking for that CD/DVD, all you need to do is log into your Steam account.

-The Steam Store itself offers over 1000 games from major publishers/developers, VAVLe's own games (like the Half-Life series) and even numerous small independent developer titles liek World of Goo.

-There are regular sales on Steam and sometimes they can be utterly ridiculous in how much they are on sale for, I've paid as litte as 99c for games on Steam.

-When playing a game on Steam, you can press shift+tab to bring up the in-game Steam community features, which includes friends list, chatting to other Steam users (primarily on your friends list), a clock, and a web browser (which I am using right now to post this and it works really well, wuite useful for looking up something about the game you are currently in).

-You can access your Steam account anywhere and anytime (admittedly sometimes this does bug out for some people, I myself have never had a problem with it).

-There is an 'offline' mode so you can play without connecting to the Steam servers or being on the internet (you do need to connect once to activate the game, save your log in info and update your game, and offline mode doesn't always work for some people, it does need work).

-It does mean you have to run Steam when you want to play a game that uses it, but this isn't really a big deal, Steam does not take up very much RAM when running and should have no impact on your computer's performance.

-Steam will never kick you out of your game if you lose connection to the internet or if there is a new patch availaible.

-One con with the autopatching is if Steam detects there is a patch for say Civ5, you have to let it download that before you can play it.

Most of the games availaible on Steam are also availiable from other digital retailers like GamersGate, Impulse or Good Old Games as well as brick and mortar retail stores. However some games (even if sold in stores) use Steamworks, Civilization 5 does this.

Steamworks is aimed at developers and offers a number of features they can use to save tiem and money developing it themselves, but every copy of the game has to use Steam. Steamworks includes Steam and offers VAC (VALVe Anti-Cheat), Steam Cloud (you can save some saved game files on the Steam servers and access them on another computer), multiplayer support, and some other stuff.

I hope that helps. Any questions please do ask.

 

[Narnia]

Will steam automaticly access the internet to do stuff like update games or can I control when it does? I go to an online school and don't want it to mess up my bandwidth when I'm working on school work. Also, how hard is it to uninstall?

edit: I forgot to add, thanks a LOT for the swift answer.

 

[innonimatu]

Seems like you forgot to cover the "cons" part. Steam is an online store for sale and distribution of games, with some small "social networking" bolted on. It requires the installation of their steam client for use of the store and future use of any products bought through it, collects some information from its users, functions as a digital restrictions management (DRM) system to enforce that only the player who bought the came can play it. No resale or giving it away or loaning it either, it's definitively tied to the buyer's account.

Also, how hard is it to uninstall?

Not hard at all. But upon installation you become unable to use the software you bought which it "protects" with its DRM. Once into Steam you can't leave Steam unless you are willing to dump all your previous investment.. a very effective lock-in system.

 

[Narnia]

Seems like you forgot to cover the "cons" part. Steam is an online store for sale and distribution of games, with some small "social networking" bolted on. It requires the installation of their steam client for use of the store and future use of any products bought through it, collects some information from its users, functions as a digital restrictions management system to enforce that only the player who bought the came can play it. No resale or giving it away or loaning it either, it's definitively tied to the buyer's account.

What kind of information does it collect? Is it anonymous or is it tied to specific people? Thanks.

 

[Maniacal]

Will steam automaticly access the internet to do stuff like update games or can I control when it does? I go to an online school and don't want it to mess up my bandwidth when I'm working on school work. Also, how hard is it to uninstall?

edit: I forgot to add, thanks a LOT for the swift answer.

By default Steam runs in online mode. Patches aren't usually that big, and you can pause/stop them. It shouldn't be an issue unless you have soem severe restrictions on your bandwidth. You can also just close down Steam when not in use.

Seems like you forgot to cover the "cons" part. Steam is an online store for sale and distribution of games, with some small "social networking" bolted on. It requires the installation of their steam client for use of the store and future use of any products bought through it, collects some information from its users, functions as a digital restrictions management (DRM) system to enforce that only the player who bought the came can play it. No resale or giving it away or loaning it either, it's definitively tied to the buyer's account.

Not hard at all. But upon installation you become unable to use the software you bought which it "protects" with its DRM. Once into Steam you can't leave Steam unless you are willing to dump all your previous investment.. a very effective lock-in system.

Well, yeah this all kind of needs Steam to be installed. I did forgot to mention that the games are forever tied to your account, sorry about that (its kind of an important point, I got distracted when i realized I had forgotten to pause the game and had run out of filter changes for my gasmask, death my suffocation proceeded shortly thereafter), which yeah mens no resale and you are incredibly unlikely ot get a refund. Steam does include DRM, but the only part of it that wil laffect you is having to log into your account to play your games on it. Its not SecuROM, Starforce or Ubisoft's DRM (although some developers/publishers don't bother removing other DRM for the Steam version of their game).

What kind of information does it collect? Is it anonymous or is it tied to specific people? Thanks.

Steam only automatically collects information abotu how long you played the game (similar to X-Fire), achievements, and for some games statistics about everything that happens in the game (though I don't know of any non-VALVe game on Steam that uses them). There is an OPTIONAL anual hardware survey that VALVe puts out, in which you can choose to allow Steam to scan your hardware so they know what kind of hardware their users run. The information is stored anonomously. This year they also started a software survey, again entierly optional, which scans for some common software programs and again compiles the data anonomously.

EDIT: Its easy to uninstall, you need to uninstall all games that use Steam first (you can back up the data as well if you don't want to redownload all of them again), and then uninstall Steam like any other program.

 

[Narnia]

Ok, I downloaded steam and then I downloaded the free Napoleon Total War demo and it won't run. It says, preparing to launch Napoleon Total War Demo and then nothing happens. Any ideas on what's going on?

 

[Maniacal]

Try restarting Steam or your computer? This might be a problem with Napoleon itself.

 

[Narnia]

Try restarting Steam or your computer? This might be a problem with Napoleon itself.

I tried that. Maybe the demo doesn't work without the Empire game because Napoleon is an expantion pack? I start steam, click play, a window pops up saying "preparing to launch napoleon total war demo", the windows disapears, then nothing happens. Any other ideas?

 

[Maniacal]

I tried that. Maybe the demo doesn't work without the Empire game because Napoleon is an expantion pack? I start steam, click play, a window pops up saying "preparing to launch napoleon total war demo", the windows disapears, then nothing happens. Any other ideas?

No its a stand alone 'expansion'. Try updating your video card drivers and if that doesn't work, verify the game cache (right click on the name of the game in the list of games on the left, select properties and then local files) and if that still doesn't work you could try another demo or one of the free games.

 

[Narnia]

No its a stand alone 'expansion'. Try updating your video card drivers and if that doesn't work, verify the game cache (right click on the name of the game in the list of games on the left, select properties and then local files) and if that still doesn't work you could try another demo or one of the free games.

I gave up on getting this to work and downloaded the demo to Empire Total War. After I did, the Napoleon Total War demo started working. I don't know if this was a coincidence or what happened but thanks for the help.

 

[Narnia]

If I buy a game on DVD/CD that uses Steam, such as Black Ops, will I still get the advantages of Steam's autopatching and what not without having to download 24 GBs of data off the internet (which would take about a week with our connection)? Thanks

 

[MarineCorps]

Yes. even if you buy the retail version of the game that uses steam you still need to install steam or add the game to your account and then you can throw the disc away.

 

[Maniacal]

If I buy a game on DVD/CD that uses Steam, such as Black Ops, will I still get the advantages of Steam's autopatching and what not without having to download 24 GBs of data off the internet (which would take about a week with our connection)? Thanks

Yes. even if you buy the retail version of the game that uses steam you still need to install steam or add the game to your account and then you can throw the disc away.

You will only have to download any patches or updates to Steam and Black Ops, the discs are useful if you need to reinstall because then you won't have to download the entire massive game, just patches.

 

[W|M]

Steam messes up mods, and at some points, you can't enter a game without them forcing you to patch it (happened once when I installed a kitchen sink mod for Empire: Total War, and it stopped working after the patch, even after multiple reinstalls). As said previously, steam ties the game to you only, which is not good if you want to give away/sell the game, which is not good news if you happen to have bought civ 5, spore or any other game you'd regret buying.

Basically, Steam is a useless pain in the ass that should not be compulsory.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I have said this in previous threads and I will say it again, just for you west india man: (I should emphasize it too!)

STEAM IS NOT MANDATORY

There, I said it. You don't have to use Steam, no one is forcing you to do so! "Oh, Genocidicbunny, I just bought the game and I can't return it and now to play it, I have to use Steam!" -- yeah, you do. Guess what, the box for the game said something to the effect of "Steam is mandatory to play this game". Your fault that you didn't bother to read it. You might then argue that you want to play a game but it requires Steam, and so you don't want Steam but you want to play the game. Too bad, Steam is not in addition to the game in this case, it is part of the game.

If you don't like Steam, don't use it. If you are using Steam and then bashing it, you're a hypocrite.

 

[Maniacal]

Nice bump india.

Steam messes up mods,

Steam doesn't mess up mods, the steam version of some games has a different enough .exe file that some mods for the retail version aren't compatible with. Afaik the mod maker should be able to make a version that works with Steam just fine.

and at some points, you can't enter a game without them forcing you to patch it

Yeah, you have to patch first. Very useful for multiplayer games like Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty.

(happened once when I installed a kitchen sink mod for Empire: Total War

What do you mean by kitchen sink mod?

, and it stopped working after the patch, even after multiple reinstalls)

Mods often need to be updated before they work with the latest version, this is true with any game. Its also Creative Assembly's fault for not providing better mod support such as easy mod foldering (See Mount&Blade for an example of good mod separation).

. As said previously, steam ties the game to you only, which is not good if you want to give away/sell the game,

Don't buy bad games.

which is not good news if you happen to have bought civ 5, spore or any other game you'd regret buying.

Spore doesn't require Steam, and it was publicly announced well before Civ5's launch that it was going to use Steamworks. Civ5 also is still incredibly popular, 11.5 thousand people are playing it right now and it has not left the top 10 most played games on Stem since its release.

Basically, Steam is a useless pain in the ass that should not be compulsory.

As geno said, it isn't compulsory.

 

[W|M]

As geno said, it isn't compulsory.

It is if you want to get certain games (e.g. Civ 5, Empire Total War).

Spore doesn't require Steam, and it was publicly announced well before Civ5's launch that it was going to use Steamworks. Civ5 also is still incredibly popular, 11.5 thousand people are playing it right now and it has not left the top 10 most played games on Stem since its release.

Civ IV Metacritic reviews

Civ 5 reviews, with all the professional reviewers giving it huge ratings, and customer satisfaction being much lower than in civ 4.

Yeah, you have to patch first. Very useful for multiplayer games like Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty.

Not very useful for single player games where you just want to play the game immediately.

What do you mean by kitchen sink mod?

One that changes almost everything in the game.

If you don't like Steam, don't use it. If you are using Steam and then bashing it, you're a hypocrite.

I am currently not using it.

 

[Zelig]

Civ IV Metacritic reviews

Civ 5 reviews, with all the professional reviewers giving it huge ratings, and customer satisfaction being much lower than in civ 4.

Steam is the least of Civ5's problems.