Steam vs. CD/DVD game purchase?

[runzwithsizorz]

I have never used Steam. Always bought games in cd/dvd format. What are the advantageous/ disadvantageous of using Steam? Is there a membership fee? Do Steam games also include Securom?

 

[igloo15]

1.) Don't need to keep track of cd keys and discs
2.) Download games from steam servers very fast I get 1.5 megabytes a second usually. Depends on internet connection though
3.) Great Deals
4.) No securom unless specifically put on there by publisher. Most times they take it off for Steam Release
5.) Great in game chatting with friends and achievements for some games
6.) Can download games as many times as you want if switching to a different computer or just reformatting. All you need is steam program and your username and password. Also easy to backup your steam game folder and put it on your new pc and start playing without having to reinstall most games.

Disadvantages
1.) Have to run steam in background (Doesn't affect me at all and my computer is pretty old but some people hate it)
2.) Have to be online to initially log in to Steam then you can go into offline mode if you won't have internet

I am a little bias but I love steam have over 60 games and they have never been a problem.

 

[Genx87]

Biggest thing for me is ease of use. No more trying to find DVDs, CD-keys, and then hope the physical media isnt damaged rendering your game useless. I can simply download what I want, when I want it, and usually for a cheap price when they have sales.

 

[Rebel44]

No membership fee.
Automatic updates.
They have great sales (christmas sale just ended today)

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

I like Steam for some things and the holiday deals destroyed me, but two other big disadvantages:

1) You cannot resell anything you buy.
2) If for some reason you lose your account or Steam stops working, you lose everything you ever bought.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Thanks for the info. I'll try a game or two after I install the new hard drive.

 

[tw1164]

I just bought my first two games on steam today, I grabbed Braid for less then $3, and torchlight for $5. Those prices are sick! Braid is still $15 on the Xbox. The savings outweigh any of the downsides for me.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Pros: as above.
Negs: Invasive and annoying DRM.

 

[crownjules]

Another advantage in a few games is Steam Cloud support. Right now, it transfers save games over. Torchlight, Trine, and the Valve games I think are the only ones that utilize it right now.

I'd imagine in the future it'll expand to include configurations and the like as well.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Another advantage in a few games is Steam Cloud support. Right now, it transfers save games over. Torchlight, Trine, and the Valve games I think are the only ones that utilize it right now.

I'd imagine in the future it'll expand to include configurations and the like as well.

I think Steam Cloud already stores mouse & keyboard settings, at least for Valve games.

 

[Martimus]

Pros are already mentioned in good detail, so I will mention a few Cons that haven't been mentioned:
1) Steam customer support is very bad. I tried many times to get help through their customer service because I couldn't get Steam Store to work (so I couldn't buy any more games), and got very little help. I expected them to work with me more since it was something that kept me from giving them more money, but alas they are very apathetic toward their customers issues, also their biggest digital competitor (Impulse) has outstanding customer support, which made the whole experience seem stranger.

2) Steam just doesn't work for no aparrent reason at times. I have had this issue since I first D/Led it to play HL2 and Counter Strike 0.7b. I have gone through 3-4 computers since then and all have had the same issue. I could never figure it out, but it tends to work after rebooting a few times (although this is annoying and causes me to avoid games I have on Steam as I know this issue might come up.)

3) Valve is developing a reputation as a draconian enforcer of its EULA. They will refuse to work with you on anything is seems (this seems to go along with their piss poor customer support listed above.) Luckily I haven't had any issues with this, so it may just be heresay, but I see threads pretty often of times where Valve appears completely unreasonable with customers. With my experience with their customer support (I opened probably 4 tickets at different times, and never got any real help) this is not a suprise.

On to some PROs that I really enjoy about Steam (even though I said they are already covered, I feel I have been too negative and want to even this post out):

1) Steam has better deals on games than you can find nearly anywhere. Now their standard price is often higher than normal, but the sales can get ridiculously low. This low cost is the primary reason I put up with Cons 1-3 above.

2) Not needing to find old CD's to play games, and the ability to reformat and restore a few games very quickly is a very nice feature. I prefer Impulse to Steam for this, as it doesn't have the cons listed above (altough it has its own cons), but Steam is just as effective at this feature.

3) Automatic updates of games. This can be a problem if you just want to play a game and have to wait for the update, but I am not sure this is an issue. I know that updates are optional in Impulse, so the same may be true here if you don't want to update when you open up Steam. Even so, this is more of a pro than a con, as you don't need to search for new patches, they will start downloading as soon as you open Steam. Not sure if you can archive old versions like you can with Impulse, but if you can, this would be a plus as well (so you can go back to older versions if something gets broken in a new patch.)

 

[MStele]

I like Steam for some things and the holiday deals destroyed me, but two other big disadvantages:

1) You cannot resell anything you buy.
2) If for some reason you lose your account or Steam stops working, you lose everything you ever bought.

1) Most PC games require activation/key registration that kill resale, so Steam isn't exactly unique in this.

2) Your computer is gonna eventually fail or evolve as a platform. Eventually you will lose everything you bought regardless, because software lives only as long it has a platform to operate on. On a happy note, Steam will likely outlast any computer you own now.

On another note, I would like to make a comment on the attitude toward DRM and EULA in general. People tend to forget that we don't own software, only license it, and that the price of admission is a set of rules we either follow or we don't get to play ball. The only difference between now and 10 years ago is that technology has actually given developers the ability to do what they absolutely had a right to do 10 years ago. Nothing has changed except for the fact that many people have been getting away with bending/breaking the rules for so long that they feel entitled to it.

I just want to say that I dislike many of the latest forms of DRM, however I don't blame developers for using them, because if it was me trying to sell a product, I would want to protect it also. But thats is the price of admission. We pay to play. That being said, Steam ( and others like it), with all of its negatives is amazing because it gives us easy access to tons of titles, often times priced much lower than stores. Since eventually all the software will be useless (x86 won't last forever), forget the worry of playing a game 4 years in the future and enjoy it now. Like many hobbies, this is a money pit and nothing will change that. Happy gaming.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

1) Most PC games require activation/key registration that kill resale, so Steam isn't exactly unique in this.

2) Your computer is gonna eventually fail or evolve as a platform. Eventually you will lose everything you bought regardless, because software lives only as long it has a platform to operate on. On a happy note, Steam will likely outlast any computer you own now.

On another note, I would like to make a comment on the attitude toward DRM and EULA in general. People tend to forget that we don't own software, only license it, and that the price of admission is a set of rules we either follow or we don't get to play ball. The only difference between now and 10 years ago is that technology has actually given developers the ability to do what they absolutely had a right to do 10 years ago. Nothing has changed except for the fact that many people have been getting away with bending/breaking the rules for so long that they feel entitled to it.

I just want to say that I dislike many of the latest forms of DRM, however I don't blame developers for using them, because if it was me trying to sell a product, I would want to protect it also. But thats is the price of admission. We pay to play. That being said, Steam ( and others like it), with all of its negatives is amazing because it gives us easy access to tons of titles, often times priced much lower than stores. Since eventually all the software will be useless (x86 won't last forever), forget the worry of playing a game 4 years in the future and enjoy it now. Like many hobbies, this is a money pit and nothing will change that. Happy gaming.

Don't bother trying to turn this into another stupid DRM / licensing argument. There is legal precedent that allows you to resell software with a key, to which I've provided links and lengthy discussion points in the past. There is absolutely no way to do it with Steam, legal or otherwise, unless you sell your account, which I believe is bannable if discovered. This is a clear point against Steam.

I also don't think you can make any predictions about the lifespan of Steam vs. that of the Windows platform, so your point is pretty hollow. In general, you can retain and use a physical copy of a game even if the publisher, developer, and merchant from which you bought it all go under. Not so with Steam, in the unlikely event that it dies off in the near future. There have been vague promises that they will provide means to unlock purchased games, but nothing concrete.

I don't know why you'd bother downplaying these negative points about Steam. They're absolutely true, even if they're not reason enough to avoid it.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

steam cloud is a good idea as they develop it further. your saved games and control settings will travel with you from pc to pc. makes reformatting much easier.

 

[Alienwho]

I only use steam to purchase their deals and won't spend more than $5 on any game. Because of that, I don't mind the DRM associated with it or care if Steam goes belly up a year from now and I lose the entire $30 I've spent on their games.

To be honest I actually really like Steam, but I would never consider blowing $50 on a game like Dragons Age or any other single player game on Steam. Spending $5 for Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead? I wouldn't bother going to the store to buy that but would buy and download it instantly on Steam.

 

[Dumac]

2.) Have to be online to initially log in to Steam then you can go into offline mode if you won't have internet

This isn't true. In my experience, if steam doesn't detect an internet connection, it will simply ask the user if they want to enter offline mode.

I mainly use steam to buy cheap, dated games and Valva games. The deals are amazing.

 

[MStele]

Don't bother trying to turn this into another stupid DRM / licensing argument. There is legal precedent that allows you to resell software with a key, to which I've provided links and lengthy discussion points in the past. There is absolutely no way to do it with Steam, legal or otherwise, unless you sell your account, which I believe is bannable if discovered. This is a clear point against Steam.

I also don't think you can make any predictions about the lifespan of Steam vs. that of the Windows platform, so your point is pretty hollow. In general, you can retain and use a physical copy of a game even if the publisher, developer, and merchant from which you bought it all go under. Not so with Steam, in the unlikely event that it dies off in the near future. There have been vague promises that they will provide means to unlock purchased games, but nothing concrete.

I don't know why you'd bother downplaying these negative points about Steam. They're absolutely true, even if they're not reason enough to avoid it.

I'm not trying to downplay the negatives. I'm just trying to say we should worry more about playing the games than whether we will be able to play them at some arbitrary time down the road. Regardless of how you see it, buying software is about consumption and not about investment. As fun as it is, this hobby is a money pit and trying to justify it as anything but is silly. That is all. I'm all about enjoying my hobby, not declaring every roadblock as a stumbling block to happiness. If that means I'm more for Steam than against it, then so be it.

As to predicting the life of Windows, I made no such claim. I'm claiming, as many studies have shown, that x86 is a tired platform that will eventually be replaced with something more efficient and more capable. Steam will not disappear in the "near future". In fact, i'll go so far as to say that, even with its negatives, its more popular than ever as well as a big money maker. Unless something dramatic happens, Steam will likely be operating for a long time. We've ran into each other before, and its obvious you have strong views about physical software ownership and end user rights, whereas I am much more on the side of property rights and software authorship. We can just agree to disagree.

 

[iahk]

Also, keep in mind if your isp has a download cap, you might run into an issue. Games (at least the ones I've purchased through Steam) average a hefty 7.5GB to download. I recently rebuilt my system and had to redownload my games to run into cap shortly after.. then my downloads started crawling.

Plan ahead and back it up locally so you don't run into my problem.

 

[astrosfan315]

#1 advantage is if you build a new computer and reinstall a new OS..d/l the steam client, log in and come back the next day and all your games are on the new PC

 

[mindcycle]

but two other big disadvantages:

1) You cannot resell anything you buy.
2) If for some reason you lose your account or Steam stops working, you lose everything you ever bought.

This. Valve basically has total control over games that you legally purchased. Even though the chance of something happening is small, I still stay clear of Steam because of this.

 

[Bull Dog]

The main reason why I fell in love with Steam was because all of the games on Steam are portable. I can back up my entire Steam folder, reinstall Windows, install Steam, move my old Steam folder in and walla, I've got everything all ready to go.

 

[tviceman]

I was completely anti-steam until about three years ago, when I realized I no longer needed to worry about swapping out CD's and installation/uninstallation is a 1 click, no monitoring process.

Up-to-date games, steam cloud, achievements, and community are all just icing on the cake to me. Now, even though I've purchased from D2D and gamersgate in the past, I'm almost exclusive to steam when I purchase.

 

[McRhea]

The main reason why I fell in love with Steam was because all of the games on Steam are portable. I can back up my entire Steam folder, reinstall Windows, install Steam, move my old Steam folder in and walla, I've got everything all ready to go.

This. In addition to all the other positives listed above.

I've been using Steam since 2006-07, and *crosses fingers* have never had any problems with any of the games I've purchased from it. So glad I don't have to store game cases anymore, I was running out of space.

I've also never had a problem playing my games when my internet went out. Steam would try to log in, tell me that it couldn't, and then give me the option to continue in Offline mode. When I moved to a different place I was without internet for 2-3 weeks, and was still able to play all my games while in offline mode.

Anyway, I love Steam and all it's sales.

 

[rudder]

If I had the CD/DVD I could install peggle on the laptop and use my pc for left4dead2. but I did not think about making another steam account when I bought peggle. I can't log into steam from two different PC's and that stinks.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Don't forget that your Steam account can be locked at any time for any reason, rendering all the games you have bought through steam (or one time registration code for retail) useless. I have not heard of this happening, but keep it in mind. Part of the reason I only buy cheap or MP only games through Steam if I can help it.

Steam will also not allow you to install games on more then one hard drive.