Why do PC Gamers Prefer their Games to be on Steam

[Xanadu84]

1) Its usually cheaper, and when its not, its surrounded by excellent deals
2) Supports an excellent service that, when supported, turns around and does great things for games at large. The more people buy their Call of Duties and Bioshocks from Steam, the more Steam can turn around and sell clever, scrappy little indie games that deserve a chance. In addition to being cost effective business-wise, they are an investment for the medium as a whole.
3) Valve does a good job, and by supporting people who do a good job, they can do a good job on a larger scale.
4) Convenience. It is very nice to consolidate on one platform. I have non-intrusive social features that are helpful for even my anti-social self, I get all games updated immediately and automatically, I never lose a game, I only need to log on to 1 service, I never lose a login to access a game I bought somewhere else, and basically everything I need related to gaming is in 1 window
5) As much as people will rant that Steam is DRM, Steam is the absolute minimum that you can reasonably expect a publisher to use to discourage piracy. To discourage piracy, something like DRM DOES help. It's just that there is no difference between a 1 time registering to your account and draconian, limited install, always online BS. You just need to make it so the average consumer will have to go to some dubious website to pirate a game, and that is all the dis-incentive you can expect. Steam is at the perfect level of enforcement

 

[mohit9206]

I avoid using steam to download games as much as i can. I don't have anything against them , its just that my home internet is way too slow to download any AAA games which are large in size. I only download indie games from steam as they are small in size. All other games i buy on physical media.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I don't.

I prefer my copy to be physical.

Yes, it takes up space, but at least I actually own a game and I can still re-install it if my internet goes down(not factoring in origin or steam games).

The only things that I like about steam is the integrated mod support and the sales.

I'm apathetic towards everything else it has to offer.

You don't own any game on PC, you buy a license to play it. Doesn't matter if it comes from Steam a CD , Origin ect. You never actually own it you in a nutshell have bought permission to use it.

On topic: I use Steam because it is the best online distribution platform there is.
It has the whole package, sales, fantastic community support (workshop, chat and matchmaking) and its super easy to re download a game.
It also has the benefit of not taking up any physical space which is somewhat limited in a lot of peoples homes, mine included. Plus you can't break a digital copy like you can a disk.
Plus retail stores around me obstinately refuse to keep more than 3 out of date PC games on the shelves which is why I moved to steam in the first place.

Don't get me wrong though GOG are pretty good but they have only just started to do newer games and their selection of games is not there yet.

I sold some of my PC games at a local used games shop, if I don't own them, how did that work? (Also they sell used PC games anyway, including steam ones)(Also, I'm not trying to start an argument, it's a genuine inquiry)

 

[Zipa]

I don't.

I prefer my copy to be physical.

Yes, it takes up space, but at least I actually own a game and I can still re-install it if my internet goes down(not factoring in origin or steam games).

The only things that I like about steam is the integrated mod support and the sales.

I'm apathetic towards everything else it has to offer.

You don't own any game on PC, you buy a license to play it. Doesn't matter if it comes from Steam a CD , Origin ect. You never actually own it you in a nutshell have bought permission to use it.

On topic: I use Steam because it is the best online distribution platform there is.
It has the whole package, sales, fantastic community support (workshop, chat and matchmaking) and its super easy to re download a game.
It also has the benefit of not taking up any physical space which is somewhat limited in a lot of peoples homes, mine included. Plus you can't break a digital copy like you can a disk.
Plus retail stores around me obstinately refuse to keep more than 3 out of date PC games on the shelves which is why I moved to steam in the first place.

Don't get me wrong though GOG are pretty good but they have only just started to do newer games and their selection of games is not there yet.

I sold some of my PC games at a local used games shop, if I don't own them, how did that work? (Also they sell used PC games anyway, including steam ones)(Also, I'm not trying to start an argument, it's a genuine inquiry)

Legitimately I have no idea, every shop I personally have known has never sold or taken second hand PC games. Only thing that comes to mind is if its to do with the law of your country like how Valve in Germany have to give people refunds on Steam games because of German law. But seeing as how you are in the UK like I am it leaves me puzzled.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I don't.

I prefer my copy to be physical.

Yes, it takes up space, but at least I actually own a game and I can still re-install it if my internet goes down(not factoring in origin or steam games).

The only things that I like about steam is the integrated mod support and the sales.

I'm apathetic towards everything else it has to offer.

You don't own any game on PC, you buy a license to play it. Doesn't matter if it comes from Steam a CD , Origin ect. You never actually own it you in a nutshell have bought permission to use it.

On topic: I use Steam because it is the best online distribution platform there is.
It has the whole package, sales, fantastic community support (workshop, chat and matchmaking) and its super easy to re download a game.
It also has the benefit of not taking up any physical space which is somewhat limited in a lot of peoples homes, mine included. Plus you can't break a digital copy like you can a disk.
Plus retail stores around me obstinately refuse to keep more than 3 out of date PC games on the shelves which is why I moved to steam in the first place.

Don't get me wrong though GOG are pretty good but they have only just started to do newer games and their selection of games is not there yet.

I sold some of my PC games at a local used games shop, if I don't own them, how did that work? (Also they sell used PC games anyway, including steam ones)(Also, I'm not trying to start an argument, it's a genuine inquiry)

Legitimately I have no idea, every shop I personally have known has never sold or taken second hand PC games. Only thing that comes to mind is if its to do with the law of your country like how Valve in Germany have to give people refunds on Steam games because of German law. But seeing as how you are in the UK like I am it leaves me puzzled.

Well, if you're interested, I sold it at Cex.

It was a legit store with legit people working in it.

So perhaps it is possible? Just not with steam games, as I tried to sell them Empire Total War, but they asked if I used the download/key code for the game. I said yes, and they denied the sale.

 

[omicron1]

It's the security of knowing it's always there, always patched, ready to install on any computer at any time. Your Steam account follows you everywhere. It's much easier than lugging around ten brim-packed boxes of games, with a couple binders of DVDs to boot.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I buy them on GOG if they're available. However, steam just offers a better experience I guess to everything else.

this basically.

plus auto-updates,workshop,overlay when chatting with friends, it all handles really well for me at least (and i use steam daily)

seriously, the sales alone make it worth it, plus if i HAVE to have drm on my games, i'll choose valve/steam 100x over other stores/publishers.

however, i do check places like GoG first, they also offer some great games and deals, and occasionally amazon and newegg do the same.

in my area, retail is fucking absurd, good luck ever getting a deal even half as good as the ones online/digital.

 

[TheDoctor455]

This is something I've been seeing a lot of lately. People saying they wasted money because they bought a pc game and didnt realize it didnt use steam to run. people who say that they only pirated a game because it wasnt sold on steam. I always figured people preferred to use steam just because the prices were usually better but it seems like a lot of pc gamers these days just refuse to use anything but steam, no matter what. Why do pc gamers, these days, seem to want all their games to be on steam? why does it matter so much to people, to the point where they are willing to steal any games that arent on steam?

That's because these days, most of the time when you're dealing with a pc game that isn't on steam... its on one of the infinitely shittier 'alternatives' to steam.

Namely, Origin and Games for Windows Live.

90% of the time, the latter doesn't let you play the game you bought because the service bugs out and flatout refuses to work. As for the former well... its a little more reliable than Origin, but given the delightful things EA tried to get away with when they launched it... its not surprise that most PC gamers have trust issues with that one.

Steam however, has always given gamers a fair shake, and even when it screws up, Valve is always quick to respond and let us know that they're working to fix the problem. Whatever the problem might be.

You don't get that from Origin or Games for Windows Live. Most of the time, both will flat-out deny that there is a problem to begin with.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

They have good prices and the service is convenient, especially now that I've moved to the UK and all of my boxed games are in a different country altogether. In fact I often find myself buying games I already have again on steam sales for the sake of convenience.

That said, I also use GOG a lot. I suppose those people who only ever use steam just really like having all of their games together in one library and being able to access them anytime from anywhere, but thinking a game is a waste of money just because it isn't on steam... that's a bit extreme.

 

[Shpongled]

...

I sold some of my PC games at a local used games shop, if I don't own them, how did that work? (Also they sell used PC games anyway, including steam ones)(Also, I'm not trying to start an argument, it's a genuine inquiry)

Legitimately I have no idea, every shop I personally have known has never sold or taken second hand PC games. Only thing that comes to mind is if its to do with the law of your country like how Valve in Germany have to give people refunds on Steam games because of German law. But seeing as how you are in the UK like I am it leaves me puzzled.

Well, if you're interested, I sold it at Cex.

It was a legit store with legit people working in it.

So perhaps it is possible? Just not with steam games, as I tried to sell them Empire Total War, but they asked if I used the download/key code for the game. I said yes, and they denied the sale.

It still doesn't really make a difference to his point. You didn't sell the game itself, you merely sold the right to use it to someone else.

I'd be more inclined to dislike Steam if 80% of the commonly cited disadvantages weren't stupid, wrong or based on tin-potty ideas:

- I haven't had a problem with offline mode in years, if i lose connection whilst logged in my steam automatically switches to offline mode, if i have no connection when i switch my PC on steam gives me the offline mode option.

- I can switch off load on start-up easily, i can avoid advertising by turning certain options off and simply not going on the store page.

- If Steam eventually goes down and DOESNT provide some sort of option to continue playing my games, i will have no moral qualms just pirating the games I've already bought. No issue at all.

- Steam have no track record of demanding "Draconian" ToS's, and the argument that it's only inevitable until they do applies to every video game providing service out there, including store bought stuff.

- DRM is pretty much a given now for most new games, and once you get used to Steams presence on your PC it's form of DRM is about as unobtrusive as any DRM is ever going to be.

 

[veloper]

I actually prefer totally DRM free distribution ala GOG or humble bundle.

As for Steam vs other services, I don't want more than 1 DD client bothering me and because there's so many Steamwork games already out there that require Steam to run, Steam becomes the default. And then some DD services are just crap, but that's secondary.

 

[Ebonrul]

Convenience.

It's universally known (but rarely acknowledged) that PC games are often shipped unforgivably broken and need to be aggressively patched to be playable. Doing this can turn a two-hour install into a two-week event. I've failed to get the CD copies of older games running without downloading (or writing) scripts that fix graphics, older Direct X setups, etc.

To know whether or not this or that game will be playable on my system by simply reading the forum makes a huge impact on what I buy and from whom. Sure, it's nice to be able to fix the game so that it's all but customized for my rig, but actually being able to play the game I just bought ranks pretty high on the list too.

 

[Zantos]

I haven't really seen the people going to extremes about it, but certainly everyone I know that uses Steam does so because it's pretty good. It's not the greatest thing in the world, and given the choice I'll use GoG, but the large library, frequent sales and overall usability are pretty good.

It's not a perfect system, it got very unhappy with me for no good reason when the local internet box 'sploded, and sometimes the games won't work to varying degrees of help from the support forums (telling me you don't have the same problem is entirely unhelpful unless you're planning to give me your computer). But overall it's got a good library, fixes it's bugs fairly quickly and it has sales. I can see why someone would get a bit miffed about having to download Steam to run a game for what amounts to no good reason, but it doesn't bother me much considering I already have Steam installed anyway.

 

[flippicat]

I don't prefer them to be on Steam; that said, I do like Steam and think it a pretty cool service. It has its issues (many of which have surely have been outlined by now), but for me it works pretty well. It also offers competitively priced games every now and again, and can be a good way to find out about recent releases that I hadn't heard of. But I digress.
Back to OT:
I don't really care whether a game is on steam or not. I just like it being on PC.

 

[Stryc9]

If you're referring to online services I only use Steam because it's one piece of software that I have to have running instead of several for every service that has games. If you mean in general I won't spend more than $20 on a game on Steam, if it's more than that I'll wait until it's on sale or I'll buy a physical copy if possible because with a physical copy there are usually ways to get it working no matter what happens. Sometimes I will buy Steam versions of games I have physical copies of because I'm lazy and if I don't have to dig out a pile of discs to play a game I'd rather not.

 

[Playful Pony]

I love Steam. It's super practical to keep all my games in one place, it keeps them all up to date automatically so that when I want to play a game with a friend we both know that the game is the same version and ready to go without any fuzz. Steam has some great sales, and many of it's features makes connecting to and playing with friends very easy, not to mention the Steam Workshop which is showing up for more and more games, and is the ultimate way of installing and maintaining mods in my opinion.

People pirating games because they are not on Steam are just using that as an excuse though... That makes no sense, their pirated version won't be on Steam anyway! It's just a cheap excuse to get a game they want without paying for it, like so many other excuses that are made by people who pirate. I certainly prefer a game to be on Steam, but it's not an absolute must. If the game is interesting to me I don't mind getting it from the game-specific website or GOG.

If I really love a game, I buy it in disc form, same goes for CDs CDs because I want to support the artists I enjoy). I have a big CD collection, and a bunch of DVDs but very few new games. Most of my games on disc are pretty old, and my absolute favorites from the old days are displayed on a shelf in the livingroom =p.

 

[josemlopes]

[sub][sub]*grumble* Back in my day you could install a game on as many computers as you want and even play them at the same time. *grumble*[/sub][/sub]

Steam does all that too, so... yeah... I honestly cant complain much compared to other forms of DRM, it would be better if it didnt had any but its still a very unintrusive system.

The biggest issue I had with Steam was trying to buy a game on sale and not being able to. The timer just kept going down and Steam was all like "Pfft, I dont need your charity!"

PS: I have Battlefield 2 with the DLC on disc and that shit to install is a mess, if there is ever a sale on steam for that game I will probably buy it.

GTA IV was also an annoyance because of the mods, if you happen to break the game sometimes the best thing to do was unnisntall and install again and with Steam you only have to "delete the local content" and download again (for me its great because of my internet speed, for some this wouldnt work as well). The disk instalation sucked with the GFW shit and Securom.

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

As a DD service, Steam is the biggest and the best. It provides games to my drive, without needing to faff with CD's, with a moderately attractive (at the very least uninvasive) DRM system attached that keeps the publishers happy.

No other DD service does it like Steam, simple. So therefore it seems quite obvious why people would want to unify their gaming library to one place, rather than fragment all over the place.