Pro's and Con's of Steam

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Lt. Dragunov

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Sep 25, 2008
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Due to PSN still being down and it seems like it won't be back online untill late this month or next month I'v had to try and wait it out with sony, but I'm not/ can't wait that long for them. So rather than buy a 360 i decided it would be best to get a steam account and play games that way, my only problem is i have no idea how well steam works. This is mainly for people who have a steam account, but what are the pro and cons of steam? Is it safe to play on steam servers, i.e do i have to worry about hackers all the time. Is there a way to buy games on steam without a credit card? I'm not planing on buying a bunch of games, probably just L4D2, just something to tie me over untill psn is back online, i just want to know is steam something i could put some money into without having to worry about stupid stuff happening.

--EDIT--
yes i say that sony has said that the whole month thing was not true but untill sony actually comes out with a real release date then ima have to assume what is being said already
 

SovietSecrets

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Nov 16, 2008
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Safe to play on steam servers most of the time. Hackers are here like anywhere else and there is a delay in getting them banned, but they do get banned. No way to buy games off steam without a credit card, unless you have credit with steam? I think its some sort of new system they are using, don't know much about it. Pretty much anything you buy off steam that you find interesting you will be able to sink your time into without having to worry too much. Oh except CoD, God help you if you buy CoD. Rampant hacking all over the place for the most part. You are in good hands with steam.
 

Fumofu

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Nov 11, 2010
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There aren't really Steam servers, people usually make their own. They are safe, I haven't had any incidents like hacking yet. You have to use a credit card or PayPal (not entirely sure) to buy things on Steam unless you have someone gift the games to you.

Here is my list of pros and cons for Steam:

Pros:
-friends lists make it easy to organize games and chat with friends without another program running
-groups allow you to follow your favourite communities
-free updates
-really good sales (seriously I don't think I've ever paid full price for any game)

Cons:
-online activation
-ads when you sign on (not too bad imo but thought I'd include it

If you wanna do a bit more research you can try reading Shamus Young's column.

Overall, if your computer can handle it go for it.
 

soniceric

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Apr 16, 2009
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Fumofu said:
There aren't really Steam servers, people usually make their own. They are safe, I haven't had any incidents like hacking yet. You have to use a credit card or PayPal (not entirely sure) to buy things on Steam unless you have someone gift the games to you.

Here is my list of pros and cons for Steam:

Pros:
-friends lists make it easy to organize games and chat with friends without another program running
-groups allow you to follow your favourite communities
-free updates
-really good sales (seriously I don't think I've ever paid full price for any game)

Cons:
-must be connected to the Internet in order to play (bad for on the go gaming)
-ads when you sign on (not too bad imo but thought I'd include it

If you wanna do a bit more research you can try reading Shamus Young's column.

Overall, if your computer can handle it go for it.
You only have to be online the very first time you play a game, after that there is an offline mode, I'm so sick of people saying this!
 

Ulkjen

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Feb 4, 2011
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Steam is a wonderful service (in my opinion!). I do really enjoy that i can log in at /any pc/ with my login and download any game iv previously purchased. You will need some sort of paypal or credit card (prepaid works fine i hear) to buy any games but it's worth it. Many games often go on sale (they recently had a special week where 1 day each day a different game went on sale for like 50% off or more). Oh and dont listen to anyone who says you cant play your games if your not on the internet. When the internet gets cut out (and you have your pc setup to remember account info and auto-logon to steam when you open the program) you can boot it up in 'offline' mode. Any games you have downloaded you can play. Just... you cant download new ones without the Internet right? Oh and the chat services are great too.

I have had VERY little issue with steam aside from being unable to run in-game overlay while playing any call of duty prior to Modern Warfare 2. Punkbuster does not like steam-overlay.

Warning if you do use it... dont cancel any purchases you make through steam without contacting them first. They'l lock your account. A buddy of mine had that happen but im not surprised they would do that.

In short: Steam rocks. Use it even if your not buying a game through it. In-game overlay is great with any pc game :p
 

Spydercake

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Oct 29, 2010
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Also, I have never seen ads when I log in, but on topic here.
The main thing about steam is the sales, as Fumofu, I have almost never paid full price for a game.

The friends list and community groups make it easy to find people to play with as well.
Free updates are also nice, and the steam display is customizable, though im not sure how complicated it is to do so.

As for Valve hosted servers in CSS, TF2 and the such, there are not many at all, The servers are left to hosts.

So yeah, Fumofu got most of it.
 

Digitaldreamer7

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Sep 30, 2008
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Steam is great. I have yet to run in to an issue with steam. I have an external drive i keep all my games on. ( I have over 600gb of games) I plug it into which ever computer i want to play on, run the steam.exe file, it rebuilds a registry entry and BAM all my games are there to play with no issues whatsoever.
 

L3m0n_L1m3

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Jul 27, 2009
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Pros:
I can use it to talk to my friends
It often has really good deals
I can sign in anywhere, and play my games
It's quite secure, at least from what I've been told

Cons:
I can't play games without an internet connection
The community servers do go down fairly frequently
 

psicat

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Feb 13, 2011
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Only major pro is that you can get a few games through steam not available elsewhere, or available elsewhere with worse DRM. Just remember Steam at it's core is DRM wrapped up with social components as a pretty little bow, but some of those social components can be considered pros.

The cons are that like anything online it's never 100 percent secure, and occasionally buggy. It's online DRM, but allot of games allow for offline play. Forces updates for your games when they are available, which is a pain if you just want to get on and play and you have to wait for downloads to finish. And, while games on sale are at a good price regularly priced games are sometimes more expensive than retail.
 

Amberella

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Jan 23, 2010
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I rather enjoy Steam and I've been mostly playing Left 4 Dead on it while waiting for Sony to get back online. I highly recommend it. You'll get some good sales. I've had it for a few months and I really don't see a con in it.
 

Kotep

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Apr 3, 2011
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Pros:
A clean-running client with some nice built-in features (like in-game web browsing and a screenshot function). Has some good sales every so often and you can find some harder-to-find stuff on there too.

Cons:
Have to be running the client to run the games. (It does have an offline mode, though.) And...that's it, really.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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L3m0n_L1m3 said:
Cons:
I can't play games without an internet connection
Yes, you can.

http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yes-i-am-offline.jpg

http://www.heddly.com/flatout2/purple44//GRID/Steam-offline.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-PlGVmBxjZw/SZ0DYk9c6eI/AAAAAAAAECA/yKMsQtQcE2U/s1600/headdesk

WHY U NO UNDERSTAND, INTERNETS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Anyways, with that out of my system, I can't think of any cons. At all.
 

Wharrgarble

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Jun 22, 2010
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I love Steam; though it has increased my impulse buying of games considering they're always available. (And the sales can be amaaaaazing.)

Most of what needs to be said about Steam has already been stated, however I just want to also provide my support of the client. I've had no issues thus far, and I like not having to lug disks around. Sure, the download times can be long but that's just a part of digital distribution.

It's worth it. Give it a try.
 

Tomster595

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Aug 1, 2009
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Pro:
Easy to manage all my games, good deals.

Cons:
Gives me a really hard time whenever I want to do something while offline.
 

S3Cs4uN 8

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Apr 25, 2011
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lacktheknack said:
L3m0n_L1m3 said:
Cons:
I can't play games without an internet connection
Yes, you can.

http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yes-i-am-offline.jpg

http://www.heddly.com/flatout2/purple44//GRID/Steam-offline.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-PlGVmBxjZw/SZ0DYk9c6eI/AAAAAAAAECA/yKMsQtQcE2U/s1600/headdesk

WHY U NO UNDERSTAND, INTERNETS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Anyways, with that out of my system, I can't think of any cons. At all.
tis a pity i can never get steam to start when im capped so like hes been saying I cant play without a good connection
 

foryth

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Nov 23, 2009
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soniceric said:
Fumofu said:
Cons:
-must be connected to the Internet in order to play (bad for on the go gaming)
-ads when you sign on (not too bad imo but thought I'd include it

If you wanna do a bit more research you can try reading Shamus Young's column.

Overall, if your computer can handle it go for it.
You only have to be online the very first time you play a game, after that there is an offline mode, I'm so sick of people saying this!
And every 30 days, otherwise steam doesnt allow you to play anything.
 

Katana314

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Oct 4, 2007
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lacktheknack said:
L3m0n_L1m3 said:
Cons:
I can't play games without an internet connection
Yes, you can.

imgs

WHY U NO UNDERSTAND, INTERNETS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Anyways, with that out of my system, I can't think of any cons. At all.
Just because someone says something, and there's a button for it, doesn't make it true.
You can win a million dollars.
Win [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14]

Anyway, Steam's offline mode is very, very spotty. You CAN get it to work, but you practically have to plan ahead for it, make sure the games you want to play are available in offline mode, and then not turn your computer off once you've set up offline mode.
 

Talydia

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Feb 15, 2011
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The only thing I don't like about Steam is not physically owning the games. The minor nagging thought that if Steam goes bye bye then so do(es) my games and money. Its a pretty small thing to worry about though, I love Steam.