There is no dark side of [STEAM] (lock please)

Peen

My lovely wife and I just got a brand spankin' new computer that'll actually be able to play some games. My first thought about where to get them was, of course, Steam. But then my brother told me stuff about how his experience was that Steam was a nuisance, hogging system resources and nagging him about updates. I know why I should get it (great prices, easy access to new stuff, etc.) but I'd like to know what you folks think some cons are.

matt has a problem

There are none, aside from the fact that any time there's a Steam sale your wallet will end up lighter. It doesn't nag you about updates, it just tells you "hey, there's an update".

Usagi

Yeah, there are zero cons to Steam. I have a marginally ancient desktop and I've never found Steam to be a resource hog at all, and updates are generally not annoying in the least.

Malyonsus

I've never had any of the problems your brother had, but there are a couple cons to steam. Up to you how big a deal they are.

First, obviously, you can't resell the games you buy on Steam. This isn't really an issue for me, since I don't typically resell games.

Second, you can only play games offline if you remember to set the game as such while you are still online. Like a lot of people, I have an always-on dedicated internet connection, so I don't worry about this so much, but it might be a problem if Steam has an outage or something and I absolutely must play Half Life right this instant.

Third, if Steam ever goes belly up, there's a chance that they won't (or wouldn't be able to) make it so you can still play your games anyway.


For what it's worth, I find these cons to be of marginal importance at best, and have happily spent hundreds of dollars on games through Steam.

kaliyama

I don't think it hogs system resources. There are some cons to consider, IMO; 1) is the proprietary nature of the steam engine for running things. They may, at some point, decide to stop supporting old games, say, 10-15 years in the future, the way PS3 has dropped backwards compatibility. Whereas from direct2drive or the store I have the install file and can get it to emulate. I'm similarly not dependent on verification or a central server were I to move somewhere w/o internet access (i.e. the 3rd world) or if I have an outage.

I like steam, it's a nice app, but it further erodes the concept of ownership of the software we own. I've moved to D2D and gamers gate lately for that reason.

Ruckus

Malyonsus wrote: »

I've never had any of the problems your brother had, but there are a couple cons to steam. Up to you how big a deal they are.

First, obviously, you can't resell the games you buy on Steam. This isn't really an issue for me, since I don't typically resell games.

Second, you can only play games offline if you remember to set the game as such while you are still online. Like a lot of people, I have an always-on dedicated internet connection, so I don't worry about this so much, but it might be a problem if Steam has an outage or something and I absolutely must play Half Life right this instant.

Third, if Steam ever goes belly up, there's a chance that they won't (or wouldn't be able to) make it so you can still play your games anyway.


For what it's worth, I find these cons to be of marginal importance at best, and have happily spent hundreds of dollars on games through Steam.

Don't forget the pros though.

-Game discs can get scratched, broken, or lost. Steam games can be redownloaded whenever and where ever you have a highspeed internet connection.

-Steam games are usually a bit cheaper than retail, and even moreso during sales.

-If you get a new PC, you can either redownload the games you own by logging in, or you can transfer the steamcache from your old PC to the new one with only a few hoops to jump through.*

-Steam includes friends lists that quickly and easily let you see what games your steam-friends are playing them and and join them.

-Buy games and send them to your friends. If you own a Steam game, and buy a pack of games that includes said game, then you end up with an extra copy that you can gift to one or your friends or other Steam user.

*Be aware that certain games available on Steam do have their own copy protection that limits the number of PC's the game can be installed on.

Heir

Malyonsus wrote: »

I've never had any of the problems your brother had, but there are a couple cons to steam. Up to you how big a deal they are.

First, obviously, you can't resell the games you buy on Steam. This isn't really an issue for me, since I don't typically resell games.

Second, you can only play games offline if you remember to set the game as such while you are still online. Like a lot of people, I have an always-on dedicated internet connection, so I don't worry about this so much, but it might be a problem if Steam has an outage or something and I absolutely must play Half Life right this instant.

Third, if Steam ever goes belly up, there's a chance that they won't (or wouldn't be able to) make it so you can still play your games anyway.


For what it's worth, I find these cons to be of marginal importance at best, and have happily spent hundreds of dollars on games through Steam.

Unless something has changed...if you lose your internet connection you can still start up Steam in offline mode and play games. At least that's how it was the last time this was a problem for me (like 3 years ago).

Peen

Wow, thanks for the many quick responses guys. Follow up question: how do Steam and Direct2Drive's catalogues compare? Does one have a greater selection than the other?

Artreus

Steam is fantastic. You can even install most games on as many computers as you need, as many times as you need to as long as you aren't on two computers at once. I've heard bad things about D2D, but nothing specific that I remember.

Also the steam holiday sales alone make it worth it. Jade empire and kotor were $2.50 each. Not every game is discounted that heavily but there are some ridiculous sales.

urahonky

Steam's is better from what I've seen. Also, do you have a computer as well? I buy games on my Steam account and then set my wife's computer to Offline mode so she can play the games as well.

Peen

Nope, one desktop for the two of us. She's got no interest in gaming beyond Sim City so I'm not worried about that.

Thanks for the help everyone, looks like it'll be Steam for me.

Crowleston

The added benefit of steam as a game browser for non steam games is also cool. My desktop is clean thanks to shortcuts in steam.