For many years I boycotted Steam but then decided to give it a chance even if it isn't DRM-free because I heard so many people saying how good it is. I used it exclusively for 2 years and that was such a pain. Constant problems with the client, forcing you to connect to internet because the offline mode didn't work. It would force you get online if you were offline for 5 days so I couldn't access my games.

Now I don't use it anymore for many reasons, I won't bother buying a game if it isn't DRM-free, just not worth it. Only reason I would use Steam if I was into multiplayer which I'm not, find that gets boring real fast. I'm quite happy with GOG and the Galaxy client, it's works at least and don't have to bother with all that DRM crap.

Well, there you go. Just go one step further and you're there.

I've actually been a bit unhappy with Gog in recent weeks, so I gave Steam another chance to woo me over and installed their client for a bit. Questionable performance (this might be down to other factors, to be fair); dependency on a client (steamcmd is an option, thought strictly speaking that's a client, too, plus there's limitations as well, no way to activate product keys afaik for example); the client rolls out its own UI instead of respecting system wide settings; UI is slightly on the horrible side with often used elements being to close to too sensitive dropdown elements or the close button designed for DEs with a taskbar and no way of changing that nonstandard behaviour as far as I could see; categories working purely inclusively and not exclusively making library organization more cumbersome than it needs to be; the "add a non Steam game" option not being able to handle symlinks for some reason; not being able to globally set the workspace or at least the display games launch on by default; achievements everywhere with no option to disable them (the best I could do was modifying a skin to render the pop ups invisible, but that's about it); absolutely no curation (positives and negatives here, I just personally prefer a curated store); no version control and of course no control over the license you bought.

That's just off the top of my head. And only things that affect me personally. After barely two weeks.
Now some of these might seem nitpicky and minor, but I am of the antiquated disposition that any software I install needs to benefit me and if a service comes with mandatory software, it better delivers.
And in the end I had maybe two or three games on there that I'd really like to be available on Gog. It's just not a good trade off.

Certainly there are usecases where Steam makes sense. If you absolutely have to play those games you don't get here. Or if you feel like you need effortless multiplayer or automated updates (though this might be adequately achieved through Galaxy, I'm not entirely sure). That's not the case for everyone, though. I'm not interested in multiplayer or early access and I'm gravitating more towards higher profile indies these days, where Gog's coverage is pretty decent, in which case Steam's assorted benefits are marginal at best.

Frankly, and this obviously might be a personal thing that's not applicable to you, not having to deal with Steam's numerous shortcommings or Valve's imo manipulative social hooks has made gaming a lot more enjoyable.

In my case it`s simple: Freedom.

1. I can quite easily install my own patches. As long as Devs allow the Patch to be downloaded with an install executable, it`s a no brainer. To say that`s why Steam is better only shows how incredibly lazy people have become.

2. Choice. If you hate a particular patch you can simply reinstall a former one without complicated hassle.

3. Mods work much better when manually installed and many mods (say like from the Nexus) now have a simple executable with options making it easy to install. In my many uses of Mods I have found that Steam has all kinds of weird issues which I`m not sure are done on purpose or just buggy. Steam mods will often not show up if you try playing with Steam Offline or will play all kinds of hell with what you chose- I have had this with Xcom 2 and Total War games. When I installed these Mods MANUALLY, problem vanished, always being there.

4. Less cpu resources being clogged up by needless 3rd party rubbish. Now these may or may not be minor... It was quite a big deal in the early days of Steam when pcs needed all the processing resources it could get. Might still be now if you have a lesser pc, but most don`t understand this. In fact it has become worse with others copying Steam (origin/Ubi etc) actually adding to this- many of you criticise Origin, but Steam`s why it all happened.

5. I like to own what I BUY. I`ve heard all the nonsense from the sycophants that it`s "Not yours! The licence! blah!blah!" The kettle I buy to boil my water for my tea could be put under the same argument as the licence for that isn`t mine, but the kettle itself, in my house, is mine. The game on my computer, which I paid for is mine.

This particular point is likely the talk of young people who`ve got everything from Mommy or Daddy and not people who actually earned their money for what they buy.

6. Steam is disengenuous telling us it`s for our convenience, stroking us with one hand while carefully slipping chain manacles on our feet with the other. Some of you don`t see it but that`s what`s going on. this is to benefit the companies while lying to you. Sadly, there are indications of GOG dancing with that deception here with Galaxy... If they make Galaxy mandatory then you will see where they truly stand.

7. Freedom. To be able to simply install and play a SP game without worrying that sooner or later, Steam, or Origin, etc is going to say, "Nope, we detect no internet, or we just don`t like you, no play!" Puts me on edge all the time. I can`t enjoy games while on edge and won`t stick my head in the sand pretending I can`t see what the problem is.

And no, I`m not going to go into `my steam mommy` retarded circular arguments; if you like Steam use it, just don`t tell the rest of us we should be forced to for our games. I`m simply stating the Truth here.

First they have to have actual customer service in order to be bad at it...They mostly use bots which is more than fucked up due to valve being a multi-billion dollar company...

Bots? They use premade answers, that doesn't mean they're automated.

it's actually really really easy if you're not into the big recent games from the big publishers.

I'm mostly using the term loosely as they rely too much on a hands-off automated approach to "customer service," forum moderation, and how they handle their company over all...BTW: Pre-made answers are also a form of automation as well.

1.I use steam and gog but if i want to play multiplayer which i do a lot i have to use steam as well games are kinda cheaper on steam as well it easier to buy stuff on steam then gog for example my gas station i can earn rewards which i can buy steam cards as well i just recently bought a $20.00 from bestbuy for $15.00 since i had a $5 off. :P

2. gog has great service with support while valve is shit even there service is pretty much sends you in circles.

3. gog you can install own patches but if your like me and play games that requires newest patch to play online mulitplayer you would have to download everyone by hand on gog like if it was unreal for example. i couldn't do this if i played lets say 10 online games because i would have to keep checking everytime i wanted to play

4. saying it's lazy don't realize i can't check for 50+ games downloaded on my computer if all the patches are updated, not everyone knows if one patch is updated or not

5. it's easier to connect with people to play games on steam then gog which is why gog mainly has single player games that can play offline

6. from my point of view on gog at lest it's great for drm-free, old games and that's it bringing in profiles at lest gives it something else to add.

(being from america)

I suppose I have broken my Steam boycott. Humble was giving away codes for the Steam-exclusive version of Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Returns Deluxe. Since I have SR Returns (and Dragonfall as well as Hong Kong, but I digress) on a real game distribution site (Guess which one. Go on, guess.), I took a look to see what, if anything, the oh so deluxe steam exclusive version offered that wasn't in the GoG one.

And there were two things. The first was the soundtrack and the second was the so-called 'anthology DLC', which is not actually DLC but is just a PDF of short stories. But I figured free is a good price so I went and got it and downloaded the soundtrack and the PDF (I refuse to call it DLC).

So yeah. I am now part of the problem.

I used Steam right as it launched, and from that i decided to stop using it due to it working as DRM and having the potential to 'unbalance' the games industry (which i would argue is what happened).

A few discussions with devs at the time also did not leave me thinking it was a service to benefit themselves more than any other concern.

Sure Steam did 'save' AAA PC gaming, offering a DRM solution that the big publishers could use to protect their product and a solution that the vast majority of gamers were happy with.

Still all the things i found wrong about Steam at the beginning, and the concerns i had about it in the future have all made me a 'boycotting Steam' gamer.

GOG was cut from a different cloth and it was a relief when it turned up on the scene, and long may it continue doing DD 'right' in the future.

I use Steam like Discored now. It's been years since I bought anything from it and I'm disappointed it's not been longer. It wasn't actually DRM that first made me want to stop using Steam. It was the fact that I was paying an extra $70 for a game because of my region. They were both in US dollars too

You could just uninstall the client in case you no longer want Steam as Shadowrun has no need for the client after you've downloaded the game according to this.

Keep being stubborn; NV gets released in 2017! Also stop smoking and drop that chocolate candy bar now you lard bucket!!



... Time continuum saved :)

Yeah, I know. I never actually downloaded the game (I have the GoG version, so why would I?). I only downloaded the PDF and the soundtrack, and let tell you that was a far bigger pain in my reproductive organs than it should have been.

GoG's method is far simpler. If I just want the soundtrack (and I have bought games just for their soundtrack) and only the soundtrack, I click on the link labeled 'soundtrack' and download it. No chicanery with hidden console commands or the like.