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Steam Steam LOL
MrDeadMan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I didn't want to derail the main Steam thread, so I'm making this one separate.
I'm currently writing a paper for class about digital distribution, and one of the cases I want to use is Steam. Now, I'm personally of the opinion that Steam is a great idea, and a good service with potential, but at the same time I still remember how frustrating the Half-Life 2 launch was because of it.
That's where you come in. I'm primarily looking for a few first-hand accounts of the launch experience. Did you have issues with it? Perhaps it was smooth sailing for you and you think talk of it's problems are over-hyped?
While that's what I'm primarily looking for, I welcome any other discussion on the subject, such as Steam in it's current or possible future forms, or even on the subject of digital distribution as a whole.
I'm currently writing a paper for class about digital distribution, and one of the cases I want to use is Steam. Now, I'm personally of the opinion that Steam is a great idea, and a good service with potential, but at the same time I still remember how frustrating the Half-Life 2 launch was because of it.
That's where you come in. I'm primarily looking for a few first-hand accounts of the launch experience. Did you have issues with it? Perhaps it was smooth sailing for you and you think talk of it's problems are over-hyped?
While that's what I'm primarily looking for, I welcome any other discussion on the subject, such as Steam in it's current or possible future forms, or even on the subject of digital distribution as a whole.
MrDeadMan on
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Screw Steam.
but bandwidth is so expensive!!!!
I kinda agree with this guy. I like how easy Steam makes it and whatnot, but there should at least be some discount, even if it's only like $5.
This would be nice, however, publishers and distributors don't like being undercut.
That's cool, but I personally don't like paying the same price for less product.
You are paying for the right to download gigs of data from their servers until the end of time or the company goes out of business.
I would say that's fair.
Shit. If you live 15 minutes from your closest game store, you just saved 5 dollars in gas. Not to mention the convenience of not having to put pants on.
Well I personally prefer digital ownership to a hard copy. It's much more likely that your discs will be lost or stolen than that something will happen to Valve's servers or they'll go out of business. I vastly prefer having that nice list on Steam over lugging around a huge folder of CDs.
I can't recall back to the HL2 release, so if that's specifically what you're looking for anecdotes from, I guess you can just ignore my entire post.
But one thing I've noticed lately is that Steam seems like a poor alternative for that specific group of gamers that just have to have a game the second it comes out. It happened with BioShock and more recently the TF2 beta; the amount of childish whining that occurred because the game wasn't released right at 12:01am was quite depressing to see. So people need to realize that Steam doesn't replace brick and mortar stores, or to a lesser extend online ordering and shipping of a physical product, for the first day or so of a game's release.
One other small downside to Steam I've found is that you do miss out on some of the physical aspects of games. Yes, not having to worry about scratched/lost discs is nice, but I remember back to a lot of games where the packaging, the manual, the box, and in the case of collectors editions, all the neat (but useless) shit that came with it, was part of the experience. This is less of an issue nowadays though, because the standard edition of games is pretty bare-bones and pathetic; only collectors editions usually have all those extras.
But Steam is great for everything else. Particularly older games that may be difficult to find. The ability to download and play the games anywhere is incredible, and with all this new Steam community stuff, it's become much more than just a digital distribution program.
Absolutely. I never put pants on if I can help it.
As someone mentioned, having digital ownership is almost more substantial than having the real CDs. If you lose your CD key with a physical copy of a game, your ownership of the game is basically gone. With steam, so long as you can come up with a password that isn't easily guessed, you basically have irrefutably proof that you own these games until steam goes out of business and can play them on any number of computers you like.
Bioshock is sort of a bad example, but for HL2 at least though, the digital distribution really did shine through as I played HL2 at like 12:10 AM PST the moment it was released. I couldn't have done that with a physical copy.
Plus there's no tax on digital purchases! (In my state, at least)
This. I mean, I don't think any PC games have had the sales impact that, say, Halo 3 had, but could you imagine if one did, and had a midnight release in brick and mortar stores? Would anyone buy it on Steam?
Like I said, I would buy it on Steam just to own it on Steam, even if it meant waiting one night. Not everybody has a phobia of digital ownership. Midnight launches at retail stores are at least as much a pain in the ass as their Steam counterparts.
I uh... actually don't read anything other than G&T, so it didn't even occur to me to post this anywhere else.
Don't get me wrong I really prefer having hard copies of the games, but if they don't start making more special editions and making them more accessible, there's not a lot of incentive to buy them. This applies to piracy too.
Pokémon HGSS: 1205 1613 4041
How are you guys paying no tax? I have to go back and check my credit statement but I'm pretty sure I paid tax on Steam.
Do you live in Washington?
Actually, you're playing a non-finalized pre-release beta version of it.
I mean, I run my Intel iMac almost exclusively in XP now that I've realized that dicking about online + games does not really require a smooth, crisp delightful interface. Though I did prefer the Unix-like command line much more...
You should trade in your Sherman Tank for something slightly more fuel efficient. Sure, you won't find a 75mm cannon in modern compact cars, but the savings on gas will be astronomical.
猿も木から落ちる
Better than NOT playing a non-finalized pre-release beta version of the game. That's for damn sure.
You didn't have to switch completely, you could have used both. When I get a Mac, I will never "Switch". Fuck Apple's marketing campaign in its ass.
But back on topic: There's also the big hit to customers who have have download caps. Thanks Cox and [to a lesser extent] Comcast!
Hmm. I can't come up with anything clever to say here.
I just logged in and started playing on release day.
I do agree I wish there was a tad bit more of a discount due to buying the product online and not getting a paper manual + box, but that discount would be so small that, as has been mentioned previously, you save about the same amount as you would spend in gas to get to the store and back to buy the game in the box.
I like Steam, I like XBL, Playstation Store and the Wii online service (though admittedly I haven't actually gotten online on my wii yet). Digital distribution is good when companies use it and do it right.
I know I would.
Its great, the same copy of HL, OP Force, Blue Shift, Counterstrike and the like that I bought nearly eight years ago as a hard copy have been transfered to Steam, and I can install them whenever I want. After installing those copies when I first got them, I never touched the packaging or manuals again.
Steam had its problems when it first came out, but overall, I think it has evolved into a great distribution media.
I get the feeling that if Valve thought it could skip retail entirely, it would.
I don't know, it's like our game boxes are trophies in a way.
Yes, a lot of us don't play much sports, this shouldn't surprise anyone.
Orange Box retail - £23
undermining digital distribution, and at the same time as using one of the most overplayed jokes ever?
priceless
As for my experiences, nothing but awesomeness. No troubles on the HL2 release or anywhere else. I heard there were some authentication issues during that huge wind storm that knocked out power to the puget sound area, but I was too busy huddling in the cold and dark to notice.
That's an interesting one. Depended on a bunch of things.
If all games were to be sold through steam, that would cut down loads on distribution, but I don't know if would be a significant marginal benefit per copy.
But also, how many times have people left PCs on over night to download a game when they could have just installed from a disc.
These are just the first things that popped into my head, it is certainly going to be more complex than one is better than the other.
Or the fuel cost of driving to the store?
If you're thinking about the environment digital distribution is much cleaner.
Personally I love Steam. I've never had excessively long downloads and I love not having to schlep out to a store full of nerds to buy games. Also I don't have to pay taxes on Steam games, and people who talk about how games on Steam should cost less should pay attention to some of the package deals and special prices they have every so often. $60 for basically every Id game ever made? That's a very good deal.
Fix'd.