Why Steam/

[jimd53]

Hello,
If you buy and get a game on CD, why in the world do you have to route through Steam to load and play it? It slows everything down, and just introduces way more trouble than you need to just play a game.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Its just the way game are these days unfortunately...

All the best Brett

 

[Eldd]

Because there's a lot of money to be made out of gaming industry and there are some mighty greedy people out there.

 

[pauls3743]

Steam is a DRM system, but it's also a whole lot more.

You don't actually need your disc, just the product/activation key that comes with it. The Steam platform acts as a launcher and updater for all the games you have within your Steam profile. This actually speeds up loading and running of the games because it's not relying on the game disc being present. It also ensures your game is patched to the latest version and compatable with that of people you might want to play with online or at LAN parties.

The other side of it is community based, think facebook for gaming. You get to join groups and see what other are playing, the achievements they have gained and any spectactular screen shots they have uploaded. You also get to directly chat with these people either through the chat system or ingame over your headset.

For a large number of games which are not supported by Steam you can still load them through Steam (using shortcuts) and still get the community benfits.

 

[Eldd]

Steam is a DRM system, but it's also a whole lot more.

You don't actually need your disc, just the product/activation key that comes with it. The Steam platform acts as a launcher and updater for all the games you have within your Steam profile. This actually speeds up loading and running of the games because it's not relying on the game disc being present. It also ensures your game is patched to the latest version and compatable with that of people you might want to play with online or at LAN parties.

The other side of it is community based, think facebook for gaming. You get to join groups and see what other are playing, the achievements they have gained and any spectactular screen shots they have uploaded. You also get to directly chat with these people either through the chat system or ingame over your headset.

For a large number of games which are not supported by Steam you can still load them through Steam (using shortcuts) and still get the community benfits.

I remember the gaming days BEFORE Steam, and it was good, actually a whole lot better; no waiting times on downloads, no forced patching where the game breaks even more, no additional loads in background processes, no forced internet connection (you either have it or you won't be able to validate the install or in some cases not able to play the game... So yeah, Steam is not the best thing since sliced bread, it's just something you're forced to do in order for some companies to make even more money out of your "guilty" pleasure.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

The benefit of owning that CD gives you a quicker install. But those that use Steam will require online connection - As mentioned above, for DRM purposes and other potential Steam integrated modules the game might use (multiplayer component).

 

[Hawkeye22]

I remember the gaming days BEFORE Steam, and it was good, actually a whole lot better; no waiting times on downloads, no forced patching where the game breaks even more, no additional loads in background processes, no forced internet connection (you either have it or you won't be able to validate the install or in some cases not able to play the game... So yeah, Steam is not the best thing since sliced bread, it's just something you're forced to do in order for some companies to make even more money out of your "guilty" pleasure.

The only thing I don't miss about those days was walking back to your computer after 15 minutes of watching tv or something just to be greeted with please insert disk 5 now. Switch the disk and walk away for another 15 minutes or so. At least with a download you can walk away and not have to interact with it until it's done.

 

[joedastudd]

I remember the gaming days BEFORE Steam, and it was good, actually a whole lot better; no waiting times on downloads, no forced patching where the game breaks even more, no additional loads in background processes, no forced internet connection (you either have it or you won't be able to validate the install or in some cases not able to play the game... So yeah, Steam is not the best thing since sliced bread, it's just something you're forced to do in order for some companies to make even more money out of your "guilty" pleasure.

Patches for online play in games have pretty much always been forced.
A lot of games have propriety software, like punkbuster, which load in the background.
Pretty much every game sold in the last 2 or 3 years has required a internet connection to activate the product.

Yes Steam is growing in use and popularity, but it doesn't mean its one which started to complicate PC gaming. Other companies have been doing it far worse and far eariler then Valve.

 

[HEXiT]

to be honest i have no issue with steam... every game i have running on it works, and when they dont there easy to fix. no having to install from a scratched disk. the drm is much better than ubisoft in that you dont have to be permanently connected to the net. you can play all titles in offline mode as long as you activate it 1s. at lest thats my experience with the games i have, and i have a fair few.

 

[jaguarskx]

It's a form or DRM to enforce copy protection so that people to not play pirated games.

Playing pirated games for free sounds great... unless of course developers decide to stop developing games because pirating kills revenues to the point where developing games is no longer worth it or no longer profitable.

 

[jaguarskx]

The unfortunate side effect of pirating and DRM is that legal owners generally suffer. If pirating did not exist or was very, very limited, then current DRM would not be as pervasive.

EA's Origin is the most current DRM that has outraged many gamers. Basically, Origin is a invasive form of DRM. If you want to play any EA game, you must install Origin. Sounds okay on the surface, Origin scans you PC for hardware information. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they want to know what hardware setups most people who player their games have so that EA can develop games that most people can play.

However... the darker side to Origin...

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Origin-EULA-PC-Gaming-Glorified-Spyware-DRM,13285.html

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services," the agreement reads. "EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION."

If you do not agree with installing Origin, then you cannot play the game(s) you just bought. If you bought the physical retail version of the game, then guess what? You cannot return the game for a refund because the box was opened.

If you are on the slightly paranoid state of mind, then you might think that Origin may be scanning files it is not supposed too. Ohh... say something like your tax return (which you used Turbo Tax to complete) which has lots and lots of interesting numbers in it like your Social Security number and you Bank Account number because you don't want your Tax Refund Check to be lost, you want your refund to be deposited directly into your Bank Account.

 

[DM186]

I love steam for all that it has to offer like said before New games, clubs, Sales on older game. Plus if something should happen to your disk, no worries they still have it. Out of all the good things the only bad thing and I don't think it is there fault It took over 8 hrs to down load Shogun 2 and I think it is my internet provider

 

[JDFan]

It's a form or DRM to enforce copy protection so that people to not play pirated games.

Playing pirated games for free sounds great... unless of course developers decide to stop developing games because pirating kills revenues to the point where developing games is no longer worth it or no longer profitable.

No the use of STEAM has very little to do with stopping pirating of games (the DRM is broken on or even before release day in most cases) -- It is to stop the Resale market of games and keep the price of games stable so that the manufacturer can make more profit from the game instead of having a secondary market that has other companies profit instead of the maker of the game. which is why most game makers have adopted it since it helps them get more profit from the game over time since once the activation code is entered it is permanently tied to that specific user account and can not be resold to someone else.