Is Steam okay for you?

[Alma Mare]

While I have given Steam money for a handful of cheap games here and there (Torchlight for 9 bucks for example) if I'm spending more than 10 bucks on a game it won't be on Steam. I have this weird quirk where I insist on actually OWNING games I pay any meaningful amount for. Say what you will about Steam but you no more own those games in your account than you do the fucking moon.

Pretty much how I feel about it. I love steam for what it does and it's awesome for getting indie games. For the the big, +40EUR investments I can't bring myself to do it on steam. Specially because euro costumers can get a better deal for a boxed version on amazon without it being tied to a potential volatile account.

 

[The Name's Bond]

I think Steam is good, but I have to point out that it has major flaws that make me at times drill holes in my forehead to help cool of my brain from the sheer annoyance of it. Yes it is brilliant with helping me bundle up and not have to worry about CD's boxes or security keys, but I find that even on my really powerful computer, it crashes and fails and I have to validate the cache files every week to make the games actually work. I think it works so much better that Origin, who believes that the best way for me to play my game is to go through the program, then a we browser, the search for servers, the connect to the servers, go get Origin a grilled cheese sandwich, then stand in line 32 and file pout form 95b and mail 95B then mail it to my nearest EA outlet and after 4-6 weeks finally play my game, hopefully they'll fix this. Wait....what was I talking about?

 

[Jack_Uzi]

Don't like steam one bit. It annoys me that I have to face some pop-up box with commercials about games before I can actually just play a game I paid for!!! So that's the 'thanks' you get for your purchase "here, have some more of where that came from!!!".... yeah...>_<

You can turn them off in the options. It says right there. In fact, it only ads you AFTER you start and exit a game. And only once per session. "HOLY SHIT, ITS SHOVING IT DOWN MY THROAT ONCE THEREFORE THE SERVICE IS BAD!" Is what you sound like to me.


Steam is the single handed leader of Digital Distribution because it is a very good service, and gives the user plenty of options on things within the service. Quite honestly, if you hate it because you can't play offline, then why in the hell are you downloading games for a service that requires you to download the games before play. You can also go into the Steam folder and click on a file named after the game and you can usually find a way to boot the game through that.

First of, sir, I HAVE NOT, I repaet, HAVE NOT complained about their 'services' provided for my ownd damned bought game... (DID I NAG AGAIN?!) Second, what you sound like to me is offensive, I do not like that one bit. But you just go and do whatever it is you do when no one is around you and steam and I'll be on my marry way too.

*Edit: like you said yourself, the commercials won't leave you alone so... that renders the intent of 'turning them off' obsolete.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Minor inconviences countered by fantastic deals and a relatively pain-free user experience?

Yeah I know which side of the fence I'm on. I really don't know why people are complaining Steam has to run in one way or another to play a game.

And no, it doesn't have an offline mode. It does not count if you have to be online first.

I wondered whether this was true, so I closed Steam, closed my internet connection and tried to log in. It gave me an offline option straight away, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

 

[Rheinmetall]

snip

Steam has an offline mode. I have internet that is usually about 3mbps, but goes as low as 30kbps. Yet, downloading a game from Steam takes a much shorter amount of time then ordering one online, and there aren't any gaming stores nearby.

I never managed to play a game without first connecting to my Steam account, which does require to have internet connection. So without internet, no game (that i paid for). My other problem is the deception on the cover box. It reads: "Internet connection is required to activate the game". That's a fat lie from Steam. You need internet connection to both activate your game AND play it.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Why do I need a stable high speed internet connection, forced registration and membership to a site that I don't want, in order to play an offline SINGLE-PLAYER game

YOU. FUCKING. DON'T.

Jesus christ how many times do we have to say this before it gets through to you Steam naysayers?

Anyway, for me on all the other points, it's my personal preference, Valve have a track history of releasing decent to great games, they treat their customers with a bit of dignity and respect and they run ridiculously good sales and events and the developers who put their products on Steam get a better cut on the profits than they would with anyone else.

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

 

[KiloFox]

only thing i dislike about Steam: Steam-game disks... seriously my mate ordered Skyrim (at Gamestop) for his PC and EXPECTED it to be like Oblivion... all the data on the disk. Skyrim has absolutely no need to be connected to Online (other than patches but you can download those yourself) yet the Skyrim DISK only had a voucher for it for free on Steam. my mate didn't buy the disk for a digital copy! he wanted a hard copy! and I can't help but imagine that somewhere there's some poor gamer who bought the Steam-Disk for Skyrim thinking it was a hard copy who dosn't have internet and now can't play the game he rightfully paid for because there are no hard PC copies of Skyrim, and he (or she) happens to not have access to the internet. or really slow internet... granted it says it's a Steam-disk on the box, but if you've never seen said box (pre-order) you don't know that

 

[Murahk]

I agree with OP entirely.
Sure, Steam has its place in the world. If you want to use the product because it works for you, then be my guest. But I personally think it's just a disguised way of gaining more control over people on the internet.
I don't inherently hate Steam, but what I do hate is when Steam becomes a necessity. I shouldn't NEED Steam for any game that isn't made by Valve under any circumstances.
Steam fans often cite all the benefits that come with Steam and claim that it's a good compromise for DRM. What bullshit is this?!
I don't WANT the benefits that Steam provides. I don't want this huge network of all my friends, games, saves and achievements. Screw all that, crap! Just give me my game!
And the DRM compromise? This extends far beyond Steam, but just stop with the DRM... "Yeah, let's create an exclusive club with mediocre benefits and massive obstacles to get in and charge them for it! Let's put it right next to that non-exclusive club that has no obstacles and is entirely free."
I pay for all my games and I feel ripped off for it. I pay for every game that I want and I have to jump through freaking hurdles to play it! My friends pirate every game they want and they get a highly superior product. DRM DOESN'T WORK! So just stop...

 

[zumbledum]

for me steam is just great, none of the issues with it are a problem for me , my pc is always on and always connected anyway, i find its friend list useful and the sales keep me stocked int op quality games to play infact looking down my list ive got about a dozen i havent even got around to yet.

i wouldnt have a quarter of the library i do if it werent for steam so how can i not love it.

i can understand people not liking buying a licence rather than actual product but heck i have bought hard copies of games and lost/destroyed the discs since i got steam less of an issue for those tidy/organised folks i guess but for me licence lasts longer than physcal anyway

 

[Da Orky Man]

snip

Steam has an offline mode. I have internet that is usually about 3mbps, but goes as low as 30kbps. Yet, downloading a game from Steam takes a much shorter amount of time then ordering one online, and there aren't any gaming stores nearby.

I never managed to play a game without first connecting to my Steam account, which does require to have internet connection. So without internet, no game (that i paid for). My other problem is the deception on the cover box. It reads: "Internet connection is required to activate the game". That's a fat lie from Steam. You need internet connection to both activate your game AND play it.

You sure? My netbook runs Steam fine with no problem when there's no internet. It worked fine when I was in Ireland for a fortnight, despite never connecting to the internet. I could still play everything.

 

[Duskflamer]

1) For a company that is so big...

I hope you're just talking in terms of Steam turning a huge profit, because in terms of employees, Valve is a rather small company. this interview [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/226723/interviews/valves-chet-faliszek-part-2/?page=3] from 2009 indicates that, at the time, 250 people worked for Valve. In the United States, a "small business" is partly defined by having fewer than 500 employees.

Compare that to what you'd normally think of as a big company, for sake of extremes let's go with EA. I couldn't find any exact figures of how many people work for EA, but this article [http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10155854-235.html], also from 2009, suggests that, at the time, 1,100 was 11% of their workforce, meaning there were a good 10,000 people working for them.

It can be easy to overlook this fact given how popular and successful Steam is, but Valve is nowhere near being a big company.

2) They sell products that don't work and they don't accept returns. This is a problem especially with older games, steam throws them up for sale in a bundle and whatnot, lo and behold they don't work with anything besides windows XP.

In what area do you live where a retail store will allow you to return a PC game? Where I live, no brick-and-mortar retail store will allow you to return PC games for various reasons. (they can't check if you used the CD key, fear that you just downloaded everything you need for he game and want to screw them out of a sale, etc.) As such, you're just as out of luck if you want to return a PC game that doesn't work to a physical store as you are with Steam.

Protip: if the OS you're using isn't listed in the game's system requirements (be that Vista, 7, whatever), be prepared for the possibility that it won't work. Also, if you're using 7, be aware of the compatibility mode feature that can sometimes allow you to play older games that don't work right away.

 

[Maze1125]

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

Top left corner:
Steam -> Go Offline...

 

[Maze1125]

I shouldn't NEED Steam for any game that isn't made by Valve under any circumstances.

Why does Valve get a free pass?
Just because they own the system, doesn't mean they're required to make every game they make require the system. Valve are just as capable of making both a Steam version and a non-steam version as any other company is.

Valve make Steam exclusive games because there are many benefits to the company in having their games require Steam, that is the exact same reason the other developers and publishers make Steam exclusive games.

Either it's okay for anyone to exploit Steam exclusivity, or Valve are just as wrong in doing so.

 

[Duskflamer]

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

Top left corner:
Steam -> Go Offline...

*facepalm* Dude, you only get that far if you're connected normally or already in offline mode.

When you log into Steam, make sure that you have it checked to remember your info. If you never get a login screen when you start up Steam, you have this covered.

Just to be sure, go into Steam settings and make sure that "Don't save account credentials to this computer" is NOT checked.

If all this is done, then if you start up Steam in a situation where your computer does not have internet connection, you should get a popup window with choices "go offline" or "quit"

 

[NoNameMcgee]

I've been with Steam since near the beginning (signed up the day Half-Life 2 was released, 16th November 2004) and for a long time I hated it. It was an intrusive, buggy, pointless piece of crap software. I actually went as far as to download a pirated version of Half-Life 2, even when I already owned the game, JUST so I could play it without Steam. That's how much I hated it.

Since then, they've somehow turned something that I considered the worst decision Valve could have made, into the best thing they have ever made, something incredible with some amazing benefits to anyone using it. I never thought that I would have bought 283 games over Steam over the next 7 years, but somehow it happened.

All the problems you listed are fixed by simply messing around in the options. There are very few remaining bugs with steam, besides a few regular ones I get (which to be honest really should have been ironed out by now) but I think I'm just unlucky in that regard, and they're nothing serious.

Anyone clinging to the "its DRM, I don't really own my games, I want physical copies, waaAAAAAaahh" can go cry in the corner and continue living in the past while the rest of us move on, because the physical copy is beginning to die, already on PC Steam has taken over, it wont be long until consoles follow suit with being almost entirely digital distribution too. I say good riddance. Steam is fucking brilliant and the only time I ever buy physical now is if its considerably cheaper than on Steam. Digital distribution is more convenient in every single way.

 

[Maze1125]

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

Top left corner:
Steam -> Go Offline...

*facepalm* Dude, you only get that far if you're connected normally or already in offline mode.

So?
I answered his question exactly "how can I play a game without internet connection?"
Yes, he still would have had to have gotten on to Steam first, but once he was on there, he could have used my method to play a game entirely without the internet. Which is precisely what he asked.

Yes, my answer could have been more inclusive, but I felt no need to make it so given that it had all already been explained earlier in the thread.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Steam works for me, they have good deals from time to time. I do not enjoy some of their tactics during sales (I feel its unethical to sell one game for a low price one day during a sale then two days later sell said same game for less than the previous sale. Yes you can say "you should have waited" but there's no guarantee or indication that said game may be cheaper later). I like the availability of older games such as X-Com and their prices are worth buying, but I don't feel that Steam is the savior of Digital Downloads or any less a greedy money grubbing corporation than any other distributor out there.
TLR Bottom line, it works well and has good sales, but its still a corporation who wants your money with a good marketing team. You can tout them as great people who care about the customer, but in reality they care about profit and realize profit is achieved by offering good prices. But don't think for a second they care about you, they care about profit margins. Its just they have good business sense.

 

[Alma Mare]

Why do I need a stable high speed internet connection, forced registration and membership to a site that I don't want, in order to play an offline SINGLE-PLAYER game

YOU. FUCKING. DON'T.

Jesus christ how many times do we have to say this before it gets through to you Steam naysayers?

Anyway, for me on all the other points, it's my personal preference, Valve have a track history of releasing decent to great games, they treat their customers with a bit of dignity and respect and they run ridiculously good sales and events and the developers who put their products on Steam get a better cut on the profits than they would with anyone else.

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

1 - Load the steam client, log in and tell it to remember you.

2 - Shut down your computer, take it to a deserted island with no internet

3 - Fire the steam client again, it's ask you to enable offline mode since there's no internet

4 - Agree, let him load your profile locally and enjoy your library.

 

[Duskflamer]

Please explain to me, without using strong language and insulting me, how can I play a game without internet connection, since every time that I start the game I must first connect to my Steam account?

Top left corner:
Steam -> Go Offline...

*facepalm* Dude, you only get that far if you're connected normally or already in offline mode.

So?
I answered his question exactly "how can I play a game without internet connection?"
Yes, he still would've have had to have gotten on to Steam first, but once he was on there, he could have used my method to play a game entirely without the internet. Which is precisely what he asked.

Yes, my answer could have been more inclusive, but I felt no need to make it so given that it had all already been explained earlier in the thread.

Dude, if you don't have internet connection, and you're not already in offline mode, then you don't get the giant Steam window where you can access the Steam menu. If you can access "top left corner" where the Steam menu is, then either a) he's already in offline mode, and the point is moot, or b) he is connected to Steam normally, which means he has internet connection.