Solved Steam good or bad?

[Solarstarshines]

Ok this thread is for Pro's and Con's of steam Im seeing to many post that steam sucks
Other users praise Steam as I do now the reason i am starting this thread is to see how many people do use steam vs people who don't and also tell us why you like steam or don't like steam overall

I think this is a good argument and we'll find out who uses and who doesn't


Thanks for the comments and post

 

[Night Hawk]

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

If you buy a new disk and want to create a new account the disk will automatically detect and activate itself to any other account automatically during the installation! Support will even lock up the first account when trying to disconnect the new from the old! This is one reason why some are GGGrrrrrrr... as far as Steam is concerned having been "steamed over Steam"!

 

[chevy350]

It's good when it works lol, been playing MW2 and lately have gotten the "Game is currently unavailable, please try again later" crap.......had to reinstall 3 times now, but for some reason it's been right after I've verified the game integrity so not doing that anymore to see if it happens again

 

[Geralt]

I use Steam almost exclusively now, except for the games that aren't on it. When I was first forced to use Steam I hated it... now I love it and buy all my games on it. Over time I've just likened to it more and more, and now own almost 400 games on it.

I'm not going to bother listing any pros and cons, but in my opinion the pros vastly outweigh the cons, and as time goes on you will think of the cons as pros.

"Cons as pros? What do you mean by that?!" No discs, for instance. People would argue that having discs, cases and manuals is better than all digital. I would disagree - digital is far more convenient - I don't need to worry about discs, I can simply download my games at any time. If I don't want to waste quota on the download or wait the whole time of the download then I restore my backup that I have on my external hard-drive.

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

If you buy a new disk and want to create a new account the disk will automatically detect and activate itself to any other account automatically during the installation! Support will even lock up the first account when trying to disconnect the new from the old! This is one reason why some are

GGGrrrrrrr... as far as Steam is concerned having been "steamed over Steam"!

You only need to enter your CD-Key ONCE, even if you have formatted your PC. In the years I've been using Steam I've never once had this problem after formatting - you need to make sure you login to the same Steam Account you purchased/registered the game on.

Not Steams fault - it's yours for not logging into the same account. That simple.

It's good when it works lol, been playing MW2 and lately have gotten the "Game is currently unavailable, please try again later" crap.......had to reinstall 3 times now, but for some reason it's been right after I've verified the game integrity so not doing that anymore to see if it happens again

A lot of people seem to get this error - I've had it once or twice in the past with a few different games but closing down Steam and deleting the "ClientRegistry.blob" from the Steam directory fixes it for me every time.

 

[WoWPlayer]

I Accually reallt like steam i can always get on with my friends. and have a good time

 

[OneSerious]

Other than the fact I find the application itself pretty clunky and heavy I love it.

1) All your games are managed in one place.
2) Ability to buy games and then download straight away beats going to the store.
3) Pre-loading for day one release.
4) Back up feature is pretty good. Once I DL a game I back it up on my spare HDD and only ever have to worry about it DL'ing updates when I re-install.
5) Nice statistics about hours played achievements and that if you're interested in all that.

Also, whilst Steam does sort of seem more expensive than retail, the sales more than make up for it. You can get some absolutely AMAZING deals on there.

As for this comment,

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

I'd have to disagree. All your Steam games are linked to your Steam account. So long as you have the game and are logged in you can DL and play and it doesn't matter what machine you are on. So essentially you could have it on any amount of computers you want but could only log on to one at a time.

Edit: I know people like to have the hard copy in their possession. Boxes, manuals and the like. I'm one such person, but I have a 360 for all that. I'm happy to go digital on PC.

 

[Squid]

I didn't like it when it first came out, but it has been gradually improving and I love it now. It automatically updates your games, precludes you from needing to insert a cd/dvd to play games, and provides an active gaming community to interact with. I have ran into some BAD copyright protection systems but to me steam is probably the least invasive. I buy a lot of old games from steam that you can't find in stores anymore. Besides, I don't have much room for more game boxes anyway

 

[Everlong]

It's a great program now. A lot better than when it first came out.

The only con I have about is the prices for 3rd party games on it. Just about every developer puts their game on Steam now, but the prices are more on the expensive side (doesn't really make sense as you'd have thought prices would be cheaper as you cut out the packaging costs). When the game is first released, then fair enough it's £30-40, but after 3 or 4 months, it's still £30-40 even though it can be found for like £15-20 on Play.com or Amazon.

Like what's been said, if you do need to enter a product key for a Steam game, then it's linked to your account then forever and a day. Games that use things like Securom to activate and Games for Windows Live will need you to re-enter the key if you do re-install them. The key for a game can be found by right clicking on it and there will be an option to view the product key.

Another great feature is the backup utility. If you have a bunch of games installed through Steam, but need to re-install Windows. You can backup all your games to an external hard drive or multiple DVDs (it can split a backup up in to multiple parts), then once you have Steam re-installed you can then restore all your games without having to download them all again.

 

[Solarstarshines]

I see alot of good things being said about team in this post and little any Cons on the Subject

In general i think alot hate steam because it is a growing trend not the fact that it works or not most people hate anything that other people like anyway or that goes Mainstream as steam did

So the non mainstreamers will avoid steam till one day steam will control most game apps where you will be forced to use it

 

[Everlong]

I don't think it's so much people not liking it because it's growing. I think quite a few people just remember it from the days of when it really was a pain in the arse to use.

 

[Solarstarshines]

yeah but thats like saying the same about the os people didnt want to jump from xp to vista and now everyone is running to 7
Most every program that is brand new will have kinks and bugs untill sorted out

Example windows ME so many people loved it most avoided it and went directly to xp alot of people didnt want vista cause they felt it was a let down but guess what the one's that used vista found out it wasnt that bad after all

I think some people are just tools to what they know not a bad thing but sooner or later have to adjust with the times lol

 

[chev65]

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

If you buy a new disk and want to create a new account the disk will automatically detect and activate itself to any other account automatically during the installation! Support will even lock up the first account when trying to disconnect the new from the old! This is one reason why some are GGGrrrrrrr... as far as Steam is concerned having been "steamed over Steam"!

This is the problem in a nutshell, for me it was after five installs of my Crysis wars it told me that I was using the CD key too many times and it wouldn't run.

That was until I went into the Crysis game files and used the Crysis bin64 application file which allowed the game to run for me without the hassles. I would much rather have the CD myself. The advantage with Steam is that the patches and updated 64 bit versions that don't come on the CD install automatically.

 

[smarteyeball]

I rarely use it, so I don't have any strong opinions one way or the other - except that the pricing system is inequitable.

$79.95 USD equates to $86.30 AUS and it varies often according to the exchange rate

An extra $6 or $7 bucks may not sound like much, but when you can buy a physical copy in a store for $79.95 AUS - and quite often cheaper, Steam starts looking a little less attractive.


As for patching - I'm perfectly capable of finding and installing patches on my own...

 

[OneSerious]

This is the problem in a nutshell, for me it was after five installs of my Crysis wars it told me that I was using the CD key too many times and it wouldn't run.

But that's not down to Steam. That would be EA and their DRM, surely you would of come across the same issue with the game on the retail version. A lot of games come with limited installs and you have to contact the provider to get more when you use them. I think it's a terrible feature myself but no fault of Valve's. So that's not a problem with Steam and more an issue with 3rd party developers / producers.

Edit: Also, one other pro, the in game overly is great. There's a web browser and you can manage and chat with friends among other things.

 

[adt]

steam used to be a pain in the ass a few years ago but now it has improved alot and i almost have no problems with it. great program.

 

[Wishmaster]

I agree, that the EA activation has more to do with EA than Steam.

As for the EA DRM issue, if you ever need to re-install Windows for whatever reason, they should have a De-Authorization Tool you can DL for most of their games.

Running it deactivates the game on that PC, and gives you a Activation back. If I recall, you get 5 activations per game, on any PC.



As far as Steam, I never used to like it. But I have now grown to really like it and use it for most of my Digital Downloads now. There are far worse Digital Distributors.

In the past, I have had bad experience with D2D for example.
Certain games simply de-activate themselves prompting for activation. You have a limited number of Activations, and end up waiting a day or 2 for customer support to help re-activate etc. Bioshock was one of these. If I install Rome Total War (also from D2D) then Bioshock deactivates, as well as RTW.
This ended up being a major pain. I simply can't stand them and will never make another purchase from them.

While this may not be a issue for some, I should not be limited to my activations without control (in case I want to re-install Windows) and be at the mercy of CS to re-activate.



No such issues with Steam for me. And, can DL and Install as often as I choose, on any PC I choose without limitation.

Steam is now my 1st choice for Digital Downloads, and EADM is my second choice. While activations are limited with EA, you still have control of them.
5 activations on any 5 PCs, and the ability to de-activate and get 1 back at any time isn't so bad IMHO.
This i can deal with.

Steam on the other hand is totaly painless. I really like it.

 

[OneSerious]

In the past, I have had bad experience with D2D for example.

I used D2D once and found it to have truly terrible DL speeds. Also used EA Download Manager and hated ever second of it. Though it's speeds where sweet. Also used GFWL and whilst I like it as an interface that is linked with your Xbox 360 their Digital Download system is terrible.

 

[Darician]

I see alot of good things being said about team in this post and little any Cons on the Subject

In general i think alot hate steam because it is a growing trend not the fact that it works or not most people hate anything that other people like anyway or that goes Mainstream as steam did

So the non mainstreamers will avoid steam till one day steam will control most game apps where you will be forced to use it

That would be a very scary thought if it actually happened. I prefer physical media to Steam because I don't like having extra software running in the background on my PC. Additionally, Steam itself is kind of clunky and slow for my taste. Additionally, I hate forced updates because there are instances when updates actually will screw up a game for one reason or another and I would rather see other people test it before I choose to update rather than be forced to update.

It's not Steam becoming mainstream that's a problem; it's just the fact that with digital purchases, you don't have something proving your purchase. If your account gets hacked or what not, you have to fight to get it back. There's too much hinging on just that account. I'd rather just have CDs for my games and if I happen to lose one, well, that's just too bad, I can replace it but if I lose my account, I've lost all my games. It may be paranoia to a degree but it's one of those things that always sits in the back of my mind with Steam.

Additionally, I've noticed that with games that have mods, mods can only be installed with the retail version of the game, not with the Steam version.

 

[Night Hawk]

As for this comment,

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

I'd have to disagree. All your Steam games are linked to your Steam account. So long as you have the game and are logged in you can DL and play and it doesn't matter what machine you are on. So essentially you could have it on any amount of computers you want but could only log on to one at a time.

Edit: I know people like to have the hard copy in their possession. Boxes, manuals and the like. I'm one such person, but I have a 360 for all that. I'm happy to go digital on PC.

That was the same account created at the time for the exact same disk. When moving ouf of the 7 beta builds into the RCs the duplicate error was constant even after being logged into the account since you have to log on first before you can do anything.

Later FEAR2 went onto the same account without any problems incliuding not only moving from RC to retail but different clean installs between the last and the new build. But FEAR2 was bought on disk not simply a download you can't replace if a drive needs to be wiped of fails on you.

Disk cases, paper inserts, booklets can be annoying at times especially if you have a large cd case for storing dfisks in sleeves rather then stacks of plastic casses. But all that still means something to the collectors eventually.

 

[cloud8521]

As for this comment,

You have to watch yourself with Steam/Source. You can end up with a few game disks that will become unusable if you should have the need to reinstall Windows at some point and the "duplicate cd key" message appears with a relinstall on a fresh copy of Windows.

I'd have to disagree. All your Steam games are linked to your Steam account. So long as you have the game and are logged in you can DL and play and it doesn't matter what machine you are on. So essentially you could have it on any amount of computers you want but could only log on to one at a time.

Edit: I know people like to have the hard copy in their possession. Boxes, manuals and the like. I'm one such person, but I have a 360 for all that. I'm happy to go digital on PC.

That was the same account created at the time for the exact same disk. When moving ouf of the 7 beta builds into the RCs the duplicate error was constant even after being logged into the account since you have to log on first before you can do anything.

Later FEAR2 went onto the same account without any problems incliuding not only moving from RC to retail but different clean installs between the last and the new build. But FEAR2 was bought on disk not simply a download you can't replace if a drive needs to be wiped of fails on you.

Disk cases, paper inserts, booklets can be annoying at times especially if you have a large cd case for storing dfisks in sleeves rather then stacks of plastic casses. But all that still means something to the collectors eventually.

when you buy it on disk and insert your key the first time, it will be in the games section to be downloaded. the cd is just the quicker way to install it.