Poll: Steam Gaming

[Nolanp01]

Here's one thing I've been pondering for sometime, the use of Steam for gaming.
Now that being said, I've been a member of Steam since '03 and it isn't terrible but it has several major flaws that create version errors and game availability. One issue that drives me off the wall is that often Steam has its own patches rather than the official patch by the game's developers.

As in an example, in most Paradox titles. The bloody games can't be played with people off of Steam because they have a different patch version even though the game is exactly the same! Are they going to solve this issue? No, course not because you bought it through Steam! Then there's the matter of Steam being unstable. In the last seven years or so, it has been shaky at best and when it goes offline, all of your games on it are suddenly unavailable! You can login for singleplayer sure enough, but if you enjoy any multiplayer ones, too bad.

Now as a consolidated store for Valve, it's amazing. I find it very effective in comparison to the old WonID system that was its predecessor. However, for all of the games that it may have, it's largely a bug-riddled piece of software that's often enough not worth the download.

Now here's a poll because everyone likes polls.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

It does its job. I don't use XFire or anything so I find the friend function good because I can add friends and people I meet in games, as well as join groups and whatever. I'm also lazy and impatient, so I prefer buying and downloading games rather than going to the store or waiting 3/5 days for delivery. Like just today, I wanted The Witcher, so I downloaded it from Steam because fuck going to the shop. I like how I don't need discs too, because I have no fucking room for discs.

I've never had any major problems with it, it's more beneficial than problematic, and the deals are fucking crazy, so I'ma vote "awesome". What I do hate though is GFWL. Fuck that.

 

[Zhukov]

It's good.

Certainly not perfect mind you, it has it's flaws and can be a bit unstable.

But the fact that I am still using it suggests that it has not yet done anything to genuinely piss me off.

 

[Nolanp01]

I use it too sadly, I doubt I never will stop using it.

And yes, GFWL is the bastard child of a radioactive mutant zombie and an adolescent boy. I cannot condone its use. Ever.

 

[FrostyChick]

in my opinion it is <insert deity/ies of choice> gift to gamers, can't be bothered to go to a game store, just browse the giant catalogue of games on steam.

 

[CCountZero]

Steam isn't perfect, but it has improved loads since it's release, and by and large all of the issues that were remotely serious has been fixed

Compare it to the other services available and it definitely emerges as the sole victor in prises, availability, ease of use and community services

Most games on steam actually doesn't require you to be in online mode to play, and you still get the option of making backups of your buys

I also find it to be one of the least intrusive forms of DRM forced upon us

All in all, I think it restricts us a little for the publishers sake, but adds features, weekend deals etc. to counter it

Also, in the last 450 days or so I have not encountered a single problem that isn't commonplace in online services or which should have been foreseen

This all combines to form an Awesome vote from me

 

[Nolanp01]

Steam isn't perfect, but it has improved loads since it's release, and by and large all of the issues that were remotely serious has been fixed

Compare it to the other services available and it definitely emerges as the sole victor in prises, availability, ease of use and community services

Most games on steam actually doesn't require you to be in online mode to play, and you still get the option of making backups of your buys

I also find it to be one of the least intrusive forms of DRM forced upon us

All in all, I think it restricts us a little for the publishers sake, but adds features, weekend deals etc. to counter it

Also, in the last 450 days or so I have not encountered a single problem that isn't commonplace in online services or which should have been foreseen

This all combines to form an Awesome vote from me

The weekend deals are nice, that I'll grant and the whole DRM bit is decent.. It has redeeming qualities yes and it's one of the best services around, however they do not try to generally bridge the gap between store-bought games and Steam bought games. That is a MAJOR flaw. Gamersgate at least gives you the full game with no DRM issues.

It has a decent social aspect to it but the system forces users to stick with Steam only and even though it's easier to use, it should never bar players that purchased a game from a store from playing with steam players.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I really love the weekend deals, and the friend finding service. It doesn't cock up too often either, so I'm pretty okay with it, all in all.

 

['Aredor]

What, nothing between "Awesome!" and "Decent"? How about "Good"?

It's great because it's very easy to use and offers a lot of good titles very cheap in the form of sales. It's bothersome because the normal prices are way higher here than in the States and because a lot of gory titles are only available in a cut version (like when I buy them in a store here instead of having it imported from the UK).

 

[Thedayrecker]

Steam sales= Win.

I'd say half the games I own came off Steam Sales.

 

[Nolanp01]

What, nothing between "Awesome!" and "Decent"? How about "Good"?

It's great because it's very easy to use and offers a lot of good titles very cheap in the form of sales. It's bothersome because the normal prices are way higher here than in the States and because a lot of gory titles are only available in a cut version (like when I buy them in a store here instead of having it imported from the UK).

Decent covers "good" well enough.

 

[jpoon]

Personally I am not a fan of steam at all. I don't buy any games from them anymore after the shit they pulled on me.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

So far I've used it so I can play Empire Total War, and I got Portal for free.

It's decent enough, I guess, but barring free stuff I'll always prefer a hard copy than a downloaded one.

 

[Mechsoap]

Personally I am not a fan of steam at all. I don't buy any games from them anymore after the shit they pulled on me.

what shit they pulled on you?

ot: i love it, the steam deals have greatly improved my gaming collection

 

[Yureina]

I like Steam quite alot. I play all my games through it now, though I still have a few for rainy days in case it does not work.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I have never had a problem with it beyond the massive server overload that occurs when a new game is unlocked. I don't really expect them to have enough bandwidth to serve a massive glut that is not the normal load so I forgive them for that. Therefor, I think Steam is awesome because it distributes games online through download and is the best DRM ever made! I have said it so now it is canon!

 

[Woodsey]

I haven't had a problem with it since the first few months of it's existence in 2004.

It's fantastic.

 

[Bobzer77]

I have no problems with it except for the fact that they rip you off unless theres a sale on.

I mean 50 euro for a digital download with no cd, box or manual?

Also in regards to the patching, you can turn off automatic patching if you want to stay on a version below the current and when steam doesn't have the latest patch the ones you download from the developers site work as well.

 

[imnot]

Its good, but I had to vote decent because it really messes with the phone bill.

 

[jultub]

I have no problems with it except for the fact that they rip you off unless theres a sale on.

I mean 50 euro for a digital download with no cd, box or manual?

Also in regards to the patching, you can turn off automatic patching if you want to stay on a version below the current and when steam doesn't have the latest patch the ones you download from the developers site work as well.

This, it often feels like I can get the game cheaper if I can be arsed to go to the store and buy it

Other than that I haven't found a problem worth mentioning yet.