Poll: Steam: God's Gift or Piece of S**t

[Ledan]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want. Managing my updates would be fine, if I could play while downloading, which you can't AND if steam detects an update you can't cancel it to play the game.
I guess gamers with super-fast internet don't mind, but most of us (I assume) don't.
Also, Steam is useless, in my opinion, because most of it's features (except perhaps the digital store) can be found elsewhere:
- The whole "you don't need CD's", can be achieved by downloading legal 'NoCD' patches and cracks.
- Patch updater, simply go to the site to check for updates.

I suppose I might have inflamed some of the fanatic Steam users by now,
but seriously, I'm just interested WHY.

BTW, Why use steam power when electricity is available?
Edit: Oh, and some awesome games are only for steam, "forcing" (not really I know) to use steam.

 

[Auric]

I live in australia, any internet you have pales in comparison to the downright bullcrap that is australias excuse for internet.

And yet, im completely fine with steam updates.

That being said, i dont like the idea of people being forced into steam.

 

[Dys]

I hate it, it's not the worst form of DRM, but as a distribution platform it gets the shit kicked out of it by impulse (being the only other platform I've bothered with).

The installing increments of updates before the game is finished annoys me, as does the offline mode that regularly breaks.

I also hate the terrible backup version. Recently, I bought a new laptop and set off to backup all of my steam games so as to installed them to my laptop. After transferring some 18gb of (up to date)game installs to the machine, I open steam, install the games and then watch is it proceeds to re-download another 18gb of god only knows what while I sat in complete disbelief.

I voted 'bad' btw.

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

I've been using it (a lot, I like my valve games) since release and still dislike it, whether you love it or not has a lot to do with how aware you are of the better systems, and how kind the infamous steam updates are to you (a good internet connection, ie not an australian one, goes a long way here). All in all, it's a poor, inefficient system that is carried purely on the merit of the developers other software.

 

[Reaper69lol]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

 

[Ledan]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

Um.... I thought I was clear, what I mean is this:
I want to buy my game, pop the CD into my laptop, Install the game, and play it within the same half-hour.

 

[AlphaOmega]

I love steam, because it saves me money and I actually have a place to buy older PC games, Since I do not buy all that much new pc games its very hard to find them in stores.

It has its downsides (If INTERNET drops offline mode booting is sometimes annoying, works after a few tries though) and when the content servers are under stress I can take long for things to install.

That said, Due to the non-annoying DRM (I get instant-chatting, groups, notifications) user friendliness, automatic updates and awesome discounts It; together with other DD services, Is a great thing.

 

[Reaper69lol]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

Um.... I thought I was clear, what I mean is this:
I want to buy my game, pop the CD into my laptop, Install the game, and play it within the same half-hour.

Ah I see, sorry, misunderstood you sir
*EDIT
Also, steam offers some great deals on games, another reason why I like it.

 

[Iznat]

I wouldn't call it God's Gift To Gamers, but I do really, really like it.
It was the first thing I installed on my laptop, followed by A decent antiviral, and WoW, lmao.
It's great, favorite games, favorite friends, everything

 

[Voodoomancer]

- Patch updater, simply go to the site to check for updates.

Just have to point out that getting the game updated fully automatically while you go get a sandwich is strides better than having to manually go to a site regularly to check for updates, find the correct patch when there are, download it, and execute it.

 

[fenrizz]

I'm loving it.

Steam is a really nice service that provides the customer many benefits, and relative safety for the developers.

 

[Nimbus]

It gives me a sense of ownership other methods of digital distribution simply can't. I'm not 100% sure why. The new Battle.net comes close, though. I guess it has something to do with all my games being together in one place, and still being able to see them in my library when they aren't downloaded. Also I can't count the number of games I have lost, lent or misplaced over the years and never found again. Steam removes this problem. Hell, there are probably games which I have bought via other services and simply forgotten about.

 

[Voodoomancer]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

Um.... I thought I was clear, what I mean is this:
I want to buy my game, pop the CD into my laptop, Install the game, and play it within the same half-hour.

Har har har, any game that I know of that will install in less than half an hour is so old that you can only get it On Steam. ...or used.

...or maybe my laptop's just that much crap.

 

[WitherVoice]

It's really good. Though it's lost a few points recently with the new UI, which I don't like, mainly because it makes it very difficult to verify the PayPal details page.

 

[Kair]

Seems like the quality of Steam seems to be a topic of argument these days. Since Mac users have been included in the party they've been treating it like a new iProduct.

 

[Ledan]

- Patch updater, simply go to the site to check for updates.

Just have to point out that getting the game updated fully automatically while you go get a sandwich is strides better than having to manually go to a site regularly to check for updates, find the correct patch when there are, download it, and execute it.

'fair enough, without Steam you wouldn't pay attention to the updates,
but many games (like Mass Effect 2) have an inbuilt news system to tell you when and where you can download patches.

 

[Ledan]

Hey, just wondering how the gamers at escapist feel about steam. Personally I dislike it because it does not allow me the simple act of installing my game and playing it when I want.

Ok, what exactly do you mean by that? You do realise you have to download your game files right?
Anyways, I can sense a huge flamewar starting, so im just going to get right to the point. If you know how to use steam right, Its great. If you dont, well I can imagine it being a bit challeging, but it does not take awhile to get use to, once you understand it, you will love it.

Um.... I thought I was clear, what I mean is this:
I want to buy my game, pop the CD into my laptop, Install the game, and play it within the same half-hour.

Har har har, any game that I know of that will install in less than half an hour is so old that you can only get it On Steam. ...or used.

...or maybe my laptop's just that much crap.

Ze power of ASUS allows me to do zeese things.

 

[Hicerion]

Steam is currently offering free Portal.

I therefore voted really good.

 

[Kaymish]

i lioke it alot quite a few of my games i have i bought through steam and all of them combind cost me less than the other ones so even if valve are untrustworthy which i am yet to see i wont be particularly hurt
i didnt like the New UI for the first few days of use but its grown on me over time
and over all i like it a bunch for all the features make up for the cons

 

[AcacianLeaves]

If you buy a game from Steam, I'm fine with it requiring Steam. I don't like it, but I see that its really just a prettied up DRM scheme and I can see the necessity.

However I DO NOT like buying a game at a store, bringing it home, and seeing that I need to install Steam in order to play it. Fuck that, I gave the store money and I should get a game - not a chance to install/update/connect to what may eventually become a game. I've bought a few used games at used bookstores and then arrived at home to play them, only to find that they are now only accessible with Steam and my key is not valid and I have to buy it again if I want to play it. It's the chance I take buying used PC games I guess, but it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for Steam.

They have nice sales, so I buy from there when such sales interest me. Otherwise I use www.direct2drive.com. No bloatware, no DRM schemes, no need to update and stay connected - just you and your activation key and your game. They also frequently have comparable prices, so they are a better choice overall.

 

[Moriarty]

If we try to keep our hopes realistic, the games industry won't let DRM die so easily, probably never. And compared to some shit other companys do, Steam offers you to download and play any game you bought anywhere. You can even turn off the automatic-updates and run offline mode if you really want to.