Interesting article on Steam

[BFG10K]

I never understood the issue with that. So valve can see what games you're playing, big deal. You don't need a no-cd crack because steam doesn't require cds.

Uh-huh, and what are you going to do if Valve ban your account because someone else steals your legit CD key and tries using it?

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

And what about Steam being down and you want to play games but you can't go into offline mode for whatever reason?

Or what if you're trying to play/install on a computer with no internet connection?

Also I wouldn't trust windows update with my graphics drivers.

I wouldn?t either, no more than I?d trust Steam to manage my games. Yet people seem happy to hand over their rights to the mothership because "Valve make great games" and "Steam is great because my dog at my CD?.

The point made earlier about EA being crucified if they tried Steam was bang on; Valve appear to have immunity when it comes to reaming customers.

 

[skace]

Oh yea BFG, Valve has really been reaming customers similar to EA. Really sticking it to them, I don't even understand how they get away with it.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

wtf are you talking about?

The whole mothership thing watching over my actions.

At least with regular protection I can defeat it with no-CD cracks, even Starforce. Not so with Steam, lest my account is banned.

you do realize that a ban only affects a particular game right?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I never understood the issue with that. So valve can see what games you're playing, big deal. You don't need a no-cd crack because steam doesn't require cds.

Uh-huh, and what are you going to do if Valve ban your account because someone else steals your legit CD key and tries using it?

Doesnt steam not use cd keys?

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

Why would they even release it in the first place then?

And what about Steam being down and you want to play games but you can't go into offline mode for whatever reason?

Has that ever happened?

Or what if you're trying to play/install on a computer with no internet connection?

Is steam really relevant to people without net connections in the first place?

The point made earlier about EA being crucified if they tried Steam was bang on; Valve appear to have immunity when it comes to reaming customers.

Because EA has been reaming customers for years. Valve hasnt.

 

[BFG10K]

Doesnt steam not use cd keys?

Uh, what? My boxed Valve games all came with CD keys and needed to be registered on Steam.

Why would they even release it in the first place then?

I don't understand the relevance of this question. Release what?

Has that ever happened?

It's happened to me a couple of times: "this operation cannot be completed in offline mode" or similar. I can't even detect a pattern and I?m not even sure what fixed it.

Is steam really relevant to people without net connections in the first place?

If I buy a copy of Orange Box from the store it sure is, because I can't even play single player without a net connection.

Even worse if offline mode breaks but I?m trying to play it on a laptop with no connection. Because Steam feels I haven?t had a satisfactory response from the mothership, I lose access to the game.

Because EA has been reaming customers for years. Valve hasnt.

So it?s never too late to start, eh? I guess it's easier for Valve with all these people willingly giving up their rights.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Also I wouldn't trust windows update with my graphics drivers.

I wouldn?t either, no more than I?d trust Steam to manage my games. Yet people seem happy to hand over their rights to the mothership because "Valve make great games" and "Steam is great because my dog at my CD?.

The point made earlier about EA being crucified if they tried Steam was bang on; Valve appear to have immunity when it comes to reaming customers.

I don't even understand what you are trying to say here or is the tinfoil hat you're wearing clouding your thoughts?

KT

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Uh-huh, and what are you going to do if Valve ban your account because someone else steals your legit CD key and tries using it?

Once you register a key you can't register it again. That would make CD keys pretty useless. If you try it just tells you that key is already in use

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

I'll admit this is an issue

And what about Steam being down and you want to play games but you can't go into offline mode for whatever reason?

I've never had an issue playing games offline except of course for online games like TF2.

Or what if you're trying to play/install on a computer with no internet connection?

Steam is built for being used with an internet connection that's the point of it.
Assuming you've installed it once, you can always back up the files and restore them that way. I don't know too many people without access to broadband anyway.

The point made earlier about EA being crucified if they tried Steam was bang on; Valve appear to have immunity when it comes to reaming customers.

The difference is Valve puts out quality products, listens to feedback and supports them. EA spews out buggy products and then leaves them for dead after a patch or two and releases the sequel, repeat.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
How many of you honestly sold your old computer games? :laugh: I've never heard people complaining about that before.

ive sold all that will sell....

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: angry hampster
How many of you honestly sold your old computer games? :laugh: I've never heard people complaining about that before.

ive sold all that will sell....

Same here. As I stated above this is the only "issue" I have with Steam at the moment.

KT

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: angry hampster
How many of you honestly sold your old computer games? :laugh: I've never heard people complaining about that before.

ive sold all that will sell....

Same here. As I stated above this is the only "issue" I have with Steam at the moment.

KT

yea i disslike that and the fact that it wants to call home to play single player

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Is steam really relevant to people without net connections in the first place?

If I buy a copy of Orange Box from the store it sure is, because I can't even play single player without a net connection.

Even worse if offline mode breaks but I?m trying to play it on a laptop with no connection. Because Steam feels I haven?t had a satisfactory response from the mothership, I lose access to the game.

.

that is my other huge issue with it, my cousin had to bring his comp over to my house to install orange box because he doesnt have net at his house, he just wanted to play HL2 and was pretty god damn pissed off about that

 

[RandomFool]

*wrong button*

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Steam is good and bad. I hate that it's bloated software.

Its not bloated.. its only 1.5mb to download, and tiny to install.

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: StevenYoo

Originally posted by: coloumb

Originally posted by: videogames101
I <3 steam

me too.

and me

yup me too!

Here's why:

I can download games while I'm at work...
Multiplayer environment is awsome...
I can move all my games from computer to computer without too much of a problem. (you can do this without re-downloading the game or going through a lengthy reinstall process.)
Their customer support is responsive and they are constantly updating games while I'm at work so I don't have to patch them!!! ~even third party games.
They don't limit your bandwidth and have very little to no down time at all.

*** THIS IS JUST A SIDE NOTE, NOT THAT IMPORTANT!~It keeps stats on how much I play so when my wife says I play too much I say "no way honey come look"... now lets do an estimated time on how much TV you are watching.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: RandomFool

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

I'll admit this is an issue

Not a complete issue. The only time this came up is when people were practically trying to steal games by buying them throw Singapore and Russia at a fraction of the cost. The reason the games were priced differently in those regions was specifically to help combat piracy as well as to market a game in an area that does not have as much money. People were taking advantage of this.

Now there may be a legitimate issue with someone moving from one region to the next. I'm not sure how that works, but if anyone has ever experienced that they might want to chime in with how it went down when they actually called Valve.

Other than that, it's just more BS.

 

[tommo123]

with physical media you can buy it if you are on holiday in that country, through valve you are screwed if you do. why should i pay more since i live in the UK over americans (same goods are sometimes half the cost of those in the UK)?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: RandomFool

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

I'll admit this is an issue

Not a complete issue. The only time this came up is when people were practically trying to steal games by buying them throw Singapore and Russia at a fraction of the cost. The reason the games were priced differently in those regions was specifically to help combat piracy as well as to market a game in an area that does not have as much money. People were taking advantage of this.

Now there may be a legitimate issue with someone moving from one region to the next. I'm not sure how that works, but if anyone has ever experienced that they might want to chime in with how it went down when they actually called Valve.

Other than that, it's just more BS.

Its really such a fringe issue that I'm sure the vast, vast majority of people care very little about.

I'm still buying my games as physical media for the time being because I dont think steam is all the way there yet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for non-valve games, steam acts as little more than a frontend to launching the game?

 

[chizow]

I think its a great idea and awesome that Steam is releasing the tools for free. But I still prefer a hybrid of sorts and physical media for many of the reasons already listed:

1) I like having the physical discs and documentation. Changing them sucks, but not as much as downloading them from scratch. Granted I don't spend nearly as much time reading manuals as I used to, but I'm certainly more likely to RTFM vs. RTFPDF.

2) Games are getting massive. I don't have FIOS yet, and at ~600KB/s on cable, downloading 10-20GB games takes freaking forever. I much prefer installing from Disc and then updating via reasonable sized patches and downloads. And forget about storing them on HDDs, I don't have enough SATA ports. Sure there's burning them onto DVDs...but what was the point of downloading digitally again?

3) Price/flexibility. You can find some great deals on retail boxed copies, even new titles.

Hopefully it does cut down on some of the issues covered in the article, like Piracy. As others said I'd also like to see it help unify the PC online gaming community like XBox Live. Many others have tried and failed and the one best positioned to make it happen (Microsoft) doesn't seem to care if it doesn't involve hardware sales and a subscription.

 

[Smilin]

I Dig it. I'll buy from steam before I'll buy physical media.


When HL2 first released I had a frustrating experience with the massive day 0 traffic but that's long gone and I've never had a problem since.

Why I like it:
I do not have to insert a CD/DVD for a copy protection check. What's the point of half-terrabyte hard drives if you still have insert a disk like it's 1990 and your game is on a floppy? I also dislike the malware risk of no-cd fixes (although I use them).

Patches - it sucks having to get patches for things. I don't want a stupid fileplanet account or whatever other hassle is involved in finding, downloading and installing a patch.

Speed - I can purchase a new game and have it on my hard drive faster than I could have driven to the store and back. Plus I can buy games while still in my PJs.

Game browser, buddy list, chat, voice chat all that good stuff are seamlessly integrated into games. You can actually IM from inside a game, or if you are outside a game just hit the "join server" button that your buddy is on.


There is always the worry that somehow my steam account will manage to get locked. I don't do anything I shouldn't be so I doubt this would happen. If it did I have enough money invested that I would make a stink and get it corrected. I chock the worry up as irrational.



Steam is the future of game purchasing and I think the future looks bright.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i'm just confused how a nutjob like bfg10k got to be a mod.

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: RandomFool

Or how about when they banned legit games because they decided they were from the wrong region?

I'll admit this is an issue

Not a complete issue. The only time this came up is when people were practically trying to steal games by buying them throw Singapore and Russia at a fraction of the cost. The reason the games were priced differently in those regions was specifically to help combat piracy as well as to market a game in an area that does not have as much money. People were taking advantage of this.

Now there may be a legitimate issue with someone moving from one region to the next. I'm not sure how that works, but if anyone has ever experienced that they might want to chime in with how it went down when they actually called Valve.

Other than that, it's just more BS.

Yeah I was going to mention that in my post but when I went to edit it I accidentally created a new one and then gave up.

I have heard reports of people getting shut down when switching regions with isn't a huge issue. I have no idea how Valve handled the issue.

 

[PingSpike]

I can understand some one having political/philosophical issues with steam regarding its "phone home" nature. But not if they hold up the traditional model as the alternative. We already lost the media rights war. Steam may still be a DRM system, but it at least it provides some convience for the end user...which is more then I can say for disk checks, securom and starforce.

In the end, you speak with dollars. I didn't buy bioshock because I didn't want to deal with the 5 install issue, and I *really* wanted that game. It doesn't really sound like anyone has forgone HL2 here.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

It doesn't really sound like anyone has forgone HL2 here.

its bcause they are all sheep

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Correct me if I'm wrong, but for non-valve games, steam acts as little more than a frontend to launching the game?

Steamworks should rectify this.

Originally posted by: tommo123
with physical media you can buy it if you are on holiday in that country, through valve you are screwed if you do. why should i pay more since i live in the UK over americans (same goods are sometimes half the cost of those in the UK)?

Basically, you are mad that things cost more in the UK and you used to have a sketchy method of getting them cheaper. You should be mad at the UK not at Valve for helping them uphold their proper market pricing.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: BD2003
Correct me if I'm wrong, but for non-valve games, steam acts as little more than a frontend to launching the game?

Steamworks should rectify this.

Yep, thats what I thought. This makes it pretty big news IMO. PC gaming needs a proper integrated service like XBL.

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
i'm just confused how a nutjob like bfg10k got to be a mod.

Why? Because he doesn't like the idea of Valve having big brother like control over all his gaming?