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

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

It's good, but I can't goddammed use it! *Kicks computer*
I have another computer but my Mum is always playing WoW on it so it's out of the question. *shakes fist*

 

[MrGamer]

i dislike the DRM.

 

[LWS666]

i really love steam, it takes me a day to install a game but infinite installs (can't get that from a disc now), offline mode, and if valve goes out of business then all your games are unlocked (unlike onLive).

only bad point is i need to mess with my homehub before i can play TF2.

 

[Pegghead]

I can't get enough of it, I can easily look at servers for my country, manage my friends, chat, buy games, download free games, have achievements, synchronise settings across all my games. Plus Valve, i.e greatest gaming company on the face of the earth, are behind it.

A god amongst men...

 

[The Aimless One]

I love it.
It's so practical. Updates my games and drivers, tells me about new releases.
offers great deals and discounts.Connects me to a friendly/fun online community.

Installing a game usually takes les then two hours due to a proper connection.
Where it would take me at least an hour anyway to get to a proper gamestore and back.
God I love Steam....It truly enhanced my PC gaming experience

 

[xDarc]

This being what steam was like when it first came out:

I absolutely don't care for it and will never use it no matter how much they change or improve it. In fact, steam used to be a complete and utter joke and I'm surprised how many kids feel differently about it these days.

 

[PatrickXD]

Steam is really good, the deals they have are just outrageous. Steam is very handy, updating for you and I like not having to use my bookshelves for excessive amounts of cases. My internet is slow. It;s okay now at about 150-200kb/s download speed, but when I got steam it was more like 30kb/s on a very good day. So downloading is always an overnight thing for me. On a side note, you can download and play at the same time. All you have to do is start up the game, then after steam pauses the download simply ALT+TAB and click resume download, then go back to the game. That's a very handy trick for less than average internet speeds.

 

[GideonB]

I think it's pretty good. It's better than XBLA, and has more deals.
'nuff Said

 

[LandoCristo]

I love it. Some of my favorite games are on it, and even if I owned them already, I sometimes consider buying them again just for the ability to DL them from anywhere in the world. That said, I can see why some people don't like the DRM of offline vs online mode, but with a semi-reliable connection to the Internet, I have no real issues with anything on Steam.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

The DRM is something I put up with because steam offers me enough benefits in return. Plus I have a decent internet connection and don?t worry about the service going down anytime soon.
The one thing that might annoy me is when companies decide they want extra DRM on top of steam.

For older games though I do prefer GOG.

 

[Ezahn]

It's the way digital download should always work: inifite redownload, account linking, refined.
If only it would drop those dreadful european pricetags...

 

[AndyFromMonday]

You know what? FUCK Steam. It's the worse digital store I have EVER seen. WHY on EARTH do games cost 60 dollars when there are NO packaging costs? Wasn't digital distribution the solution to the high prices that we face in todays industry? Apparently not.

Let's also not forget about "project 1 dollar = 1 euro". Apparently, in the magical little world we know as Steam, one dollar is the same as 1 euro meaning Europeans ALWAYS have to pay more for any sort of game. Until Steam remedies this situation I'm better off just buying from a retailer.

 

[Hateren47]

I have a pretty decent internet connection, 15/2 Mbit with no caps, so I generally have no problems with updates and downloads.

The only downside to steam for me is the price. 1.)The Euro is not the same as the dollar and 2.) Digital distribution should be cheaper than retail not the same price or more, like it is now.

They do have some great offers from time to time and the occasional free weekend of even free game. All in all its a good service it's just too expensive.

I voted "OK"

 

[Dodgy]

You know what? FUCK Steam. It's the worse digital store I have EVER seen. WHY on EARTH do games cost 60 dollars when there are NO packaging costs? Wasn't digital distribution the solution to the high prices that we face in todays industry? Apparently not.

Let's also not forget about "project 1 dollar = 1 euro". Apparently, in the magical little world we know as Steam, one dollar is the same as 1 euro meaning Europeans ALWAYS have to pay more for any sort of game. Until Steam remedies this situation I'm better off just buying from a retailer.

A few things to mention here.

1) The developers decide on the Steam price, NOT Valve. The cost of the game has nothing to do with them.

2) I don't know if it's not the same for the currency conversion as well. I'm not sure about that, you might have a point there. Then again, it's often still cheaper on Steam than retail. Or you just wait a month or two for a 25% deal.

I love Steam personally, I've got a seperate HD just for the games on it (getting around the 600Gb mark in Steam games) I bought Starcraft 2 this weekend and linked it through Steam as well.

I also think Steam is probably saving PC Gaming. All the indy stuff that's on it and gets promoted is awesome? I don't think many people would play games like Winterbottom or The Void if it wasn't sold by Steam.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

A few things to mention here.

1) The developers decide on the Steam price, NOT Valve. The cost of the game has nothing to do with them.

2) I don't know if it's not the same for the currency conversion as well. I'm not sure about that, you might have a point there. Then again, it's often still cheaper on Steam than retail. Or you just wait a month or two for a 25% deal.

I love Steam personally, I've got a seperate HD just for the games on it (getting around the 600Gb mark in Steam games) I bought Starcraft 2 this weekend and linked it through Steam as well.

I also think Steam is probably saving PC Gaming. All the indy stuff that's on it and gets promoted is awesome? I don't think many people would play games like Winterbottom or The Void if it wasn't sold by Steam.

1. Fair enough.

2. Actually the currency stuff is ALL Valve's fault:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/24960/ Price: 50 Euros
http://www.gamestop.de/45539_Xbox_360_Battlefield_Bad_Company_2.aspx Price: 40 Euros

It's a simple matter of converting the currency correctly and it seems that not only Valve is screwing us over, so are other major game retailers like for e.g. Gamestop itself. Whilst Bad Company 2 is cheaper Mafia 2, a new release, is priced at 50 Euros. It's absolutely insane at what retailers are doing in Europe.

You claimed that it's "cheaper on Steam than retail". Whilst this MIGHT be true for the USA, in Europe it really isn't. New releases are priced at 50 Euros and even 8 months after release the price stays the same as evidenced by Mass Effect 2: http://store.steampowered.com/app/24980/ whilst if you buy retail new releases are either cheaper or drop in price quickly. You're better off either importing or attempting to buy from an Electronics store with a games section. More often than not you'll find the game you're looking for there for a cheaper price

There has been an outcry from the European gaming community to remedy this situation but as of now, August 23rd 2010, Valve and other retailers have not responded with neither a statement nor a solution to this situation.

Steam is not "saving" PC gaming. It provides indie developers a platform through which to publish their games. Whilst this is a good thing it does not in any way "save" PC gaming because PC gaming needs no saving.

Now don't get me wrong. I have bought games during a weekend sale, specifically Left 4 Dead 2 and Call of Duty 4. My gripe with this system is the fact that we Europeans are forced to pay more for the same product which is absolute bullshit. It seems that greed transcends every single plane.

 

[instantbenz]

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.

That is what I hate about it the most. Other than giving people an excuse to go full iSlave, I really enjoy it.

-Keeps my investments safe with me not having to protect disks.

-Gives legit deals often.

-Well organized.

-Keeps track of stats that I like to know.

-Good in-game chat feature.

Yeah, I dunno ... good idea being executed well.

 

[cyber_andyy]

Oh and its stupid that they can revoke your games? They can do that with retail In the EULA it says that they have to right to disable the application, or change it and the EULA with out your prior knowledge

If you don't agree with that, stop playing games.

Perfectly reasonable.

yea, I have always found it fascinating how they would enforce that if the game has no connection to the internet, I thought black magic was the only way.

even then the game can be "refreshed".

Yeah, you're missing the point.