What's the beef with Steam?

[Zephyr102]

Windows is infamous for issues, period. Mac has been epitomized as THE computer, with a higher price tag. That being said, I'm a Linux guy, so I'm impartial here.

 

Will debate ya on the Windows thing- while XP is and likely always will be somewhat of a PITA, my dad's new Win7 laptop has done very well in the months we've had it. Can't stand the overhyped, overpriced Apple gear, and have been biased against them since Macs gave me headaches in school. As for Linux, while I haven't learned how to run my game library thru Ubuntu, it saved one of my hard drives last year, so it still gets my respect.

 

Anyway, back on topic, folks!

 

@ OriginOfPain-

2: The only 'spam' I get is the window that pops up when I start Steam, and one box to close is hardly 'spam' in my book. Sometimes I actually find some decent sales, too.

3: Will give ya that one- would like a way to pick my own directories, especially with non-Valve games.

5: As far as I can tell, Steam itself isn't that big, taking up a mere sliver of HD space compared to the games themselves.

6: I've run Mass Effect with and without Steam, and noticed no performance issues either way, which leads me to believe it's hardly a source of performance issues for the (or at least my) average gaming rig.

[Salamander8]

I just got Greed Corp for $8.99 US thanks to Steam's blurb when I was perusing the sales tab earlier. Steam certainly has it's share of issues, but this game is prime example of where Steam helps independent game companies get their product out to more people. This game is hilarious and quite fun. Good turn-based games are getting harder and harder to come by. Greed Corp is like Settlers of Catan meets Worms. Definitely worth a look whether via Steam or not.

[JimboUK]

My beef with steam?

 

1. Auto-updates when I don't want it to.

2. Spams me with ads for products that I'm never going to buy.

3. Ridiculous folder structure making it a pain to mod any game for it.

4. Steam takes a long time to start, then spams me with ads and the main window.

5. Utter waste of space on my hard drive.

6. Runs in the background, so it uses up some of my comp's resources. I don't like unnecessary processes taking away from performance. Period.

7. The fact that I have to install any 3rd party program to play a game is annoying.

8. Doesn't want to shut down because steam programs are still running, when they clearly are NOT. (Use Task Manager instead)

9. Can't play any steam games without steam running.

10. Steam is Steam

 

1. I've only known NV do that, not a problem for patches not made by the chimps at Obsidian/Bethesda.

2. Disable that in the settings or run it in offline mode.

3. Make a favourite or create a shortcut.

4. Have it start with windows, you won't notice it.

5. Steam itself uses next to no space.

6. 20mb minimised, that wouldn't have been an issue 10 years ago, it certainly isn't now.

7. Securom, Tages, ect all run in the background.

8. There's something wrong with you installation.

9. You can't play Securom games without that running, same goes for Tages and others. Why single out Steam?

10. Indeed it is.

[ita]

My only real problem with Steam is the insane prices they charge for games.

 

Let's assume that I'm looking to buy CoD: Black Ops; Steam will charge me 59.99€. Buying the boxed DVD version from an online shop in here Sweden would cost me 41.43€, shipping included.

 

So, the only reason I use Steam at all is because some games force me to have it installed.

[JimboUK]

Steam don't set the prices, the publishers/developers do. True that some prices are ridiculous though, nine times out of ten you can find the DVD cheaper somewhere.

[Zephyr102]

Personally, I've seen some ludicrously low prices when Steam has a sale. I got The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition for $7.49, and Lost Planet and Mirror's Edge were $20 each- same price as (or in some cases, less than) the store. And to top it off, the Orange Box comes with three games and two HL2 expansions for $30- I paid that much just for FO3:GOTY. That's not to mention all the low-buck indie games and free mods that are as awesome as anything one would find from big-name producers. (PS: Anyone with HL2 must play Nightmare House 2- best horror mod since Gates to Aesgaard)

 

As for Black Ops, its a new game- everyone charges $60 state-side. It sucks, but that's life, not Steam.

Edited December 11, 2010 by DJZephyr

[Salamander8]

I've actually gotten some crazy deals on Steam. This is especially true with their specials and of course the independent games. Two weeks ago I got a pack of 5+ indie games for $5 total as an example, and I got such things like the complete ID and Star Wars packs for some nice low prices. They seem to have high prices on big name games right at release, but are otherwise quite reasonable.

[dunmermaiden]

My only 'beef' with Steam is that being in New Zealand, the 'broadband' is like America's Dial Up and I'm a 15 gig broadband speed limit per month which means my download speed is around 20kp - 31kp and after the 15 gigs is downloaded I get switched to 'dial up' which is 2kp - 4 kp and it's more frustrating than the gods to have to download a over 3 gig game because it takes soooooo long and I have to wonder why why can't I download from the disk instead?

 

The 2nd disk has the game but when I stick it in it immediately brings up steam to download it. I am all for steam protecting game developers from pirates and making sure of legal versions of the game but I don't see why I need to download a huge file that takes nearly forever.....

 

Apart from this Steam is a good thing I think, just needs tweaking for perfection :)

[Calvan]

Well I didn't have a problem with it. Untill I got New Vegas.

I bought a legitimate retail copy.

Put in the CD key on steam. Installed the game.

And now steam crashes whenever I try to run it.

 

So I May as well have put the 50 dollars plus tax in the toilet and flushed it.

Same effect.

 

And no one across this site, steam's forums, And bethesda's forums have anything helpful for me.

 

If it weren't for the fact that steam bans people who ask for refunds. I'd ask for a refund.

Edited December 12, 2010 by Calvan

[RZ1029]

Will debate ya on the Windows thing- while XP is and likely always will be somewhat of a PITA, my dad's new Win7 laptop has done very well in the months we've had it. Can't stand the overhyped, overpriced Apple gear, and have been biased against them since Macs gave me headaches in school. As for Linux, while I haven't learned how to run my game library thru Ubuntu, it saved one of my hard drives last year, so it still gets my respect.

 

XP had plenty of issues, for sure. Windows 7 is MUCH better than Vista and XP, miles ahead, for sure. That being said, you've still got the issue of Windows being prone to viruses for the simple issue that: It's Windows. The most widely-used operating system today, it's going to be the great big target on the proverbial back of computer users. Mac's are kind of whatever imo, but I will admit for graphical design type stuff, I'd take a Mac almost any day. You get a lot of bang for your buck in that department, and can run them 24/7 without worry. As for the games, I could show you how or dig up a tutorial for you, it's actually not quite so complicated as you would think, just takes a little working outside the box.

 

@Calvan -- Have you updated your NV? If not, do it. If so... uhm... do you meet the system requirements? I've had issues, but nothing like that.

 

@Salamander8 -- Totally agree with you man, I love some of these Indie games you can pick up for almost next to nothing which are immensely amusing. I got something that was about as close to a Worms ripoff as it gets for $3 the other day. I'll post the name of it later when I'm back on my desktop. And there are sooooo many games I had never heard of, were it not for Steam. While there are some minor issues, usually due more to poor ports of Console games (which, face it, is what we're getting 97% of the time) than Steam itself, I have yet to run into anything truly breaking, barring some early issues I had with Steam servers.

 

EDIT: Holy cow, wall of text and death.

Edited December 12, 2010 by RZ1029