Valve's Steam has over 12 million users. Sadface.

[Dango]

Huh. It's funny when you at it like that, isn't it?

Not as funny as you slagging off Steam while having a Saxton Hale avatar.

That puts the AlanisMorrisettometer up to 11.

Because I like Valve. I use Steam. But all the Origin hate from people who have pointedly said they haven't used it and won't makes me want to put my head through a wall and cause property damage.

Steam is awesome, but lets not act like it's some god figure and is infallible.

The Origin hate probably has to do more with this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112559-Internet-Explodes-Over-Origins-Invasion-of-Privacy] and this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113314-EA-Changes-Origin-Terms-of-Services-Forbids-Class-Action-Lawsuits] than just hating it because it's not Steam

 

[Kotaro]

Steam is popular because it's a good service. Yeah, it's essentially DRM, and DRM isn't a good thing, but this is DRM that makes up for it's DRM-ishness by actually being useful to the customer. Let's list just a few of the things you can do with Steam:
*Digital downloads, with at least one game in the catalog on sale at pretty much all times (and more huge sales very often)
*Amazing third-party support
*More exposure for indie titles (since every game added to Steam is displayed on the front page)
*IM/Chat with your friends even when you're playing a game (or both playing different games)

And as others have established here, aside from Valve's games, Steam isn't voluntary to play anything. All the third-party stuff doesn't need Steam (unless that's the only place it's available, which is rare).

 

[Kathinka]

bravo for this parody, ser. your point has been excellently made.

god, the ammount of mindles valve banboys who won't accept that anything could possibly by wrong with their beloved steam in this two topics makes my teeth hurt..

 

[Imper1um]

Spoiler

In all seriousness, Steam has improved itself over the years and has made damn sure that everyone is in the loop. It is the most minimistically intrusive DRM (besides GOG's No-DRM style), and it provides some great deals.

 

[Sunrider]

Steam is an awesome service that provides me with great games. So far I have not had any negative experience with them (You know, in praxis, not in a hypothectical horror scenario)

Steam gives me some hardass time every time I try to register a retail copy of a game that requires Steam. Without fail. It's always something. The Orange Box refused to add it to my Steam library. It'd accept the code that I bought it, then not show up.

Left 4 Dead did the same thing. Then it kept trying to download instead of installing from the disk, when I was following Steam support's specific directions when this happens.

Then with Dead Island it said I had a duplicate CD key, not Steam's fault, but due to it requiring Steam I couldn't even play singleplayer or install the game at all while I waited for this issue to be resolved.

Oh my god, someone has had actual bad experiences with Steam?! El gaspo!

I bought all these products on release day, and I didn't encounter anything like that. Chances are you're just unlucky. Tons of people will agree with me. Out of all my friends who are steam users, none of them ever had any issues with Steam.

TL;DR: Valve fucking rocks.

 

[xplay3r]

*SNIP*

Well.... You know.... this....

Valve loves gamers and knows that's who they depend on, and try to make them happy and comfortable and appease the people they make games for.

EA has been a complete asshole for a couple of years now, watch Extra Credits Open Letter to EA.
Then look at how many of their new Online Pass bullshit.
Or the their ToS for Origin is WAAAY more bullshit than streams or any other distribution service's
....EA is bullshit.

I don't mind Steam having some competition, its good for the market for them to have some. It would be GOOD for everyone.

However, EA being greedy punks, who treat gamers like crap, and treat gamers who PAID for their game, like they're thieves, is BAD for everyone!

 

[SilverUchiha]

I get that (on average) DRM is unpleasant. But I wish people would stop including Valve/Steam into the mix of bad DRM. I'm not going to give annoying fanboy praise because my experience with them isn't perfect. I had an account hacked a while back, but they were quick to fix it. In fact, I have nothing bad to say about their customer service. I like the sales Steam will have quite often. I love being able to find a game for under $10 that I've always thought looked interesting but didn't want to buy it at full price a year ago. I like how I can have a network of friends to get together for games in L4D or TF2. I like how you can get all your DLC through them.

In short, the only issues I've had were that my account got hacked once (but was quickly resolved), and that it requires internet connect. But I feel the latter will cease to be a problem in the near future, so whatever.

 

[Dastardly]

It really saddens me that in this day and age so many people would willingly sign up for DRM and praise it so much. In this day and age when people are clearly so worried about the ToS, why would they sign up for a service with one that's so vague?

A ToS that absolves Valve of any liability for any problems Steam might cause on your system or any problems at all related to Steam.

Or a system that requires you to register single player games online before playing them. If you run into a problem, better be ready to deal with support and provide six different proofs of purchase to play your legally bought game!

I mean, by golly gosh, I'm shocked I haven't seen an article on every website detailing these facts, since only reporting some companies do these things be sensationalist reporting and playing to what people like and dislike. Right? Right, guys?

Huh. It's funny when you at it like that, isn't it?

The fact that they have 12 million users means that a great many people haven't been having problems with this stuff. And there are probably more who have at some point, but didn't let it end their world.

Take me, for instance: The only time I had a problem with Steam was when I forgot my password. Yes, I couldn't play some of my single-player games... until I got on the phone, provided proof of my identity, and got it unlocked again. Actually, it wasn't all that bad, now that I think of it.

If something about a service bothers you, don't use it. If other people aren't bothered, there's not much chance of you convincing them to be bothered. If there aren't "enough people" getting bothered for your tastes, it might mean the product is better than you're making it out to be.

 

[WaffleCopters]

The point that some people are missing is that people are used to Steam by now, which means they are also used to its quirks and problems and are therefore more forgiving

Usually its the computer which is the problem with those "quirks and problems" not steam... ive bought like 15 steam games, half which are made by valve. and a few others retail (some also made by valve) and not once has anything gone wrong, in the entire 6 years ive been using it. the only times anything ever went wrong was with the source engine disliking my video card. so.... if it works perfectly for me (not even any quirks or problems that are even worth noting) .... then the only problem you can really say for steam is....

alas...

...that it doesnt work perfectly for everyone... which....aint really surprising. i mean try and think of one thing that does work perfectly for everyone.

I havent tried Origin, and until i have a good enough reason to, i wont. steam works, so it keeps me there.

 

[obex]

I have 70ish games on steam, only about 3 were picked up at full price most were about £40 upon realise and I got them for around £10 if you factor in full price games and indie titles which are cheaper I probably saved around £10 per game (at least its probably more though) so steam has saved me £700 (around $1100).

Their DRM system is fine i can install all my games on multiple computers as long as i have access to my email account (and if i dont how would i even download them). The only DRM related problems i have had on steam games are with companies shoe horning their own DRM on top of Valves (aka rockstar GTA4) which is nothing to do with steam.

Overall excluding GOG no DRM policy valve probably have the least restricting DRM of any major company there is no limit to installs and no "always on-line required policy" for their games, the steam client is all you need for it and its pretty useful in itself (patching community store ect)

I have never had a problem with steam support i just sent them an email with the online record of my purchase attached ( they never asked for it but i sent it to speed the process up) and they solve my problems for me.

Oh and lets not forget cloud gaming, free games and the tools/SDK's the come with lots of the games.


TL;DR
1. Over $1000 in saving on my games
2. Less restrictive DRM out there.
3. Cloud gaming aka install and play my save file from any computer.
4. Free stuff (tf2 ect)
5. Reasonable customer service

 

[TitanAtlas]

But don't you need to register at Steam to play you're valve games? Even if they're bought in a real store...

Just because people have a steam account doesn't mean they're buying each and every game through it....

And there are loads of games that aren't store released... ;D

 

[Loonyyy]

Oh, and just as a small point.

Steam has 35 million accounts. They've stayed with Steam for 8 years.

Origin has 4 million. It's not even activated yet. And most of those are from people who didn't sign up to it.

ALL of Steam's are.

A good point, I was quite irritated when EA Download Manager decided to inform me that I had to upgrade and ignored it for quite some time. Now, I want to play the BF3 Beta, so I am forced to get Origin, fine, some Steam games give me this trouble. However, I can't find a way of running BF3 Beta with a Steam Overlay, forcing me to either 1) Run both Processes, 2) Convert my Friends (A stupid and dickish move which wastes everyones time: 3) Count the Games on my shelf and realise I have some from Activision, EA, Valve, Ubisoft, MicroSoft, A couple of smaller devs. This is when it hits me: If everyone does this, it's going to be a bloody nuisance. I can't see this ending well. I like Steam because I had it first, I don't have any particularly GOOD reason for liking it more. But if every dev decides they need an always on piece of Embedded Social Networking/ Always on DRM, then I'm going to very quickly run out of Memory, and patience. These systems should be voluntary social systems. Or allow DRM checking through a server without the forcing of the owning of Origin or Steam, or Stardock's platform or UbiSoft's monstrosity.

 

[Project_Xii]

Sure, if people WANT to look at it that way. And many do, to which I think "Gee, are you enjoying yourself there, all the way back in the 90's?:

In reality, the less whiny among us can look past the few niggling unniceities, such as one time activation and download consumption, and realise that the benefits VASTLY outweigh the bad stuff:

* Sign in and download your games to any computer, any time, anywhere in the world. The entire catalog at your disposal. For someone like me, who has 600 games on steam, do you know how much of a pain that would be to lugg around? 600+ DVD's, not including games that come on multiple discs? Sure is keeping my house less cluttered. Also the not scratching/damaging/losing aspect is pretty good too.

* Tons and tons of games that are no longer available in retail because they are either deemed "too old" to be sold anymore, or too expensive to re-release in hard copy form, are now available in one easy location forever. And at a great price! Piracy on these items plummet, since most people had to resort to that just to find the game. Now people will look at it and think "Gee, $5 and I can have that game, up to date, working on any OS, and I can have it on my account forever. Hell, why not!"

* It's a fantastic platform for indie developers to release on. No longer do boring, unimaginitve AAA titles take pride of place everywhere you go. The little indies and old school 2D games can release for a tiny price, and still make millions of dollars since they're instantly available to the entire world. Digitial Distribution has single handledly revived the indie genre, and allowed the resurrection of the non-3D era. For that alone, I love it.

* The internet activation isn't that bad for actual gamers. Kids and the computer illiterate, perhaps, but really, who doesn't have the internet? And Steam CAN go offline. It's not quite as big a deal as people seem to think it is, and the whiners are more then likely the minority now. They're just very very vocal.

That said, I don't think anyone likes the Ubisoft Always-On DRM. That's just appalling, and even I don't purchase games like that on Steam. I get them on console instead. I may not like that form of DRM, but it isn't going to stop me playing a good game. Proper gamers recognise that. Holding grudges and saying "OMG, they're not doing exactly what I expect them too, THEY'RE NOT GETTING MY MONEY EVER" is just childish and doesn't accomplish as much as you'd think.

But yah. Will be interesting to see what happens with EA's venture. Steam has a pretty good foothold, and really it's all we need. I just wish ME3 would be on Steam with my other two games...

 

[42]

Just a few reasons. I really don't have time to do a comparison between the two TOS's at the moment.

At least Valve has the balls to allow a class action suit against them if they do fuck up, and they can take it like a man? Unlike EA who forbid all class actions against them.

 

[hyker]

12 millions? really?
mw2, civ5, has sold tremendous amountson pc, all of which requires steam regisry, counter-strike has sold over 25 million units (atleas 10 million should be on steam) and is still on the most sold list

not counting other titles like red orchestra and wh2k

there should be 30 million, or atleast 20

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Why do you even buy a game that requires steam as a retail copy?

The only reason I could think of that would justify a physical purchase would be as an extra option. Some months, my bandwidth cap is pretty close to being blown, and I don't have the six or seven gigabytes to spare on a fresh install of something like Oblivion. During those moments, I'm pretty glad I have an extraneous physical copy of the game. If Steam's servers were to hypothetically be thrown in a Sarlacc pit, I'd still have the option of installing the game with physical media.

Of course, with Steam gone, I'd be forced to crack the thing. Still, that's a heck of a lot better than having to face the fact that with Steam gone, my 150+ games are irrevocably gone as well.

That benefit works both ways. A physical game with a key that links it to Steam can be downloaded at a later date, instead of reinstalled using the disc. That's if, say, you have plenty of bandwidth to spare and your optical drives are hypothetically busted.

 

[major_chaos]

I didn't expect to see a parody thread like this on the escapist,more often the kind of thing you see on GameFAQs but here it its done well. and while I get that the intention of this thread was not to bash steam I honestly don't understand the love for steam, especially the customer support the one time I had to deal with them I was told in so many more words to fuck off

 

[Hoplon]

Pretty sure Steam has passed 30 million users a while ago... as to why people don't mind it, I would guess that is because it does it's job with out you having to notice that it's there at all.

 

[Da Orky Man]

It really saddens me that in this day and age so many people would willingly sign up for DRM and praise it so much. In this day and age when people are clearly so worried about the ToS, why would they sign up for a service with one that's so vague?

A ToS that absolves Valve of any liability for any problems Steam might cause on your system or any problems at all related to Steam.

Or a system that requires you to register single player games online before playing them. If you run into a problem, better be ready to deal with support and provide six different proofs of purchase to play your legally bought game!

I mean, by golly gosh, I'm shocked I haven't seen an article on every website detailing these facts, since only reporting some companies do these things be sensationalist reporting and playing to what people like and dislike. Right? Right, guys?

Huh. It's funny when you at it like that, isn't it?

Well, the way I see it is that the fact that you can download your games onto any other computer, at any date, makes up for the DRM. I've only had very minor problems with Steam, and it always lets me play my games offline. In another decade, those games will still be on my account. Unless Valve goes bust, which a) I don't see hapening, and b) will probably be picked up by another company.

 

[General Vagueness]

Steam is an awesome service that provides me with great games. So far I have not had any negative experience with them (You know, in praxis, not in a hypothectical horror scenario)

Steam gives me some hardass time every time I try to register a retail copy of a game that requires Steam. Without fail. It's always something. The Orange Box refused to add it to my Steam library. It'd accept the code that I bought it, then not show up.

Left 4 Dead did the same thing. Then it kept trying to download instead of installing from the disk, when I was following Steam support's specific directions when this happens.

Then with Dead Island it said I had a duplicate CD key, not Steam's fault, but due to it requiring Steam I couldn't even play singleplayer or install the game at all while I waited for this issue to be resolved.

Those are good points, but were all of those issues resolved? If so, I'd call that pretty dang good service-- problems will happen, especially with something with millions of users. At some point damage control becomes almost as important as quality control.