Let's bitch about STEAM! - The Thread!

[Crispy]

It's kind of a trip seeing hiver defend Facebook in the same way he defended Black Cat.

Hey, no probs babe.

 

[AgentBJ09]

That's the impression I'm getting from some of the responses here; that dissent regarding Steam and their practices is something worthy of rage and unwanted insults. Wish I could Brofist your response, but I'll say Thank you instead.

Hey, no prob. Nice to see someone capable of understanding some light irony. XD

It was lost on me until I read back through the comment. After making a statement myself.

No idea. Its been some time since i saw that change... ah yes, it was when they reworded the eula to prohibit class action lawsuits. While everyone were raving about that i took a better look at that mandatory agreement pop-up and saw that i have to agree with them taking data and providing that same data to third parties - which then may share it with other "parties".
But it doesnt state what that data may be - at all.

Most don't, which has always bothered me. We're in the Information Age, and yet we're not told who gets our data or what it may be in some cases like this.

Also, I recall EU users who refused the update and were locked out of their accounts. Along with all of their games. Not a good sign for such a service like Steam, since the EU forbids companies taking away your right to take a company to court.

Well... some have said it doesnt lock you out of already bought games.... but that was not my experience. I rejected it and couldnt even go into offline mode to start my games, let alone use steam fully.

And i guess new users simply cannot use steam at all unless they agree.

Wouldnt it be better from Valve to disclose what and how they are collecting and then offer that as a free choice for its users. In order to help Valve and yadda, yadda, yadda? And not give that info to third parties which then can use it in anyway they see fit.
Im sure most people would respond positively to such an arrangement.

Valve and Steam did reap a lot of positivity with their relative openness and fairness... but as they grow they seem to follow the same negative route as any other big corporate entity.

I'm certain users would, but you did touch on something there that also points out how dangerous Steam is as required client software, and the monopoly they're tuning into.

With how big they are, people are less likely to disagree with these changes. If they don't agree, the service most of their games are attached to becomes useless. And people want convenience over effort. So, the Steam monopoly on registration and distribution for the triple-A market, who are the people most known for pulling this sort of move, has a bargaining chip to make users say Yes: Say No, and you can't access your games, or some services related to them. And the more games that get onto the service, much less work as exclusives, the worse it gets.

The only times when I've seen EULA update notices, while I was still using the Steam client, was when it started up or idled for a while. For a major overhaul like no reselling of your games, privacy updates, and ect. shouldn't Valve be giving you that info via your e-mail some time in advance to let you know what's about to happen, versus dropping it when you start Steam or are letting it sit idle and doing nothing? Most folks who do consume games gloss over EULA updates already, and showing users those updates then makes it even more so. If they truly were consumer friendly, they would take the time to ensure their users knew about those major updates in advance. Although I could give them credit for highlighting the most important points near the top of those updates, I don't recall the no reselling or privacy ones as being among them.

 

[aris]

The thought of it alone gives me a hard-on.

The craze has pretty much died already though. I doubt inexile will ever get the same funding for another game, that they got from wasteland 2. My guess is that they will go back to making Ipad games.

 

[evdk]

We shall see now, won't we. It's a Torment sequel after all. It all also depends on how profitable WL2 turns out to be.

 

[aris]

We shall see now, won't we. It's a Torment sequel after all.

Hmm, that is actually a pretty solid point.

 

[Garm]

I can be stealthy as i want on the internet. (relatively speaking) And facebook as an extreme example of user data collecting - does not share that data with thrid parties. Yet. Even though it is trying to.
And it doesnt blackmail anyone into accepting that angle by locking you out of your account And your content.
(im not talking about various apps on facebook - for those you have to confirm you agree with them taking data in order to use them)
If valve only used that data for itself - i wouldnt mind so much. Because - Valve - Half life - good guys YEAH?

So... you see now, i hope - how motherfucking idiotic you all are.

Wow...you're so fucking naive. WTF do you think Facebook does with all that data? They use to figure out what ads to show you and they also pass that info along to advertisers. Facebook doesn't have to tell you shit. They're a massive corporation now which means they can buy their way out of whatever laws they break.

And who the fuck is calling Valve "good guys"? I sure as hell haven't. The only thing I've done in this thread is point out how utterly misinformed you are about the way data collection on the internet works.

 

[Metro]

It's kind of a trip seeing hiver defend Facebook in the same way he defended Black Cat.

Hey, no probs babe.

Now you know why I said this thread should have been merged here when it started. It's good to keep this thread fresh so the predictable crew of hiver, Cassidy, Octavius, gaudaost, HHR, etc. can get together and rehash the same hollow arguments.

 

[aris]

It's kind of a trip seeing hiver defend Facebook in the same way he defended Black Cat.

Hey, no probs babe.

Now you know why I said this thread should have been merged here when it started. It's good to keep this thread fresh so the predictable crew of hiver, Cassidy, Octavius, gaudaost, HHR, etc. can get together and rehash the same hollow arguments.

Wait what? You've placed me in the anti-steam crew? Son, you've made a huge mistake.

 

[BLOBERT]

The ratio of good to bad titles in the 80s and 90s was much better than it is today[QUOT/E]

BRO LOLLOLOL DID YOU PLAY GAMES BACK THEN THERE WAS SHIT BY THE BUCKETS LOLOOLLOLOLOL

ONE OF THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES WAS THAT THERE WASNT ALL SORTSW OF CINEMATIC SHIT ALOT FOF THE TIMES SO YOU COULD WASTE A LITTLE WHILE WITH SHIT GAMES AND NOT WASTE TIME WITH BORING INTROS OTR TUTORIALS

 

[Cassidy]

same hollow arguments.

Thanks for the compliment, but your "arguments" and desperation to keep doing free PR for Valve are much more amusing, which is why I post some short barbs and one-liners here once in a while. It is fun to gather all apologists in a single thread too.

 

[DalekFlay]

I spent a lot of stress resources pissing into the wind on Steam for years. Eventually I stopped caring and lo and behold I'm having more fun.

 

[octavius]

I spent a lot of stress resources pissing into the wind on Steam for years. Eventually I stopped caring and lo and behold I'm having more fun.

I started retro gaming, and lo and behold I'm having more fun too.
But it's funny to see Steamtards like Metro getting their panties in a twist when someone doesn't share his love for Steam.

 

[Zewp]

same hollow arguments.

Thanks for the compliment, but your "arguments" and desperation to keep doing free PR for Valve are much more amusing, which is why I post some short barbs and one-liners here once in a while. It is fun to gather all apologists in a single thread too.

We don't need to be apologists because we're not hipsters. Steam provides me a service, I'm satisfied with it and that's enough for me. If you'd like to continue bitching and moaning about Steam, that's your problem. Have fun.

I'll continue to use Steam and not give a fuck.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I started retro gaming, and lo and behold I'm having more fun too.
But it's funny to see Steamtards like Metro getting their panties in a twist when someone doesn't share his love for Steam.

The majority of the complaints I've seen are really idiotic, so I don't blame him for getting annoyed. Look at this gem from the second page of this thread.

Another example that goes in line with Steam's weaselly nature is the blatant lie and misleading when you go to download Steam on their website. It says "Free 1.5MB download", when in reality that's just the downloader, and the real download is much, MUCH larger than that.

 

[Metro]

But it's funny to see Steamtards like Metro getting their panties in a twist when someone doesn't share his love for Steam.

It's funny to see alleged 'retro' gamers like yourself admit to buying Dragon Age and Oblivion.

Predictable trolling.

I'll continue to use Steam and not give a fuck.

This. But I guess $500 over four years is a lot of money to some of the people posting here.

 

[octavius]

But it's funny to see Steamtards like Metro getting their panties in a twist when someone doesn't share his love for Steam.

It's funny to see alleged 'retro' gamers like yourself admit to buying Dragon Age and Oblivion.

You said something about "hollow arguments"?

 

[Metro]

Seems pretty substantive to me but I guess you consider those retro. Or perhaps you don't understand the meaning of the words 'hollow argument.' Let me give you a hand:

Personally I think the indie/Kickstarter scene is more interesting now than the AAA scene.

....

The only AAA titles I know I would have bought the past five years if they were not tied to Steam are Skyrim, Deus Ex: HR and Dishonoured

So despite the fact you're a 'retro' gamer and, in the future, will pretty much only play stuff on Kickstarter (which is always offered in DRM free variety) you bitch and moan about Steam. You're complaining about nothing. That's hollow. Steam is a non-factor in your enjoyment of games. Glad I could be of service.

 

[octavius]

Seems pretty substantive to me but I guess you consider those retro. Or perhaps you don't understand the meaning of the words 'hollow argument.' Let me give you a hand:

Personally I think the indie/Kickstarter scene is more interesting now than the AAA scene.

....

The only AAA titles I know I would have bought the past five years if they were not tied to Steam are Skyrim, Deus Ex: HR and Dishonoured

So despite the fact you're a 'retro' gamer and, in the future, will pretty much only play stuff on Kickstarter (which is always offered in DRM free variety) you bitch and moan about Steam. You're complaining about nothing. That's hollow. Steam is a non-factor in your enjoyment of games. Glad I could be of service.

And you are bitching about someone who "are complaining about nothing"? Since you like Steam so much, all the more power to you. How does it affect you in any way that some of us don't like Steam?
Steam is a non-factor in my enjoyment of games because I chose to go retro instead of playing new games, something I chose partly because few of the new AAA games interested me, and partly because those few that really interested me were tied to Steam. But that doesn't mean I'm not concerned about the development of the computer game industy.

And why do you write 'retro'? Like I should lie about that?

And what kind of an argument is this?

But I guess $500 over four years is a lot of money to some of the people posting here.

Don't you realize that DRM free version of game are generally more expensive than the Steam versions? Some of us are willing to pay a few bucks extra for a DRM free version.

 

[Metro]

Steam is a non-factor in my enjoyment of games

 

[LundB]

Meh, Steam is convenient for me since I travel from country to country all the time for work, and lugging around tons of DVDs would just be a pain in the ass.

Also, even though over 6+ years I've amassed what steam tells me is 831 games (a bunch of that number is probably DLC though, since I have so much Paradoxshit and now THQshit, notorious DLC creators), I'm almost completely certain that I've spent less money on Steam in that time than I did on xmas gifts for family this year, mostly thanks to deep sales.

Sure, the service has downsides, if those are a dealbreaker, don't use it. But the benefits it has (dare I say 'streamlining'?) for someone in my situation make it a superior choice to physical media for me.

 

[LordDenton]

The majority of the complaints I've seen are really idiotic, so I don't blame him for getting annoyed. Look at this gem from the second page of this thread.

Another example that goes in line with Steam's weaselly nature is the blatant lie and misleading when you go to download Steam on their website. It says "Free 1.5MB download", when in reality that's just the downloader, and the real download is much, MUCH larger than that.

That wasn't a complaint, or are you really so thick that you don't get it? That was meant to show that Valve uses deceptive tactics to get people to download their shitty platform. And it's 100% on the spot, because Steam is not a "1.5 MB download".

 

[Admiral jimbob]

well guys, I got the email from Valve, they've been looking over this thread for a while and they've decided you're all right, Steam is shutting down tomorrow. Good use of time on all your parts

 

[LundB]

Mildly amusing, but could be applied to forum posts criticizing just about anything.

, sorry bro.

 

[Zewp]

That wasn't a complaint, or are you really so thick that you don't get it? That was meant to show that Valve uses deceptive tactics to get people to download their shitty platform. And it's 100% on the spot, because Steam is not a "1.5 MB download".

Yes, because we live in 1995 and the 100mb of extra data it needs to download after the initial 1.5mb download is going to take 3 days on our dial-up modems.

 

[LordDenton]

That wasn't a complaint, or are you really so thick that you don't get it? That was meant to show that Valve uses deceptive tactics to get people to download their shitty platform. And it's 100% on the spot, because Steam is not a "1.5 MB download".

Yes, because we live in 1995 and the 100mb of extra data it needs to download after the initial 1.5mb download is going to take 3 days on our dial-up modems.

Bandwidth wasn't the point. The point was deception. Is that so difficult for you guys to understand? I swear, Steam users have got to be some of the slowest people on the planet...