I take it you were able to resolve that issue before you made your second purchase? Even then, I don't think I'd have chanced it, personally. Damn that's shitty service!

I like how he just repeated what I said and you're all good now.
All Steam games require online authentification, by the by.

Non offense intended, but I did point out why I thought you were mistaken. He reinforced what you said, and also noted that he'd personally verified it, so I thanked him for that. Apologies if you were offended.

It still applies, Steam requires you to be online and verify your account from time to time, and perhaps when you install, though I am not 100% sure on that one.
Put Steam offline and see how many days you can play without changing it... someone told me once it's about a week.
I think EA is just more thorough than most companies with those disclaimers... they also point out that online services may end at any time with 30 days notice, and while that is the same with all games, no one else points it out.

Put Steam offline and see how many days you can play without changing it... someone told me once it's about a week.
Well over 6 months. My old PC still has Steam in offline mode =)
When online, Steam authenticates your games *every time* you launch them.

Exactly. Steam clearly marks all third-party DRM's on the game's info page, so you can make a smart decision. It's all rather moot though, since who cares if there are DRM's in games you are essentially renting? That and the fact that Steam is a DRM. The only logical reason I can see a Steam user complaining about DRM's is regarding SecuRom, since apparently its notoriously impossible to remove from your machine once it's on there, and it takes Higher-than-admin level priviledge.

tHIS ARTICLE IS A YEAR OLD BUT IS STILL RELEVANT
http://www.ninjapirate.com/content.php?f=spore.html
the same goes for steam, once you have 100 plus games, it's notoriously impossible to remove from your life and it takes more will power than most.

Exactly. Steam clearly marks all third-party DRM's on the game's info page
Sadly, even that isn't true. There are still a few games with third party DRM om Steam for which it is not listed on the games page. The one I recall right now is Two Worlds which has some form of limited online activations but no mention of it on the product page. I think Earth 2160 is another such game.
is regarding SecuRom, since apparently its notoriously impossible to remove from your machine once it's on there, and it takes Higher-than-admin level priviledge.
It only takes about 5 minutes to remove SecuROM from a PC. Something I've done several times.

It's a sad, sorry state of affairs when you have to crack the damn games just to get them to work, isn't it? Nothing new, mind. Thanks to Starforce, this is something we've been used to for far too long now. Yet still publishers don't learn.

It certainly is. But if that's the way the publishers want it, then that's the way it's going to be. =/

True. Although you have to wonder how long they can keep throwing large amounts of money at useless, counter-productive DRM and not stop to think about what they're doing.
You'd have thought they would care when they damage their own sales over something that the pirates have cracked before the game is even released. If nothing else, money does matter to these people, right? I know logic is alien to them, but I'd have thought that much would have sunk in.

I thought they've learned their lessons during the Spore fiasco. But alas...

Even though Steam is a form of DRM, it does not limit your installs or anything like that... there is no reason to worry about a Steam game running and working as long as Steam still exists, and even after. One of the great benefits of Steam, when not hampered by outside DRM, is that you can install it and all your games anywhere you want, on any computer you want.
SecuROM games with activation limits on the other hand... not so much. 5 machines/reformats later and you have no game unless you beg for another install. Usually you only get one more, maybe two. After that Steam won't even let you buy another copy, since you already did, you have to buy one from somewhere else (or pirate it, since you would be morally justified in doing so for obvious reasons).
There is a HUGE difference.

You missed the point. A game with SecuRom installed, even though annoying, is still *yours*. A game on Steam is a glorified rental. Steam SELLS itself as being like Gamersgate, D2D, Impulse, etc, but the closest competitor Steam has in fact is Gametap. They offer identical services.