I am a non gamer. I recently thought I would try out some games. After buying a couple, I have a question. Is there any games out there that do not require a third party account such as Steam or Origin. I really am not into opening all of these accounts and playing from someone elses server etc.
What happened to the plain vanilla cd that you pop in a rom dec load a game, enter a key and you are on your own?
To be honest if you want to get into gaming on any level steam is your best bet. Origin I've found to be buggy and a resource hog.
Steam negates the need for said cd/dvd to even be inserted if you have a login on it. I even have single player games on steam because I can just toss the disc once I enter the key into steam and I have access to the game forever under that user account. After initial setup and playing a few times you can generally even launch them with steam in 'offline' mode.
It does seem like a pain at first but I can't imagine gaming without it at this point.
As for games that don't require a util like that, the list is very short these days.
Even microsoft made games require windows live accounts.
This is generally what gamers complaining about oppressive DRM are on about.
Ubisoft games are generally your worst bet as their drm doesn't even work right half the time.
I've had to do some underhanded things to get ubisoft games I paid for legitimately to even run. (not something I'm proud of but I paid for it dammit)
Nothing with simple dvd/cd copyprotection that's been made in the last 3 or 4 years really comes to mind.
...the original crysis I guess.
Even that requires an account for multi-player though.
Lots of game nowadays are linked with these online platforms or services for several reasons. The first one is the eternal futile attempt to counter the piracy. The second is to support the multiplayer part of the game.
Steam and Origin platforms are not that bad, but they do require to input sensitive information like credit card details when buying games from them. I don't think there are any real dangers to entrust these platforms with this kind of information and you only create a 1 time account with which you can manage all the games purchased from their platform and so on.
To be clear, the only time you need to input credit card info into any game manager system is if you actually buy a game through them, other than that you don't need to put this info in when using them.
Anyway as been said most games nowadays do require some sort of on-line game manager. I guess your best bet is to put on a pair of high powered reading glasses and read the fine print stating whether or not a game manager is required.
As for what it's worth Steam isn't bad - No need to put disk in drive to play the game, you can access your games on any PC by just installing the steam app and logging in, games are updated automatically. In fact Steam is the game manager everyone wants to be. Have not had to use Origin yet.
Steam and EA Origin are probably the 2 main players in Digital distribution.
Between the 2, I would definately say go Steam if at all possible.
Ive actually moved to it exclusively.
Many of EA games are available there as well and will not require Origins if purchased through Steam.
If they are not, I just pass them up.
My main reason, is that for 1, Ive had far less issues with Steam.
And 2, although some may find this silly, I hate the User Agreement to use Origin.
It basically says you give them the right to collect info .. blah blah and if you dont like it, dont use it. So I don't.
Its true however, Steam does the same thing.
The only difference is, Steam gives you a choice. To participate or not whereas EA gives you no such choice.
Although this may not matter to many, to me its a Huge difference.
This may have changed, but as of a couple months ago thats the way it was.
Another thing I love about Steam, if you are not familiar with them, is they have large events twice a year.
One during the summer (around May) and one during Winter (End of Nov Early Dec)
During this time theres contests and huge sales. Usually everything is 33% off, and there are different games that are 50-75% off daily, for a week.
half life 2! yes it requires steam, but you will not regret it!
its almost perfect... well it was in 2004, but it still looks decent, and even compared to newer games it still pushes what youd expect of a game.
F.E.A.R
Fallout 3
Unreal series
I do like Steam though best thing is you can back up your games and put them on external hard drives for piece of mind.
Team Fortress 2, requires Steam, but totally worth it.
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