One persons rubbish is anothers gold. I think we should agree to disagree on this subject.
Personally I hated any form of manager and religiously avoided buying digital games until my accident, which basically left me housebound for a couple of years so I could no longer visit my favorite games shop. I did continue to buy hard copies online via the UK distributor Game, but one Christmas ny son asked for a couple of games that were not available on disk, so I purchased them and slo;y but srely started to buy more arcade games digitally. I'd had a bit of a disaster with one of my favorite games. Repeated use over a period of 2 years had cracked the disk and mad eit unusable, so I was forced to repurchase the game. I was using a NoDVD patch, but still needed the disk so tat i could reinstall on newer computers. At that time games still held their price for a lot longer expecially popular AAA games, so having to repurchase ones i'd already purchased was galling. I started buying digital games, mainly indie arcade games via IGN's Direct to Drive (partly becasue they had good discounts and I got access to download servers to download mods and maps for some of my favorite games and as most were DRM free I was quite happy. Around 2006, EA games introduced DRM to one of their games called Battlefield 2042, which meant you had to create an account and every time you played the game you had to sign in online to be able to play the game, and they also included adverts while the game was loading. There was a massive outcry from the community, but needs must. What I mean by that was the constant thievery by many gamer of full version games, especially of expensive AAA games was losing the gaming industry millions every year. That is one of the main reasons DRM was initially included in many games. Managers game later. I was totally against them 10 years ago.
After buying digital games for a couple of years I happened to purchase a couple of Steamworks games. At the time I'd not got into the Half Life franchise, so hadn't come across Steam before, so didn't realise what i was letting myself in for. I didn't know what Steamworks meant a the time, so happily purchased the games, both of which were favorite genres (A bowling game called Galactic Bowling, and a Tower Defense game called Defense: The Awakening). When I discovered I had to install Steam I was really shocked and very annoyed. But I was really looking forwards to playing both games so went ahead and installed it.
I've been using Steam now since January 2009 and have never had any issues with it. It uses about 200MB of sysRAM, which even in 2009 was a drop in the ocean considering the average gamer back then had a minimum of 4GB, but more lkely 8 GB of sys RAM. It also only uses around 12 to 14% of other system resources (cpu), so has very little impact on my computer.
As for calling Steam Malware, a common defintion of Malware (most definitions are variations around the same theme) is:
“Malware” is short for “malicious software” - computer programs designed to infiltrate and damage computers without the users consent. “Malware” is the general term covering all the different types of threats to your computer safety such as viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, rootkits
I don't know anyone who has had Steam installed onto their computer without their consent (unless it was by a family member). Steam has never casued any problems with any computer I've had it installed to. It forms a a very convinient package that not only give you access to all of your games (not just those purchased via Steam), it keeps them updated, though if you wish you can turn off automatic updates and do them manually, there's access to an excellent community, a fantastic workshop that gives you access to thousands of mods, that can be added to your game automatically once you subscribe to that mod. to subscribe you just click a button and the mod will be installed . if you decide the mod wasn't for you, or it conflicts with other mods, you can unsubscribe and it is automatically removed. (What's not to like about that). Also, there's an excellent store where there are always great discounts on games, a market where you can sell or trade items that have been dropped while playing your games, items that have cost nothing but game time, but can be sold for Steam credit that can then be reinvested in other games or Steam related items. I personally have made over £14000 since June 2014 selling Steam trading cards and items dropped from one of valves Games, I sold one weapon skin (dropped while playing Counter-Strike: Global operations, for over £30 that cost me nothing apart from playing the game. On top of that, the Steam client enables me to take my complete game library (of over 7500 games) anywhere in the world where I can play them on any computer once I've undergone a couple of verification steps *basically a security measure to protect my collection).
It's obviously a personal choice. I was converted very quickly once I'd installed the client. Since then it has undergone a lot of changes and in my opinion has been vastly improved. If I'd not installed Steam, I would be minus some very good gaming friends and a couple who I've met in the flesh.
With respect to the games being offered that are Steam keys, if you are so dead set against Steam, just move on to the next game. There will always be those for and against so why labour the point. Steam is not going to go away in the near future. with over 60 million community members and with over 6 million players online at any one time, it's the largest gaming community in the world.
I do aggre with you to a certain extent that DRM is irritating, but it's something we have to live with thanks to the dishonesty of many gamers who wanted something for nothing. As for making a payment of 5K with just the click of a button, many people have been ripped off by doing that. I purchased a gaming laptop via EBay a couple of years ago. Within a day it stopped working. The company who sold it to me agreed to replace the laptop for one that was similar, but said they didn't have another one available at the time. It was from one of those clearing warehouses. I paid nearly £400 for it (new it would have cost me over £800) Within a month i noticed they had disappeared from EBay and no longer answered my messages. I know of one guy who lost over £8 000 using online payments to pay for goods. Steam has evolved to ensure it's community can purchase and trade on the Steam market with relative safety. No one likes the extra hoops they have to jump through, but most realize why it has been done because they have read the horror stories where community members have had their Steam accounts hacked and their inventories stipped of saleable items and games saved for a rainy day because there hadn't been a decent safety net. )I have over 3000 Steam trading cards , a couple of hundred TF2 and CS:GO items as well as items from other games plus almost 400 unredeemed games in my inventory (worth around £3000). I have no problems jumping through those hoops now because I know my account is a lot safer now from hackers than it used to be.
The site has been forced into expanding into other area's because the developer base we used to have no longer exists; wherther this is because of a lack of feedback, or just a sign of the times, I don't know, but I suspect it is a combination of the two.
We are still getting the usual game giveaways, just not as often as we used to do. The offer of games with Steam keys will be welcomed by those who like Steam, and add an extra dimension to the giveaway site.
The look of the site may have changed (for the worse), but I still think this is one of the best places to come for free games. Technically games from places like MyPlayCity and TooMky Games are not free in that you pay for them by having your browser redirected to their sites when you play the games downloaded from those sites, and for the unwary toolbars, home page changes and browser changes can mean those sites earn even more thanks to your patronage. Some of the money those sites earn for your visits, is paid to the developers for being able to give the games away.
please excuse my drifting off the point, i tend to do that when my opiates kick in.
By the way, we have to 'traditional' games this weekend, plus a repeat of the disasterous Steam key from last week.
maybe we will see Origin games here eventually. :)
I'm surprised that you get offers from EA Games. I've had an Origin account since it was first released and i do not get offers. Maybe you need to uncheck or check a checkbox somewhere in the client to stop the emails. also I don't get emails from Valve either apart from when I purchase a game, then I get a receipt from steam. I will also get emails notifying me if a game on my wish list is on sale, but I've specifically allowed those.
Aren't you just as guilty of castigating people because they don't agree with your opinion? Calling people fanboys in my opinion is insulting, at least I see it as a way to insult. Why use such language. That in itself with provoke and end up creating an arguemnt as opposed to a discussion.
B.t.w. Steam is owned by Valve who are developers. They have created some of the most popular games available today, for example Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, the Counter Strike franchise, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2. On average there is usually over a million players at any one time playing one of those games (at weekends this more than doubles) and all of those games have been available for years now.
