Why buy games off Steam???

[Der_Meister]

I recently picked up AvP Classic 2000 for 4.99, and Red Orchestra for 4.99 a few months ago! Steam has great deals sometimes.

[Flopper]

I picked up sh3 for $5 around Christmas, and last week picked up IL2 Sturmovik 1946, also $5, or was it 10? And Railworks Mega Bundle was 66% off and I picked that up too. I didn't have to drive somewhere and see if they were available, and there's an offline mode. I had my doubts at first, but so far, so good.

[Camaero]

I seem to find great deals on steam... I'm actually a fan of the whole thing. Steam takes care of patches and puts everything in one nice and neat place. Plus for MP games it's *very* nice being able to have a friendlist and see who's playing what and blah blah. Meh... I can't say I have much to complain about as far as Steam goes.

Actually I will say this: I have impulsively bought games on Steam that I would have otherwise never bought had I needed to drag myself to the store or was forced to wait and have it shipped to me. Sometimes this has lead to regrets and a waste of money... but I blame being part of the "now" generation more than I blame Steam.

[Eyebiter]

Steam is fine for games without any additional DRM. Things get ugly though when the publisher uses Steam for distribution with an invasive copy protection method like Starforce.

[TteFAboB]

The first game I bought on Steam was Dangerous Waters, because I couldn't find a hard copy anywhere. Then the convenience of just pushing a button and having a game installed on my machine tempted me to buy another game on Steam, and another, and another, etc.

So now I have about a dozen or so games on Steam, and 4 on Impulse, the tiny competitor.

And I regret it immensely.

Because when you buy a game on Steam, while for all practical purposes you do "buy a game" like in a store, technically you are actually paying a one-time fee for an indefinite rental service, which means that if or when Steam disappears all your purchased games will go down with the service.

So they better keep that boat afloat... You could compare it with buying a real bar of gold and a piece of paper that states your right to withdraw a bar of gold from bank Rupt. Gold, diamonds and jewel cases are forever (except when targeted by giant laser cannons).

Gladly, most games on my Steam (and most games in general) won't be worth playing or having in the next decades anyway, but some of them will, and for these I miss a disc from which I can install anytime, anywhere, regardless of the financial status and history of Company A or B, internet connections, etc.

So I'd recommend buying a disc of the games worth keeping through the times, even if you have a Steam version as well for Steam's conveniences.

Having said that, as the service it intends to be Steam is way better than alternatives with limited activations, fixed hardware requirements, E.T. phoning home every week or bust, internet connection required to start, etc., and it works most of the time, though I've been caught off guard by server maintenance in L4D2 a few times, but that won't be a problem with off-line games.

[Flopper]

I'm missing one of my FS2004 disks. I've looked everywhere... can't play it.

[Task Force]

Ive never had any issues for steam, been useing it for around a year now... Kind of like it actualy...

[Skullcowboy]

Sale prices on good games is my main draw to Steam. Just got Stalker: Call of Pripyat for $19.99 USD because I had purchased Stalker: Clear Sky ($9.99) on Steam. And I too used to be a hard copy fanatic, but truth be told most brick and mortar stores are carrying less and less PC games in their inventory. I still order boxed games via the interwebs but I have an instant gratification problem. I don't want to order it and wait a week for it to get here. I either jump in my car and go get it or hit Steam or Impulse or even GOG so I can have it NOW.

[Highbury]

Like most people have said, I rarely buy new games on Steam, just the deals and they are usually very good.

Il-2 1946 is my best example. I had a case here with all of the disks from the day Forgotten Battles came out, every expansion.. was getting to be a good stack. Then I saw the whole lot for $4.99... done.

[Ilpalazzo]

I used to hate steam. Now I see it as a sort of all in one game program where I can easily find and communicate with friends as well as purchase, update and install games without really doing anything. I used to be pissy about needing steam to load up to let me play something but now I kinda don't care as I tend to leave it running anyway. I mostly like it now because of the ridonculous deals that are oh so common on there. over the last year I've been buying a lot of games on steam. I would have passed on all of them for retail price, but jesus man when it tells me I can get this that and/or the other for less than 30, 20 or 10 dollars I can't stop myself. I can't remember the last time I paid retail price for a video game.

I do still hate how a game's files are buried under the steam folder. Somehow I never get used to that. So if I know I'll be poking around in a game's files I have to make a shortcut to it.

I'm sure steam wouldn't like it, but I wish I could pass off steam games I no longer want to friends or even let others borrow them.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Skullcowboy

I either jump in my car and go get it or hit Steam or Impulse or even GOG so I can have it NOW.

Ah, Impulse is great place. Nice they convert the prices from $ to € instead of having the Steam way of having the same price for the same game i.e. $49 and 49€. The downside is that many of the new/better selling games are only available on that side of the pond. Otherwise very nice place to buy games from.

[Zachstar]

I like the deals at steam. Also I like how its DRM is effective but gives lots of choice to the owner and customer.

I have spent over 700USD on steam so far. I don't regret spending that much.

[Sailor Steve]

I tried to by SH4 UBM from them back when that was the only way you could get it. For some weird reason their system thought I lived somewhere else and wouldn't talk to me. The customer service girl was very nice and did everything she could to help, but no dice. When SH4 Gold was released I bought it in a store.

I like owning things. Property on my computer just isn't the same.

[stabiz]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I like owning things. Property on my computer just isn't the same.

Yep, me too. I only buy stuff from/on steam if I have no alternative. Lets say I buy Napoleon: Total War on steam (I didnt, got the dvd) and my computer implodes forcing a reinstall of OS. Well, that means downloading damn close to 20GB while with a dvd its installed in 2 minutes. Sure, i could backup the game files and put them on an external hd, but why should i have to?

[Nordmann]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I like owning things. Property on my computer just isn't the same.

QFT.

As someone else mentioned earlier in the thread, Steam's prices (at least for UK residents) are a bloody rip off. They are often twice, or even three times, what the same game is selling for on Amazon UK. I just cannot see the advantage of paying more, and also being tied to the Steam client.

I'll use it if forced to, but only under protest, and I sure as hell won't buy from them if the game is available elsewhere for much less.