Windows 7: Is PC gaming Being Done Away With?

This is also why i like a hard copy of my games, like that other guy said

in regards to the whole "game manager" thing. That's great, some people aren't good with computers and something such as steam would help them a lot, others who may be really good with computers might just like the convenience that comes with steam, but I think it's bogus to REQUIRE a game to be downloaded/installed/launched through a "game manager". I'm quite able to manage my own games without their help. Sure, add steam as an option, but if someone's gonna give you money for a product, you shouldn't force them to acquire or use it in a certain manner. If I make you a desk, what gives me the right to tell you that it can only be used in your bedroom, not in an office, just your bedroom.
The only reason I have steam is because I want to play a couple of its games with my friends, but if those games were available as hard copies and didn't require steam to play them, I would have chosen that in a heartbeat. I like BF3, but I hate Origin, and the fact that I need to launch through Origin, and use a web browser to find a server. Why can't I just find one through the game? Although I must admit that my deep-set hatred for Origin stemmed from the fact that when I first got it it would refuse to log me in

Why would you close it in the first place?

Not sure about this one. You may lose some functionality (achievements), but you can play your games offline.


Anyway my question would be why would you want to close your account if you have a number of games installed with the app???

This is from steam's subscriber agreement


Not sure, but if you did, no more games. They do make it really difficult to close your account though:

If accounts could be closed by request, hackers could go keylogger/phish steam accounts just to screw the creator of the account, on a game I used to play, this was a major issue.

Sorry but some of you are just grasping for straws by drumming up what if and it could happen/did happen scenarios. In computers any and everything could happen, does that mean we stop using computers? Everyone is worried about their privacy over the net, we all know the net is full of information about us… yet we still continue to use it, why?

Steam is no more nefarious or problematic that most other games or software out there. I could theorize that someone could hack this site and steal our information… sites have certainly been hacked… do I stop using this site because I "heard" sites could be hacked?

As I said earlier, some may not like Steam and what it represents, but let’s not try to make it the scape goat for all that’s wrong with gaming by nit picking every "what if" or "I heard" out there, because the reality is is that Steam is very reliable.

What or who aren’t so reliable are the game developers who are under pressure to push out half-finished games to meet deadlines. I’m more concerned about that than Steam’s game app.

And for the record, my defense of Steam is more practical than "fan boyish"… Steam isn’t going away since more and more game developers will be using it, or Origin, as a delivery service for their games.

In short, if you want to do PC gaming, more likely than not you’ll be using Steam…. And/or Origin! As I said earlier… want to play Mass Effect 3 on PC? You’ll have to install Origin…. EA’s own game manager app/store.

In the end the percentage of games not requiring a game app/manager (steam, Origin) or digital download will become slimmer and slimmer as the future of gaming continues to evolve.

My two cents.

It's more complex than that. Most of the people I know that torrents pirated games, won't buy the game in any case.

So the equation isn't exactly "pirated version installed" = "less money to devs".

The same logic applies to movies and music and whatever.

What torrents caused is the idiotic DRM bubble, where legit users are treated like hackers and are forced to keep the CD in, have a connection with a secure server all the time, or some other stupid annoyance when pirates can still have the game for free within weeks of release.

But afaik, the account isn't connected to the machine or the OS. In case your rig melts down, it just stays put in their servers awaiting you to connect another computer again.
Re-downloading everything is a major pita though.

I honestly don't really care if they have my personal information or not. That's not really why I don't have Steam. It's because the game requires Steam in the first place is what makes me not buy their games. I don't care how good it is. If I wanted a game manager, I'd have one. But I don't.

The game files are installed locally on your machine so you can still play the games you bought. What you would lose is cloud saves, auto patching/patching and game achievements. Other than that the games will still work.