Steam: Love it or Hate it? Why?

I don't mind it, but I know some people don't like it. Just looking to see which way the wind blows here on GS.

There's nothing wrong with steam. :O

Can't really see why some people do not like steam.

Like it, it has a great suite of tools at your disposal, games you bought can not get lost, automatically updates teh game, still allows mods, can install them on any pc I wish, really cheap games (compared to what hey cost where I live), impossibly good deals.

but as I said it is not perfect, somtime a glitch willoccur, there were some instability after they switched to the new ui with the community part.

But I can live with it.

Love it, because:

1) Fast and easy access to all my games

2) Accessible on any PC

3) Cloud

4) Insane prices (positive not negative because there are also insane as in bad prices :P)

5) Easy access to some of the best Source mods (works for now but no doubt the MODDB platform -forgot the name- will be far better)

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x) Achievement support

Hate it, especially the new version.

- Ripoff prices.
- Slow download speed.
- Has to run in the background when you want to play a game. Every single time. That's crazy DRM.
- Resource hog.
- Connection issues. Stop chewing on the server cables Gabe!
- Ugly bloated interface full of useless stuff and gradients.

You obviously are not the only one among millions of users, that's why some of them created simple, clas$ical skins.
- No search function anymore. A basic page search .. Nope.

Huh? the search feature is even more advanced than before and it actually works, sounds like you didn't even use it.

+ No disc required play.
+ Keeps games up-to-date automatically (this can be a pain in the rear though).
+ VACBDK-Soft

The rest is either subjective or are cause by problems on your end.

I love it personally:

-It keeps all of my games in one spot.
-I can install them onto any computer without needing the CD's and CD keys.
-Automatic patching and fast downloads.
-A lot of of sales and great deals in the store that are hard to find anywhere else.
-Integrated social community while in-game.
-Crazy amount of free source mods.
-Steam hardware survey results are fun to look at :D

The only downside to it is that once you activate a game on steam you can't sell it back (EBgames for example). But hey, it's a small price to pay :P

Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate steam since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for steam at this micro-instant. Hate. Hate. ampiva

Why the hate?

I freaking love steam! No better way of putting it.

I love the massive amount of games available on steam at awesome prices too. The summer and christmas sales are ridiculously good, not to mention the weekly sales which offer many amazing games a lot of the time.

I love having all of my favourite games listed out for me as soon as I open my games library and in an instant I can easily start up any game I want. No need to go hunting for my lost cd's and changing them constantly.It's easy to use and it's great seeing all the latest news on all of my games as well as all the play data. Hours played, the last time you played, etc. It's great seeing all the games your steam friends have also recently played and purchased. Gives you an idea of others good games you may not know of.

The steam community page is also fantastic and steam chat is accessible right away and also features mic support.

I could go on but I wont. :)

I love Steam. I love its sales, the community page, and keeping all of my games in one place. But I do agree, I wish that it did a better job of integrating non-Steam games.

Love it, although I'm starting to shift to GamerGate.com to get my games because there's no account required to play and so my family can also play the same games on a different computer without the hassle of using one account.

Still, Steam is good because I can track my friends while playing, even chat etc. Not so much of a fan of third party software such as Xfire etc.

It's a flippin DD platform. What's to hate about it?

The only thing I can whine about is the occasional pop up when you close a game.

I installed it when I bought the Orange Box...I still have it because of the sales.

Love it, revolutionized gaming for me (because I buy a ton of on sale games now)

It's a great system, but I wish it would allow integration of non-Steam games (which I think it will in the future). I know it's a money thing, but oh well, it's not horrible. choonyos

It already does. You can add non-Steam games by clicking on the Games dragdown at the top of the Steam window, click "Add a Non-Steam game to My Library...", and point it to whatever .exe you wish.

[QUOTE="choonyos"]It's a great system, but I wish it would allow integration of non-Steam games (which I think it will in the future). I know it's a money thing, but oh well, it's not horrible. PunishedOne

It already does. You can add non-Steam games by clicking on the Games dragdown at the top of the Steam window, click "Add a Non-Steam game to My Library...", and point it to whatever .exe you wish.

Love it, because:

1) Fast and easy access to all my games

2) Accessible on any PC

3) Cloud

4) Insane prices (positive not negative because there are also insane as in bad prices :P)

5) Easy access to some of the best Source mods (works for now but no doubt the MODDB platform -forgot the name- will be far better)

.

.

.

.

x) Achievement support

[QUOTE="BDK-Soft"]Hate it, especially the new version.

- Ripoff prices.
- Slow download speed.
- Has to run in the background when you want to play a game. Every single time. That's crazy DRM.
- Resource hog.
- Connection issues. Stop chewing on the server cables Gabe!
- Ugly bloated interface full of useless stuff and gradients.

You obviously are not the only one among millions of users, that's why some of them created simple, clas$ical skins.
- No search function anymore. A basic page search .. Nope.

Huh? the search feature is even more advanced than before and it actually works, sounds like you didn't even use it.

+ No disc required play.
+ Keeps games up-to-date automatically (this can be a pain in the rear though).
+ VACDanielDust

The rest is either subjective or are cause by problems on your end.

well, I use Steam occasionally, depending on the game, but mostly I buy my games on DVDs, oh yeah, is there a chance I can burn my downloaded games from Steam onto a DVD? I really hate to download a game every time my laptop is broke?Nino_ze

I hate steam heres why:

You have to activate your games over the internet which in call of duty modern warefare 2 casewas going to take me 3 hours.

Some times the it will say ( This game is not available right now try again later ) What ? now I cant even play my own games.

And just in general its a waste of time all my other non steam games I can install and play in about 1 hour at max but with steam I have to wait a whole day just to play my own games that I purchased.

So that and many other reasons are why steam is bad.:evil:

Mostly neutral, leaning towards disliking it. I don't like auto-updating or the fact that the thing won't shut itself off after I'm done playing the game (surely they could have it where, if you loaded the game from a desktop icon or something, it would shut off as the game closes...I'm not advocating this if you launch a game through Steam). And is it really necessary to run the store in the background while I play a game?LongZhiZi

It seems like most of the people who say they hate it have really silly reasons...

1) You can disable auto-updates with a simple mouse button click.

2) Closing it when done with a game is also, 1 simple mouse button click.

As for me, I am loving it now... People complain about the outrageous prices, but virtually all of the 60 something games I own on steam were bought for bargain prices during sales... Those that I have paid full price for were brand new games at their launch... And I don't see how it is an issue to pay full retail for a game at its launch? (And seeing as how valve/steam don't even set the prices for any game on Steam apart from the games they make, it is pretty stupid to complain about Steam's prices)...

And I don't understand where people are coming from saying it is a resource hog... I literally NEVER close steam, ever... And running my internet browser (firefox), my OS (Windows 7), and Steam... 24/7... Never raises my cpu usage barely anything... It is always right at 1% for all cores, occasionally going to 2% on core 1... And RAM... Hmmm lets ctrl+alt+del that one... 87mb of system RAM... WOW look at all dem resources steam be hoggin.

Only thing I dislike is buying large games on Steam... LOOKING AT YOU Napoleon TW... 21gb, you kiddin me? Takes a minute or two to download that much...

I hate steam heres why:

You have to activate your games over the internet which in call of duty modern warefare 2 casewas going to take me 3 hours.

Some times the it will say ( This game is not available right now try again later ) What ? now I cant even play my own games.

And just in general its a waste of time all my other non steam games I can install and play in about 1 hour at max but with steam I have to wait a whole day just to play my own games that I purchased.

So that and many other reasons are why steam is bad.:evil:

Darksonic666

LOL you buy a digital download and then complain when your terrible internet downloads it slow...? WOW.

My biggest complaint with Steam: My husband and I can't share one copy of a game bought there, unless one of us plays it in offline mode. With a retail copy of a game we can install it on two different computers and I can play on mine and he can play on his with no fuss or hassle. If we both want play the same game, and that game is purchased from Steam, we either need to buy two copies, or we need to actually co-ordinate when we update and patch it, and make sure that we never try to go online with the game while the other is playing it. I'm sure someone's going to tell me now that this is a minor issue compared to the benefits of Steam, and obviously I would not keep and use my account if I disagreed with you. However, it still irritates and annoys me that Steam apparently has no way of accommodating households with more than one gamer and more than one gaming PC.ChiliDragon

That has nothing to do with Steam... That has to do with licensing... When you buy a game you are buying a single license... Not a license for you and everyone you know to all use all at the same time...

If it was that way then how is it fair to someone who is the only gamer in their house? They pay their $50 for a game for themselves... Then you go and spend that same $50 for you and another person to play the game at the same time...

That and how do they even know you are in the same house? What is keeping you from buying that license and just sharing it with all your friends who now don't have to pay for the game.

Silly thing to complain about.

[QUOTE="Darksonic666"]

I hate steam heres why:

You have to activate your games over the internet which in call of duty modern warefare 2 casewas going to take me 3 hours.

Some times the it will say ( This game is not available right now try again later ) What ? now I cant even play my own games.

And just in general its a waste of time all my other non steam games I can install and play in about 1 hour at max but with steam I have to wait a whole day just to play my own games that I purchased.

So that and many other reasons are why steam is bad.:evil:

LOL you buy a digital download and then complain when your terrible internet downloads it slow...? WOW.

[QUOTE="Buttons1990"]

[QUOTE="Darksonic666"]

I hate steam heres why:

You have to activate your games over the internet which in call of duty modern warefare 2 casewas going to take me 3 hours.

Some times the it will say ( This game is not available right now try again later ) What ? now I cant even play my own games.

And just in general its a waste of time all my other non steam games I can install and play in about 1 hour at max but with steam I have to wait a whole day just to play my own games that I purchased.

So that and many other reasons are why steam is bad.:evil:

Darksonic666

LOL you buy a digital download and then complain when your terrible internet downloads it slow...? WOW.

I don't understand what you are talking about.

Steam works this way:

1) You buy a game.

2) You download the game, the speed of which is determined ONLY by your own internet speed.

3) You click the game to start it, and it installs updated installation files (Direct X, .NET, etc)...

4) You play the game.

I don't know what you are talking about with 3 hour activation of a game. There is no activation... You buy the game and the second you buy it, it is activated on your account forever... I have no idea where you are coming from with this.

The only security/DRM it has is being online... And since it is distributed digitally, isn't much of a problem since you are already on the internet in the first place. And even then you can go into offline mode which removes the need to be online at all.

I love steam.... and for all the reasons you would think!

+Ease of use

+no cd required

+nice sales

+cloud

+auto-patching

+I like to have all my games at one place

+community features

-Ripoff prices

-Having to run steam all the time while you're playing the game

-Only one person can play the game, unless the other ones are in offline mode

-My games are sometimes not available

-The download servers are sometimes quite slow

[QUOTE="Darksonic666"][QUOTE="Buttons1990"]

LOL you buy a digital download and then complain when your terrible internet downloads it slow...? WOW.

I don't understand what you are talking about.

Steam works this way:

1) You buy a game.

2) You download the game, the speed of which is determined ONLY by your own internet speed.

3) You click the game to start it, and it installs updated installation files (Direct X, .NET, etc)...

4) You play the game.

I don't know what you are talking about with 3 hour activation of a game. There is no activation... You buy the game and the second you buy it, it is activated on your account forever... I have no idea where you are coming from with this.

The only security/DRM it has is being online... And since it is distributed digitally, isn't much of a problem since you are already on the internet in the first place. And even then you can go into offline mode which removes the need to be online at all.

If it were a woman, I would marry her. I love Steam.

Love it, sales and all my games in one spot.

I'd be happier if the games were five to ten dollars cheaper simply because there's no manufactured box or shipping I'm paying for. Other than that, it's a solid program.

If it were a woman, I would marry her.

arto1223

[QUOTE="LongZhiZi"]Mostly neutral, leaning towards disliking it. I don't like auto-updating or the fact that the thing won't shut itself off after I'm done playing the game (surely they could have it where, if you loaded the game from a desktop icon or something, it would shut off as the game closes...I'm not advocating this if you launch a game through Steam). And is it really necessary to run the store in the background while I play a game?Buttons1990

It seems like most of the people who say they hate it have really silly reasons...

1) You can disable auto-updates with a simple mouse button click.

2) Closing it when done with a game is also, 1 simple mouse button click.

I like it, could be better though. It takes longer than it should to start, and interface is somewhat buggy with connection issues. The whole thing feels like a webpage and not a proper GUI, but it still looks pretty good.Sometimes it makes my games not work. Right now it's Portal and Episode 2, and they want me to do some uninstalling and error checking which I do NOT want to do.

I like how it's easy to communicate with friends and invite them to games and such, and it's a neat place to check up on my games and community. I love how it automatically updates games for you, although sometimes the network speed isn't the greatest when large updates become available for big games, or when big games release.

I like it, but I have no experience with other digital download sites.

I just like that I can re-download a game in the future, without the hassle of looking for the disc and discovering I lost the activation code. 8)

As I've said before, I don't like the idea of being force to install any form of malware or bloatware just to play a game.

No, I do not want to set my homepage to Ask.com. No, I do not want to install a browser toolbar with more holes than in a swiss cheese factory. No, I do not want to install a free super-duper-awesome 3d screensaver. No, I do not want to install G4WL. No, I do not want to install steam.

In the name of Mike Gerard's overbuilt truck - stop! If you want steam, fine, go crazy. However, let me play the game without ever having to touch that spooty piece of malware.

/rant

As I've said before, I don't like the idea of being force to install any form of malware or bloatware just to play a game.

No, I do not want to set my homepage to Ask.com. No, I do not want to install a browser toolbar with more holes than in a swiss cheese factory. No, I do not want to install a free super-duper-awesome 3d screensaver. No, I do not want to install G4WL. No, I do not want to install steam.

In the name of Mike Gerard's overbuilt truck - stop! If you want steam, fine, go crazy. However, let me play the game without ever having to touch that spooty piece of malware.

/rant

junkrika

[QUOTE="junkrika"]

As I've said before, I don't like the idea of being force to install any form of malware or bloatware just to play a game.

No, I do not want to set my homepage to Ask.com. No, I do not want to install a browser toolbar with more holes than in a swiss cheese factory. No, I do not want to install a free super-duper-awesome 3d screensaver. No, I do not want to install G4WL. No, I do not want to install steam.

In the name of Mike Gerard's overbuilt truck - stop! If you want steam, fine, go crazy. However, let me play the game without ever having to touch that spooty piece of malware.

/rant

DanielDust