I set up a Paypal account years ago (it was just a simple registration, I didn't find it a pain in the ass), I assigned my credit card to it, and I can use paypal with a simple click from that on. I don't use prepaid cards.Norfleet said:You're forgetting something: These factors are NOT convenient to do out of the blue. Paypal is a royal pain in the ass, and getting a credit card involves having to go all the way to some store that sells these things so you can prepay them, and this part has ALSO become a pain in the ass as of late. A significant amount of effort is involved in setting this up.J_C said:Steam: Click on buy, use paypal (or credit card). Download game. Play. Future updates are automatic.
Torrentry, on the other hand, has minimal setup cost: You get your torrentry application of choice, and you start running.
Of course you also have to download the game on steam. I'm saying that you have to search for good torrents, and the torrents of updates if you use TPB. The updates on steam are automatic. You boot up your windows, and steam runs in the background (depends on your setup), and the updates constantly download, while you are doing other stuff. You don't have to download the updates manually (although you can switch this option on).Norfleet said:If your game is not on Steam at all, you're completely SOL and must resort to this anyway. This is, of course, AFTER you have already invested all this effort in getting on Steam in the FIRST place. And it is not as if Steam downloads will somehow magically teleport themselves to your computer the moment you click on them. You're still going to be waiting for your download, and that's still going to take a bit, even on a fast connection. Unless you are in the habit of staring at the download progress, which, incidentally, makes it go slower, you're going to wander off and do something else anyway. Speed has thus become largely irrelevant. You queue it, you forget about it for a bit and check back later.J_C said:Torrent: Search for torrent. If the game is not new, you might have to search longer for a torrent with enough seeds, unless you want to download with 10 kb/s rate.
I agree that torrenting is anonymous. But I don't care about that. I'm a guy who is not afraid of buying stuff online, I'm not afraid of using my credit card in webshops, if they have a secure server. And all webshop offer secure server. The common argument is that those servers can be hacked, and then others might acquire your credit card number etc. This might happen, but the probability of this is so low, it is almost non existent. You are more likely to get robbed on the street. We are living in the 21st century, I won't be refusing online shopping because of fear. It's like not using air transportation because the plane can crash and you might die. It can happen, but people still take the chances.Norfleet said:No. No, it isn't. Torrents let you acquire your goods in a secure and anonymous manner, much like going to an actual store, but without the hassles of having to dodge gunfire and psychos with knives on your way there. To do the same thing in Steam requires that you engage in a lengthy mirror dance which ends up taking you to a store to acquire some kind of prepaid card that you can use on the Internet...and frankly, I don't trust those that much either, since surely they know where those things WENT, so at minimum, they can find your general location, unless you travel a very long distance to acquire one.J_C said:You can hate Steam as you want, but saying that using torrents is faster and more convenient is bullshit.