Calling all steam haters!!

[Ytmh]

I don't think you can actually hate steam itself as much as you can hate what it stands for. That is to say, the DRM and control imposed for the basis of stopping piracy which happens regardless. The whole playing along with DRM and thinking it helps + digital only stuff is worrying. I can see the benefits of something like steam or why people may like it, but depending where you are on the world it makes no sense to even bother with it.

Now, the thing I can't hate digital distribution for is that it's great for independent developers and THIS is the only single reason I can't outright hate steam or any other distribution method that can help indie devs get their games out and so on. But it could be anything rather than steam, so long as it gives indies a chance at an audience, etc. Games that, in reality, have no way to be sold physically.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Its not that I hate steam its just I do not are for their antiquated application that should be able to instantly tell if I am online and offline and not care for all SP content if I am offline.....

 

[kwfang]

lol watch this all you steam haters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdWnNgTLbKw

 

[Sacman]

steam works forces exclusivity which pisses me off
I've bought games as CDs that still required me to use steam which is just fucking stupid
It locks up all your games in one place and by the EULA they can take away access on a whim. They can do what amazon did (pulled all copies of 1984)
Offline mode doesn't work half the time
It forces updates
it's essentially the console of PC gaming, and I don't own current gen consoles for a reason.

Oh my god, I was asked to download steam for free online support it's the end of the world!
Oh my god, I was asked to take 10 minutes to improve my gaming experience!
Seriously, I've never had any problem with Steam, I enjoy the low prices and convenient accessibility... not to mention it's huge game library and the fact that it's a lot more user friendly than managing all of your games separately...
And how come no one complains about Xfire?

 

[10zack986]

I'm never offline so their DRM has never, ever, been an issue. Other than that it's a convenient place where I can buy deals and bundles and install games whenever I want.

 

[Something Amyss]

Hmm...I don't hate Steam but I will tell you some things that I dislike about Steam.

- Steam is Digital Distribution and I don't like Digital Distribution unless it is DRM free. The wide acceptance of Steam = wide acceptance of DD which I don't look forward to.

- Some disc based games force people to use Steam to play it. This is just pushing DD which again, I don't look forward to. I also find it deceptive. People buy the physical copy for a reason, forcing Steam on them makes the physical copy worthless.

Steam does have some great deals though which is really just easing more people into DD. Most people here (according to polls) don't want to go 100% DD but that is where we are going and when you can no longer OWN or resell a game, I wonder how people will look back on Steam.

People are okay with giving up their rights if it's a sweet deal.

 

[Snotnarok]

I think it was because it was a little wonky years ago and some people don't realize software gets updates and fixes.

I personally enjoy it because it's a place where friends can easily join games and such. I prefer physical games but sometimes when that deal is that good you can't say no.

 

[brunothepig]

steam works forces exclusivity which pisses me off
I've bought games as CDs that still required me to use steam which is just fucking stupid
It locks up all your games in one place and by the EULA they can take away access on a whim. They can do what amazon did (pulled all copies of 1984)
Offline mode doesn't work half the time
It forces updates
it's essentially the console of PC gaming, and I don't own current gen consoles for a reason.

They could take games away, but if they did do it without good reason they would lose a lot of custom. Or we could just rely on them being nice people. Either way.
You can change the options so it doesn't ofrce updates.
Offline mode won't work if you updated something... Since it won't be on your computer, but in their cloud. If you know you'll be using offline mode, switch to it while you're still online beofre you leave your internet access. That's what I do, and I have no problems.

I hate steam enough that i actually registered on these forums SPECIFICALLY to answer this. Now to be fair i will start this by saying that most of my problems are split between a bad ISP (government mandated monopoly) and Steam feeling it necessary to abuse said internet service.
Now i know steam is ON THE INTERNET, but my problems are with its obsessive need to prove that. I know game patches that fix bugs or add content are good, but when Kings quest or the Doom need to be updated twice in one week somethings wrong. With my bad ISP i have also grown to dread updates because of lost data packets. If a download goes wrong the best case scenario is a complete restart of the download. Worst case is steam no longer authenticating its own DRM software requiring a complete reinstall of steam itself (and any games you forget to back up). Its also something of a kick in the teeth to come home from work to find out you cant play because its in the middle of an update. For a while i stayed in offline mode, but then i cant use any of my online games. After a lengthy time dealing with tech support (including a 1 month wait for a response) the best, and only, advice they had was to turn off my firewall and connect my computer directly into the modem. They recommended it 3 times. I tried it once. It did nothing, well nothing useful. All the DRM software made me do was pirate copies of games i already own, and being someone who is against piracy myself i think they have this backwards.
I am also very skeptical of where this DRM software will go, Ubisoft showed just how crazy they can be with it, Steam is the first example i know of that a game required online authorization and im sure they have no problems going further.

I see how this would be annoying to you. But for others that have a strong connection the updates are another attraction. I don't see a lot of updates except for multiplayer games like TF2.
As for their DRM software. It works, relatively unobtrusive, and I don't see why they would change it unneccessarily.
Also, why buy online games if you have a crappy connection? I didn't buy TF2 until I got a faster one...
Do you know anyone who uses Steam? My friends have a solid connection, but don't have the bandwidth to be downloading full games. So any games we both own (TF2, CSS, Majesty etc.) I backup onto a portable harddrive, give to them, they buy it on Steam then restore it onto their computer. Problem solved. Of course they have a small problem with updates, but they can download them. It just means waiting a little while to play that game.
If you have a bad connection, don't use Steam.

 

[SyphonX]

Ugh.

Steam having "really cheap games" is a wild misconception.

They only run "deals" every once in a while, so if you miss the "deal", then oh well for you. Also, the deals are usually for old, to absolutely ancient games.

Everything else, is overpriced to shit. Charging retail waaay beyond it's normal shelf-time. They'll continue to charge $60 for a game that's being marked down to $30 or even less. Not to mention, it's all digital, so what's the excuse for maintaining the high boxed-retail price? Oh, that's right.. no excuse.

Other than that, it's the premiere digital-distributer. If you're okay with DD, then thats the way to go. I use Steam, but it's definitely not my priority. I tend to use it for games that I just don't feel like waiting for in the mail at any given time, or if the price is cheaper than retail (for those rare occasions when my favorite retailers are out-of-stock, like Amazon), it just depends overall.

Steam is seriously overrated. They're not the price angels they're hyped up to be. They are, in fact, quite the opposite, and their whole business model revolves around loyal fandom spreading white lies.

Pretty much every single game I've shopped around for has been cheaper on Amazon or similar sites, by at least $10. For $10 less, you actually get a box, disc, booklets, etc. With digital, you get nothing. Am I the only one that sees a problem with this?

 

[Jamash]

I hate Steam when I buy a game on a disc from a shop, install the game, but then I have to wait for over 24 hours until Steam decides I should be allowed to play my game.

Why? What does it have to do with them? I didn't buy my game from them so why should they have any say in when I play my game? I'm sitting here with the physical game in my hand yet some faceless corporation in America says I can't play it yet.
To make matters worse, people in America are allowed to play my game, yet I can't because Steam thinks it hasn't been released in my country yet... and even when the release date comes around, I still can't play it and have to wait another 5 hours for Steam to acknowledge the correct date. They recognise international release dates but they don't recognise international time zones?

Also their lazy exchange rate of $1=£1 is bullshit, as it the cold hard truth that you don't actually own any of your games and can be prevented from playing them at any time.

On the other hand, some of their sales are pretty good and Steam client itself is OK. Like a lot of things, I like it when it works and does good things for me, but I fucking hate it when it doesn't work or prevents me from playing my legitimately purchased games.

 

[ALuckyChance]

I don't hate Steam, but I've only had horrible experiences with their support.

For some time I had trouble getting Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2 to load up on my computer and I never received one response from their customer support.

Only after digging around online for enough time about a week+ later did I find an answer. I've effectively lost all faith in their support...but love the deals they offer and will continue to give them my business. <I'm waiting for a massive price cut on Bioshock 1/2 to pick them up dirt cheap>

Wouldn't that be a problem you should've taken up with BioWare, as they were the developers?

 

[ultrachicken]

I hate steam because I often get technical problems with the steam client, and the past 3 times I've tried to sign up with their support page they've sent me invalid confirmation keys. And because it refuses to run on my mac.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Meh, as far as I'm concerned, you either love it or hate it. So finding a grounded, reasonable argument is nigh on impossible.

Steam has pros and cons, and while I personally think the pros outweigh the cons, the cons are fucking HUGE. Especially for people with poor ISPs, which I can vouch for (I just want to play Half-Life 2... why do I have to wait 6 hours for 7.1 Surround Sound support I don't need... grumble...)

Steam's DRM is, as far as I'm concerned, the most reasonable of any option so far. Sure, it limits activations to one per user, but your games follows you wherever you go - and when you have a Game Library of 72 games on Steam, each one at your fingertips no matter what PC I'm playing on? ...that's good DRM! Sure, it's DRM nontheless... but it's GOOD. And since DRM is sort of here to stay as long as pirates will do anything to get free shit, I'd rather it reward me somehow. And Steam, Valve especially, have a great relationship with their users and fanbase. That, compared to Ubisoft's massive stinking failure... Steam is doing DRM right.

But like I said. 6 hours for a 20MB patch that doesn't effect me. Or F.E.A.R.2, a 1GB mandatory housecleaning patch...!! ...Steam is great DRM, no doubt about it, but it still pisses people off, and it's really not hard to see why.

Steam haters, your hatred is understood and deserved.

 

[blankedboy]

I'm on-edge about Steam. It constantly fucks itself and tells me I have to be running the 'beta UI' (which is exactly the same as the current one) to search for servers in TF2, WHEN I'M ALREADY RUNNING THE FUCKING BETA UI! Then I have to wait literally 6 to 8 minutes for Steam to restart and install the beta UI THAT I ALREADY FUCKING HAVE and THEN it MIGHT let me play TF2. Sometimes it just brings up the same error and I decide, 'FUCK THIS I'M PLAYING MINECRAFT', or something along those lines.

My other main problem is that when I close a game, Steam stops responding for about 2-3 minutes (again, not hyperbole), and then it won't connect the the Friends servers for another hour or two (look at the lack of hyperbole!).

Overall, Steam just seems to be a fairly buggy overcomplicated DRM, but its features compensate for that. I don't hate it, but I don't particularly like it either.

Meh, as far as I'm concerned, you either love it or hate it. So finding a grounded, reasonable argument is nigh on impossible.

The irony.

 

[The Lawn]

I've got over $900 worth of games on my steam account, with a fresh new $15 load of games dumped onto them this morning.

(Who can resist all the Serious Sam games for $10? And Delve Deeper is super fun)

People who hate Steam have no friends who also use Steam, or have never played a Valve game and therefore are deprived individuals.

 

[Mr. Mike]

Ugh.

Steam having "really cheap games" is a wild misconception.

They only run "deals" every once in a while, so if you miss the "deal", then oh well for you. Also, the deals are usually for old, to absolutely ancient games.

This point is only really true for Aussie gamers. Games are still sold in US dollars regardless of where you are. And for the most part, the prices are still the same (sometimes a game will cost a little extra US to make up for the exchange rate).

For instance, if I wanted to buy a game that cost US$50, the current exchange rate means I pay AUD$52. This is A LOT cheaper than going down to the store and buying a physical copy for AUD$100 or so.

So yeah, Steam has really cheap games for Australians. Then you factor in the sales and the discounts are massive.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

It used to suck major ass when it was first rolled out. Oh, the days spent waiting for that fucking updating bar to move one cm.
Now though it's pretty solid and I have no issues.