Wow, I love Steam

[CountZero]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

You can, but it's illegal to do it that way because of the DMCA.

Originally posted by: smackababy
I love the anti DRM people who have nothing better to offer than to bash Steam. Please, offer me an alternative that protects the IP rights of the developer and is completely unrestrictive for the user. Please do that and I will forever forsake Steam. Until then, nobody cares. Get off your soapbox, stop pretending you don't pirate games, and let everyone who doesn't mind Steam, use it in peace.

Seriously, do you often accuse strangers of illegal activities in real life much? Also, unrestrictive? Ever tried to resell a Steam game?

"Please, offer me an alternative that protects the IP rights of the developer and is completely unrestrictive for the user."

This statement assumes that DRM actually protects the IP rights of the developer, which it historically does not. Good games are normally available within a week to pirates and if they aren't, it's only a matter of time. If someone is willing to steal a game, that doesn't mean they would buy it if the stolen good was unavailable.

I seriously get very frustrated at the lack of empathy, inability to see another person's perspective, and shortsightedness on these boards sometimes. I love gaming on the PC, but I don't like being treated like corporate cattle either.

Exactly, some people have the inability to see that some people don't care at all about whatever downsides Steam might have given the conveniences it offers.

Here's the deal, no consumer likes DRM. However if you want to deal with just about any digital IP these days you will almost certainly be dealing with DRM. There are exceptions but they are the exceptions and not the rule.

So the consumer has to decide how they will deal with DRM. Some don't consider it at all, they buy what they want without concern for DRM. Some draw the line at limited activations, or online activation, or cd checks, or third party software (be it securom, steam, whatever) or anything that restricts you at all. None of these is 'correct', you can decide what you want to deal with or not.

I would be surprised if there was a person on this board that has absolutely zero drm and has obtained every piece or digital IP they have legally. You don't rag on someone for watching DVDs despite them being locked down but using Steam is like betraying the brotherhood of PC gamers.

 

[Trevelyan]

For me, Steam is all positives with no negatives.

Really the only downsides I could imagine would be if you want to resell your games, which I never do, or if you don't have Internet, which is laughable.

Steam makes reformat so painless, and I can install the game on multiple computers, don't need a CD to run it, and get updates for all my games automatically.

 

[TheVrolok]

I, too, love Steam.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Getting updates automatically for the games I play is another great thing I love about Steam. Is it flawless? No. Is it easier than going out to dozens of developer / third-party sites to grab a patch? Hell yes. It drives me nuts when there's a patch for a game, but after downloading it and attempting to install it, I find out that I have to install a previous patch first. Ok... well, after going through that cycle a few times (patch 1.5 -> patch 1.4 -> patch 1.3 -> ???) I often hit a wall where an older patch is only available from a service like File Planet, very hard to track down, or only available on some seemingly shady websites. Of course that doesn't happen with most games, but there have been a few in the past that have driven me nuts. I love to let Steam do the work for me.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

That would be nice, unfortunately no game is like that. They all require DirectX at a minimum, and most require .Net and other things. The problem is you dont see them installed on every game so you forget about them.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

Bullshit, as I said above I have over 90 games installed and almost all of them work fine after a format without being reinstalled.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

Bullshit, as I said above I have over 90 games installed and almost all of them work fine after a format without being reinstalled.

Gee thats funny, cuz I have almost 200 games and most of them give me shit when I copy them over to another computer. I got tired of reinstalling them all the time.
Are you using that special magic version of Windows?

 

[Nebor]

I also like Steam a lot. I prefer to buy all my games on Steam. I'll even pay more to do so.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Add me to the folks who love Steam. Some DRM I hate (i.e. Spore, etc., where I can't install my shit just because of some activation limit - which is my fault, but still irritating), but Steam has never given me any issues.

 

[RESmonkey]

OMG OMG OMG

everyone, they have star wars games on steam now. best thing = the jedi knight collection for $19.99 OMG.

 

[omber]

<3 Steam I did exactly same thing as you couple months ago and it worked \o/

 

[Mike Gayner]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

Bullshit, as I said above I have over 90 games installed and almost all of them work fine after a format without being reinstalled.

Gee thats funny, cuz I have almost 200 games and most of them give me shit when I copy them over to another computer. I got tired of reinstalling them all the time.
Are you using that special magic version of Windows?

PEBKAC TBH. I could give a list of my games, and tell you which ones will work without reinstalling. But you're not worth my time.

Good luck with your fanboyism though.

 

[Gothgar]

Steam is awesome... I will actually pay full price for a game on there over a sale price from B&M or otherwise

 

[Arglebargle]

Pretty funny stuff, the I Love/Hate Steam. Depending on your priorities, Steam can be a godsend or an ultimate evil, or anywhere in between. If you are into resale, view it as a restrictive DRM, are paranoid about company longevity, etc, it gets the 'thumbs down'. People who like the conveniance, automatic updating, chance to play on other computers, etc, give it the 'Thumbs up.'

If you like it, use it, if not, don't. I mostly pick up games on the cheap that I wouldn't usually trouble to get, so someone makes $5 or $10 that they wouldn't get otherwise, due to Steam.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
People who like the conveniance, automatic updating, chance to play on other computers, etc, give it the 'Thumbs up.'

Steam isn't the only program that does this, but it's the only one that requires you to be using their software while playing the game. This is why Steam gets hate. Nothing worse than buying a single-player only game and finding out you can't even play it because you need access to the internet.

 

[zerocool84]

I've had Steam since day one. Been through the hard times and the good times and the release of HL2 was a bad time. I really do like Steam a lot. Sure it's not perfect but it's great. I never resell any games I buy so that's not a problem with me and Weekend Deals are one of the best ideas ever. Gotten more than half of my games cus of the Weekend deals. I'm always connected to the internet as well so that's not a problem either. The only gripe that I hate is that many 3rd party mods or patches won't find the game installed in the Steam directory and won't work at all. Other than that it's been awesome and it's great to be able to find friends to play with over many different games from the same program. If you don't like it don't use it and purchase your games elsewhere.

 

[jlee]

Steam FTW. My only complaint is the inability to sell/gift a game when you're done playing it. However, since I usually buy stuff when it's dirt cheap on sale, it's not that big of a deal.

 

[Ramma2]

Steam is growing on me, but I'm still having a hard time letting go entirely of that physical disc. I can keep it, collect it, trade it or sell it when I'm done.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

Bullshit, as I said above I have over 90 games installed and almost all of them work fine after a format without being reinstalled.

Gee thats funny, cuz I have almost 200 games and most of them give me shit when I copy them over to another computer. I got tired of reinstalling them all the time.
Are you using that special magic version of Windows?

PEBKAC TBH. I could give a list of my games, and tell you which ones will work without reinstalling. But you're not worth my time.

Good luck with your fanboyism though.

Woah there pally.
I have been making my own computers since the DOS 3.0 days. Have been playing real video games (not BASIC) since the DOS 5.0 days. That includes manually configuring EMS and XMS memory for each and every game. Usually in the form of a boot disc since a game used one or the other but not both. Also had to manually setup IRQ and Adresses for stuff because some more difficult games didnt like the standard configs.

When Windows gaming became popular all this shit went out the door but it brought in the new problems with the registry. So many games make multiple entries and most refuse to run if they arent there.

Have been trying since Win98 to copy stuff over and just play without a reinstall and very few if any work properly.
Dont know where you got the fanboy shit from. Simply because I said one nice thing about Steam?
Of course you did bold my comment about Guild Wars. Did you think I was a GW fanboy? I assure you I am not. The only reason I bother playing it for an hour a month is it never required the disc and I didnt have to reinstall when I changed computers. I just copied it over.

So apparently I am worth your time when you wanna run off at the mouth like a little bitch, but not when it comes time to make intelligent or evidence-supported arguments?

Good luck with life and everything sir.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Mike Gayner

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Me too.
One installation of STEAM has worked constantly since I put on HL2 several years ago when it first came out. All I've had to do is copy it over whenever I put an OS on a new hard drive. No keycodes, no reinstalls, nothing.
Awesome.

Only other game that does the same thing is Guild Wars.

Everything else needs 500 fucking registry entries and a god damn disc check.
Fuck that shit. I'm tired of being punished for purchasing games and being a legit user.

Bullshit, as I said above I have over 90 games installed and almost all of them work fine after a format without being reinstalled.

Gee thats funny, cuz I have almost 200 games and most of them give me shit when I copy them over to another computer. I got tired of reinstalling them all the time.
Are you using that special magic version of Windows?

PEBKAC TBH. I could give a list of my games, and tell you which ones will work without reinstalling. But you're not worth my time.

Good luck with your fanboyism though.

Woah there pally.
I have been making my own computers since the DOS 3.0 days. Have been playing real video games (not BASIC) since the DOS 5.0 days. That includes manually configuring EMS and XMS memory for each and every game. Usually in the form of a boot disc since a game used one or the other but not both. Also had to manually setup IRQ and Adresses for stuff because some more difficult games didnt like the standard configs.

When Windows gaming became popular all this shit went out the door but it brought in the new problems with the registry. So many games make multiple entries and most refuse to run if they arent there.

Have been trying since Win98 to copy stuff over and just play without a reinstall and very few if any work properly.
Dont know where you got the fanboy shit from. Simply because I said one nice thing about Steam?
Of course you did bold my comment about Guild Wars. Did you think I was a GW fanboy? I assure you I am not. The only reason I bother playing it for an hour a month is it never required the disc and I didnt have to reinstall when I changed computers. I just copied it over.

So apparently I am worth your time when you wanna run off at the mouth like a little bitch, but not when it comes time to make intelligent or evidence-supported arguments?

Good luck with life and everything sir.

LOL, I love it when people start their post by trying to condescend the other person by listing their experience. You have roughly the same amount of experience as me (my gaming starting in DOS 5.0 also). But the fact is you're wrong. Almost all of my games work without being reinstalled. On the minority of them, I'll get an error about the CD Key missing or similar. In these cases, roughly 50% require a reinstall, while others just require me to enter the CD Key. Very few other issues exist, and the bulk of my games work without a reinstall, just by copying them over.

PEBKAC TBH.

 

[acheron]

Which games work without copying registry entries and shit? I haven't seen that work for a long time, but I admittedly haven't tried it recently. Do newer games really refresh their registry entries if they're missing?

(And if we're measuring e-peen lengths, I've been gaming since MSDOS 2.0. Though if BASIC stuff doesn't count then it's probably MSDOS 3.3.)

 

[Mike Gayner]

Originally posted by: acheron
Which games work without copying registry entries and shit? I haven't seen that work for a long time, but I admittedly haven't tried it recently. Do newer games really refresh their registry entries if they're missing?

(And if we're measuring e-peen lengths, I've been gaming since MSDOS 2.0. Though if BASIC stuff doesn't count then it's probably MSDOS 3.3.)

When I get home from work I'll make a list of my installed games, and which of them work without reinstalling. It's most of them. Otherwise I'd have to spend a whole day reinstalling games after a format - but I dont.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Here's a list of my currently installed games. Highlighted ones work without reinstalling (some may require you to enter a key, eg Quake IV), but otherwise they work perfectly after a format. Blue question marks I'm unsure about. That leaves only eight games from more than 90 than require reinstalling.

http://i36.tinypic.com/2vkagle.jpg