Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
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If you are worried about your privacy, as far as I know SAteam is not as penetrant as Microsoft, Google, Facebook and the likes. And you could set up a dual boot on your rig: one for gaming only, and one for anything else. That way, you can leave steam bypassed and "off" as long as you do not need it.
Or you simply disable it from autoloading with Windows booting. 
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While I am one that prefers to purchase the game disk/CD/DVD, go home and install the game, and never touch the disk again...
Just a few thoughts:
"Offline Mode" is your friend.
I show about "3 Minutes" played for Fallout: New Vegas.
But I played FO:NV for 1 YEAR in "offline mode", before logging back in to update to the patched version (sometime in 2011).
I've played that game alone, for weeks at a time. With potentially MORE hours total, than SH3 and SH4 combined. Both were purchased about the same time.
(My SH3 was the SH2/3 combo, without the Starforce.)
I only get online to update, and/or get a new game.
Steam's Primary advantage *to -ME-* is:
Newer (CD/DVD based) games often required the disk to be in the drive in order to run.
This has resulted in the loss of many of my older games. Some from as far back as 1997/1998.
As a result, I'm not wearing out my disk.
(With WINE giving added benifits that I can cover if you want to know.)
Barracuda