nightcraw1er.488: Other than that if i mistakenly buy a steam game - i.e. one with just the client on the disc, it just goes in the bin.
Actually if I had spent real money on it, I would not be very hesitant to find "alternative" download sources for the content that was supposed to be on the disk. Fortunately this has not yet happened to me.
hummer010: This thread is very timely - I was just thinking about this the other day. I was thinking, I used to use them all the time, and I easily justified by the fact that I had actually purchased the game - it wasn't stealing. And then I got to thinking, are there steam cracks? Using steamcmd and some sort of steam crack would allow me to play the games I own on steam without needing steam. It's the same justification - I've already paid for them.
At the end of the day, I'm not too likely to go that route. I remember the hassle of finding the right crack for the right version & language, or just finding cracks that worked. It's probably just easier to keep using steam.
It's possible. Alongside the cracks for many games there are alternative installers available that will install the game from disk, but without Steam.