Why Steam is bad for you

Looking at some of the posts here, all I can say is "oh my god!". Retail games should be $80-100? Yeah right. The fact is, you overpay for the digital version by a LOT. And why does steam even mess with your drivers when you uninstall it (or at all)? By messing with your drivers, they are messing with your computer (which is your property). Therefore, they are commiting a crime. I would go so far as to say that messing with someone's computer without telling them what you're doing is evil.
 
Two categories that I see: 1) MP game players who love Steam because it hooks them up with like minded individuals; 2) Solo TBS gamers (like me) who neither want nor desire to be hooked up with friends through a service that I don't care to use and that does nothing but slow down my machine and my gameplay.
One more thing - I never had problems getting any previous Civ game to play until this one.
2K clearly looked at demographics and figured that most gamers are of the #1 category and that the #2 category was mostly civ veterans who would buy the game out of loyalty. It was a no brainer for 2K to see where the sales and money are. It's just too bad that they have no return loyalty to the community that made them $Millions.
 
I like the fact my computer can crash and burn, my kids can scratch my CDs, and I still have games. Or if I want to switch to a Mac I don't have to buy the game again. Or that my saves and settings are universal.
 
Steam won't allow me to play Directx9 at startup anymore, for some reason.

It gives me the option........when I click DirectX9 nothing happens. When I pick 10/11 everything comes up fine, although the game is a little slow. You'd think having purchased a super laptop a week before the release that has all the recommended specs would be able to handle the game a little better. *sigh*
 
I don't understand why people are complaining about Steam. Aside from making me confirm I want to play in dx10/11 mode each time I play, it's been totally unobtrusive. What exactly is the problem?
 
Oh dear people, It's all very whiny in here!

I for one am glad it is on Steam. I've been playing through a game and a few of my mates are online at the same time so it has allowed us to chat easily in game about how we are finding civ 5. I've also tried the multiplayer and this is so easy. Hosting or joining a game is simple. Non of that faffing around with Gamespy which was buggy as hell and had adverts.

I have all my games in one place, if there is a mac version I get that as well. You can play offline unlike the DRM from Ubisoft. It will auto patch (if you want it to). Steam release free games (google "free games on steam" and see for yourself).

So the main argument about it being bad which started this thread is that it allegedly uninstalled a mic driver? Hmm... Google yields no real results of this happening to other users. I'm inclined to believe that something else happened on the ops PC.

I like Steam, valve are a much more consumer friendly company then many others.

It's all moot anyway unless you have a cracked copy, Steam is here to say. Deal with it... :nuke:
 
I love Steam.

I have 200+ games tied into my Steam account. With Steam and Steam Cloud I can pick up where I left off anywhere with any game that is in the cloud. Want to start a civ 5 game at work and finish it at home? No problem.

I can install any game on any computer anytime I want. I can quickly join my friends game, I can easily find events going on through the social sites, and I'm always updated. My only gripe with steam is some games are over priced, but that is the game publishers setting the prices, not Valve/Steam.

I don't understand why people do not like steam, I honestly believe it purely ignorance and fear. I haven't purchased a hard copy of a game in over 4 years and I'm thankful for not having to lug around a CD/DVD. Were you guys this angry when the floppies stared fading away too? World is going digital, join the ride for some fun or get left behind with your floppies brother.
 
People make things so complicated for themselves and then look elsewhere to blame when things go wrong!

Steam automatically uninstalls the demo before installing the full game and it works perfectly!
 
Saldrin said:
I love Steam.

I have 200+ games tied into my Steam account. With Steam and Steam Cloud I can pick up where I left off anywhere with any game that is in the cloud. Want to start a civ 5 game at work and finish it at home? No problem.

I can install any game on any computer anytime I want. I can quickly join my friends game, I can easily find events going on through the social sites, and I'm always updated. My only gripe with steam is some games are over priced, but that is the game publishers setting the prices, not Valve/Steam.

I don't understand why people do not like steam, I honestly believe it purely ignorance and fear. I haven't purchased a hard copy of a game in over 4 years and I'm thankful for not having to lug around a CD/DVD. Were you guys this angry when the floppies stared fading away too? World is going digital, join the ride for some fun or get left behind with your floppies brother.
Click to expand...

I have a hard idea even imagining why someone would even have 200 games. And have you considered that some of us don't want the social features? Gaming is a solo activity for most of us. And some of us don't have an internet connection fast enough that downloading games makes sense.
 
deanej said:
I have a hard idea even imagining why someone would even have 200 games. And have you considered that some of us don't want the social features? Gaming is a solo activity for most of us. And some of us don't have an internet connection fast enough that downloading games makes sense.
Click to expand...

Steam has been out since 2003, you could easily rack up 200+ game in 7 years if it is your main gaming platform.

You don't have to use the social features. Turn off Steam in-game and make it not sign automatically into friends, all from the preferences. Neither do you have to download the game as I'm sure you know it installs to Steam from retail copy.
 
Rossifer said:
Steam has been out since 2003, you could easily rack up 200+ game in 7 years if it is your main gaming platform.
Click to expand...

Let's see. I'll even go well beyond your 7 year figure. I've played:
-SimCity 3000
-SimCity 4
-Star Trek: Bridge Commander
-Civilization IV
-Secret Files: Tunguska
-Sid Meier's Railroads

Will play when out:
-Star Trek: Excalibur
-Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis

Considering for the future:
-CitiesXL 2011
-Civilization V

So even with a considerably expanded time span, my number is still far less than 200. Then again, those on the list that I've played, I've generally played to death (except Railroads, but that was due to system issues).
 
jihe said:
Too many Steam zealots on these boards arguing for the merits of Steam. But just yesterday I encountered something that just reinstates the obvious fact that extra uncalled for software is bad for you:

Having played the demo I was uninstalling it to make room for the real thing. I uninstall steam as well. Then my internal microphone stopped working, well it works but the sound level is so low that I have to yell at it, no matter how high I set it. After much frustration I finally got to the root of the problem, turns out uninstalling Steam somehow downgraded my Connexant driver as well. I reinstalled the driver (which I already did when I installed windows the first time) and all is well.

Now I can just imagine someone with less PC knowledge would just be pulling their hairs out with this. And I still don't know what else Steam did to my system

And to anyone else with a thinkpad x200t, make sure you reinstall your sound driver after uninstalling the piece of trash that is Steam.
Click to expand...

That might be just you. I've never had steam screw with anything on my computer, nor have I ehard of that happening from the 200+ people I communicate with semi-regularly who have steam.

Arrogant said:
I don't use Steam and I am not thrilled when I see so many people flaming it. Where there's smoke, there must be fire too. If Steam is so great, is should be optional. In fact Steam is what has been keeping me from buying the game.

But let's say that I am prejudiced. What I would like to know is this: In previous Civ versions it has often happened that people would like to play a specific update of the game. This could be because they had no time to get used to major changes in the latest update, or perhaps because the latest update introduced a bug, or perhaps they experienced crashes with the update etc. Many times they would try the latest update and then return to the previous version for the above reasons.

Is this possible with Steam ?
Click to expand...
You can disable automatic updating by right clicking on the game when its listed in steam and going to properties. Steam is free, give it a try, the chance of you have a problem is very very very low, a lot of the complaints about steam are based on heresy or outdated information or simple paranoia. Its not perfect, nothing is, but it certainly is not a demon.
 
Sounds like an ID 10T Error to me. Maybe you should become more knowledgeable about your computer before you start looking for scapegoat software.
 
deanej said:
Looking at some of the posts here, all I can say is "oh my god!". Retail games should be $80-100? Yeah right. The fact is, you overpay for the digital version by a LOT. And why does steam even mess with your drivers when you uninstall it (or at all)? By messing with your drivers, they are messing with your computer (which is your property). Therefore, they are commiting a crime. I would go so far as to say that messing with someone's computer without telling them what you're doing is evil.
Click to expand...
Steam has many, many sales. Every single week there are new sales on games. During the winter holiday and especially post-christmas almost EVERYTHING (except Modern Warfare 2) goes on sale up to even 90% off!

It also has never messed with my drivers.

Trackman20 said:
Steam won't allow me to play Directx9 at startup anymore, for some reason.

It gives me the option........when I click DirectX9 nothing happens. When I pick 10/11 everything comes up fine, although the game is a little slow. You'd think having purchased a super laptop a week before the release that has all the recommended specs would be able to handle the game a little better. *sigh*
Click to expand...
That is a problem with Civilization V, not Steam.

dannythefool said:
You can start it without going through Steam, but unfortunately if you do that, then Civ will ask you about DX9 or DX10/11...
Click to expand...
Why the hell does Civ5 ask that EVERY time?
 
lynxxyarly said:
Sounds like an ID 10T Error to me. Maybe you should become more knowledgeable about your computer before you start looking for scapegoat software.
Click to expand...

Many of the complaints on here really reek of trying to find the "Any" key, don't they?
 
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