Why do PC Gamers Prefer their Games to be on Steam

[Skeleon]

Didn't we use Desktop icons for that? Or am I just an old woman who can't get with the times?

I guess, if you like the cluttered mess that is hundreds of desktop icons, you can keep them.

I have a folder on my deskop called "Games" with the different shortcuts in it, displayed as a list rather than icons. I have a similar folders called "Tools" and the like.

Anyway, maxben made an important point: Long-term thinking. I don't like the idea of being dependent on their service. Now, plenty of people won't care, but I'm the kind of gamer who sometimes returns to games older than a decade. If something happens to Steam or Valve or my internet access, I'm screwed. GOG-games, on the other hand, I have downloaded all my games and saved backups on my external harddrive. And even if Steam keeps going for decades, I don't like tying myself to an ad-service like that.

 

[Abomination]

Didn't we use Desktop icons for that? Or am I just an old woman who can't get with the times?

I guess, if you like the cluttered mess that is hundreds of desktop icons, you can keep them.

I have a folder called 'Games' on my desktop for my non-Steam titles which I open and then double-click to play the game I have selected. It isn't that a cluttered desktop at all.

OT: I enjoy Steam for its prices, its update assistance and how it allows for me to communicate with my friends without alt-tabbing. At the moment it's simply the best distribution platform out there (while GoG provides an amazing DRM free service it unfortunately has a tiny library compared).

 

[Skeleon]

At the moment it's simply the best distribution platform out there (while GoG provides an amazing DRM free service it unfortunately has a tiny library compared).

Unfortunately true. But there are indications that it's changing. More and more new games are released on GOG, even at the same time as Steam. I was almost going to buy Don't Starve on Steam because I thought it was going to be another Steam exclusive title, but then I saw that GOG had gotten it, too. Where to buy it was an obvious decision then.

 

[Snotnarok]

Have you seen the alternatives? Limited installs, always online DRM, stuff that monitors your system which actually lowers your system performance.

Steam is nice, you get the game and you can chat on an IM client in game, easily install mods with their new mod subscription service, you can gift games to people across the country/world/etc. Did you go to a friends house and his game selection sucks? Sign in and grab your game to play without having to go back for said game at your house.

 

[Thoric485]

Well, I'm the opposite. I hate Steam. The only reason I even have it is because certain games (Mount & Blade, Skyrim) require it to run. I buy all my games retail and would much rather just install them normally and play them normally without Steam. The reasons for this, is my dislike of purchasing digital media. I buy physical albums, I buy physical books and I buy physical video games. Something about spending real money on flimsy digital files rubs me up the wrong way, so I don't do that. It also doesn't help when Steam broke my Skyrim for downloading a patch without me asking for it (even when I told it not to update automatically).

Furthermore, if my internet was to go down (I live in a rural area, so it's possible), then I wouldn't be able to play the games I should otherwise be able to play.

So yeah, I'm a PC gamer that does not like Steam. Simple as that.

If you register on Taleworlds' site you can add your Mount & Blade serial key and download a non-Steam version. Wish more developers offered that option.

 

[Easton Dark]

Didn't we use Desktop icons for that? Or am I just an old woman who can't get with the times?

I guess, if you like the cluttered mess that is hundreds of desktop icons, you can keep them.

I have a folder on my deskop called "Games" with the different shortcuts in it, displayed as a list rather than icons. I have a similar folders called "Tools" and the like.

Didn't we use Desktop icons for that? Or am I just an old woman who can't get with the times?

I guess, if you like the cluttered mess that is hundreds of desktop icons, you can keep them.

I have a folder called 'Games' on my desktop for my non-Steam titles which I open and then double-click to play the game I have selected. It isn't that a cluttered desktop at all.

Sorry I thought she meant every icon literally on the desktop, as that would be the requirement for 'desktop icons'. I've seen people do that, with everything just linked over their background, it looks so terrible.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Sales. Really the only time I buy a game off Steam unless it is an unusual title I find an interest in.

This happened a lot with that silly little game development game that hit pirates with high game piracy rates as a form of DRM

It wasn't available on any of the really big digitial distribution agents, and the actual store where you could buy the game was buried on search engines so it was faster and easier for a lot of people to pirate the game than dig through a number of links to try to find a legit copy.

I would have to call bull-crap on the store being buried on search engines. A few days before the whole pirate story broke into the mainstream gaming news, I had watched Total Biscuit playing the game on his twitch channel, and then when I Googled "Game Dev Tycoon", BOOM, first page, first link, which was to the game developer's site which is where the store for the game is and within all of two or three minutes of hearing about and watching the game, I had bought it off their site.

If a game isn't sold by any of the big name places like Steam, it is going to be sold on the developer's site, and if not there, they will have a link to where.

It takes less then five minutes to do that.

Seriously, "because I couldn't find where to buy it" seems more like a half-assed excuse by pirates, and if not that, something uttered by people that don't know the basics of surfing the internet(basically, you put your search term in the search engine and press search).

Edit: Though one wonders how if a person didn't know the basics of surfing the net, how the hell did they find out how to pirate the game? Which brings it all back to half-assed pirate excuses.

 

[Freaky Lou]

Because Steam rocks!

Steam is a great service that constantly induces insane sales and frequently patches games with no charge. The set up is also very convenient and makes it easy to find whatever game or DLC you're looking for. Oh, and Steam's DRM is of no inconvenience to the consumer.

Do you work for Valve?

OT: I actually really hate when I have to use Steam, because I vastly prefer to have my games safely on my hard drive rather than locked behind a service which can go down or malfunction at any moment. Of the online services, though, Steam's probably the best one...but GoG is vastly superior as a store.

 

[Kingjackl]

It depends on the game for me - Steam has great prices, but I don't get good connection speeds and have a relatively low broadband cap, so I find it more convenient and time-saving to buy larger games retail.

 

[maxben]

First, I prefer digital games for the following reasons.
1. Digital is much more convenient than buying discs.
2. No sales tax.

So you think that a service that can wipe all your games if it a) shuts down or b) you refuse some draconian change to its ToS is more convenient? I think you are not looking long term.

As for the second point, its always interesting how people who are so against pirating from corporations are very much ok sidestepping their duty to pay taxes as a citizen in a modern society. Do you know the kinds of social services that sales tax provides? That's why I am so happy at current attempts to change US law so online retailers MUST pay taxes. Short term thinking again.

Taxing bigger businesses instead of giving them massive tax breaks would do a lot more than charging people 5% for buying goods online.

No, it wouldn't. Taxing sales=Taxing consumption which is faaar higher than large business income. Hell, if the business has losses rather than gains than there is no real income to tax, but the products they are selling are still generating taxes. On top of that, game companies are often subsidized by countries and states, meaning that to tax them more does nothing as it invalidates the subsidization. Now, if you believe that they shouldn't be subsidized then you are ignoring the amount of jobs they create and the money that that puts in ordinary people's wallets as well as the fact that many of these games would not have been made. There would be no Ubisoft Montreal with canadian subsidization.

I think your tax theory needs some work.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Are you me? You even had the same issues with Skyrim, it's so uncanny.

You're covering your arse, Cookie. I know you're my doppelganger, a false copy of myself. Never try to accuse me of being yourself again!

... -.-

 

[Doctor Greenthumb]

Convenience mainly, I mod my computer quite often so at least once each year the OS will need reinstalling (twice this year already) so being able to just reinstall steam and have all my games AND saved data (which is the big one for me as i often leave a game for months before coming back to it)is a god send, personally I don't have a problem with DRM if its sold to me by making it a benefit what I hate is having to jump through hoops to register a game Ive had to go out of my way to pay for looking at you Diablo 3 (what a waste)or anything by EA these days. Then there's the community aspect all my friends use steam Hell I even use the voice chat for non-steam games like Mech Warrior Online as its easier and less hassle than arranging for everyone to get the same chat software and link it up, so many reasons really

But their one major failing is they still haven't fixed it so you can switch to offline mode 'after' you lose your internet, currently you have to set to offline mode while connected to the internet then it will work from then on but come on is this so hard to fix?

ooh this is by far the largest post ive done lol

 

[Strelok]

That sounds like a problem other than steam. A serious one that should be looked at very soon.

If your computer freezes starting any application, its time to start looking at your hardware.

Why would you automatically jump to a hardware issue before ruling out all the easy things? Skipping a lot of steps there.

On Topic: Probably convenience, some just like having all their stuff in one place. I for one use several all of them pretty good to great. Steam, GoG, Origin, and one other that got taken over by another company a few years ago, but they let me download all my games and cd keys before they were absorbed.

 

[Auron]

Because Steam rocks!

Steam is a great service that constantly induces insane sales and frequently patches games with no charge. The set up is also very convenient and makes it easy to find whatever game or DLC you're looking for. Oh, and Steam's DRM is of no inconvenience to the consumer.

Do you work for Valve?

OT: I actually really hate when I have to use Steam, because I vastly prefer to have my games safely on my hard drive rather than locked behind a service which can go down or malfunction at any moment. Of the online services, though, Steam's probably the best one...but GoG is vastly superior as a store.

Are you really suggesting that all of us who just praised Steam and really like the service work for Valve? The entire dev team must be here then.

 

[Sectan]

I have slow internet (comparatively) so I mostly buy box versions of games that require steam. Even if Steam did shutdown a lot of my games are already on disc or are easy enough to obtain over the internet (Hey I bought them with my money I kinda want to play them) that I don't worry too much about it. For digital games only I prefer steam just because it's only 1 account to log into. When it's on disc it annoys me, but I can deal with it.


Although I miss LAN parties with only 1 copy of the game...

 

[Yopaz]

There is a lot of hate against Steam and how you need it to run some PC games so I'm not sure where you're getting your information from.

However I want all my games through Steam because it's really convenient. I don't ever need the game disc to play a game, not sure how many games need that these days, but I prefer digital distribution on all platforms because I don't want to browse through my enormous game selection to find the one I want to play.

I get all the games in one list, I don't have to go through the start menu which is crowded by all kinds of other programs. I can even choose to only view the games that I have installed or my favourite games to cut down some time.

Whenever I play a game and I am stuck somewhere I can bring up a web browser without minimizing the game. If someone ssends me a message I can check the message and the game will pause itself while I do.

I can buy games directly through Steam and download without needing to go through any hoops of adding the serial code, if I need a serial code Steam let's me add it by copying and pasting it.

In short I think it's very convenient to have my games in one single service.

 

[Freaky Lou]

Are you really suggesting that all of us who just praised Steam and really like the service work for Valve? The entire dev team must be here then.

I am quoting one guy. It can be therefore logically deduced that I'm addressing that guy.

If I was talking to "all of you" I would have addressed all of you, but that post sounded more like a salesman than a satisfied customer.