Is PC gaming Being Done Away With?

vv211 said:

I've also heard that if you close your steam account, you lose all the games you've purchased through them

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

vv211 said:

I've also heard that if you close your steam account, you lose all the games you've purchased through them

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???

You may cancel your Account at any time. However, Subscriptions are not transferable, and even if your access to a Subscription for a particular game or application is terminated, the original activation key will not be able to be registered to any other account, even if the game or application was purchased in a retail store.

This is from steam's subscriber agreement

sygnus21 said:

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

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

Only inactive accounts containing no games are deleted. Accounts cannot be deleted by request.

vv211 said:

You may cancel your Account at any time. However, Subscriptions are not transferable, and even if your access to a Subscription for a particular game or application is terminated, the original activation key will not be able to be registered to any other account, even if the game or application was purchased in a retail store.

This is from steam's subscriber agreement

sygnus21 said:

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

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

Only inactive accounts containing no games are deleted. Accounts cannot be deleted by request.

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.

sygnus21 said:

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.

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.

bobafetthotmail said:

I've also heard that if you close your steam account, you lose all the games you've purchased through them

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.

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.