Skyrim and Steam

[amycus]

There have been cases of companies removing overly restrictive DRM in the past. Furthermore if Skyrim isn't steam only, you can bet it's due to public out cry over New Vegas.

 

~Also I like those numbers you pulled out of the air.

 

But Steam isn't overly restrictive. It might not work for a few users, due to possible hardware or software problems, but it would be lying to say the people who hate Steam are in the majority. Yeah, I pulled those numbers out of thin air. It's called exagerating. Then again, take a look at the sales made during the Steam summer sale. That should be indicitive of something, least of all that there are millions of people who like Steam enough to buy games through the service. Just take a look at Brink. It's considered a massive failure, yet look at how well it just sold. As predicted, also take a look at New Vegas. It's currently sitting at number 2 on the topsellers list on Steam, just after the entire Quakecon pack, 2 and a half hours after it went on special. With a fanbase that big, do you really expect Steam to be toppled anytime soon?

 

Steam does a hell of a lot for gamers. Just take a look at the aforementioned Quakecon pack. That's $69.99 for 34 games, including stuff like the entire Fallout 3 GotY. That's just over $2 a game. Show me another digital distribution service that offers something like that. Hell, that's reason enough to put up with the occasional technical issue for me, not that I've ever had a problem with Steam that wasn't a fault on my end before.

 

I'm all for Steam being optional in retail games, but if it isn't, I see no reason to moan so excessively about it as some people in here do. Thing is, people like me like Steam, and there's a lot of us that do. As long as we like Steam, it's not going away. And no offense, I'm not about to stop using the service just because a few other people don't want to use it.

 

Then thats all fine and dandy for you. Congratulations. But you have to realize that there have been many other users who have had their fair share of problems with it (some havn't been able to even start the game, and ino matter how cheap I won't pay for a game I can't play). I don't hate steam itself. I think that the more options the better. But that's also why I hate it when they FORCE you to use it if you want to play the game, even though it shouldn't need to.

 

And as for our outcry not making any difference, just look at http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/02/23/assassins-creed-brotherhood-drops-always-online-drm/ for example. Voicing your complaints CAN make a difference, and in case you didn't know, all users on this forum actually LIKE games (hard to believe, I know), which is why its a real shame when they get the idea of making steam a requirement to a game that we otherwise would love.

 

EDIT: and no, no one is asking you to stop using it. As long as it works for you I know that there are some benefits to steam, and it would just be stupid if you didn't use them, assuming that you have never had any problems with it. We others however prefer the 3 choices (not buying, buying game with no steam required, and buying game with steam) as opposed to just 2 options. More options are always better, no matter what the situation. You can't argue with that.

 

2nd EDIT: I will stop bitching about steam when they can get it to work for everyone and not just "the majority" through at least a decent support. Until then I tend to avoid steam like the plague. If skyrim doesn't require steam it is a certain buy. If it does require steam I will have to think about it. Either pass on it completely like I did for NV, or buy it after a few months so that my disconsent might at least be visible on the initial sale figures.

Edited August 7, 2011 by amycus

[worm82075]

@Halororor

Do you work for Valve or something? Why are you championing Steamworks so vigorously? We get it, you love Steam, but again Steamworks is NOT the same thing as Steam. I've already explained the difference between Steam(a digital distribution people choose to use) and Steamworks(a forced DRM) twice. You've had your say so stfu now.

[Halororor]

@Halororor

Do you work for Valve or something? Why are you championing Steamworks so vigorously? We get it, you love Steam, but again Steamworks is NOT the same thing as Steam. I've already explained the difference between Steam(a digital distribution people choose to use) and Steamworks(a forced DRM) twice. You've had your say so stfu now.

 

Reported as spam. We don't need drivel like this here. If you don't like that someone has an opinion different to yours, and that that person is defending his opinion, don't resort to weak, childish rubbish like this. Just because I defend something I like, does not mean I work for Valve (though I would love to actually do so). Using that as an argument against someone shows an inadequecy in reasoning and logic on your part.

 

With that, I'm out. I feel the thread has served its purpose. I've said whatever can be said on the subject, and the discussion is more or less just going in circles now. I'm also disgusted by the way the discussion has taken, and I'm sorry to amycus, because you had some valid points that I'd have liked to continue discussing, but ol' wormy here has just really put me off discussing anything at all. Clearly in his books, if you subscribe to an unpopular opinion, you aren't allowed to defend it.

[ginnyfizz]

It would help if when people say that they have issues with Steam, you didn't immediately suggest that it was the fault of their hardware or software. I had the issues on my old rig and I have them on the new one too. Different hardware, different OS.

 

It's Steam's fault for making you stick games in any Program Files folder when you're always advised not to with either Vista or Win 7

[McclaudEagle]

As far as I know, Steam can be installed in other locations besides Program Files because mine is in a self-made directory. Keep in mind though that I installed Steam with Fallout New Vegas, so I had the option for Custom Installation.

[Pronam]

It's changeable for everyone and there's a very easy way to even move the whole directory even if you've already installed a lot of steam games.

[Herculine]

It's changeable for everyone and there's a very easy way to even move the whole directory even if you've already installed a lot of steam games.

 

That's what I did once it started taking up more space on my C: drive than I wanted it to.

 

Still, I'd prefer to have purchased those games on hard discs in case of system failures and other such technical catastrophes, whether they be on their end or mine.

[Kendo 2]

Here's an anecdote for all the Steam fanz.

 

I bought my copy of New Vegas on Ebay one month after the game was released. The guy I bought it from wasn't allowed to install the game. Every time he tried he received a pop-up via Steam stating 'The product you are attempting to download is not currenly available. Please try again later.' SO, the person I bought the game from couldn't get a product HE OWNED to install....EVER. Funny thing is, the same thing happened to me with a few of the bonus content packs I bought on Ebay.

 

Screw Steam.

[billyro]

I read somewhere that you can install the game contents from the disc by doing a little trick. I forgot it though.

The main thing I hate about steam is the fact that the game could only be installed by downloading it off the internet. I did that for Fallout NV, as that was the first (and only) steam game I got. I will definitely get Skyrim no matter what it requires, it's just that I will yell at the screen far more.

[scot]

I´m confused, if we have the dvd copy don´t we need only to activate the game via steam?When I installed my new vegas I only needed to activate it via steam, it didn´t download anything from it exept the update wich was easy.Are there games that require download even with a dvd?That is ridiculous and if it happened to me I would ask my money back since the dvd is worthless.I fear that skyrim will be like that and in that case imagine everyone trying to install at the same time, it will take days, weeks or months just to be installed, or not.