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Yeah, everyone who likes Steam is a sheep. Very mature.
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My apologies for offending. I really dislike Steam and Im used to reading the Steam forums, which if anyone else who has read them knows, are largely filled with sanctimonious ignorant pricks. There are some good members on them, but they are few and far between.
Now then, to state my argument to your criticisms...
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And in case you didn't know this, Steam offers a way for you to back up your game. There's your hard copy right there.
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I was well aware of that, but that wasnt the kind of hard copy I was talking about. I was talking about the actual disk that I bought so that 2 or 3 or even 4 years down the line I can go, "Hey, that sounds like fun to me, lets play it again". Then I can just pop in the disk and install away. However, If steam dies anywhere in the future, Im SOL. It doesnt matter if I backed up my game from STEAM, Im still SOL. Now, that borders on another complaint, but Im going to confine it to this one for now. Assuming I backup with STEAM, that would imply that I A) have multiple Hard Drives or B) have a cd or DVD burner. Now what do I do if I have neither of those and bought the game via STEAM? Whoops, looks like Im SOL again.
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I was able to play the game without being connected to the internet. I don't know if this was just some quirk in my situation alone, but I am sure others have had a similar experience. Not everyone for sure, but others have been able to play it like me.
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I was able to play the game without being connected before too, however, I shouldnt have to worry about problems like that for a Single Player game, and a large number of people did and still do have that problem. Its unacceptable. Now, I may not need the internet to play, but I still have to turn on STEAM so it can patiently sit in the background and drain my memory. If I was a company making a new game, I would want to make that experience as enjoyable as possible for my customers. All STEAM does is suck memory and create hassles, not for everyone, but for a large portion of people.
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As for delivering the game? It's sure a hell of alot more convenient for me to download the game via Steam than travel to the retailer, maybe get it or maybe not. I downloaded the game for cheaper than what it would have cost me in the stores, plus I got more for the money I paid.
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Convienent? Maybe. I imgaine it took quite some time to download the game. Probably just as long as it would have taken you to walk/drive/bus/teleport/whatever to the store and take it off the shelf or even order off Amazon. Personally, I'd still rather go to the store and buy it. Why? One, I get the box, which I like having. I keep every game box I have. They sit on a shelf and look impressive. Two, I have more of a feeling of actually buying something. I have a copy of the software right here all prettily labelled and boxed up and everything. Now thats just personal, but I think its an issue for alot of people. Three, If I buy over STEAM, I miss out on a trip to the local EB! Come on! I love going to EB. I can drool over the games on the shelf and maybe find some good bargains while Im at it. If I buy from STEAM all I accomplish is to tie up bandwidth and improve my monitor tan, which I do not need to do. Buying the game from the store is part of the enjoyment of getting the game, to me and to many people I know.
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I believe in security as much as the next guy, and take it quite seriously. But until it is shown that Valve is doing nasty things via Steam, try relaxing a bit, eh?
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So I should wait until Valve does nasty things before I stop trusting them?
No. I dont trust Valve, and I dont trust the gaping hole in my firewall that it creates so that it can function properly. When it comes to security Im fairly lax, but STEAM just makes me shudder with fear at the possible damage that could be done. Besides, I've stated before and I'll state it again. I dont want Valve to arbitrarily download patches and whatnot to my computer with no explanation or reason. Several times already has my game been broken by a download that I didnt want. Fileplanet exists and is well organized. Its easy to find patches and easy to download them. I dont know why everyone complains so much about doing it.
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Is Steam perfect? Hell no it's not. But that doesn't make it useless nor does it mean other companies won't try picking up on this idea and improving on it. If you don't have fun with Steam and/or half-Life 2, then cool. Don't use them. But calling everyone else who does use it and enjoy it a sheep is the height of conceit. Repeat to yourself: it's just a game.
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I never said that STEAM was useless, although Im starting to think it is. If any company follows the amount of complaints and hassles that users have had to put up with the play HL2, I doubt many will think trying STEAM or something like it is such a good idea. The idea was interesting, the execution was horribly flawed. If STEAM was only used to download games and content and wasnt required for gameplay, I might have less of a problem with it, however, in its current state, I hate it and will continue to hate it.
It may be just a game, but gaming is my hobby, and when a game or company can ruin the enjoyment of my hobby, I see no reason to not voice my opinion of it.