Steam as a platform

[popltree2]

A friend of mine and I were having a discussion the other day about Steam, the content management system developed by Valve. I have to say that it is about as perfect as I have seen. With purchases over Steam, you don't what to worry about serial numbers or license keys. All you have to do is login to your account. And I am not sure how they did it, but they have managed to really get a good grip on the licensing algorithm for generating the keys because I have not once run into an issue where a license key that I had purchased was invalid or didn't work or whatever.

Another innovative thing that have noticed about Steam is it's "never-ending shelf space". This was something that was really kind of brought to my attention by Gabe Newell, Co-Founder of Valve. Where actual brick and mortar stores have limited shelf space, providing games and content in a digital form gives you endless amounts of shelf space and allows for real customizability. Do I want all of the multi-player games or just some? I can pick and choose. We can see this with The Orange Box. Do I want JUST Portal, or JUST TF2, or do I want just those without Ep. 2? Now, I am by no means saying that this was pioneered by Steam, just look at iTunes. But the fact that that kind of thing is being applied to this type of content is pretty impressive.

Steam being built as a desktop app that connects to Steam servers is ingenuous. Rather than having to log on to a stupid website and download patches and blah blah blah, Steam just handles it for me. And now that more and more games are getting released using it, it is only going to get better.

So tell us, what do you think of Steam? What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? What would you change to make it better? Of course it isn't 100% perfect; there is always tweaking that can be done. But it seems pretty damn good to me.

[zebracakes]

not mentioning the fact that the community system was broken for like two years, I have always had a good experience with steam. If I can, I always buy from steam now.

[canadian8703]

I really wish i could buy every game off Steam. I hate having to deal with CDs and not losing them all the time. I like being able to delete a game if I'm short on space and being able to easily download it later.

I bought call of duty 2, three times now because i keep losing the CD lending it out to friends or just flat out losing it around the house. If i had known about it on steam i would have saved myself $40.

long story short I <3 steam

[sithyeti]

I don't like steam. I have hated it since it has come out. While it is nice that if I ever lose my HL2 cds all I need to do is get steam and be able to dl the game.

But I think it is very dumb to make people connect to the internet to play their games. Over the summer I worked and lived at Cedar Point. In the rooms they gave us it didn't have internet, so I was stuck playing single player games, which I didn't mind I still have a few I have yet to beat. But I upgraded my video card and wanted to play the game I had with the best graphics. Well I install HL2 and it tells me I can't play unless I connect to the internet to update. Well I didn't have the internet and because steam is worthless I couldn't play a game I payed for. So for that reason alone I hate and will always hate Steam.

[kevinsand]

I love Steam for the fact that its quicker with my DSL to download HL2 after installing HL2EP1 off the DVD than to install HL2 off the 5 CD's

Plus there are a few things I hear like "Bio Shock" only letting you install twice then the code is no good,(WTF?) but on steam just log in and Download!

Got to <3 Steam!!

[kickarse]

You can play in Offline mode... I do like Steam now, but it had MAJOR growing pains and it SUCKED, HORRIDLY.

Steam is a good idea. I wish there was a similar thing for other companies or other companies provided a download for a full game with key.

[wizmaster]

You can play in Offline mode... I do like Steam now, but it had MAJOR growing pains and it SUCKED, HORRIDLY.

Steam is a good idea. I wish there was a similar thing for other companies or other companies provided a download for a full game with key.

Blizzard does that with WoW. Steam's ****otry of needing to go online and "update" even when you don't plan on playing online needs to be addressed though. An internet connection should only be necessary for playing online.

Other then that it's ok. I'm used to stuff like this from PC games but now they have one platform for many games. *snore*

[darthender]

I use it. Love it. Never had any problems with it(though I've heard alot of people have).

Its just nice not having to have discs anymore.

[wizmaster]

I use it. Love it. Never had any problems with it(though I've heard alot of people have).

Its just nice not having to have discs anymore.

Amen to that. I bought WoW directly from the site and downloaded it. Hopefully, most new games will comtinue on this tread. Hopefully on consoles too (Wii VC is one of the main reasons I got the Wii).

[satori]

I really like Steam, I think it's great, my problem with it is if and when Valve goes out of business all the games I've bought on there are gone for good. There are a couple of games that I bought through Steam like Orange box, Sin episodes and HL2 that simply made sense to buy through steam. Others that I received a great discount on like the Longest Journey games for 19.95 total was great. Beyond that I'll keep it to the occasional game like HL2 Episodes.

[geeksunny]

I really like Steam, I think it's great, my problem with it is if and when Valve goes out of business all the games I've bought on there are gone for good.

I feel the same way. Its nice, but if Valve disappears then so do the games.

My other beef is that if the games on steam and the games on the shelf in the store cost the same, then why would I want to buy off steam when for the same amount of money would get me a pressed disc and a printed manual? The disc is extra nice because you wouldn't need to have an internet connection to reinstall it later. Sure, they have the disc backup system but that is hardly ideal, especially when its not guaranteed to work. I've tried it numerous times over the years and every time it failed.

[wizmaster]

I feel the same way. Its nice, but if Valve disappears then so do the games.

My other beef is that if the games on steam and the games on the shelf in the store cost the same, then why would I want to buy off steam when for the same amount of money would get me a pressed disc and a printed manual? The disc is extra nice because you wouldn't need to have an internet connection to reinstall it later. Sure, they have the disc backup system but that is hardly ideal, especially when its not guaranteed to work. I've tried it numerous times over the years and every time it failed.

That's my beef with Windows in general (I've been spoiled by Linux package management systems). There is no easy resolution other then most gaming devs working together.

[guagloves]

I love steam for buying games digitally but having to be online to play them is kind of annoying.

[satori]

... Sure, they have the disc backup system but that is hardly ideal, especially when its not guaranteed to work. I've tried it numerous times over the years and every time it failed.

Really? I had no idea, I'll have to give that a go.

[az0madman]

I love steam for buying games digitally but having to be online to play them is kind of annoying.

Agreed. I take my laptop to work for lunch breaks and the break room doesn't have any Wi-fi so I'm always outta luck playing any Steam games. And when I do get Wi-Fi over there, I can't connect to the Steam server.

[bobafettjm]

As a game collector I am not too keen on Steam. Since I collect video games digital downloads are pretty much useless.

However I have done this on occasion when the game is cheaper this way, then I just get my hard copy down the road when it is cheap.

[satori]

Agreed. I take my laptop to work for lunch breaks and the break room doesn't have any Wi-fi so I'm always outta luck playing any Steam games. And when I do get Wi-Fi over there, I can't connect to the Steam server.

You can go into off line mode and don't need to connect, just change the settings and you're good.

[kickarse]

You can go into off line mode and don't need to connect, just change the settings and you're good.

Yeah but not everyone likes to play with themselves... hehe

[darknessgp]

You can go into off line mode and don't need to connect, just change the settings and you're good.

Well slightly beyond that, all non-Valve games. i.e. Id software games, the Civ series, etc... If bought on steam can be launched from their respected executable without having to have steam even running.

Also, yes there is an offline mode. Whether or not you can get into it is another issue. Numerous times when I havn't had internet, and not even had a network connection enabled. I'd have steam "trying to connect" only to realize that I'm not connected to the internet (usually after 5+ min. Why can't it tell within 15 seconds?!!), ask me if I want to go into offline mode, to which I click "yes" and it exits steam. Other times I've had it then try to reconnect and then exit steam when it can't...

Not to mention even if you get into offline, you might not be able to play your game because steam thinks it's not updated even though you just updated it that morning... I think this happens because Valve is trying to do some integrity checking. They are forcing it to get a checksum from the server, but until that happens they effectively disable the game.

Steam IMO is great when it works.

[damnedeyez]

There are parts of steam that are great...and parts that suck.

I was reminded of the suck when I got the Orange Box, and grabbed it to bring it to work with me. I use dialup to keep things separate at work...and after 3 hours of downloading gods know what when I when I was trying to install from the DVDs...I gave up. At home, on broadband, it went rather quickly, but preparing the cache files on dialup was ridiculous. (It wouldn't install if I wasn't connected.)

[az0madman]

Yeah, there's offline mode, but I ended up in the situation where I needed to update steam and it wouldn't update unless I was connected. Sucked, but I learned to have steam preloaded and update before I head out when I need it.