Thanks . . . =)

I hate Steam for their exclusives. I woudn't care about Steam if they didn't monopolize some games.

I know the old C&C games were designed to be able to be played by two people, one person gets the GDI disk, the other gets the NOD disk.

It's not like tons of other DD services don't have exclusive games or preorder bonuses...

I'd just like to point out that Steam is useful in the various holiday periods when select games are dirt cheap. That is where its usefulness ends, and as far as I'm willing to participate in it.

Just trying to see the bright side of the issue...

Otherwise I don't like it. The client sucks donkey balls.

As has been said before, sure Steam is DRM. It's there to ensure that after you buy the game you don't give it away to other people to hopefully ensure more sales. It's a legitimate business tactic, I don't begrudge companies wanting people to pay for their products. I could let my friends use games from my GOG account but I don't, I tell them to buy a copy themselves (GOG or otherwise) or go without, because that is wrong and the developers deserve their money if they want to play their game that badly.

All that aside, as far as DRM goes Steam is the lesser of the evils. It's merits far outweigh it's detriments and here's why: it adds functionality that many, many people really enjoy. It's integrated friends lists, Steam cloud, Steamworks suite, integrated store, and numerous deals (some of which are quite insane) all add things I appreciate greatly. The fact that I can see what games my friends are playing and jump in immediately with just a click or two (for games that support it, of course) is amazing and removes quite a bit of hassle. Steam cloud (if the game supports it) is great for when I uninstall a game and then later decide to reinstall it because I don't have to go back and reconfigure control settings, graphical settings, sound, etc., and it's even better for those who have multiple computers. I can also immediately see when a new game is being released and perhaps even pre-order it and have it already installed on my machine so that I can play it immediately at launch (if their servers don't get slammed due to overwhelming demand).

I know that it isn't a perfect service. Like I said up above, not all games support Steamworks or Steam cloud, though I don't know why because if I am remembering correctly Steamworks is free to implement for anyone who distributes their games through Steam if they wish, and if they don't then those features I mentioned are useless. And again, if there is too much frothing demand placed on their servers at the launch of a highly anticipated game then those brand new games aren't available to play immediately. While Steam has an offline mode that works once you initially download the game and run it at least one time, it doesn't seem to work for everyone. I've never encountered a problem with it but I have heard tell of many people who can't seem to get it working for the life of them, and it sucks to not be able to play a game you own due to not having an internet connection.

I've noticed an intense anti-Steam feeling here on the GOG.com forums and I must state that for myself and countless millions of others, Steam's pros vastly outnumber it's cons and I (and they) wouldn't have it any other way. I understand if it isn't right for you, but you can't state as fact that it is an awful service, you can only offer your opinion that it is so. Also bear in mind that Steam and GOG don't have to be mutually exclusive, if I am offered a choice I will usually buy a game from GOG even if it's a little more expensive because older games tend to run into problems running on newer OS's (I use Windows 7 x64) and GOG guarantees compatibility.

I'm not trying to say that anybody has to like Steam or use it, and I'm not even saying that you aren't entitled to your opinion of Steam because you most certainly are, I'm just saying that for a lot of people there are a lot of really good reasons to use it and I would try and look at it from their point of view and understand how they feel.

tl;dr Steam is pretty cool even if it isn't for everyone

I think 95% of the Steam features people love are irrelevant for singleplayer only gamers like myself. I honestly never use the community features in Steam, ever.

This is a perfectly valid viewpoint and I understand what you're saying but it doesn't make the features any less worthwhile to others.

The worthwhile features you like have nothing to do with the DRM and could be offered (and have been offered as part of other services) without it.

This is of course my personal opinion, but I believe this is one of the general problems when it comes to the Steam service. People continually focus on the features and mix it up with DRM discussions, blurring the lines and often blinding people. This is not directed specifically at you, but it is something I have noticed in countless discussions.

You mention Steam is the lesser of the evils. I do not see it this way. If we focus solely on the DRM aspect, it becomes apparent that Steam is just as bad as other forms of DRM, if not worse.

For example, most SecuROM games only require the user to go online once for activation, and then it never bothers the user again until the game is reinstalled. The user does not have to worry about being online, always running a client, or anything else. The only hindrance is activation limits if they are imposed, but many developers tend to patch them out or release deactivation clients once the initial sales period has passed. If limits are not removed, there are some other ways to bypass it. Byteshield DRM, a company Gamersgate has partnered with, operates very similarly.

TAGES and Starforce have a slightly worse reputation, but tend to operate along the same lines. TAGES used to not allow de-activations, but that has since changed I believe. Starforce I admit to knowing little about, as it does not seem all that common anymore after the reputation it earned corrupting disc drives.

With Steam, you must install the client and activate your game online, which is fairly standard. However, after activation, you must still run the client any time you wish to access your games. If you are online, it will constantly check for authentication every time the game is launched. Due to this, you are at the mercy of the servers and their capacity. If they become overloaded, or go down for maintenance, then it comes down to offline mode which as you mentioned, many users struggle with.

Additional concerns are being forced to play only their version of the game as well with no alternative option (some are never patched), being tied to an account, and the sole reliance on one service to manage all games tied to it. If you run into account trouble, that one game is not lost, but all of them.

Of course, then we have Ubisoft, which I doubt I need to describe. I am fairly confident we can all agree that this is the rock bottom of DRM and just needs to go away. I have yet to purchase any products that use this, and I likely never will until it is removed. My ISP is not reliable enough for me to even want to try playing games that demand an always on connection.

So, as you see, I must disagree. Steam is not the lesser of evils, but in fact, one of the more worse offenders. I understand it offers features, and I do not deny their usefulness for many people. Once you remove those though and focus solely on DRM, it becomes a very different picture.

See, that's another thing: people want to discuss Steam as DRM when it is a platform; it isn't fair comparing Steam to TAGES for example when the offerings are completely different. Sure, you can compare Steamworks to Starforce, TAGES or whatever DRM implementation you want, but that is comparing part of a whole (Steamworks DRM while neglecting the rest of the platform) to a complete offering (Starforce, TAGES etc.)

I think that people don't understand (or don't want to) that Steam is now (especially since the launch of the OS X version) a platform just like the Xbox or the PS3 is a platform and as such it encompasses more than just a DRM scheme, and while comparing certain aspects of it to other available options you can not do it in a vacuum ignoring the rest of the things it (as a platform) is bringing to the table.

So true. And also the other way around. The DRM of Steam is in no way helping the Steam community features to work better. One should stop mingling them together since the DRM and the community things are pretty independent.

However, the customer always looks at the whole package and comparing the pros and the cons. So the strategy of Valve is to offer incentives for the people to take up with the DRM.

I want to control my gaming only by myself, want to maintain the ability to resell my games. So Steam is not working for me. However it works for others. Its convenient enough and they don't realize the full potential of restricted rights.

But Steam is DRM and Steam will always be inferior to a Steam without DRM.

In some way GOG is like the good parts of Steam only: Buy online, download anywhere and as often as you like. Actually the recent stunt of GOG made me a little less sure about it. :)

When SecurSteam goes down and all you Fan Boys lose all your $100's you poured into it and cant play or use it no more I will be laughing at you and your crying and just post things like I told you so moron...

For your own good get out now stop supporting DRM.

If you are an old PC gamer I am talking to you I am talking to the guys that have been playing since the 80's and early 90's if you have accepted this DRM crap you should be ashamed of yourself.

Boycott all types of DRM and it will go away if you keep embracing it… it will get worse.

Indeed. If every Steamworks game allowed you an offline install with less features like Games for Windows Live does then I would never complain about Steam DRM.

I bought Rogue Warrior for $5 a while back and it had a singleplayer offline install and a Steamworks activated install for multiplayer and achievements. If every Steamworks game did that it would be awesome, and I would become a MASSIVE Steam supporter, rather than someone who airs concerns about Steam frequently.

Unfortunately, no-one gives a damn about DRM until it inconveniences them, by which they start giving a damn about only that specific system. DRM has been in PC gaming in some form since year dot, and will never go away, no matter how hard some people huffs and puffs. Anyone who argues otherwise is extremely naive.