I really do not like steam... Persuade me otherwise. FIXED

[AuronFtw]

Steam works. Steam's offline games function works. Steam is compatible with your internet. No, we won't convince you to like steam. Either you use the resource with an incredible library of cheap games all in one place or you don't. If you want to invent problems with it, go to the steam community pages to get tech support. Stop trying to farm for thread hits.

 

[Fraught]

I am only going to concede that you have some problem, because I do not believe you are just lying to our faces, but you are being extremely unbecoming by being really vague about your problem.

In any case, I am just going to reiterate what everyone else has said. Either give us a better report of whatever error it gives you, or uhh...give us a reason as to why we should care to persuade you, 'cause personally, I've not been persuaded to persuade you. My Steam (including offline mode) runs perfectly, and has always run perfectly (with some rare problems with offline mode when I first started out with using it), so you better pony up a better explanation and meet us half-way, or we're going to have to mourn the loss of one potential active user for our great and supreme haven, Steam, and one disciple for our great and supreme overlord, Gabe Newell.

All hail the great and glorious Gabe Newell!

The Thrice G (the great and glorious GabeN) is here to lead you to the promised land.
His disciples will glady work to solve your problems at the Steam Forum if you only find it in your heart to give He whom is known as Him a chance.

Spoiler: obligatory image of the god emperor of steam

Yes, I'm aware I'm being silly. I'm doing it on purpose.

Dayyyum, look at Gabe's waist. Dude's been workin' out like mad.

All hail The Thrice G, the Great and Glorious GabeN!

 

[Exhuminator]

"your internet is not compatible with our client"

Sounds to me like your internet is pretty smart and is doing you a favor.

 

[William Ossiss]

Though if you want to look further into it (In my experience someone who comes back with an error like this when asked is either too lazy to find the error, or lacks the correct knowledge) there are certain routers and router setting which have been known to cause issues with steam, so maybe look into that.

The exact error message was:
"Steam Could Not Connect To Steam Network
This Could Be Due To A Problem With Your Internet Connection or With The Steam Network. Please visit Steampowered.com for more info."

I apologize for the initial lack of information, but frustrations were high and, well... I thought I'd try the forum where I know helpful people reside. From a number of posters, that seems to be a mistake.

Spent three hours trying to get it to work.. Turns out it was some rouge processes that shouldn't have been running. In the end I had to uninstall and then reinstall steam. Seems like a lot of work just to play games...

Steam works. Steam's offline games function works. Steam is compatible with your internet. No, we won't convince you to like steam. Either you use the resource with an incredible library of cheap games all in one place or you don't. If you want to invent problems with it, go to the steam community pages to get tech support. Stop trying to farm for thread hits.

I'm not. It was a legitimate problem.

See, the problem was that my internet was working properly.

You're awfully quick to judge, though.

... no. I don't like Steam either. So, rather than persuading you otherwise, I will instead attempt to persuade you that Good Old Games is better.
Oh - Pro Tip. If Steam has a game cheaper than GOG (and they both sell the game, obviously), you can buy it on Steam, and then use the Steam Code to get it free on GOG. That's what I did with the Witcher 2. ^^

No need on that front, my friend! I wholeheartedly use Good Old Games! I got the free fallouts (before they were taken down) and have bought several games after. My best purchase was Dungeon Keeper 2 (It was on sale XD)

Hmm... I love that protip. I may have to keep steam installed for future use so that the Steam DRM Machine doesn't affect me anymore.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

No need on that front, my friend! I wholeheartedly use Good Old Games! I got the free fallouts (before they were taken down) and have bought several games after. My best purchase was Dungeon Keeper 2 (It was on sale XD)

Hmm... I love that protip. I may have to keep steam installed for future use so that the Steam DRM Machine doesn't affect me anymore.

^^

My GOG library is huge - around five to ten times the size of my Steam library.

And ignore all the people saying that it's somehow your fault. I know exactly the type of frustration you're experiencing.

To be more specific, last year I backed a Kickstarter for a video game (well, several, but we're talking about one specific one here). A few months ago they completed the project and released it... on Steam. They said they "might" release it on GOG during the KS, but ended up not doing so, so I could only get it on Steam.

The problem was that, every time I tried to turn Steam on to do so, the program crashed. I couldn't log in, couldn't do anything.

It turned out I needed to update, but the updater was crashing. I can't even remember how I fixed it, but it took a couple days and was exceptionally frustrating.

 

[TehCookie]

Steam works. Steam's offline games function works. Steam is compatible with your internet. No, we won't convince you to like steam. Either you use the resource with an incredible library of cheap games all in one place or you don't. If you want to invent problems with it, go to the steam community pages to get tech support. Stop trying to farm for thread hits.

I'm not. It was a legitimate problem.

See, the problem was that my internet was working properly.

You're awfully quick to judge, though.

I always hate it when people assume there's nothing wrong with Steam, because that program is personally out to raise my blood pressure.

I'm glad you fixed your error, but when you got it did you see the sign in screen? I had an issue like that before where it immediately tried to sign in, and when I closed out of the error box because it couldn't connect Steam would crash and I couldn't even get to the sign in screen to change the user. It fixed when I installed it and uninstalled it but if it was the same issue it would be nice to know you solved what was causing it.

 

[Lightknight]

Spent three hours trying to get it to work.. Turns out it was some rouge processes that shouldn't have been running. In the end I had to uninstall and then reinstall steam. Seems like a lot of work just to play games...

I installed steam once three years ago. Haven't had to reinstall it since. I'm not sure why your environmental issue somehow reflects negatively on Steam itself so much as your environment. I can't persuade you one way or the other on Steam's credentials if your environment is preventing it. It'd be like convincing a short guy why the top shelf is full of great stuff when the short guy claims the stuff sucks because he can't see it. Not that I'm saying you're short, just your pc network environment.

Steam is just a storefront that remembers which games you have purchased to give you permanent access to them anywhere. It gives steep discounts on games in sales and helps manage your game's updates and DLC all in one convenient place. It even has forums that users frequent to discuss game-related issues to make troubleshooting quick and easy.

Frankly, what's not to like? As far as I can tell, the only dislike is that I can't hand my game to a friend, but that was already legally true with digital downloads. The ease and low cost of steam gaming is what brought me back to PC gaming in full force.

 

[Gamer87]

I get that error message too sometimes, but then I try again and it works.

Persuading you to like steam? Well at least it's better than Origin... That's all I've got.

 

[William Ossiss]

Le snip

I'm saying you're short

Steam is just a storefront that remembers which games you have purchased to give you permanent access to them anywhere. It gives steep discounts on games in sales and helps manage your game's updates and DLC all in one convenient place. It even has forums that users frequent to discuss game-related issues to make troubleshooting quick and easy.

Frankly, what's not to like? As far as I can tell, the only dislike is that I can't hand my game to a friend, but that was already legally true with digital downloads. The ease and low cost of steam gaming is what brought me back to PC gaming in full force.

XD I am not short! I'm... well, average.

The one thing I really don't like about it is that pesky DRM. Yeah steam may have an offline feature but isn't this the same reason people were up in arms about the xbone?

I keep hearing about the "glorious pc gaming master race" being jerks and what not, and I've met some people like that before. I've also met a lot on consoles, though.

Spoiler

I try to play games on everything, so as to not miss out on something I may end up loving. Getting into bed with Steam required way too much work for it to be anything other than used to download my games. Truth be told, my pc isn't exactly capable of handling anything with high end graphics. Thankfully a majority of them are on consoles.

I'll be leaving steam on my pc, but doubt I'll give them money if I can buy it else where.

 

[Weaver]

Given your description: are you in a country with a government firewall or in a building (business or education) that would have one?

Seems like something is blocking your connection to steam.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Spent three hours trying to get it to work.. Turns out it was some rouge processes that shouldn't have been running. In the end I had to uninstall and then reinstall steam. Seems like a lot of work just to play games...

That rouge process must have been drawing a hell of a lot of color to hinder your network traffic so much.

Such problems are just a part of PC gaming. Reinstalling the client sometimes is a small investment compared to the cheap games, cloud back-ups, and social functionality (assuming you have finite money and/or a friend).

 

[Doom972]

Processes that prevent Steam from connecting properly would've caused problem with other things as well eventually so it's good you got rid of them. Every PC gamer needs to do some troubleshooting now and then.

Why do you need people to convince you to like Steam? It's not the best solution for everyone - we all have different needs and expectations from our gaming experiences. I really like the way Steam changed PC gaming but I get why some don't.

 

[Bombiz]

No need on that front, my friend! I wholeheartedly use Good Old Games! I got the free fallouts (before they were taken down) and have bought several games after. My best purchase was Dungeon Keeper 2 (It was on sale XD)

Hmm... I love that protip. I may have to keep steam installed for future use so that the Steam DRM Machine doesn't affect me anymore.

^^

My GOG library is huge - around five to ten times the size of my Steam library.

And ignore all the people saying that it's somehow your fault. I know exactly the type of frustration you're experiencing.

To be more specific, last year I backed a Kickstarter for a video game (well, several, but we're talking about one specific one here). A few months ago they completed the project and released it... on Steam. They said they "might" release it on GOG during the KS, but ended up not doing so, so I could only get it on Steam.

The problem was that, every time I tried to turn Steam on to do so, the program crashed. I couldn't log in, couldn't do anything.

It turned out I needed to update, but the updater was crashing. I can't even remember how I fixed it, but it took a couple days and was exceptionally frustrating.

doesn't gog only sell old and indi games? Not that it's a bad thing. GoG is good and all but what if some one wanted to buy a newer title like Metal Gear: Rising or Total war: Rome 2?

 

[legendp]

Then my internet went out and Steam game me some BS message about 'connect to the internet to play your games".

This, plus your incredibly vague no one has heard of 'my internet is not compatible with steam' kind of make this seem like its just a made up story to wind people up.

Though if you want to look further into it (In my experience someone who comes back with an error like this when asked is either too lazy to find the error, or lacks the correct knowledge) there are certain routers and router setting which have been known to cause issues with steam, so maybe look into that.

Actually I have had the same error multiple times, as well as steam not allowing me to play certain games in offline mode, or offline mode not working at all. I buy my games but for single player games, if I am using them on my laptop I prefer to either use gog or a cracked version of the game (don't worry, I own the games, just prefer the cracked version). Because "steam cannot run in offline mode" or "Steam Could Not Connect To Steam Network" are really infuriating things to see.

Personally I wish all games were available on GOG (limited libray of new games compared to steam), but I compromise with steam, I mean at least it isn't origin, which I refuse to even use, hell I'll buy the boxed pc version of an origin game and then download a cracked version for actual installation. not unless they have fixed there license agreement that lets them spy on me

 

[Lightknight]

Hah, you have a wonderful sense of humor! I've actually laughed more than once at your jokes in this post.

The one thing I really don't like about it is that pesky DRM. Yeah steam may have an offline feature but isn't this the same reason people were up in arms about the xbone?

Well, sort of. I've often gone weeks on Steam in offline mode without having to do anything online. XBO was initially going to require a daily checkin. What's more, because they planned on using cloud processing to augment the gaming experience, the games will likely be always online towards the end of the generation because its weaker system requires it for games that are going to fully utilize the PS4 processing. Additionally, the XBO's method would have effectively wiped out the preowned games market. The big problem with that is that Microsoft's online store is NOT like the Steam store. I get games on Steam all the time for $10 or less. You're lucky to find a game on the MS Live store that has even been discounted for $10 off the total price.

For a console, the game is either tied ot a disk or tied to an account. That's true with most games anyways unless you pirate at which point nothing is going to be cheaper.

I keep hearing about the "glorious pc gaming master race" being jerks and what not, and I've met some people like that before. I've also met a lot on consoles, though.

Wonderful picture. I think pc gaming "master race" is particularly biting because we're the sort of people with the technical knowledge and/or the money to build a decent gaming machine. As such, it is often seen as a sort of class distinction. We can explain how pc gaming allows us access to a wider range of games and even prettier environments and sure, it is better. But what good does that do for someone without the resources to build a legitimate gaming PC or without the know-how to build one? Sure, I wanted to have a gaming pc back in the day. But I was in college and didn't know anything about PC gaming. Flashfoward several years and I have a decent job with an extremely diverse technical background. My first pc turned on and worked the first time I put it together and is still capable of playing all current games on the highest settings. What can I say to my college self? Learn computers and get a job so you can enjoy this? My college self's response to me should be something like, "Screw you, you arrogant asshat." If a console owner tries to tell a computer gamer that the console is better, that's a significantly lower cost of change.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

doesn't gog only sell old and indi games? Not that it's a bad thing. GoG is good and all but what if some one wanted to buy a newer title like Metal Gear: Rising or Total war: Rome 2?

It does not just sell old games - many of the games on GOG are recent (like, 2013 recent) but all of them are DRM free titles like Papers Please, FTL, FEZ, or the Witcher 2. And those are just of the recent games I've personally either bought or Wish-listed - there are other recent titles as well.

GOG does specialize in older games, but they sell lots of newer titles as well. Not Metal Gear, though - likely for copyright reasons. I'm not sure about Rome 2. It sounds familiar, like I might have seen it on sale, but it really isn't my kinda game, so I'm not 100% on that.

 

[Bombiz]

doesn't gog only sell old and indi games? Not that it's a bad thing. GoG is good and all but what if some one wanted to buy a newer title like Metal Gear: Rising or Total war: Rome 2?

It does not just sell old games - many of the games on GOG are recent (like, 2013 recent) but all of them are DRM free titles like Papers Please, FTL, FEZ, or the Witcher 2. And those are just of the recent games I've personally either bought or Wish-listed - there are other recent titles as well.

GOG does specialize in older games, but they sell lots of newer titles as well. Not Metal Gear, though - likely for copyright reasons. I'm not sure about Rome 2. It sounds familiar, like I might have seen it on sale, but it really isn't my kinda game, so I'm not 100% on that.

i just checked out the site and tried to search for some games that are on my steam account. while i could find some recent ones most of them where unavailable. Hell even some old games weren't available (command and conquer, warcraft 3, starcraft. It seems to me that they have a problem with licencing some more recent games.

however i was able to find Dungeon Keeper 2 so that's a huge plus. I like the face that you don't have to be online to have access to you games, you just install once and BOOM you can play any time.

P.S
for the record they didn't have Rome 2.
or any of the Total War game for that matter.

 

[viranimus]

As someone against steam I would say that those reasons are not sufficient reasons to be against steam as they can be alleviated with fixes.

Plenty of good reasons to be against steam out there, but if that is the one thats holding you back then its prolly best to let that go because if you work with that situation it can be fixed, (even if the fix means switching ISPs) and that really wasnt Steams fault.

 

[DoPo]

Hell even some old games weren't available (command and conquer, warcraft 3, starcraft.

Erm, when exactly did you see Blizzard games sold anywhere else online, except by Blizzard?

however i was able to find Dungeon Keeper 2 so that's a huge plus.

That's pretty much GOG in a nutshell, really. They should just get a motto "This is GOG, and we have Dungeon Keeper" and they'll start hooking in more and more people. Seriously - the most common comments I've seen about the site is about DK. Heck, that's how they drew me in. The bastards.