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If This Is The "Future Of Gaming"...
AlBQuirky
Member EpicPosts: 7,432
Count me out.
Skyrim, a game I bought and received the physical discs for, MADE me install Steam in order to play.
Kingdom of Amular, another game I bought and received the physical discs, MADE me install Origins in order to simply play the game.
Earlier this week, I got a hankerin' to try ArcheAge and to revisit some old MMOs I played about in.
Well, Trion now wants to make me install "Glyph" in order to play. No thanks. That means a look at RIFT is also out of the question for me.
Went to install Neverwinter and guess what? Perfect World wants me to install Arc. No way in hell.
So we have (that I know of):
Steam (GENERAL)
Origins (EA)
Glyph (Trion)
Arc (Perfect World)
I am sure that almost every single major company is looking to create some form of this for their own games.
All these "extra" software installations are ludicrous, in my opinion. They are used for one reason only: Marketing. They are not needed for DRM.
I refuse to log into Steam as "Online" anymore. The last 2 times I did, I had 3-5 pages of "PLEASE! BUY OUR GAMES!" ads. I refuse to hook up my X-Box 360 to the net for this very reason. I certainly do not wish to support Microsoft with their ad space selling.
Will I miss all these "great gaming deals?" Yuppers. And I won't miss them one little bit, since most new games I have tried pale in comparison to the old games I still have on disc and can play whenever I desire to. No big loss to me.
If this is the future of gaming, count me out.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Comments
While it doesn't bother me as much, I tend to agree. I bought Bioshock Infinite's big, expensive collector's edition, which came with the discs. Lo and behold, not only did I have to run the key through Steam, but the discs themselves had to be installed through Steam as well... and turned out to be useless, since they didn't work anyway and I had to download everything anyway.
I completely understand where you're coming from. It's bloody irritating.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
You might be missing out. Steam sales can be epic, and you could theoretically get a lot more for your money than the old physical copy way. That, and it's been my experience that once you launch one of these front end installers (to play a game) you can shut them down while playing.
I'm fortunate enough to have a dedicated rig that I can load whatever I want, and not fear any nefarious activity. If something should happen, the only thing they'll see is a bunch-o-games being played.
Finally, I actually like a digital copy; I would have been monumentally pissed if I had waisted time going to a retail for some of the stinkers that I've loaded. As it is now, if something strikes me as interesting, I hit the download (assuming it's free), and walk away. When it's done, I can try it out and make my final judgement; bad = wipe it away; good = hang on and play more; epically good = time for a third party coder (to protect my account) and away I go. Buying games takes way more investigating for me, but it generally follows the same pattern.
I feel your pain, AlBQuirky. It really bothers me how you cant play a full game anymore without dealing with internet updates, different launchers, logins, etc....
With each passig day im more inclined to start collecting classic hardware to play the thousands of games i never played before, and have a break from the always online nonsense. One thing is certain, im glad Microsoft failed their attempt with Xbone and had to revert everything to semi normal.
As for the PC side, So many companies have their own launchers its not even funny. Even gamestop has a launcher (impulse) where you buy pc games digitally and launched from there.
/facepalm
you have no idea. You know buying digitally is actually renting for as long as the service is up, right? I personally rather have my disc that i will play regardless of situation.
Of course that doesnt include mmos since those are online only so a disc means nothing
That smell of new discs...hmm.
Steam is a convenient way to keep all your games in one library without needing a pile of stupid disks around collecting dust. It's also a good way to keep in touch with gaming friends and to see what they're playing.
I'll often load up a game like company of heroes 2 and have 3 or 4 people send me a msg to join. That game is much more fun playing with/against people you know.
The sales are just rediculous. So many games you wanted to try but just never ended up getting them...you buy them for next to nothing during a steam sale.
All the other launchers/providers are annoying but I no longer bother letting them get in the way of my fun. When I'm not playing their game I turn them off. Steam is the only one I pretty much always have on. I'm just not that paranoid about gaming that I worry about it. You are missing out on that one.
Because there's no offline mode for steam, right? Right? Moreover if a service decided to close its doors they would likely create a way for players to access their games without the service. Moreover...stop buying discs. Unless it's a console game you have no reason to go buy the game disc from a store. Unless you just enjoy having the game case sitting on your shelf. Downloading through steam is actually faster these days. I downloaded Final Fantasy A Realm Reborn in about 20 minutes, fully updated and ready for me to play. Use a game disc and you will spend about 15-20 minutes installing and swapping discs. Then you will spend another 20-30 minutes updating because you know MMO's love to update.
I'm just sayin' discs are kinda last century. Just download your games and keep up. Eventually disc drives will go away entirely. What will you do then?
Geez, it's not such a big deal. Bit of an over exaggeration i think. They are not hindering your game play in any way, you can still launch your games from the games icon on your desktop so you never even need know these programs exist after the first install.
As someone already mentioned they are useful as a "library" and a great was to keep a list of all your games in the one place.
Would you rather go back to having to put a disc in every time you play a different game? Not me as i game on my laptop and i aint dragging countless discs with me everywhere i go.
I agree. My only gripe is when a company creates a frontend service and only has like 2 games. Steam created their service to host their own games and publish others to include indie games. For instance Trion...they have a small hand full of games. Do you really think you need a frontend service for four games? I can understand Origin from EA as EA has literally published hundreds of games dating back to the early 90's. Though not all are available on Origin or are even still in being cycled they have an impressive library. Another example is Crytek...they have the crysis games and Ryze(basically) and WarFace and some other mobile game they put together. I dont exactly think they need a front end service yet they created Gface.
Yes I know. And I know that a disc is an archaic form of distributing digital data that is prone to damage and being lost.
Of the discs I bought in the past I have zero around. I don't know if my disc drive even works on my PC, haven't checked in ages.
Those PS1/2, xbox discs I bought as a kid, I have no idea where they are. I don't even have anything to play them on anyway. I know I can get those games from the internet though because that is never going to die.
I've always thought of launchers as basically being part of a game. An online game has to have some way to detect that there is a new version, then download and install it before you can play. While you can make that happen mostly in the background without displaying much to players, I don't see any real harm in having a splash screen that tells you stuff about the game, or even other games made by the same company.
When it comes to purely single-player games with no online component whatsoever, the situation is somewhat different. But there is still a need for anti-piracy measures, and you can't really do that very well without some sort of online component. I'd like to see game companies update a game a few years after launch to remove any DRM, and thereby nix any possibility that someone will pull the plug on a single-player game. Some games have done that, but I can understand why some don't.
I've got Arc open right now. All it has is a bunch of stuff about Champions Online, together with one box asking me to install Flash. I don't see any stuff about other Perfect World games, let alone random ads for stuff not owned by Perfect World. I'd assume that if I had installed some other Perfect World game instead of Champions Online, it would show me news about that other game instead of CO.
The only thing about Arc that makes it any more intrusive than a minimalist single-game launcher is that it doesn't automatically close when I'm not using it, but will keep using about 130 MB of memory unless I close it myself. That's a minor nuisance, but I don't see it as a strong reason to avoid playing a game I like.
I don't mind Steam because the sales are awesome and I don't have to worry bout discs and CD keys etc.
Origin and the rest that are solely for one publisher are just crap to me. I have not purchased Sim City or Battlefield 4 etc. because I just hate the idea of Origin. Having said that I can see why they want to keep all of the money rather than cutting Steam a slice.
I used to have discs lying around but try installing a 5 year old game. and getting patches for it etc. I don't even use the DVD drive in my PC anymore.
So totally agree but am not that bothered by it.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
You don't even need a disc drive for installing your OS anymore. You can do that over LAN, via USB, or an External HDD. Plenty of other, more effecient ways than a disc. My computer doesn't even have a dvd drive.
95%f PC games sales are digital , so ye no... Ps. your disc is useless if game is using steam or so on and steam decides to stop making millions and quit business.
As for op, well you havent been playing games for a while or havent been playing online games if you think unified publisher clients/accounts are bad. Because creating account for origin/ubisoft/steam/arc/glyph might sound like annoyance if for some reason you dont have either of those and suddenly decided to get 5 games.
But in the long run, you wont have to create another 20 accounts for games that are published by those companies. Oh look new mmo, fom xxx publisher, chances are I already have an account, and all i have to do is login, while in the past it was new account, another new account and so on. It still drives me nuts when I have to create an account just to apply for beta, and how happy I am to realize that for xx beta all i have to do is login and apply.
So its not all bad.
How would feel about "downloading games" if you were charged by usage instead of a flat fee? It could happen.
You have a very high "hope" for Steam (or any service) doing the right thing. There is nothing in Steam's agreement with their customers that indicates this action. Nothing. You pay Steam to rent the software they did not even create.
Discs may be "last century", but at least *I* can play my 20 year old games whenever I feel like playing them. How will your Steam games do in 20 years? 50? Maybe you do not care? Steam takes the control of your library out of your hands and "allows" you to play what you paid for at their whim. If that's the "new thing", count me out.
I guess if "swapping discs" is so disgustingly hard for you, Steam is right up your alley. For me, "ease of use" is not my top priority.
One thing good I will say about Steam, is that I have downloaded my games from Steam multiple times. Once my discs go "bad" (like my Need 4 Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 got a huge scratch), they are done. I mod my Skyrim game a lot. When I want to try something completely different with Skyrim, I'll delete it and re-download a fresh vanilla copy. But even with this, Steam is not worth it, to me.
What DamonVile mentioned about playing with friends is a good reason for Steam, in particular. Before Steam, we used to actually call people. Maybe e-mail them. Steam does make this easier, by far. For me, it is a useless feature as I do not play multi-player games.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Yes, I would rather use discs. *I* have control over my games, then, NOT Steam. That is your choice. I being phased out of *my* choice. Instead of lugging around 100's game discs, why not choose 10 or less to take with you? Not too tough of a work around, in my opinion.
I'd like to say, "To each their own", but in *my* case, my choice is going away.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
I guess I am different in that if I want a game, I'll actually look for it. With the exception of my "impulse buy" of CoH on a Wal-Mart shelf back in 2004, I do not usually "impulse buy" games, even if they are "cheap."
I guess my biggest gripe is the LACK of choice in more and more instances. Many new games require Steam, or other "extra software" in order to play them. Steam allows the users to add ANY game in their library. Why not keep the choice there?
For some, Steam is a Godsend. That is great for them. What about those where Steam (and other similar set-ups) is a pain in the ass? Too bad, so sad. Adapt or go away.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
You're just being quirky, Al.
I'm not a huge fan of having to install a gazillion different "platforms" either, but... well, it's either adapt or walk away.
I've chosen to go with the first. The programs aren't resource intensive and only take up a tiny bit of disc space in our era of TB harddisks...
Sure, they're a nuissance, but a pretty minor one IMO.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
If the games were more to my liking, I might just shut up and adapt. But they are asking for a lot of extra work, charging twice as much for half the gameplay value, for games that are getting so similar these days, that this just adds to my growing disinterest in this area of one whole entertainment field.
I've got my old discs and my old FUN (still) games. Maybe it is time to just bow out. I am no longer a significant customer, it appears.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR