Poll: Should Steam be optional?

[Skelebob124156]

Should Steam be optional?

Steam seems to constantly annoy me why should I need an Internet connection to play games that is really, really retarded (MMO'S - exception) it is especially stupid with SP games like Hl2 or F:NV why? The DRM dosen't even work it is still pirated to buggery! In fact Steam only encourages piracy so gamers don't have to go through this whole pile of ****. I don't stand by piracy but if you want to play steam only games without this rubbish you have to pirate them.

So this is my suggestion for a solution since so many of the brainwashed masses love this DRM riddled rubbish.

Instead of making you buy games and download them from Steam (even from disc thats how restrictive this system is) you buy your game as a download from steam or on a disc from your local shop or a site such as play.com or amazon.

If on disc you install then at the end of the install you are asked do you want to install steam y/n?
Click yes steam is downloaded.
Click no steam isn't downloaded and you can enjoy your game without requiring an internet connection.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

Accidentaly clicked "No"
I meant "Yes"

And yer, it should be. STEAM has NOTHING wrong with it anymore, it was a but dudgy on startup, but its fine now.

EDIT:
And if you have a problem with steams DRM, theres a thing called "Offline mode"
Try it - It works.

 

[Marmooset]

I believe apart from the Valve-specific titles (and some indies), Steam is optional. Just buy the title from Amazon or the like. Or go play Halo or something.

 

[Skelebob124156]

Accidentaly clicked "No"
I meant "Yes"

And yer, it should be. STEAM has NOTHING wrong with it anymore, it was a but dudgy on startup, but its fine now.

I,m not talking about the software just why do I need it to play games? What if your internet connection failed on you? OH DEAR GOD now I can't play my games because I can't log into steam.
I have seen forums where people connecion failed and because they couldn't log into steam they couldn't play their games. Yes Valve thats completly fair treatment of paying customers.

 

[Anah'ya]

Have you heard of Offline mode?

If not, investigate it. You will find out that, at the end of the day, STEAM is optional. It will not crap on your ability to play games just because you don't have Internet. It certainly doesn't interfere with mine. If you don't know how to use it though... oh well. Everyone knows that 90% of problems experienced at the computer take place between mouse and keyboard. It's no different here.

And I <3 STEAM. I wouldn't mind marrying it.

STEAM, will you marry me?

 

[Skelebob124156]

Have you heard of Offline mode?

If not, investigate it. You will find out that, at the end of the day, STEAM is optional. It will not crap on your ability to play games just because you don't have Internet. It certainly doesn't interfere with mine.

And I <3 STEAM. I wouldn't mind marrying it.

STEAM, will you marry me?

I have heard of it BUT you still need to download steam and your game before you can run it in Offline mode and even then if you don't log in for a few days eregegrheh can't play my GODAMN GAMES I PAID FOR WITH MY OWN MONEY!!!!

So no it's not optional many games such as all of Valve's games since and including HL2 and other titles such as Dawn of War 2 are steam only!

 

[gh0ti]

I am totally ambivalent to Steam these days. It doesn't annoy me (particularly) and runs fairly smooth, but actually buying games through Steam's store is usually more expensive than buying them from Play or Amazon. I also don't get the "forces you to be online" argument. For a start, it doesn't, except for registering new games - you can play everything offline. Secondly, most gamers have internet access and the majority these days have broadband.

My only real beef with Steam is that it forces you to keep your games up to date - something that's not always beneficial. For instance, the latest Empire: Total War patch has completely destroyed the main campaign by making the CPU opponents too willing to launch seaborne invasions. I much preferred it when I didn't have to worry about Great Britain invading me with a full stack five turns in (allied or not), or the now uber-powered Marathans sending stack after stack against my American colonies. If it was non-Steam, I'd just reinstall and patch to my preferred version, but I don't think I can do that - I'd be delighted to be shown how if anyone knows.

 

[TheOtter]

I really, really like Steam. If we must have a type of DRM then Steam is perfect. It isn't intrusive and does it job perfectly for me. I also love Steamworks and the community/friend system makes for easy communication. Also, I'd much rather give my money to Valve than to someone like Ubisoft if I can help it. So should Steam be mandatory? Not really but if it's Valve's games then why not? L4D is way more fun with friends!

 

[Chamale]

Steam is the only reason I'm a PC gamer.

That says Steam is good for you. Therefore, if Steam were optional, you could continue to use it.

People like me who often find themselves in distant cabins, unable to play Portal because Steam won't let them, would appreciate an option to not play through Steam.

Of course, I prefer Steam to other DRM any day of the week.

 

[TheComedown]

Have you heard of Offline mode?

If not, investigate it. You will find out that, at the end of the day, STEAM is optional. It will not crap on your ability to play games just because you don't have Internet. It certainly doesn't interfere with mine.

And I <3 STEAM. I wouldn't mind marrying it.

STEAM, will you marry me?

I have heard of it BUT you still need to download steam and your game before you can run it in Offline mode and even then if you don't log in for a few days eregegrheh can't play my GODAMN GAMES I PAID FOR WITH MY OWN MONEY!!!!

So no it's not optional many games such as all of Valve's games since and including HL2 and other titles such as Dawn of War 2 are steam only!

There are a few simple solutions here, a) Don't buy games from steam if you don't want to download them. b)stay in offline mode. c)If you don't like steam don't buy steam games, if you still want to play them tough luck, says there right on the box, requires steam. Developers have ever right to protect their games and this is how valve have chosen to do so.

But don't forget if you stay in offline mode you miss out on all the patches and cool specials.

 

[Mechsoap]

its comfortable, its efficient, has alot of discounts, and it has a build in community which over shades its a DRM, ooh and you can get ancient games there

 

[Yostbeef]

Its a digital distribution platform so your gonna have to be connected to something if you want to buy games but besides that all my steam games work fine in offline mode.

 

[Skelebob124156]

its comfortable, its efficient, has alot of discounts, and it has a build in community which over shades its a DRM, ooh and you can get ancient games there

AH aha ah You can get ancient games without the DRM, cheap lots of promo's and discounts from GOG.Com finally! A distributer that understands that gamers don't want DRM! GOG is the future!
(Even though all their games are from the past..)

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I think games should have it, it's a great way for developers to issue updates without being a pain for gamers.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Should Steam be optional?

Steam seems to constantly annoy me why should I need an Internet connection to play games that is really, really retarded (MMO'S - exception) it is especially stupid with SP games like Hl2 or F:NV why? The DRM dosen't even work it is still pirated to buggery! In fact Steam only encourages piracy so gamers don't have to go through this whole pile of ****. I don't stand by piracy but if you want to play steam only games without this rubbish you have to pirate them.

So this is my suggestion for a solution since so many of the brainwashed masses love this DRM riddled rubbish.

Instead of making you buy games and download them from Steam (even from disc thats how restrictive this system is) you buy your game as a download from steam or on a disc from your local shop or a site such as play.com or amazon.

If on disc you install then at the end of the install you are asked do you want to install steam y/n?
Click yes steam is downloaded.
Click no steam isn't downloaded and you can enjoy your game without requiring an internet connection.

The problem with your "connection to internet" argument is this: So long as you don't log out of Steam, if your connection dies, you can just play in offline mode. My modem died, and I didn't bother fixing it for two weeks. I could still play Titan Quest, Oblivion, and ME2 in offline mode. I just had to remember to keep my computer on.

And I find Valve's business tactics more than agreeable, so I'll take some DRM from them any day. Hell, if that's what I have to deal with in exchange for free updates to 60% of my games, I have no right to complain.

(Until the updates break the game)

 

[tharglet]

I'm in the "don't care" camp. I like it, I use it, but don't care if it is mandatory or not.

What annoys me is that I cannot activate all my retail keys on Steam, especially when the game is available via Steam. Just after release, it tends to be cheaper to buy the game from Amazon, or at one point I had some Game vouchers, so I have a fair few retail keys.
Some work, some don't, and there seems to be little to say which ones will/won't work.
Maybe some publishers need a good kicking.

I like Steam for actually serving a purpose - acts as an effective launcher system for my games, and updates my games automatically (barring the one time when I had a game that I needed to prevent updating), and I do use the shift-tab interface sometimes (usually for the time!).

Offline mode is nice, though if Steam has a hissy fit (rarer these days though) and doesn't quit cleanly it forgets the auth details. Which is really annoying as I only tend to use it when I cannot get internet.