Lets say I want to move steam over from my harddive my OS is on over to my new internal drive. Is the best way to just uninstall all the games, then steam, then redownload everything on the other drive?
Lets say I want to move steam over from my harddive my OS is on over to my new internal drive. Is the best way to just uninstall all the games, then steam, then redownload everything on the other drive?
I'd copy over the games rather than downloading them again. You can either move the entier steamapps folder or use the backup tool in Steam.
So I noticed the Majesty 2 Collection 'released' today. It looks kind of interesting, how is?
I haven't played Majesty 2 but I hear that it's really fun and quite a bit like Majesty 1, which I have played, and which is fun.
I have Majesty 2 + one of the expansions on Steam, although I haven't touched the expansion. I've never played the original Majesty, but I enjoyed the second one a lot! Well, until I got to a point where it feels exceedingly difficult.
I've heard a lot of fans of the original complain about the second one and say it's not as good.
I think it's worth checking out, but try the demo just to be sure (not on Steam, but it's out there somewhere). I'd personally wait for a sale.
Lets say I want to move steam over from my harddive my OS is on over to my new internal drive. Is the best way to just uninstall all the games, then steam, then redownload everything on the other drive?
I'd copy over the games rather than downloading them again. You can either move the entier steamapps folder or use the backup tool in Steam.
Hmm, would there be details online somewhere with basic instructions to do so? I dont wanna fuck anything up.
Lets say I want to move steam over from my harddive my OS is on over to my new internal drive. Is the best way to just uninstall all the games, then steam, then redownload everything on the other drive?
I'd copy over the games rather than downloading them again. You can either move the entier steamapps folder or use the backup tool in Steam.
Hmm, would there be details online somewhere with basic instructions to do so? I dont wanna fuck anything up.
I've done this several times now. Just copy the whole Steam folder to your new drive, delete everything except for the steamapps folder and steam.exe, then run steam.exe (or you could just copy those two things, but it's easier to explain this way). It'll download the files you need while keeping your games installed.
So I noticed the Majesty 2 Collection 'released' today. It looks kind of interesting, how is?
I haven't played Majesty 2 but I hear that it's really fun and quite a bit like Majesty 1, which I have played, and which is fun.
I have Majesty 2 + one of the expansions on Steam, although I haven't touched the expansion. I've never played the original Majesty, but I enjoyed the second one a lot! Well, until I got to a point where it feels exceedingly difficult.
I've heard a lot of fans of the original complain about the second one and say it's not as good.
I think it's worth checking out, but try the demo just to be sure (not on Steam, but it's out there somewhere). I'd personally wait for a sale.
I agree with this. I enjoyed M2 a lot until a point where the difficulty suddenly went up dramatically and I just couldn't get past it, despite trying. I haven't touched it since and I doubt I ever will. You really should try the demo before you buy.
3rd-party DRM: Games for Windows Live
1 machine activation limit
What the fuck? All the really bad DRM still gives you at least 3 or 5 activations. The only other time I've seen activations being limited to one was for the Blood Bowl beta.
3rd-party DRM: Games for Windows Live
1 machine activation limit
What the fuck? All the really bad DRM still gives you at least 3 or 5 activations. The only other time I've seen activations being limited to one was for the Blood Bowl beta.
Hopefully that doesnt apply too heavily to Steam...or i may have to buy the 360 version.
Haha, GFW Live and a 1-machine activation limit? Sounds like a great idea.
Maybe it's just me, but when I was in on the beta the game seemed... OK...
I mean it's definitely well executed and polished (even in the beta), but the problem was, I couldn't really see it drawing me away from the other multiplayer games I'm interested in. And like Maddoc said, there's Brink around the corner
Is anyone expecting the new Section 8 to have more lively multiplayer than the first one? I got it in a Steam deal a while ago and the few servers that appeared to be populated turned out to just have bots on.
Is anyone expecting the new Section 8 to have more lively multiplayer than the first one? I got it in a Steam deal a while ago and the few servers that appeared to be populated turned out to just have bots on.
Played on a full 32 man dedicated server on Xbox within the first hour of the game going up.
I think what they mean by single machine is that you can't be signed in from two computers at once. Because I've installed a bunch of GFWL games that had 'single machine' like Halo 2 Vista like six times now and it's never complained.
edit: the Steam page has been updated now and it's been pointed out it's just like H2V, where it's just one serial per gamertag and once that gamertag has the serial registered it can play it wherever. So it's one ACTIVATION per GAMERTAG & SERIAL not machine. Because Microsoft's GFWL drm doesn't even have an option for a single machine lock.
Am I bad for hating steam without having ever used it?
I've been of the opinion that the program, much like apple's os, requires you to open all programs purchased through it strictly inside of steam. Kind of like a meta-DRM that wraps and sucks the life out of all things within.
Now I've been informed by a friend that if I desire to play the original Portal my options are pretty much limited to purchasing it through steam. Even the thought makes me feel... dirty.
Help assuage my guilt and concern please. Convince me Steam is something other than a freedom-leach.
Steam games can be put on your desktop, or wherever, just like normal games
seriously, steam is pretty awesome. as a newly converted heathen, i gotta say that i definitely don't hate it!
hatedinamerica on
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
edited April 2011
Steam basically is a meta-DRM
But that, in my opinion, is a small price to pay for having easy access and good download servers for any games I've purchased through Steam, automatic patching, and the fact that a staggering number of my purchases came in at 10% of their original retail price or less. Add on the Steam overlay, community features, and the fact that as far as DRM goes Steam is pretty unobtrusive and tends to behave itself very well.
Am I bad for hating steam without having ever used it?
I've been of the opinion that the program, much like apple's os, requires you to open all programs purchased through it strictly inside of steam. Kind of like a meta-DRM that wraps and sucks the life out of all things within.
Now I've been informed by a friend that if I desire to play the original Portal my options are pretty much limited to purchasing it through steam. Even the thought makes me feel... dirty.
Help assuage my guilt and concern please. Convince me Steam is something other than a freedom-leach.
This is only partially true. I have many games on Steam that I can open without ever opening Steam. My recent $7.50 Borderlands purchase is an example of this. I can just go into the steamapps directory and create a shortcut to the executable.
It really depends on the game. While it is true that some games can only be opened through Steam (mostly Valve games, which makes sense, given that it's their own distribution network), there are many games that are simply digitally sold through Steam without Steam as a requirement. Most of the time, Steam actually leaves the publisher's DRM, if any, intact. Like the infamous Ubisoft ones.
Most people use Steam because they can buy games on sale for a really cheap price. The meta-DRM (which only exists for some games) is seen as part of the trade off for going the digital distribution route, in exchange for getting, say, Borderlands Game of the Year edition for $7.50 at 75% off the list price.
I really feel sorry for you guys. Not using steam is like living in Southern California and refusing to use an Air Conditioner. It's like, why would you do that? I don't get it. It's nothing like the devils of DRM.
Part of my concerns revolve around a friend who spent a ton of money buying 50+ games and then had steam shut him out over some random fraud check even though he spent hours trying to explain to them it was an error on their side.
So the only reassurance you guys can offer is that steam will let me create a custom shortcut to a game, even though it still goes through steam to access that game?
I guess I need to decide which is a bigger deal for me: missing out on Portal (and Portal 2) or using steam. Right now I'm leaning towards using steam being the bigger deal. I don't like giving my money to businesses that try to shut down my options as a consumer, it offends me and I vote with my wallet.
So the only reassurance you guys can offer is that steam will let me create a custom shortcut to a game, even though it still goes through steam to access that game?
No. In the case of Borderlands, you can create a custom shortcut to the game and play the game without ever opening Steam (I stated this in the first post). This is just like the retail copy of Borderlands, except that I don't have to have the DVD sitting in my drive (so it's actually BETTER than my retail copy). It's dependent on game to game, and the DRM is dependent on publisher. The majority of my steam library is playable without ever opening Steam. I only really run Steam when I want to play Left 4 Dead 2 or get in contact with my real life friends who don't seem to understand that they don't have to run Steam when they boot their computer all the time.
Of course, you have to open Steam once to buy and download the game. *shrugs* I'm not sure that's your issue.
It is entirely true that you can vote with your wallet. Most people who use steam give a LOT of money to Valve because the various gaming deals are so good. You can't beat -75% or -50% off the digital download price (which is often 10% below retail price already). If you like gaming, but want to keep your money and buy less games, you probably should stay away from Steam. *grin*
MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
edited April 2011
I have never actually spoken to anyone who had their account shut down wrongly and couldn't get it cleared up.
I mean, I don't mean to dismiss you or your friend's grievance, but every time that old story comes up it happened to "some guy I know", basically. Not only does the "Customer support didn't listen" fly contrary to every dealing with their CS that I've personally had, but I can never shake the feeling that "some guy" was probably doing something stupid to get their account locked out like that and probably left out some details when they decided to pass the story on.
I have never actually spoken to anyone who had their account shut down wrongly and couldn't get it cleared up.
I mean, I don't mean to dismiss you or your friend's grievance, but every time that old story comes up it happened to "some guy I know", basically. Not only does the "Customer support didn't listen" fly contrary to every dealing with their CS that I've personally had, but I can never shake the feeling that "some guy" was probably doing something stupid to get their account locked out like that and probably left out some details when they decided to pass the story on.
I understand the skepticism regarding third party stories but in this case I assure you he's a good friend of mine who tends to go overboard when he finds something he likes. He started liking steam, sunk a ton of money into it, and then randomly got shut out for no reason (the guys rich, there's no chance he would default or try to fraud steam)
Re: borderlands install to the hard drive - That's slightly reassuring. How common is this for steams found on the network? I really only want to purchase Portal 1 and Majesty 2. Will either or those be stand alone installations?
First, let me say that I hate DRM. Second, let me say that I love steam. Third, if you hate DRM to the point that you don't want to use steam because of the DRM, do this:
(1) Create a new steam account for each game you get via steam.
(2) Run the game once through steam.
(3) Go in offline mode.
(4) Stay in offline mode.
(4a) If you're particularly paranoid, manually prevent the steam program from accessing the internet.
(5) ?
(6) Profit
Problems: No auto-patching, no multiplayer.
Neither are really a huge problem for portal, though they do still patch it. You wouldn't really be losing very much by just sticking perpetually at the current patch, though.
I understand the skepticism regarding third party stories but in this case I assure you he's a good friend of mine who tends to go overboard when he finds something he likes. He started liking steam, sunk a ton of money into it, and then randomly got shut out for no reason (the guys rich, there's no chance he would default or try to fraud steam)
Is there any possibility that he went overboard immediately upon starting to talk to steam support? While it isn't representative of service from steam that I've seen and/or of which I've heard first-hand accounts, I know of more than one customer service rep who would hit the 'silly goose' button on the record of a customer who started off the conversation by yelling/etc.
I really feel sorry for you guys. Not using steam is like living in Southern California and refusing to use an Air Conditioner. It's like, why would you do that? I don't get it. It's nothing like the devils of DRM.
This. It's not like the DRM on games that you can only install like 5 times and then it's done.
I have almost 100 games on my steam account, and I've paid over 5 dollars for maybe like 3 of them. This is enough of a reason to buy games on steam.
But I mean, if you don't like saving money go ahead and do whatever you do.
edit: Also, if Portal is what you're interested in, you could literally probably get it for free if you'd just give in and install steam. I guarantee there's people in this thread who will gift it to you.
Part of my concerns revolve around a friend who spent a ton of money buying 50+ games and then had steam shut him out over some random fraud check even though he spent hours trying to explain to them it was an error on their side.
So the only reassurance you guys can offer is that steam will let me create a custom shortcut to a game, even though it still goes through steam to access that game?
I guess I need to decide which is a bigger deal for me: missing out on Portal (and Portal 2) or using steam. Right now I'm leaning towards using steam being the bigger deal. I don't like giving my money to businesses that try to shut down my options as a consumer, it offends me and I vote with my wallet.
Well, I wouldn't be too shocked that Portal (and indeed any Valve game) only run through the client of the developer that made them! I'd be more concerned in your position about the sheer number of PC games nowadays that use 'Steamworks' - a set of features that also crucially require every copy of the game (regardless of who originally sold you the copy) to register online via Steam before allowing you to play them. It's almost impossible to play a large number of PC games nowadays without being forced to register a Steam account at some point.
If you want to minimise the amount of money Valve get, just buy a heavily discounted copy of the Orange Box, and get a retail disk of Portal 2 in a few months once it's dropped in price. It's no worse than any other game that requires online registration to install (which seems to be the vast majority nowadays), and is a hell of a lot better than the Ubisoft solution or stuff like GFWL and Bioware stuff that can hold your savegames hostage if the authentication servers are offline when you boot the game up.
I hate hate DRM (and would heartily recommend GoG for the slightly older stuff), but if you want to play PC games legitimately nowadays, all of the choices involve heavy compromise - and Steam at least offers a good service with that compromise.
Re: borderlands install to the hard drive - That's slightly reassuring. How common is this for steams found on the network? I really only want to purchase Portal 1 and Majesty 2. Will either or those be stand alone installations?
Portal 1, almost certainly not... I'd have to double check, though, but Valve games are going to have Steam integrated into them. I will note that this Penny Arcade Community has a huge glut of giftable Portal 1 games running around (especially now, after Portal 2's release), so you might even be able to find someone here who will gift to you for free.
I definitely don't know about Majesty 2. I'll have to check on my girlfriend's account and see if she purchased it a while back.
I really feel sorry for you guys. Not using steam is like living in Southern California and refusing to use an Air Conditioner. It's like, why would you do that? I don't get it. It's nothing like the devils of DRM.
This. It's not like the DRM on games that you can only install like 5 times and then it's done.
I have almost 100 games on my steam account, and I've paid over 5 dollars for maybe like 3 of them. This is enough of a reason to buy games on steam.
But I mean, if you don't like saving money go ahead and do whatever you do.
As evidenced by the fact that I haven't played the original Portal, I just tend to not buy anything.
Games being cheap through steam doesn't really matter one way or another to me since I'm very rarely actually interested in a game and when I do want to purchase one its usually worth it to pay full price.
SparserLogic on
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anoffdayTo be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it.Registered Userregular
I really feel sorry for you guys. Not using steam is like living in Southern California and refusing to use an Air Conditioner. It's like, why would you do that? I don't get it. It's nothing like the devils of DRM.
This. It's not like the DRM on games that you can only install like 5 times and then it's done.
I have almost 100 games on my steam account, and I've paid over 5 dollars for maybe like 3 of them. This is enough of a reason to buy games on steam.
But I mean, if you don't like saving money go ahead and do whatever you do.
As evidenced by the fact that I haven't played the original Portal, I just tend to not buy anything.
Games being cheap through steam doesn't really matter one way or another to me since I'm very rarely actually interested in a game and when I do want to purchase one its usually worth it to pay full price.
I swear I'm not trying to be rude, but out of curiosity, why are you in a games and technology forum then?
Re: borderlands install to the hard drive - That's slightly reassuring. How common is this for steams found on the network? I really only want to purchase Portal 1 and Majesty 2. Will either or those be stand alone installations?
Portal 1, almost certainly not... I'd have to double check, though, but Valve games are going to have Steam integrated into them. I will note that this Penny Arcade Community has a huge glut of giftable Portal 1 games running around (especially now, after Portal 2's release), so you might even be able to find someone here who will gift to you for free.
I definitely don't know about Majesty 2. I'll have to check on my girlfriend's account and see if she purchased it a while back.
Okay then, I guess I will bite the bullet and install Steam when I get home.
Honestly its to the point where if I at least get one play through before I get randomly shut out (worst case scenario, I know) it will have been worth it.
I will continue buying hard copies of all of my other games though so I don't have to worry about all this DRM and meta-DRM stuff.
Ill be honest. I dont even particularly like steam. I prefer physical copies. On the other hand, even if I could get them at the prices I have on steam (About an average of 2$ a game.) I'd never have enough space to hold all those disks and quite feasibly kill my disc drive, anyway.
That being said, Ive never had a problem with it, never met anyone who has, and think anyone who claims their account got wrongfully banned without recourse is full of bullshit as you could make a pretty reasonable legal case (regardless of ToS stating they can nuke you at any point.) if you didn't directly do something stupid. Valve wouldn't want to play in that pool, particularly over a single account wherein they arent really losing anything either way.
In other news: I did not know about that Dawn of War last standalone thing and I now want that game, simply for that part. (Yes, I could just buy that part individually, I realize, but Id probably eventually want to play the real game too.)
Also, 90% of 'hard copies' still have DRM, so you aren't avoiding anything. There is still DRM. In fact, I cant think of many hard copy games sold within the last 5+ years that don't have DRM.
Posts
I'd copy over the games rather than downloading them again. You can either move the entier steamapps folder or use the backup tool in Steam.
I have Majesty 2 + one of the expansions on Steam, although I haven't touched the expansion. I've never played the original Majesty, but I enjoyed the second one a lot! Well, until I got to a point where it feels exceedingly difficult.
I've heard a lot of fans of the original complain about the second one and say it's not as good.
I think it's worth checking out, but try the demo just to be sure (not on Steam, but it's out there somewhere). I'd personally wait for a sale.
Hmm, would there be details online somewhere with basic instructions to do so? I dont wanna fuck anything up.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129
Awesome, thank you so much
I've done this several times now. Just copy the whole Steam folder to your new drive, delete everything except for the steamapps folder and steam.exe, then run steam.exe (or you could just copy those two things, but it's easier to explain this way). It'll download the files you need while keeping your games installed.
Steam Support is the worst. Seriously, the worst
I agree with this. I enjoyed M2 a lot until a point where the difficulty suddenly went up dramatically and I just couldn't get past it, despite trying. I haven't touched it since and I doubt I ever will. You really should try the demo before you buy.
What the fuck? All the really bad DRM still gives you at least 3 or 5 activations. The only other time I've seen activations being limited to one was for the Blood Bowl beta.
Hopefully that doesnt apply too heavily to Steam...or i may have to buy the 360 version.
sounds like they hate money.
EDIT: Not to mention Brink next month to hold me over in the meanwhile.
Maybe it's just me, but when I was in on the beta the game seemed... OK...
I mean it's definitely well executed and polished (even in the beta), but the problem was, I couldn't really see it drawing me away from the other multiplayer games I'm interested in. And like Maddoc said, there's Brink around the corner
Also, people need to enter yon contest.
It may attract a small niche community for multiplayer, but I'm not expecting a great deal of staying power due to the aforementioned circumstances.
If it's really excellent, it may retain a decent playerbase after May 10th rolls around, but I wouldn't really rely on that
In fact if you were really interested in it, I'd wait until after May 10th and see how the game is doing on the top 100 played games.
Then again it's only $13/$15, so I guess even if it doesn't have a huge playerbase you're not losing too much in the deal.
Played on a full 32 man dedicated server on Xbox within the first hour of the game going up.
I think what they mean by single machine is that you can't be signed in from two computers at once. Because I've installed a bunch of GFWL games that had 'single machine' like Halo 2 Vista like six times now and it's never complained.
edit: the Steam page has been updated now and it's been pointed out it's just like H2V, where it's just one serial per gamertag and once that gamertag has the serial registered it can play it wherever. So it's one ACTIVATION per GAMERTAG & SERIAL not machine. Because Microsoft's GFWL drm doesn't even have an option for a single machine lock.
I've been of the opinion that the program, much like apple's os, requires you to open all programs purchased through it strictly inside of steam. Kind of like a meta-DRM that wraps and sucks the life out of all things within.
Now I've been informed by a friend that if I desire to play the original Portal my options are pretty much limited to purchasing it through steam. Even the thought makes me feel... dirty.
Help assuage my guilt and concern please. Convince me Steam is something other than a freedom-leach.
seriously, steam is pretty awesome. as a newly converted heathen, i gotta say that i definitely don't hate it!
But that, in my opinion, is a small price to pay for having easy access and good download servers for any games I've purchased through Steam, automatic patching, and the fact that a staggering number of my purchases came in at 10% of their original retail price or less. Add on the Steam overlay, community features, and the fact that as far as DRM goes Steam is pretty unobtrusive and tends to behave itself very well.
It really depends on the game. While it is true that some games can only be opened through Steam (mostly Valve games, which makes sense, given that it's their own distribution network), there are many games that are simply digitally sold through Steam without Steam as a requirement. Most of the time, Steam actually leaves the publisher's DRM, if any, intact. Like the infamous Ubisoft ones.
Most people use Steam because they can buy games on sale for a really cheap price. The meta-DRM (which only exists for some games) is seen as part of the trade off for going the digital distribution route, in exchange for getting, say, Borderlands Game of the Year edition for $7.50 at 75% off the list price.
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
So the only reassurance you guys can offer is that steam will let me create a custom shortcut to a game, even though it still goes through steam to access that game?
I guess I need to decide which is a bigger deal for me: missing out on Portal (and Portal 2) or using steam. Right now I'm leaning towards using steam being the bigger deal. I don't like giving my money to businesses that try to shut down my options as a consumer, it offends me and I vote with my wallet.
Of course, you have to open Steam once to buy and download the game. *shrugs* I'm not sure that's your issue.
It is entirely true that you can vote with your wallet. Most people who use steam give a LOT of money to Valve because the various gaming deals are so good. You can't beat -75% or -50% off the digital download price (which is often 10% below retail price already). If you like gaming, but want to keep your money and buy less games, you probably should stay away from Steam. *grin*
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
I mean, I don't mean to dismiss you or your friend's grievance, but every time that old story comes up it happened to "some guy I know", basically. Not only does the "Customer support didn't listen" fly contrary to every dealing with their CS that I've personally had, but I can never shake the feeling that "some guy" was probably doing something stupid to get their account locked out like that and probably left out some details when they decided to pass the story on.
I understand the skepticism regarding third party stories but in this case I assure you he's a good friend of mine who tends to go overboard when he finds something he likes. He started liking steam, sunk a ton of money into it, and then randomly got shut out for no reason (the guys rich, there's no chance he would default or try to fraud steam)
Re: borderlands install to the hard drive - That's slightly reassuring. How common is this for steams found on the network? I really only want to purchase Portal 1 and Majesty 2. Will either or those be stand alone installations?
(1) Create a new steam account for each game you get via steam.
(2) Run the game once through steam.
(3) Go in offline mode.
(4) Stay in offline mode.
(4a) If you're particularly paranoid, manually prevent the steam program from accessing the internet.
(5) ?
(6) Profit
Problems: No auto-patching, no multiplayer.
Neither are really a huge problem for portal, though they do still patch it. You wouldn't really be losing very much by just sticking perpetually at the current patch, though.
edit:
Is there any possibility that he went overboard immediately upon starting to talk to steam support? While it isn't representative of service from steam that I've seen and/or of which I've heard first-hand accounts, I know of more than one customer service rep who would hit the 'silly goose' button on the record of a customer who started off the conversation by yelling/etc.
I have almost 100 games on my steam account, and I've paid over 5 dollars for maybe like 3 of them. This is enough of a reason to buy games on steam.
But I mean, if you don't like saving money go ahead and do whatever you do.
edit: Also, if Portal is what you're interested in, you could literally probably get it for free if you'd just give in and install steam. I guarantee there's people in this thread who will gift it to you.
Well, I wouldn't be too shocked that Portal (and indeed any Valve game) only run through the client of the developer that made them! I'd be more concerned in your position about the sheer number of PC games nowadays that use 'Steamworks' - a set of features that also crucially require every copy of the game (regardless of who originally sold you the copy) to register online via Steam before allowing you to play them. It's almost impossible to play a large number of PC games nowadays without being forced to register a Steam account at some point.
If you want to minimise the amount of money Valve get, just buy a heavily discounted copy of the Orange Box, and get a retail disk of Portal 2 in a few months once it's dropped in price. It's no worse than any other game that requires online registration to install (which seems to be the vast majority nowadays), and is a hell of a lot better than the Ubisoft solution or stuff like GFWL and Bioware stuff that can hold your savegames hostage if the authentication servers are offline when you boot the game up.
I hate hate DRM (and would heartily recommend GoG for the slightly older stuff), but if you want to play PC games legitimately nowadays, all of the choices involve heavy compromise - and Steam at least offers a good service with that compromise.
I definitely don't know about Majesty 2. I'll have to check on my girlfriend's account and see if she purchased it a while back.
As evidenced by the fact that I haven't played the original Portal, I just tend to not buy anything.
Games being cheap through steam doesn't really matter one way or another to me since I'm very rarely actually interested in a game and when I do want to purchase one its usually worth it to pay full price.
Okay then, I guess I will bite the bullet and install Steam when I get home.
Honestly its to the point where if I at least get one play through before I get randomly shut out (worst case scenario, I know) it will have been worth it.
I will continue buying hard copies of all of my other games though so I don't have to worry about all this DRM and meta-DRM stuff.
That being said, Ive never had a problem with it, never met anyone who has, and think anyone who claims their account got wrongfully banned without recourse is full of bullshit as you could make a pretty reasonable legal case (regardless of ToS stating they can nuke you at any point.) if you didn't directly do something stupid. Valve wouldn't want to play in that pool, particularly over a single account wherein they arent really losing anything either way.
In other news: I did not know about that Dawn of War last standalone thing and I now want that game, simply for that part. (Yes, I could just buy that part individually, I realize, but Id probably eventually want to play the real game too.)
Also, 90% of 'hard copies' still have DRM, so you aren't avoiding anything. There is still DRM. In fact, I cant think of many hard copy games sold within the last 5+ years that don't have DRM.