I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
I only moved to America around 6 months ago so Idk about how it ruined retail pc game shops or whichever but umm...
You dun want to use steam at all because its popular?
Now Im not sure but..Where else do you find as much indie games as there is in steam? Indie games arent popular?
Gamestop is popular o.o so why should you use gamestop? I dun get you at all sorry x.x
I don't like games where you have use another application (which needs a internet connection) to play a offline game.
Also like I posted before. If I own the DVD-ROM I shouldn't need to "download" the game to install it, when I should be able to install it directly from the DVD-ROM.
They really need a better way to counter piracy, doing it this way is just too much.
Start Steam in offline mode and you can run all yout single-player titles without an internet connection.
But why do you even need steam?
If nothing else, so that the free online storage of your purchased games can only be accessed by you and not others looking to pirate games.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I had the DVD-ROM for the game, yet it still want to download the game to install it. like i said , took me awhile to get it to install.
You take that out on steam? I have no problems installing CIV5, it's your own problem that it didn't go smoothly. I remember a time where online game downloads didn't even exist. People would have killed for this convenience of choice years ago.
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
So you are saying that because it is popular, it sucks, and if it weren't popular, it would be great? I've been playing games for a long time, and steam has worked very well for convenience sake.
I can understand how your logic applies to some things, but I think you have a very distorted bias against steam. To be honest, you sound like a wannabe non conformist. The funny thing about that is, nonconformism in itself is a conforming position of standards.
FYI, not everybody likes spending extra on gas to drive 8 miles to and from the nearest gamestop. Also, many who work graveyard want to sleep in the day during the hours game stores are open. Steam provides an option to purchase a video game 24/7, on your time, not a stores.
I had the DVD-ROM for the game, yet it still want to download the game to install it. like i said , took me awhile to get it to install.
You take that out on steam? I have no problems installing CIV5, it's your own problem that it didn't go smoothly. I remember a time where online game downloads didn't even exist. People would have killed for this convenience of choice years ago.
I have no problems with Digital downloads.
I use D2D for alot of the games I buy, but the games I buy with DVD-ROM I expect to install and play it with just that. no need to launch another appilication to play a game. Although years ago when there wasn't DSL or Cable, and you only had dail up. I got free games from AOL and IRC (oh you mean legally? lol)
Steam is good for the most part. In-game voice and browser, friends list and chat, it's what Windows Live/Games for Windows should have been.
It's not without some quirks, usually DRM imposed by publishers, and MMOs sometimes install funny, since they don't patch through Steam: you get the basic DVD install, then you still have to do a good bit of patching through the MMO game servers. Most other games though, it does a good job of automatically updating.
Steam will allow some games to import CD keys (if you have the retail box, but want to use Steam to redownload/patch it), but not a whole lot.
I can't think of any glaring reason not to like Steam really. If you lose/scratch/break your retail box CD, your SOL and have to buy the game again if you want to play. With Steam, you just redownload it, and your entire game library is linked to your user id.
Besides, what's so special about Gamestop anyway? Browsing the used shelves for a second hand copy of World of Warcraft won't do you much good anyway ><
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, in spite of how ill-informed it may be...
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
Now it's smelling troll-ish, but I'll bite. How, exactly, do you explain this? If anything, Gamestop and its ilk has ruined game sales in general. The re-sale of used games pretty well crushes profit margins for publishers and keeps smaller companies from ever getting games on the shelves (indie games). PC games side-stepped this long ago by requiring CD keys for use of nearly any multi-player online game. Simply put; you can buy a second-hand copy of a game all day, but can't use its online features without a fresh key or the account the key was registered to. This factor alone is, in my opinion, far more responsible for faltering retail sales of PC games, given that there is little motivation for retailers like Gamestop to carry such games as they can't have customers bring them in, pay them a minimal amount, then resell at a markup.
Meanwhile, "Power to the players!" - the all-time greatest tag-line for a scam ever - basically means "you don't get access to X feature unless you pre-order or buy this game from Gamestop!". Sweet! So now they're restricting features of games that should be included in the box price regardless of how and where it's purchased, all so Gamestop can pressure consumers into buying from them, at full price, without as much as a review out for a game. In other words, buying games sight-unseen. Wonderful concept/service there.
On top of that, considering the aforementioned "service" of buying and selling used games (console, mostly), Gamestop scoops up their rather mediocre profits on pre-orders (generally +/- $10 per $60 copy sold), then weeks after a game's release starts really raking in the profits by buying up the used copies by low-balling customers, often giving less than 50% of the markup they'll charge for the same game once they toss it back on the shelf. The best part? Customer A buys a game at pre-order for $60. Gamestop gets $10 profit. Cust. A brings in said copy, barely used, and gets $20 store credit for it. Customer B comes in and buys A's used copy for $40 - a great deal compared to the original price! Now Gamestop has picked up $30 profit from one copy of a game. Cust. B brings the game back after finishing it, and Gamestop hands them $15 or less, only to re-stock that copy and sell it once again to customer C for $30+, and now Gamestop has racked up nearly the full retail price of the originally sold copy. Forget how many times a single copy of a game may cycle through their hands; the scale at which this takes place is what's staggering. In the meantime, the developers and publishers of said game have only been paid for a single initial sale, while that same copy has paid for itself multiple times over for Gamestop, generating ungodly amounts of revenue, all for screwing over the folks who actually make the games and withholding features from players in the meantime.
With Steam, the developer itself can have its game published for a likely minimal fee when compared to trying to have a game published at retail, with little to no overhead expense and meanwhile receive a load of publicity which they otherwise couldn't possibly afford, not to mention a system with which they can consistantly maintain and update a game without having to individually provide the servers or maintain their own website for. Really sounds like a terrible deal for any developer.
Add it all up, though, and it becomes much easier to understand why the "standard" price for games is so high. If the initial sales prices weren't so jacked up, the devs and publishers would see very little profit. Thanks, Gamestop.
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product. I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
Now I just feel sorry for you that you must've grown up in such a way that you've become so programmed to despise all things popular, in spite of how good said thing may be. I mean, this is where I wish for your own sake that you were a troll, rather than such a bitter person as to believe that anything that gains popularity must be inherently evil and/or bad. I mean clearly, anything that's UN-popular must be better under any and all circumstances, especially given that since so few people like such a thing, everyone who has tried and dislikes it are clearly sheep, only avoiding it due to that being the "popular" thing to do, and not for any legitimate reasons.
Best of all, though; I love the irony of your preference towards the all-too-popular Gamestop, while hating Steam for its well-deserved popularity - popularity that helps both gamers see games they'd otherwise not find, and devs get attention they'd otherwise not get. Again, a raw deal for all involved. Better still is your classification of anything popular as bad. Sounds like you're doing what has become a rather popular thing these days - decrying anything of popularity in attempt to be somehow "different" or "special". Forget having your own opinion of things based on experience and facts; hate it because other people like it and be your own brand of "cool"! Hypocrisy is delicious.
Originally posted by wallet113
I don't like games where you have use another application (which needs a internet connection) to play a offline game.
Also like I posted before. If I own the DVD-ROM I shouldn't need to "download" the game to install it, when I should be able to install it directly from the DVD-ROM.
They really need a better way to counter piracy, doing it this way is just too much.
You're saying that you shouldn't need to download a game that you own a DVD copy of, but my simple question would be "Why are you adding it to steam if you own your own copy and want to install from the DVD?" The benefit of adding a game to steam and installing from there is that you will get the latest, most up-to-date version of the game and it will be patched and maintained at your preference. If you'd rather do so yourself, manually, then just install from the DVD without adding it to Steam. Problem solved!
At any rate, while it should be quite clear where I stand in my opinion of Steam, I'll round out my Wall-O-Text™ by saying that I love it! For years (definitely prior to broadband in my area), I hated having to make specific trips to the nearest game stores to buy new games that I wanted. For me, the closest place was, and still is, better than an hour round-trip just to pick up a game. These days - and for the past few years, for sure - that gets pricey just for such a little thing thanks to gas prices. Before Steam, my only other option was mail-order via eBay or other e-tailers so if it wasn't gas, it was waiting a few extra days while paying for shipping.
Anymore? I watch Steam's midweek madness, weekend, and holiday sales and pick up games when they're at a price that I'm happy to pay. Steam keeps the games I have installed up to date for me or when I choose, and of my 8gb RAM, its footprint is miniscule, nevermind that it rarely requires any real processing power for its background use. Generally (if memory serves) it only requires about 20-40mb of RAM to run in the background, and even at my former 2gb of RAM that is a tiny amount. Meanwhile, I can access my games on both my desktop PC, or the laptop I'm on, any time I choose without having to hassle with any discs whatsoever (useful for the few less-demanding time-killers I own).
Honestly, I'd love to see some legitimate arguments against Steam that point out its flaws, but the only one I've ever seen is that it doesn't come with hard copies. However, for me, I don't care about owning a jewel case, a CD, and a box that's going to either get thrown away, or take up space somewhere in my closet/under my bed/on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. The only issue that could ever be conceived is if Steam went down, but the odds of that are so slim that I couldn't possibly be concerned. Even if something did happen, I've gotten more than enough value from it, and wouldn't freak out over tracking down hard copies of truly loved games if the situation arised. Oh, and the CD keys for the games would likely still be valid for use with a backed up hard copy. Either way, that one issue is little more than personal preference until something happens to restrict the use of your games.
Disclaimer: I do not work for, nor am I paid by Steam. I'm merely a happy user that OCD's about misinformed people who blast Steam while touting Gamestop.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
So you are saying that because it is popular, it sucks, and if it weren't popular, it would be great? I've been playing games for a long time, and steam has worked very well for convenience sake.
I can understand how your logic applies to some things, but I think you have a very distorted bias against steam. To be honest, you sound like a wannabe non conformist. The funny thing about that is, nonconformism in itself is a conforming position of standards.
FYI, not everybody likes spending extra on gas to drive 8 miles to and from the nearest gamestop. Also, many who work graveyard want to sleep in the day during the hours game stores are open. Steam provides an option to purchase a video game 24/7, on your time, not a stores.
8 miles isn't far, I don't own a car, but I walk to the store whenever I want. why go to gamestop? I go to Wal-Mart and they're 24/7. I think I've been to gamestop only 3 times last year and that was only because my hotel was next to one. Oh yeah I work 8 months out of the year and stay in hotels all across the mid-west because of my job, Because of this not all hotels have decent WIFI. So like I said having to download a game while I'm on the road, staying at a hotel that might and might not have WIFI, and yeah my company only give so much money for hotel expenses limits me to the "good" hotels.
Yeah its kind of wierd with MMO's. On one occasion though, I bought an MMO off steam for a super duper cheap price and got the game key. Steam wanted me to install the game, but I just went to the game website, entered my key into account management, and downloaded the game directly from game's website. Works fine ever since and I don't need to start steam up to play. But yeah, I used to get annoyed at having to start steam, go offline mode etc, but I don't bother anymore.
''/\/\'' Posted using Iphone bunni ( o.o) (")(") **This bunny was cloned from bunnies belonging to Gobla and is part of the Quizzical Fanclub and the The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club**
I love steam. They have great deals sometimes, and it's like your private online vault where you don't have to save your game CD's.
Also it's becoming a popular community hub where you can chat with your friends. I have an online friend that follows me from game to game, and using Steam it was easy to keep track of each other and keep in touch.
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. If not, it's probably the most inane rationale for not using a given service that I've seen.
I love Steam for the convenience. Every game I've ever purchased from it will always be there for me to reinstall in the future. No hunting for disks or keys, and no worries about tracking down patches. It's all there, on record, waiting for my interest to wax once more. The stellar deals they offer is tasty gravy, although the tech support is pretty poor.
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
There are always people that refuse progress. I'm sorry man, but look around you, everything is going online these days. Most of us have affordable lil mini computers that do more than just phone calls these days. Don't blame Steam for it, because if Steam didn't exist, someone else would come in and do exactly what they do. So while people like you can blame Nextflix for Blockbuster's troubles, or Steam for PC retailor's troubles, or heck I bet you blame the internet for libraries closing down as well.
The rest of us see this as progress and advancement. Welcome to 2011.
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
I only moved to America around 6 months ago so Idk about how it ruined retail pc game shops or whichever but umm...
You dun want to use steam at all because its popular?
Now Im not sure but..Where else do you find as much indie games as there is in steam? Indie games arent popular?
Gamestop is popular o.o so why should you use gamestop? I dun get you at all sorry x.x
I don't like games where you have use another application (which needs a internet connection) to play a offline game.
Also like I posted before. If I own the DVD-ROM I shouldn't need to "download" the game to install it, when I should be able to install it directly from the DVD-ROM.
They really need a better way to counter piracy, doing it this way is just too much.
Maybe if you had installed it first instead of putting your key into Steam you could have avoided the issues. Try reading the instructions next time.
In a word bloatware. On the other hand it does what it says on the tin.
30-50MB of RAM is bloat now?
Best bloatware I've ever seen, then. It advertises its own games and in an unobtrusive manner, and allows me to have my library anywhere, any time I want.
Frankly, I love when it tells me about its sales. I've bought several titles I'd otherwise not have bothered with thanks to them and I've been very pleased that I did.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde
There is one bad thing about Steam now that I think about it, and they may have well fixed it by now, I'm not sure.
I know that you can run Steam in Offline mode, but (at least it used to) still required an internet connection at least one time to validate your licenses before it would go into Offline mode. So, for my brother who lost his internet one day, it wouldn't let him go into offline mode (even to play single player nonnetworked games) without a valid internet connection to check the license status, so he was stuck without being able to play.
He ended up driving his desktop computer across town, booting it up via an inverter in his car, and using the free Starbucks WiFi in order to get Steam to go into Offline mode, and then from there on out it ran for weeks without needing the internet any longer.
There is one bad thing about Steam now that I think about it, and they may have well fixed it by now, I'm not sure.
I know that you can run Steam in Offline mode, but (at least it used to) still required an internet connection at least one time to validate your licenses before it would go into Offline mode. So, for my brother who lost his internet one day, it wouldn't let him go into offline mode (even to play single player nonnetworked games) without a valid internet connection to check the license status, so he was stuck without being able to play.
He ended up driving his desktop computer across town, booting it up via an inverter in his car, and using the free Starbucks WiFi in order to get Steam to go into Offline mode, and then from there on out it ran for weeks without needing the internet any longer.
I start steam in offline mode all of the time, almost every day. I've almost never had it refuse to let me. The only time it insists on an internet connection is if it shuts down in the middle of a game update. Then it insists on finishing the update even if I want to play a different game which I find rather strange. That has only happened to me once however even though I've started steam in offline mode hundreds of times. When I say I start it in offline mode I mean without any sort of internet connection of any kind at the time I fire up steam. I'm usually on my laptop somewhere without wireless.
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
I only moved to America around 6 months ago so Idk about how it ruined retail pc game shops or whichever but umm...
You dun want to use steam at all because its popular?
Now Im not sure but..Where else do you find as much indie games as there is in steam? Indie games arent popular?
Gamestop is popular o.o so why should you use gamestop? I dun get you at all sorry x.x
I don't like games where you have use another application (which needs a internet connection) to play a offline game.
Also like I posted before. If I own the DVD-ROM I shouldn't need to "download" the game to install it, when I should be able to install it directly from the DVD-ROM.
They really need a better way to counter piracy, doing it this way is just too much.
Maybe if you had installed it first instead of putting your key into Steam you could have avoided the issues. Try reading the instructions next time.
Again , steam is the problem, why do I need it?
DVD/CD Back up storage so your dics don't scratch? Just rip the DVD/CD onto a external drive along with the serial key. easy. It'd be faster then downloading the game right?
Steam is a great thing. Keeps everything in 1 place.
OmaliMMO Business CorrespondentMemberUncommonPosts: 1,177
Originally posted by Explorium
I hate Steam and refuse to play any game that requires it
They ruined Gamestops and other retail PC game sells
and worst of all is how popular Steam is. For one, things that aren't popular are ALWAYS better and only the sheep follow the popular product.
I never use any Steam product. If it wasn't nearly as popular as it is, I would probably use it more often.
1. Gamestop ruined their own PC sales by relegating the PC section to a tiny corner in the back of the room. This was happening long before Steam became popular.
Comments
If nothing else, so that the free online storage of your purchased games can only be accessed by you and not others looking to pirate games.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You take that out on steam? I have no problems installing CIV5, it's your own problem that it didn't go smoothly. I remember a time where online game downloads didn't even exist. People would have killed for this convenience of choice years ago.
So you are saying that because it is popular, it sucks, and if it weren't popular, it would be great? I've been playing games for a long time, and steam has worked very well for convenience sake.
I can understand how your logic applies to some things, but I think you have a very distorted bias against steam. To be honest, you sound like a wannabe non conformist. The funny thing about that is, nonconformism in itself is a conforming position of standards.
FYI, not everybody likes spending extra on gas to drive 8 miles to and from the nearest gamestop. Also, many who work graveyard want to sleep in the day during the hours game stores are open. Steam provides an option to purchase a video game 24/7, on your time, not a stores.
I have no problems with Digital downloads.
I use D2D for alot of the games I buy, but the games I buy with DVD-ROM I expect to install and play it with just that. no need to launch another appilication to play a game. Although years ago when there wasn't DSL or Cable, and you only had dail up. I got free games from AOL and IRC (oh you mean legally? lol)
Steam is good for the most part. In-game voice and browser, friends list and chat, it's what Windows Live/Games for Windows should have been.
It's not without some quirks, usually DRM imposed by publishers, and MMOs sometimes install funny, since they don't patch through Steam: you get the basic DVD install, then you still have to do a good bit of patching through the MMO game servers. Most other games though, it does a good job of automatically updating.
Steam will allow some games to import CD keys (if you have the retail box, but want to use Steam to redownload/patch it), but not a whole lot.
I can't think of any glaring reason not to like Steam really. If you lose/scratch/break your retail box CD, your SOL and have to buy the game again if you want to play. With Steam, you just redownload it, and your entire game library is linked to your user id.
Besides, what's so special about Gamestop anyway? Browsing the used shelves for a second hand copy of World of Warcraft won't do you much good anyway ><
Steam is great. Period.
- discounts
-networking
-news
-customer service
- valve is imo the best developer for what it does
-hassle free downloads
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, in spite of how ill-informed it may be...
Now it's smelling troll-ish, but I'll bite. How, exactly, do you explain this? If anything, Gamestop and its ilk has ruined game sales in general. The re-sale of used games pretty well crushes profit margins for publishers and keeps smaller companies from ever getting games on the shelves (indie games). PC games side-stepped this long ago by requiring CD keys for use of nearly any multi-player online game. Simply put; you can buy a second-hand copy of a game all day, but can't use its online features without a fresh key or the account the key was registered to. This factor alone is, in my opinion, far more responsible for faltering retail sales of PC games, given that there is little motivation for retailers like Gamestop to carry such games as they can't have customers bring them in, pay them a minimal amount, then resell at a markup.
Meanwhile, "Power to the players!" - the all-time greatest tag-line for a scam ever - basically means "you don't get access to X feature unless you pre-order or buy this game from Gamestop!". Sweet! So now they're restricting features of games that should be included in the box price regardless of how and where it's purchased, all so Gamestop can pressure consumers into buying from them, at full price, without as much as a review out for a game. In other words, buying games sight-unseen. Wonderful concept/service there.
On top of that, considering the aforementioned "service" of buying and selling used games (console, mostly), Gamestop scoops up their rather mediocre profits on pre-orders (generally +/- $10 per $60 copy sold), then weeks after a game's release starts really raking in the profits by buying up the used copies by low-balling customers, often giving less than 50% of the markup they'll charge for the same game once they toss it back on the shelf. The best part? Customer A buys a game at pre-order for $60. Gamestop gets $10 profit. Cust. A brings in said copy, barely used, and gets $20 store credit for it. Customer B comes in and buys A's used copy for $40 - a great deal compared to the original price! Now Gamestop has picked up $30 profit from one copy of a game. Cust. B brings the game back after finishing it, and Gamestop hands them $15 or less, only to re-stock that copy and sell it once again to customer C for $30+, and now Gamestop has racked up nearly the full retail price of the originally sold copy. Forget how many times a single copy of a game may cycle through their hands; the scale at which this takes place is what's staggering. In the meantime, the developers and publishers of said game have only been paid for a single initial sale, while that same copy has paid for itself multiple times over for Gamestop, generating ungodly amounts of revenue, all for screwing over the folks who actually make the games and withholding features from players in the meantime.
With Steam, the developer itself can have its game published for a likely minimal fee when compared to trying to have a game published at retail, with little to no overhead expense and meanwhile receive a load of publicity which they otherwise couldn't possibly afford, not to mention a system with which they can consistantly maintain and update a game without having to individually provide the servers or maintain their own website for. Really sounds like a terrible deal for any developer.
Add it all up, though, and it becomes much easier to understand why the "standard" price for games is so high. If the initial sales prices weren't so jacked up, the devs and publishers would see very little profit. Thanks, Gamestop.
Now I just feel sorry for you that you must've grown up in such a way that you've become so programmed to despise all things popular, in spite of how good said thing may be. I mean, this is where I wish for your own sake that you were a troll, rather than such a bitter person as to believe that anything that gains popularity must be inherently evil and/or bad. I mean clearly, anything that's UN-popular must be better under any and all circumstances, especially given that since so few people like such a thing, everyone who has tried and dislikes it are clearly sheep, only avoiding it due to that being the "popular" thing to do, and not for any legitimate reasons.
Best of all, though; I love the irony of your preference towards the all-too-popular Gamestop, while hating Steam for its well-deserved popularity - popularity that helps both gamers see games they'd otherwise not find, and devs get attention they'd otherwise not get. Again, a raw deal for all involved. Better still is your classification of anything popular as bad. Sounds like you're doing what has become a rather popular thing these days - decrying anything of popularity in attempt to be somehow "different" or "special". Forget having your own opinion of things based on experience and facts; hate it because other people like it and be your own brand of "cool"! Hypocrisy is delicious.
Personally, I've never experienced an issue with this. But, since you and others may very well be concerned about such a thing, a brief Google search landed me at Steam's support site, explaining exactly how to play your games offline. While I was at it, I quickly hunted down the instructions for adding your hard-copy games to your Steam library for those who were wondering about it earlier.
You're saying that you shouldn't need to download a game that you own a DVD copy of, but my simple question would be "Why are you adding it to steam if you own your own copy and want to install from the DVD?" The benefit of adding a game to steam and installing from there is that you will get the latest, most up-to-date version of the game and it will be patched and maintained at your preference. If you'd rather do so yourself, manually, then just install from the DVD without adding it to Steam. Problem solved!
At any rate, while it should be quite clear where I stand in my opinion of Steam, I'll round out my Wall-O-Text™ by saying that I love it! For years (definitely prior to broadband in my area), I hated having to make specific trips to the nearest game stores to buy new games that I wanted. For me, the closest place was, and still is, better than an hour round-trip just to pick up a game. These days - and for the past few years, for sure - that gets pricey just for such a little thing thanks to gas prices. Before Steam, my only other option was mail-order via eBay or other e-tailers so if it wasn't gas, it was waiting a few extra days while paying for shipping.
Anymore? I watch Steam's midweek madness, weekend, and holiday sales and pick up games when they're at a price that I'm happy to pay. Steam keeps the games I have installed up to date for me or when I choose, and of my 8gb RAM, its footprint is miniscule, nevermind that it rarely requires any real processing power for its background use. Generally (if memory serves) it only requires about 20-40mb of RAM to run in the background, and even at my former 2gb of RAM that is a tiny amount. Meanwhile, I can access my games on both my desktop PC, or the laptop I'm on, any time I choose without having to hassle with any discs whatsoever (useful for the few less-demanding time-killers I own).
Honestly, I'd love to see some legitimate arguments against Steam that point out its flaws, but the only one I've ever seen is that it doesn't come with hard copies. However, for me, I don't care about owning a jewel case, a CD, and a box that's going to either get thrown away, or take up space somewhere in my closet/under my bed/on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. The only issue that could ever be conceived is if Steam went down, but the odds of that are so slim that I couldn't possibly be concerned. Even if something did happen, I've gotten more than enough value from it, and wouldn't freak out over tracking down hard copies of truly loved games if the situation arised. Oh, and the CD keys for the games would likely still be valid for use with a backed up hard copy. Either way, that one issue is little more than personal preference until something happens to restrict the use of your games.
Disclaimer: I do not work for, nor am I paid by Steam. I'm merely a happy user that OCD's about misinformed people who blast Steam while touting Gamestop.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
8 miles isn't far, I don't own a car, but I walk to the store whenever I want. why go to gamestop? I go to Wal-Mart and they're 24/7. I think I've been to gamestop only 3 times last year and that was only because my hotel was next to one. Oh yeah I work 8 months out of the year and stay in hotels all across the mid-west because of my job, Because of this not all hotels have decent WIFI. So like I said having to download a game while I'm on the road, staying at a hotel that might and might not have WIFI, and yeah my company only give so much money for hotel expenses limits me to the "good" hotels.
Yeah its kind of wierd with MMO's. On one occasion though, I bought an MMO off steam for a super duper cheap price and got the game key. Steam wanted me to install the game, but I just went to the game website, entered my key into account management, and downloaded the game directly from game's website. Works fine ever since and I don't need to start steam up to play. But yeah, I used to get annoyed at having to start steam, go offline mode etc, but I don't bother anymore.
Thanks for the how to addyour cdkey link
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Without steam i wouldn't own many games.
I hate having the boxed copies lying around, I'm a terrible person with CD's and always seem to scratch them.
Besides that the auto updates and massive amount of cheap indie titles that beat 60$ AAA games are just lovely.
Not to mention their deals.. Oh my god their deals, 75% off? Everytime i see that i.. i..
I love steam. They have great deals sometimes, and it's like your private online vault where you don't have to save your game CD's.
Also it's becoming a popular community hub where you can chat with your friends. I have an online friend that follows me from game to game, and using Steam it was easy to keep track of each other and keep in touch.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
In a word bloatware. On the other hand it does what it says on the tin.
Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. If not, it's probably the most inane rationale for not using a given service that I've seen.
I love Steam for the convenience. Every game I've ever purchased from it will always be there for me to reinstall in the future. No hunting for disks or keys, and no worries about tracking down patches. It's all there, on record, waiting for my interest to wax once more. The stellar deals they offer is tasty gravy, although the tech support is pretty poor.
There are always people that refuse progress. I'm sorry man, but look around you, everything is going online these days. Most of us have affordable lil mini computers that do more than just phone calls these days. Don't blame Steam for it, because if Steam didn't exist, someone else would come in and do exactly what they do. So while people like you can blame Nextflix for Blockbuster's troubles, or Steam for PC retailor's troubles, or heck I bet you blame the internet for libraries closing down as well.
The rest of us see this as progress and advancement. Welcome to 2011.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
Maybe if you had installed it first instead of putting your key into Steam you could have avoided the issues. Try reading the instructions next time.
I only use steam for playing cs 1.6 otherwise i wouldn't have it on my pc for sure.
30-50MB of RAM is bloat now?
30-50MB of RAM is bloat now?
Best bloatware I've ever seen, then. It advertises its own games and in an unobtrusive manner, and allows me to have my library anywhere, any time I want.Frankly, I love when it tells me about its sales. I've bought several titles I'd otherwise not have bothered with thanks to them and I've been very pleased that I did.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
There is one bad thing about Steam now that I think about it, and they may have well fixed it by now, I'm not sure.
I know that you can run Steam in Offline mode, but (at least it used to) still required an internet connection at least one time to validate your licenses before it would go into Offline mode. So, for my brother who lost his internet one day, it wouldn't let him go into offline mode (even to play single player nonnetworked games) without a valid internet connection to check the license status, so he was stuck without being able to play.
He ended up driving his desktop computer across town, booting it up via an inverter in his car, and using the free Starbucks WiFi in order to get Steam to go into Offline mode, and then from there on out it ran for weeks without needing the internet any longer.
Steam is the best thing that's happened for pc gamers with internets. Such great deals!
I only wish you could add any game to steam.
I start steam in offline mode all of the time, almost every day. I've almost never had it refuse to let me. The only time it insists on an internet connection is if it shuts down in the middle of a game update. Then it insists on finishing the update even if I want to play a different game which I find rather strange. That has only happened to me once however even though I've started steam in offline mode hundreds of times. When I say I start it in offline mode I mean without any sort of internet connection of any kind at the time I fire up steam. I'm usually on my laptop somewhere without wireless.
Bren
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Again , steam is the problem, why do I need it?
DVD/CD Back up storage so your dics don't scratch? Just rip the DVD/CD onto a external drive along with the serial key. easy. It'd be faster then downloading the game right?
Steam is a great thing. Keeps everything in 1 place.
1. Gamestop ruined their own PC sales by relegating the PC section to a tiny corner in the back of the room. This was happening long before Steam became popular.
2. Someone's trying too hard to be a hipster.