Can anyone tell me whats wrong with Steam?

[warprincenataku]

I love Steam, I have many, many games I've bought through it. They have great sales!

 

[Kevlar Eater]

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

SO STUPID

His claim isn't as unfounded as you think. When I temporarily lost my internet access a month back, I tried to access Steam in offline mode, and it never worked. When I tested it when I got my internet back that same day, the offline mode worked, and it may have had something to do with me being online.

 

[thedarkfreak]

The hate for steam probably comes from the fact that you must be online to enter offline mode.

SO STUPID

His claim isn't as unfounded as you think. When I temporarily lost my internet access a month back, I tried to access Steam in offline mode, and it never worked. When I tested it when I got my internet back that same day, the offline mode worked, and it may have had something to do with me being online.

There are a couple options you can set to make sure you'll be able to use offline mode, but unfortunately, you can only use those online.

The first one to be sure of is, somewhere in Steam options, is the option to save data to the computer to allow offline mode. The second that sometimes works is to let Steam remember your password.

Sometimes Steam's offline cache can get corrupted, too, and if that happens, you have no choice but to go online again.

 

[The_Critic]

What wrong with steam other then it's the devil incarnate????

Lol just kidding, I don't like steam for several reasons. It slows down my computer, I don't trust not owning a physical copy of the game,and I hate I can't trade a game in if it sucks.

Trading in games is very important imo. It's the only way you as a consumer can "punish" companies for making shoddy and bad games. For instance, if you couldn't trade in sonic freeriders you'd be very sad an angry and probably ding dong ditch sega. Trade in games keeps everyone else safe.

But... You can't trade in PC games (generally). The CD Key exists for this very purpose. Granted, some games you just need the key and the disc, but often the CD key binds to you (battlefield series), or you get limited installs (a la Spore). Dawn of War for example binds your CD key to your multiplayer alias. You can install it on multiple computers, but the multiplayer outside of LAN games is only possible on one computer at a time. Gamestop is not going to resell a pre-owned title in which their customers have to share the multiplayer portion with the last person to own the game.

And I don't know where you got the idea that trading in a game somehow "punishes" a developer, producer, or anyone who worked on the game. I don't mean to burst your bubble or be a dick, but all you're doing when you trade in a game is giving GameStop or Best Buy or whatever a way to make money off of reselling your games. Nobody who worked on the game gets a dime off of used game sales, and they aren't the ones who pay you for your games. GameStop and any other place that buys used games pay you for your games out of pocket, because they know they can get the next poor schmuck who walks in to pay more to buy the game than they did. So you're not punishing anyone. The only people I know of who might be even the slightest bit sad that you returned their game is Bungie, and even then they're not losing money, they just care about their customers. Good Developers stop caring once you've decided to no longer be a customer, Bad Developers stop caring once you become a customer. Either way a return has literally zero effect.

I don't mean to be confrontational, I just found your reasons for disliking Steam a bit strange. I can only speculate as to your computer's specs, but I've used steam on 3 desktops, one laptop and a macbook and Steam has never had any impact on the resources available. As for the physical copy vs. digital copy, I've said all that needs to be said. PC gamers don't generally have the ability to return games anyway, so not having a physical copy isn't really the biggest deal. You've got as much right to the game with a physical copy as you do with Steam. If you lose the disc, no big deal. If you lose the CD Key, you have to buy a new copy. Because the CD key IS a license. So with steam you're just buying a CD key you can never lose.

maybe it doesn't punish them, but it sure pisses them off, why else would console games come out with one time use codes for multiplayer and things like that, so that companies like gamestop and bestbuy would stop making money of their used games,also if i buy a crap game, and I can't return it I'd like to get some money back from it. I was a fuggen idiot and bought DC Universe Online for the PS3, and now I know why MMO's On consoles don't work, I wish so badly I could at least get 2 bucks off the game, but I can't trade it in because it's an MMO (this makes sense to me) however I feel as most games are heading in that direction.

Here is an example, my friend sold me his PS3 and all his games because he desperately needed cash for bills, and I really wanted to get a PS3 at the time, with it came Battlefield Bad Company 2, I've really wanted to play the game multiplayer but certain Modes (the only ones I play it seems) cannot be accessed unless I pay another 10 bucks for multiplayer pass. I hate that.

Steam actually probably works really well on my new computer, but when I initially got it I had vista and a mediocre computer so every time it was on it slowed my comp down, also I accidentally checked for it to install some toolbar and I could never get rid of it or and had to deal with the headache of getting rid of all the extrenious programs it installed. Therefore I don't like it. I hate programs like steam that make millions and millions of bucks a year, and then stick in little sneaky bullshit toolbar apps and stuff because they just need a little more money from that.

 

[Aussie502]

I love Steam.

Except for one, itty bitty tiny little thing. They seem to be convinced that $1 = 1?.

I hadn't bought anything in a while and I decided to look at the Skyrim pre-order and I noticed the price was 49,99 Euroes. Speaking with my buddy over in the U.S, he said that it cost 49,99 US Dollars.

Now the problem with this is that the dollar is weak at the moment, really weak. One Euro is about 1,44 Dollars. I calculated that if I were to buy Skyrim for 49,99? I would have to pay 72,04 US dollars.

And the reverse for my U.S bud, he'd pay only 34,68 Euroes.

Myuhupp.

And the pre-order price for Skyrim in Australia is $89.99 USD.

Myuhuppers.

 

[Duskflamer]

Mandatory patches is another complaint many have. Some patches break the game for some people, and they want the ability to roll back to an earlier patch so they can still play their game, instead of needing to wait for the next patch. The ability to choose whether or not to update would be nice, too.

patches are not mandatory, for any game you can turn of auto-patching which you would know if you but took 5 seconds to look into it before making your criticisms.

Yes, but it would be easier for the user if, when you tried to start a game, it would prompt you that a patch was ready for the game, and ask if you wanted to install it. If yes, continue like normal. If no, go ahead and let them play the game.

Except that users who do have good, stable internet connections (such as myself) find it very useful for the games to keep themselves updated, so we don't have to go through an update process when we try to launch the game. For those who don't always want to patch, it's trivial to go into a game's options to keep it from auto-patching.

I think the biggest issues people have with Steam are:

Themselves having poor internet connections (in which case, why are you buying games through an online, digital download retailer?) related: patching woes.

DRM principals (and really, aside from the humble indie bundle and a rare handful of games, all games have some form of DRM in them anyway)

Forced Steam installation (Games that require Steam to run require it because the developers decided to make heavy use of Steamworks, a series of tools that requires access to Steam's servers to run. the devs aren't out to get you with this, they're using Steam's tools to improve their game.)

Issues with offline mode (Which I personally have never experienced, but again, if having an internet connection is so rare that this is really an issue, you're the type of person who really should buy disks instead of rely on an online retailer)

Digital Distribution hate

Pricing issues (which are mostly a result of laws or other agreements forcing Steam to go with whatever price is the standard for a given region.)

Region locking (again, mostly an issue of laws and copyright agreements)

 

[Vault101]

As it says above, whats wrong with Steam? I see alot of hate towards it, its not just Steam though its things like Origin also. Granted I have only used Steam and have loved using it, I find it handy, I can buy all my games and also have them updated no problem, also I can also chat with people, and also amazing sales. But why do people hate Steam? It seems a good and solid platform.

1. not owning physical games can really rub some people the wrong way, especially if you liek to buy PC retail..and you know if the company goes under and everything, plus is steams almost monopoly on the digital distribution market a good thing?..ehhhh

2. main reason: low download caps?....less than stellar internet?..sorry but

YOUR FUCKED

steam doesnt think you exist nor will it ackowledge your existance

 

[Skin]

I don't like to be tied down to it. Granted, it meant sacrificing sweet, sweet Counterstrike, but whatever.

I don't even really play PC games anymore.

 

[Dirty Apple]

-snip-

Wow, I was 5 minutes into reading the various posts before I realized how old this thread was. I haven't seen a blatant necro like this in awhile.

However, since it is up, I'll throw my 2 cents on the table. I love steam. It runs in the background all the time. The sales are great, and chat and VoiP are handy.

Viva, Vapor!

 

[Duskflamer]

-snip-

Wow, I was 5 minutes into reading the various posts before I realized how old this thread was. I haven't seen a blatant necro like this in awhile.

I know this is a bit off-topic, but what's so bad about necros? If a thread was never locked, what's so bad about bringing it back up for discussion? Also, if necros are bad, why do people tend to go "Ugg, this thread again, learn to use the search" if someone makes a new thread on a given topic?

I'll also freely admit that I didn't even notice the age of the thread, I got to it following some user's "recent" posts and found myself wanting to comment.

 

[-Dragmire-]

It's a good and solid platform for people who have access to decent, unlimited broadband. To those who have metered connections, or unstable ones, some of Steam's can be a downright hassle to deal with. The biggest one I can think of is not letting you play the game until it's fully patched. Those patches can take a while to download on slower connections, and the game may have been running fine.

Mandatory patches is another complaint many have. Some patches break the game for some people, and they want the ability to roll back to an earlier patch so they can still play their game, instead of needing to wait for the next patch. The ability to choose whether or not to update would be nice, too.


While neither issue has been a problem for me(I love Steam, it's incredibly convenient), I can understand others having problems with both.


Another issue I've heard is people complaining about the fact that Steam IS DRM. In my opinion, this is a weaker argument than those above simply because Steam is one of the least restrictive forms of DRM around. You can install and play your games on all the computers you want, you just need to log in.

Another complaint I heard was the fact that you don't "own" any games on Steam, you own a "license" to use that game. Unfortunately, that argument is blown out of the water by any EULA on ANY piece of proprietary software released, which states much the same thing(regardless of how effectively someone could actually enforce that, or the legality of it).

An additional complaint I've heard is the fact that Steam games (usually) require Steam to be running in order to function, and won't if you don't. Now, considering Steam is running on my PC right now, and it's barely using ~30MB of memory, I'd say this is a non-issue as well. If you don't have 30MB of memory to spare, you've got more serious problems than needing to run Steam to play a game.

A side complaint connected to the above one, and also to the internet thing, is Steam's offline mode. Yes, you can play your single-player games in offline mode, and even start Steam without an internet connection, and usually be able to enter offline mode and play. The problem is the "usually". I myself have seen Steam glitch and not be able to enter offline mode, necessitating a reconnect. For me, this hasn't been a problem, but if you're trying to play your games somewhere where you don't have internet access, it's obviously quite a huge problem.

In my opinion, if Steam could make offline mode more stable, and introduce a better patching system, it would make quite a huge difference in the perception of the platform.

My connection's stable but I'm affected as well. My ISP has to do maintenance runs from time to time and I'm out of luck till they're done. Steam seems to only accept offline mode if you have an active internet connection when switching, if your connection's bust suddenly it says it needs to update...

 

[Solo-Wing]

Only problem I have with it is that when I am doing something steam likes to freeze on me. Like a lot.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Valve has double-dog swore that should such an event occur they'd release a patch that would free all their games from steamworks, but that isn't worth much to some people.

Huh, I wasn't even aware that they cared about that. That's a tad comforting and relieves my one complaint with Steam, which is the fact that I don't really own my games.

 

[Tayh]

I hate steam for the DRM part, and that some games force me to install and run it everytime I want to play them.
Also, the fanatic steam community that worships gabe as a god.
If I buy a fecking retail game from a brick&mortar store, then I DON'T want to have to deal with a shitty DRM as well.

 

[Duskflamer]

If I buy a fecking retail game from a brick&mortar store, then I DON'T want to have to deal with a shitty DRM as well.

Newsflash, a vast majority of PC games, regardless of where you buy them, have some form of DRM in them. And Steam's DRM is about the lightest it gets.

 

[Tayh]

Newsflash, a vast majority of PC games, regardless of where you buy them, have some form of DRM in them. And Steam's DRM is about the lightest it gets.

Uh. No, it isn't. steam is pretty solidly ranked in the Heavy DRM category.
I'm interested though, what other DRM programs are you comparing steam to, when you say it's "light"?

 

[Duskflamer]

Newsflash, a vast majority of PC games, regardless of where you buy them, have some form of DRM in them. And Steam's DRM is about the lightest it gets.

Uh. No, it isn't. steam is pretty solidly ranked in the Heavy DRM category.
I'm interested though, what other DRM programs are you comparing steam to, when you say it's "light"?

Schemes that require you to connect to a server every time you start a game (compared to Steam's offline mode), and schemes that limit how many times you can install a game, not to mention schemes that cause actual damage to the systems their installed on.

Assuming you have a good enough internet connection that buying and downloading games from an online store is reasonable, the light DRM that Steam has shouldn't be an issue. If you so rarely have a net connection that occasionally needing to connect to the server because Offline mode expired is too much for you, you really shouldn't be using an online store at all.

 

[Tayh]

Schemes that require you to connect to a server every time you start a game (compared to Steam's offline mode), and schemes that limit how many times you can install a game, not to mention schemes that cause actual damage to the systems their installed on.

So, any examples then?
Having to connect to steam offline mode(when it decides to work) or connect to an online server is the same inconvenience; it's still an annoying obstacle you have to pass.
... And what uses true limited install these days? The only programs I know that does, always has some way to reclaim your installs. Inconvenience sure, but it doesn't affect you once the game is installed.
"Schemes that cause actual damage to the system".
Oh come on, now you're reaching for straws.

Now, let's take Fallout 3.
It came with a Games for Windows DRM.
Installed the game/dlc's, uninstalled GfWL and then continued playing unhindered.
Got Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 through Origin; they both run without having to even start up Origin. I could probably uninstall Origin and still be able to play my games.
Sacred 2: limited/recoverable installs; one time obstacle. I barely even notice SecuROM is there when starting the game - and it doesn't try to act like a social media hub.
Mass Effect 1. Downloaded via Impulse(Driven). Never requires Impulse to startup before running the game. I uninstalled Impulse; was still able to play ME1.

If you so rarely have a net connection that occasionally needing to connect to the server because Offline mode expired is too much for you, you really shouldn't be using an online store at all.

I didn't CHOOSE to use an online store. That is forced upon me by valve, even when I buy physical copies.
Fortunately, I live in Denmark, so bandwidth is no issue.

 

[Duskflamer]

... And what uses true limited install these days?

"Schemes that cause actual damage to the system".
Oh come on, now you're reaching for straws.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115375-Ubisoft-Defends-Then-Changes-Anno-DRM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM#Controversies
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/101407-13-securom-games
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/cd-drm-rootkit-repairing-damage

 

[Tayh]

So you linked to some half-assed examples of issues that has since been fixed. Great.
Oh, and a Audio DRM progam, which has nothing to do with this discussion.
So what do you compare steam to when you say it's "light"? It's alot more bloated and cumbersome than the examples you just listed.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html
Here's an interesting article on Piracy vs. DRM.
Parts 8 and 9 are revelant to this topic.