I used to just ignore it. But since a few years ago some games I still really like to buy/play arrived as steam only (Civ5, FO:NV & Skyrim as most dominant examples) I'd say yes, I boycott it. But I also don't pirate these games regardless of how interesting they sound.

Its not just steam, its all singleplayer games with online DRM.

Of course, it was not what any of them meant, but it inadvertently looks pretty Orwellian:

Naive citizen: I only bought game X and Y in Steam because I did not found them in GOG...

Secret police: AHA TRAITOR! Game X is in Gamersgate!!!
Inquisitor: SO YOU ADMIT IT HERETIC! Game Y is in DotEmu!!!

You need a polish bank account or other "local payment option" Steam is very anal about being in another country when buying games. Even within EU countries (no price difference) you cannot by if not "in the country". Probably tax reasons.

Well, an US IP will also do just fine.

Probably a regional restriction thing then. If your Steam account was created in the US, it may prevent you from buying games anywhere else.

That can still depend I think.

If US Account -> In Poland = problem without local payment.

Polish account, in Poland, with US payment card = problem without local payment again. Are you using local payment options for the polish account?

Easiest thing is probably to just contact Steam and tell them you moved countries (for work?) They'll either allow you to buy from US with your payment options or switch it to Polish I imagine.

Weird. I was able to use my account in Britain with those "paysafecards" (but that was a year ago). When I want to buy stuff on Steam directly with my accounts or paypal I need to switch my IP back to Germany however.

I know that US service members in Germany can somehow get their account "US locked" (US storefront and payment options) even if they connect from Germany/ROW, so support should be able to help you if it really bothers you. On the other hand, I now nearly buy most of my Steam games on third party stores anyway....

(They probably noticed you are working for the competition and are trolling you. The fact that you were at EA before that certainly doesn't help ;-P. )

I have only ever used steam so i could play the doctor who cloned me.

As well as my copy of Call of Juarez The cartel - worse game i played this year, at least the uplay points came in handy for assassin's creed.

i have a few other steam games on disc that i bought so i owned them - but i have never used the disc.

though for the last year and a half i have had a internet connection good enough to utilize it

i bought games in poland with my australian visa card without problems. the account was created in poland tough in 2004 for HL2.

i think the problem is with your set up. billing information and so on do not match.

I don't buy games from Steam. Any game bought there, apart from the small set of DRM-free ones, is a defective product. Also, as others have mentioned, their terms are awful. I have only one Steam game and that's only because they were giving it away for free.

This video pretty much gives the reasons why I object to Steam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW5tn7NoRqo

I like Steam, they have a good service and I spend money there. I think GOG is better and I like DRM-free stuff, when I can choose this store will always see my money, but when a game requires Steam, that's fine. Steam was a good thing for PC gaming and their DRM is not that bad, always online is the real evil and stuff like Diablo3 will never see a cent from me. =P

The only game I've ever boycott is Diablo 3, and I would do the same to any other game I had an interest if they had always online DRM, steam or not. :)
I refuse to give money to those kinds of business practices.
I fairly often find myself without internet and suddenly I can't play my single player games because even the single player absolutely requires me to be online.
Meanwhile the pirates are laughing because they have a reverse engineered copy and they're not bothered by it at all...
Anyway, sorry about the rant, always online DRM for a single player game makes my blood boil. Or rather, the fact that the fanboys allow this kind of business practice to keep existing, when it's not hurting anyone except for those same fanboys and other loyal customers.
(And yes, I am many year player of Diablo and Diablo 2 and have bought pretty much everything they have offered me before this)

So long story short: No, I have not consciously boycott any steam games, but I would if they had always online DRM for the single player portion of the game.

That pretty much sums up my stance as well.
Having to create a new Steam and email account for every new game tied to this, plus the same procedure again if I have to contact their support, regional restrictions that force me to use a VPN, mandatory updates and cloud syncing (both of which is great if it's optional)...
All those inconveniences greatly devalue anything that requires me to put up with them, so paying the full RRP for a Steam game is out of the question.

A personal anecdote, I did boycott Steam for a few years, starting shortly after it was made public. Initially I was thrilled to give it a try, being an avid player of Half-Life mods and a bit of a Valve fan. The plethora of issues quickly turned me away, and Valve forcefully converting the multiplayer community by shutting down WON in order to establish Steam was certainly a smart business move, but destroyed most of my goodwill. The rest of it went away after I played Half-Life 2 several years later.

If you are talking about Matrix Games, then no, they have their own webstore (that pre-dates steam). Sadly this also means that you don't get the great sales that are popular on most of the major digital distribution sites. And their games tends to be expensive.
On the plus side, you can order boxes copies of all their games, which is nice for those that don't have a high speed connection.




Also, do I boycott steam? No, I just downprioritize them. For the most part my experiences with Steam has been good, though I still prefer DRM free.