Why do people accept Steam but hate other gaming clients?

[Atlantico]

Epic? They do literally nothing for the consumer. They weren't even going to have refunds until they realized that they have to.

That's exactly the same story as Steam - but Epic has the edge over Steam because the client isn't a bloated trading card mess. Somehow Microsoft manages to have no refunds policy and is thus worse then all of them.

As usual I'm left to marvel at the modern RPG Codex in which some people unironically defend Windows 10, DLC gouging practices, EA/EA Origin, and then half the fucking Codex Steam group lights up with "X is playing Fallout 4" the day after that garbage was released. A few years ago, I might have expected these people to be ashamed, but at this point I sadly know better.

You're deflecting from the fact that Steam sucks more than EA's Origin and Ubisoft's Uplay with some sophistry about how Fallout 4 sucks and EA tends to grab cash.

Steam is a bloated, incomprehensible mess, a fact which even dawned upon gaben - that other bloated incomprehensible mess - which is why the Steam client is now being rewritten. Don't hold much hope there, but the only way is up for that POS.

The one thing worse than people defending cash-grabs, DLCs, greedy publishers and playing their soul-sucking games, is people defending the purchasing platform which enables that atrocity in the first place ... and how is it, that the low effort attempts by soulless cashgrabbers like EA and Ubi, are more successful at making an inoffensive and functional client than Steam? - or rather, how is it that you haven't realize that yet and hang your head in shame for your Steam fanboyism?

 

[hpstg]

It's funny that the same people who want Microsoft to step away from Windows gaming (leading us again to the stagnation of the 360 period), are so passionate with GabeN's cut being on its place.

 

[Metro]

Any time I see someone complaining about how 'bloated' Steam is I realize they must be using a computer built with ten year old hardware.

 

[hpstg]

It is bloated and quite not as stable. Resolution scaling is also shit, which is quite tragic for a piece of software that is supposed to be the center of a gaming /media PC.

The steam controller and the configurator are great though.

 

[Atlantico]

Any time I see someone complaining about how 'bloated' Steam is I realize they must be using a computer built with ten year old hardware.

That's because you're an idiot. It's bloated because it's full of stupid, useless features, such as virtual trading cards, a marketplace for said dumbass cards, a music player, a video player, a browser, a fullscreen feature, incessant and inexplicable client updates, badges, friend lists, streaming service, pop-up ads and the list goes on.

That's bloated.

 

[Metro]

That's because you're an idiot. It's bloated because it's full of stupid, useless features, such as virtual trading cards, a marketplace for said dumbass cards, a music player, a video player, a browser, a fullscreen feature, incessant and inexplicable client updates, badges, friend lists, streaming service, pop-up ads and the list goes on.

That's bloated.

Honestly, someone using an animu-fag avatar has no basis to criticize anyone. You can simply ignore the features at no cost to your system performance. Or are you somehow incapable of the simple task of navigating to your games list and hitting play?

 

[Blaine]

Well, I get 772,000,000 results for it.

Yeah, because you're too fucking dumb to query a search engine properly.

In Internet terms, the phrase might as well not even exist. That said:

I've noticed a trend lately, and that is liberal idiots grossly exaggerating the magnitude or impact of largely unverifiable anecdotal bullshit in order to support their non-arguments. This particular conversation has nothing to do with politics, but the correlation is unmistakable.

Since the impact of "no Steam, no buy" is rather obscure and unverifiable, it must simply be set aside. You don't get to screech that it has a significant impact when that conclusion is unsupportable. Well, you're free to screech all you like, but I'm not going to accept your anecdotal screeching as "evidence."

 

[Nano]

Yeah, because you're too fucking dumb to query a search engine properly.

I'm getting 722,000,000 results without the quote marks. Any reason why you're using those?

 

[a Goat]

Quote marks check for that exact expression, without at first you have results that still use the exact wording but then it gives you results with some stuff omitted, for instance it may be checking for "steam buy" at result 650M

 

[mck]

i really like that "friends list" was listed as an unnecessary feature

 

[Blaine]

Quote marks check for that exact expression, without at first you have results that still use the exact wording but then it gives you results with some stuff omitted, for instance it may be checking for "steam buy" at result 650M

Yes, such as "no Steam," "no buy," and "buy Steam," which is where 99.X% of those results come from. We need a convenient word for people who are Internet illiterate other than "Milllennial."

i really like that "friends list" was listed as an unnecessary feature

Speaking of Internet- and technology-illiterate Millennials, what that idiot doesn't seem to realize is that bloatware is only bloatware if it actually causes bloat, e.g. it utilizes unnecessary system resources or storage, or else gets in the way of using the software for its intended purpose.

Many of Steam's superfluous features do annoy me, but they have next to zero performance footprint and can be safely ignored, toggled off, or reverted, as in the case of the recent chat "upgrade." You aren't forced to wade through any of their additional features in order to browse and access your games.

I'd be willing to bet my left nut that Origin (still can't quite believe that these weeaboo EA enthusiasts are defending it) has a much greater performance footprint, because well, EA. Probably the only reason they only offer refunds and an offline mode is because they have to be on par with Steam. If EA had its way, that shit would be phoning home ten times per second, and probably does anyway unless the connection is physically severed.

 

[Atlantico]

Speaking of Internet- and technology-illiterate Millennials, what that idiot doesn't seem to realize is that bloatware is only bloatware if it actually causes bloat, e.g. it utilizes unnecessary system resources or storage, or else gets in the way of using the software for its intended purpose.

You being one of the self-proclaimed MENSA shoe-ins in this place, failing at basic comparisons is hi-larious. The Steam client is stupidly bloated - that's feature bloated, as I specifically mentioned.

I don't even know what kind of tech illiterate dumbfuck you have to be to think there's any apps that slow down the PC to any degree these days. It's not the 90s any more grampa.

iTunes is bloated, the Steam client is bloated, Photoshop is bloated, Word 356 is bloated - and the Steam client is a bloated pathetic mess as well.

 

[Blaine]

You being one of the self-proclaimed MENSA shoe-ins in this place....

The term is "shoo-in." Not to worry though, you're in good company with every other Millennial who uses words he doesn't really understand to discuss topics about which he knows next to nothing.

I don't even know what kind of tech illiterate dumbfuck you have to be to think there's any apps that slow down the PC to any degree these days. It's not the 90s any more grampa.

If you believe that, then do me a favor and send me a copy of your DxDiag.txt alongside screenshots of your processes and services from Windows Task Manager. I could use a good laugh.

I assemble my computers from parts that I select and order myself, install and configure all of the software and drivers, and maintain a clean, malware-free system that never slows down or crashes for years at a stretch. Even my most demanding games run flawlessly @144Hz on max settings, and I can dig into the nuts and bolts of any utility or productivity program to make it work the way I want. If junk processes and services somehow sneak in, they'll be removed sooner rather than later. If there is a hardware or software problem, I can always troubleshoot it myself, unless I lack a part to swap in or if it's a software issue with no fix or workaround.

I started assembling my own PCs in the early 2000s, at which time I was in the Air Force working as a B-52H ECM technician. Back then, there was no pcpartpicker.com, no logicalincrements.com, and no 1080p YouTube PC building tutorials.

When it comes to personal computers, I know nearly as much a repair shop or boutique, although I don't do it for a living so I can't claim to be entirely on par. Nevertheless, this is a subject I know a lot about, and I can definitively tell you that you sound like a complete fucking idiot asserting that "apps" can't bog down a computer's performance anymore.

Atlantico, post: 5976590, member: 20788"]iTunes is bloated, the Steam client is bloated, Photoshop is bloated, Word 356 is bloated - and the Steam client is a bloated pathetic mess as well.

Your arbitrary, personal definition of "bloat" as applied to Steam is invalid and moronic. By your admission, you don't believe that Steam has any notable performance impact (this is correct, although your reasoning is not); you choose to ignore that the "feature bloat" doesn't actually get in the way of using the platform, that it can pretty much all be safely ignored or toggled, and furthermore you refuse to recognize the usefulness of any of its features.

Setting aside the fact that you really don't know much about computers, that you still support EA this side of the 20th century, and that you think EA's jealousy client is great, it's become VERY clear that you praised Epic's jealousy client without knowing a damned thing about it. What is your true agenda, here? Did Steam rape your cat? Did they only carry the censored version of your favorite animu little girl dating sim?

 

[Nano]

So does anyone else here hate PC game clients in general?

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

I hate Origin.

 

[J_C]

So does anyone else here hate PC game clients in general?

What I hate is that there are like half a dozen of them. I just need one (or maybe 2 with the GOG client) where I can have my whole game library. Despite its faults, Steam is a very good and useful service if only for its ability to digitally download any games. I can't imagine going back to that age where you manually had to install from DVD-s, swapping them, same for patching. I just hit download and there it is. No installs, no DVD-s, no scratched disks. That said, I couldn't give a rat's ass to the other services Steam provides (achievements, badges, trading cards etc). I'm not saying I don't use them once in a while, but I wouldn't be sad it they disappeared.

 

[Infinitron]

Hot take: Preferences for one PC gaming client or another are really rationalizations for a strategy of dealing with choice paralysis. When people say, "I like Steam, I'll only buy a game if it's on Steam, fuck other clients", that's really a way of saying "There are too many video games in this world, restricting myself to Steam only makes this over-abundance of choice easier to get a grip on".

 

[Berekän]

Or, you know, I would like to play the game that's on that other platform very much but the fact that I need to maintain multiple accounts & passwords each with their own friends lists, their own client and their own authentication app if I don't want them stolen by chinks makes it all a pain in the ass just to play a silly game, I can pass on it, I'm not strategizing my game choices.

On the topic, since this is the Microsoft thread, the MS Store is the worst piece of shit of them all, it will download shit apps nobody asked for and it will break and require you to reinstall the whole OS if anything goes wrong with it. No shit nobody wants to use it.

 

[abija]

I don't even know what kind of tech illiterate dumbfuck you have to be to think there's any apps that slow down the PC to any degree these days. It's not the 90s any more grampa.

Yeah... no. Random nuskype example: https://imgur.com/a/zhO1BmE

 

[Atlantico]

The term is "shoo-in." Not to worry though, you're in good company with every other Millennial who uses words he doesn't really understand to discuss topics about which he knows next to nothing.

That's ok, as long as I'm discussing with you, I really don't have to worry about setting the bar particularly high.

If you believe that, then do me a favor and send me a copy of your DxDiag.txt alongside screenshots of your processes and services from Windows Task Manager. I could use a good laugh.

You'd laugh by being wrong? That's some 4D chess there, MENSA.

I assemble my computers from parts that I select and order myself, install and configure all of the software and drivers, and maintain a clean, malware-free system that never slows down or crashes for years at a stretch. Even my most demanding games run flawlessly @144Hz on max settings, and I can dig into the nuts and bolts of any utility or productivity program to make it work the way I want. If junk processes and services somehow sneak in, they'll be removed sooner rather than later. If there is a hardware or software problem, I can always troubleshoot it myself, unless I lack a part to swap in or if it's a software issue with no fix or workaround.

Yes, the epeen is strong with you - now consider this: I don't care what your online persona has in nerd-stats. Name the app that's able to slow your PC down, and allow the rest of us a laugh at your expense.

Your arbitrary, personal definition of "bloat" as applied to Steam is invalid and moronic.

You are triggered, boy. You're also wrong about that. It's not my definition of bloat, it's actually quite common.

Steam is a bloated shit - but what is ten times worse than Steam, is faggots like yourself, who have some emotional connection to this POS service.

Setting aside the fact that you really don't know much about computers, that you still support EA this side of the 20th century, and that you think EA's jealousy client is great, it's become VERY clear that you praised Epic's jealousy client without knowing a damned thing about it. What is your true agenda, here? Did Steam rape your cat? Did they only carry the censored version of your favorite animu little girl dating sim?

Ooo what is my real agenda? What could it be?

After all, Steam isn't a bloated mess of a service.. oh wait, yes it is. There's no agenda, just pointing out the obvious - and getting Steam faggots predictably triggered.

Yeah... no. Random nuskype example: https://imgur.com/a/zhO1BmE

Yeah, that's not normal behavior - any app misbehaving can lock down any PC. I'm actually serious, what app actually slows down PC performance these days?

 

[abija]

Yeah, that's not normal behavior - any app misbehaving can lock down any PC. I'm actually serious, what app actually slows down PC performance these days?

What's the point of that question if you exclude shitty coded software?

 

[AscendedFlames]

So does anyone else here hate PC game clients in general?

I do, I probably am one of the smallest percentages of people that prefer the old ways, for some reason even though I have few games on Steam I could never get fully behind digital. I like a box with art, manual or lore book. Something akin to Arcanum. The newer game boxes look cheap, doesn't even carry a manual, just a CD and some with Steam codes. The only client I'm ok with is GOG, which offers DRM-free games but unfortunately doesn't have the same selection of games that Steam has, not that the majority of those games are worth anything anyways. And there is data to back that up since nearly 96% (If I'm not mistaken since I last looked at the stats) of the people that buy hundreds of games don't even finish the ones they are playing. Only 3-4% of people on Steam are what one would consider a "gamer", someone that buys, has a wide variety of games finished in their library. Steam has turned from a digital store to a meta-game store, more people are worried about trading cards, achievements, their XP profile level and pea-cocking their library of hundreds of games that they will never get to play instead of playing and enjoying video games.

If on the unfortunate circumstance that streaming were to befall the gaming industry in the future, it would be the day I stop looking forward to games altogether, and focus more of my attention on old PC games I missed and start buying <6th Gen Consoles and their games (Something I'm slowly already doing).

 

[Temenos]

I'm not a fan of most clients because it's just an extra layer in-between you and your game which can get in the way if something goes wrong, particularly if it involves extra layers of DRM. I'm more in tune with downloading standalone installers from GOG or the Humble Store (the DRM-free ones anyway), installing or unpacking the game somewhere and running the EXE. Clean and simple. It does put the onus on me to deal with maintenance and updates (if the game's new enough to still get updates) but I've been doing this for so long it's second nature, hardly an inconvenience. But yeah, people hate multiple clients because it's extra work for not much gain. More maintenance (need to keep track of which games are in which clients, retain account information, hope the clients aren't buggy pieces of shit) and more layers which have the potential to fuck you over.

Really though, I think the main issue most people have is that in most cases you don't have a CHOICE of which client to use for getting a game. If a particular game was available on Steam, Origin, Epic, Uplay, etc, then people could just use whatever client they preferred. But since so many games are now becoming exclusive to certain clients, people tire of having to manage all of them when it's not providing value to the player themselves.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Hot take: Preferences for one PC gaming client or another are really rationalizations for a strategy of dealing with choice paralysis. When people say, "I like Steam, I'll only buy a game if it's on Steam, fuck other clients", that's really a way of saying "There are too many video games in this world, restricting myself to Steam only makes this over-abundance of choice easier to deal with".

Nah. People just have ancient habits from Windows XP era, when you had to freak out about every tiny piece of software running in the tray or manually kill processes to get games to run. Heck, I still know folks who continue to religiously use those ridiculous registry optimizers even though they don't actually do anything useful. So they'd rather have everything in one client because muh memory usage.

The reality being that with SSDs, 16 gigs of ram and improved memory management of Windows 7 and above, almost all of the PC-optimization-broscience is hilariously pointless, but there you go.

 

[Temenos]

Hot take: Preferences for one PC gaming client or another are really rationalizations for a strategy of dealing with choice paralysis. When people say, "I like Steam, I'll only buy a game if it's on Steam, fuck other clients", that's really a way of saying "There are too many video games in this world, restricting myself to Steam only makes this over-abundance of choice easier to deal with".

Nah. People just have ancient habits from Windows XP era, when you had to freak out about every tiny piece of software running in the tray or manually kill processes to get games to run. Heck, I still know folks who continue to religiously use those ridiculous registry optimizers even though they don't actually do anything useful. So they'd rather have everything in one client because muh memory usage.

The reality being that with SSDs, 16 gigs of ram and improved memory management of Windows 7 and above, almost all of the PC-optimization-broscience is hilariously pointless, but there you go.

Possibly, but according to a lot of various reddit and forums posts I've read regarding the issue of multiple game clients, while some people talk about resource usage, the vast majority of people complain about the management issue of multiple clients. They like Steam because it keeps everything together, it's the one-stop-shop for all their games, so it's less mentally taxing... or something. It's also where all their friends are, where their kitted-out profile page is, etc. These things are important to a lot of people apparently. Diluting it by spreading one's gaming experience across multiple clients that are largely segmented from each other is not as nice an experience. Again, I try to avoid clients as much as possible - these are just observations I've made from what the "typical gaming community" expects.