Steam

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

NiKeFiDO

Diamond Member
May 21, 2004
3,901
1
76
Originally posted by: edro
Common problems:
It freezes up.
You buy a game and it doesn't show up.
If you can't login, you can't play.

It just gives them too much power.

i for one have never experienced one of these problems after years of use
 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
1. I don't like having it connecting to the Internet when I play HL2 single player
2. There have been reports of it slowing things down
3. I'd rather not have extra programs open, even 1% extra CPU power should be for whatever game I'm playing
4. Despite clicking on "never auto-update", this seems to work for everything EXCEPT HL2, so I have to wait several minutes before I can play
5. You can get burns from having really hot steam hitting your skin
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
1. I don't like having it connecting to the Internet when I play HL2 single player
2. There have been reports of it slowing things down
3. I'd rather not have extra programs open, even 1% extra CPU power should be for whatever game I'm playing
4. Despite clicking on "never auto-update", this seems to work for everything EXCEPT HL2, so I have to wait several minutes before I can play
5. You can get burns from having really hot steam hitting your skin

Ever heard of offline mode?
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,758
603
126
I actually like steam for the most part. Like any new system its bound to have problems, and it does have a few fundamental flaws. But I love that I can flat out lose my CDs and still be able to install my games...and if they tested their updates better before release I'd like the update system. I much prefer it to having to use copy right protected CDs that have to be in the drive and often cause some kind of performance hit, like traditional distribution methods have degraded too. If its a choice between nazi powered cd protection and steam, I'll take steam. I've found their content server speeds to be acceptable.

The difficulty with selling your used games is a valid point.

Their interface has been going backwards from a design perspective, IMO.

I've had relatively few problems with steam, most being related to a widescale outage. I had that problem where I couldn't log into servers a couple times, but restarting steam solved it.

Then again, I didn't use it during its initial release so I probably missed the grand fvckups.
 

shilala

Lifer
Oct 5, 2004
11,437
1
76
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I've heard some people complain of being banned for no reason, then their ban just disappears a day or two later.

That can be explained away by considering the retards involved, their age, and the fact that they would never have done anything wrong that could have resulted in a ban. ;)
 

UTmtnbiker

Diamond Member
Nov 17, 2000
4,129
4
81
Ever since this latest update, CS:S has been sproadically locking up on me to the point where I have to do a reboot to get back in to WinXP.

Up until then, it was great. Now, there's occasional shaken fists of anger at steam.
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
2
76
Account bans have been known to happen for no reason, locking up $100+ worth of games.
When new games are released, the entire system is slow as hell.
It has actually gotten much faster over the years (I was in beta).
When something gets messed up with Steam (a single file gets corrupted), you have to re-install all the games...which is usually at least 2-3gb.
The app inself is unstable.
 

shelaby

Golden Member
Dec 29, 2002
1,467
0
76
Steam is terrible for a few reasons
1. It gives them too much power, as stated before. You cannot sell the games if you have finished them.
2. Steam support absolutly blows. If something is wrong with steam, and u email them, you dont hear back for at least 4 days. If something happens to your account and u tell them about it, they tell you to buy another account.
3. Offline mode has never worked for me, and i have no idea why. They, of course, are no help.
4. that stupid "Server authentication Failed" message when trying to connect to servers. Especially when trying to connect to a server for a cal match
5. All the reasons Dwarf said right above me
 

jcovercash

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,064
0
0
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.

Steam had a bad rap when it first came out, and was acutally bad then, but they have improved it and it is a decent system now, people just live in the past and have to little whiney bitches!
 

Jon855

Golden Member
Mar 24, 2005
1,214
0
0
Originally posted by: archcommus
Originally posted by: edro
Common problems:
It freezes up.
You buy a game and it doesn't show up.
If you can't login, you can't play.

It just gives them too much power.
Wow.

"It freezes up." Never for me.
"You buy a game, but it doesn't show up." Never had this happen either. Call and complain.
"If you can't login, you can't play." Uh...offline mode? I use it everyday.
:thumbsup:

 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Originally posted by: archcommus
Originally posted by: edro
Common problems:
It freezes up.
You buy a game and it doesn't show up.
If you can't login, you can't play.

It just gives them too much power.
Wow.

"It freezes up." Never for me.
"You buy a game, but it doesn't show up." Never had this happen either. Call and complain.
"If you can't login, you can't play." Uh...offline mode? I use it everyday.

I like Steam. I think it's a great idea and it always worked great for me. These are just the common complaints I hear.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
I just want an option of using it or not. As a light gamer of solo games (non-online) I just want to be able to install the game and use it. I don't want to have to add an additional program that is basically tied to an online connection and go through an additional 20 minutes of crap getting steam updated just to use the game.

I bought the game, let me install it and play it. That's all I ask.

Oh, I feel like I'm renting software instead of actually owning it. For what that's worth.
 

PHiuR

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,539
2
76
it's like the government controlling what you order for food everynight.
 

archcommus

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
8,115
0
76
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I've heard some people complain of being banned for no reason, then their ban just disappears a day or two later.
This is concerning me because I haven't logged in to my Steam account since late August and I won't get a chance to until late December. I'm afraid I'm going to go back and the account will be banned/non-existant. Is there any reason this could happen if I'm not giving out my password to anyone? Are accounts behing "hi-jacked" in any sort of way?

 

Lasthitlarry

Senior member
Feb 24, 2005
775
0
0
It used to be incredibly slow, I would request for an email to play, it took a good 2 weeks before I got a reply, then when I would try to login, it wouldn't work, another week and I got in, then the games started updating, then it crashed, then I gave up on it for about a year,

Came back and it runs perfectly (except a few video issues in CS:S, but I think that is more CS: S than Steam).
 

Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.
Yes, I'm a whiner because I don't want system resources being deverted to a program I didn't want running in the first place :roll: . As to CS:S, compare that to FEAR in terms of demand on your PC, then get back to me. I like running games at 1600x1200, with as many options turned on as possible, so yes, I want every scrap of power available to my games. Troll.
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.
 

daniel1113

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
6,448
0
0
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.



The internet is the way of the future. Welcome to the 21st century.
 

PsharkJF

Senior member
Jul 12, 2004
653
0
0
Basically, I hate steam because it's taken a 4 year old game that would have ran like butter on WON and made it about half as fast on Steam.

Edit: and the teleporter was the worst idea to grace tfc since demos had 4 mirvs

Edit 2: if you disagree, you've never played in a clan match
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
0
Originally posted by: biostud
sometimes getting "can't connect to steam servers" == I can't play.

But other than that I actually like steam.

I like steam. Bought HL2 at school last year, went home for the holidays, downloaded steam and was playing HL2 there. Never had a problem with offline mode or anything.
 

jcovercash

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,064
0
0
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.
Yes, I'm a whiner because I don't want system resources being deverted to a program I didn't want running in the first place :roll: . As to CS:S, compare that to FEAR in terms of demand on your PC, then get back to me. I like running games at 1600x1200, with as many options turned on as possible, so yes, I want every scrap of power available to my games. Troll.
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.


You dont have unplug your connection to run in offline mode, you just make it run in offline mode. There is an option for it. And I play more games than CS:S Its just that is a steam game so I used it as an example. I play my games at 1680x1050 with all options maxed and steam doesnt hurt gameplay performance, I leave trillian running, azureus, my logitech kb/mouse software, antivirus, etc...... And it doesnt affect performance
 
Oct 19, 2000
17,860
4
81
Never had a single problem out of the program. Ordering always worked, preloading always worked, unlocking at certain times always worked, updating games always works, and playing games when I want.....you guessed it, it always works.
 

dabuddha

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
19,579
17
81
Originally posted by: jcovercash
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.
Yes, I'm a whiner because I don't want system resources being deverted to a program I didn't want running in the first place :roll: . As to CS:S, compare that to FEAR in terms of demand on your PC, then get back to me. I like running games at 1600x1200, with as many options turned on as possible, so yes, I want every scrap of power available to my games. Troll.
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.


You dont have unplug your connection to run in offline mode, you just make it run in offline mode. There is an option for it. And I play more games than CS:S Its just that is a steam game so I used it as an example. I play my games at 1680x1050 with all options maxed and steam doesnt hurt gameplay performance, I leave trillian running, azureus, my logitech kb/mouse software, antivirus, etc...... And it doesnt affect performance

But you still have to be connected for the first time you install the game. For single player mode. How fvcked up is that?
When I bought Age of Empires 3, I installed it and was playing in single player mode instantly. I didn't have to screw around with steam settings and port forwarding and whatnot.

 

jcovercash

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,064
0
0
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Originally posted by: jcovercash
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.
Yes, I'm a whiner because I don't want system resources being deverted to a program I didn't want running in the first place :roll: . As to CS:S, compare that to FEAR in terms of demand on your PC, then get back to me. I like running games at 1600x1200, with as many options turned on as possible, so yes, I want every scrap of power available to my games. Troll.
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.


You dont have unplug your connection to run in offline mode, you just make it run in offline mode. There is an option for it. And I play more games than CS:S Its just that is a steam game so I used it as an example. I play my games at 1680x1050 with all options maxed and steam doesnt hurt gameplay performance, I leave trillian running, azureus, my logitech kb/mouse software, antivirus, etc...... And it doesnt affect performance

But you still have to be connected for the first time you install the game. For single player mode. How fvcked up is that?
When I bought Age of Empires 3, I installed it and was playing in single player mode instantly. I didn't have to screw around with steam settings and port forwarding and whatnot.


Boo Fvcking hooo.... You people are just too anal!
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Originally posted by: jcovercash
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Whats wrong with steam is people are morons. Comeone whinning about 1% CPU power, Go STFU and cry in the corner you little baby! WAHHH!! If your PC is slow enough that 1$ hurts it get a better PC! I leave all kinds of crap running while im play CS:S and it doesnt hurt/affect my gameplay.
Yes, I'm a whiner because I don't want system resources being deverted to a program I didn't want running in the first place :roll: . As to CS:S, compare that to FEAR in terms of demand on your PC, then get back to me. I like running games at 1600x1200, with as many options turned on as possible, so yes, I want every scrap of power available to my games. Troll.
Ever heard of offline mode?
Considering I don't feel like having to unplug my net connection to run it in off-line mode, yes, it's still a piece of crap.


You dont have unplug your connection to run in offline mode, you just make it run in offline mode. There is an option for it. And I play more games than CS:S Its just that is a steam game so I used it as an example. I play my games at 1680x1050 with all options maxed and steam doesnt hurt gameplay performance, I leave trillian running, azureus, my logitech kb/mouse software, antivirus, etc...... And it doesnt affect performance

But you still have to be connected for the first time you install the game. For single player mode. How fvcked up is that?
When I bought Age of Empires 3, I installed it and was playing in single player mode instantly. I didn't have to screw around with steam settings and port forwarding and whatnot.

thats what annoyed me with it. you have ot have a connection just to install the fricken game.

i think steam is a waste. they had a good idea but more trouble then it is worth.