Maybe I'm in a parallel universe, but I've never had a functional problem with Steam.

edit: Oh goody, another new person with a superior attitude! Can't wait to read more. Insults are always enjoyable. "Please expand your horizons by allowing me to list all the ways you're wrong." :-)

*Passes popcorn salt*

Good points. I have stated many times that this era of corporate cheerleading is very distressing. It is like people took the whole "Sega is best, not Nintendo!" thing, and added an uncannily familiar "What's good for <corporation X> is good for <Country of residence>" mantra. Very distressing.

I think it's a somewhat natural side effect of the modern phenomenon of people enjoying talking ABOUT things more than CONSUMING things.

The sales are good for the smaller devs, and are good for the users that take advantage of them. A steam sale literally saved Introversion Software, for example. Without they putting Uplink on sale, there would be no Prison Architect at the moment since they would be no more.

It is bad for consumers when they are digital hoarders (like me), but the sales themselves are without a doubt good for the industry.

If I rage quit GOG the first time I had a problem running a game, or the second, or the third... I've had a lot more problems with GOG games than with Steam games, and that's a store that promises compatibility. (Granted these are older games, but the idea of rage quitting a store on this ground seems strange to me.)

First step, google for solutions. Post on relevant forums for help. If nothing works, try contacting Steam for a refund. They've been known for giving refunds (although it's said that they only do it once per user).
The irony! It's too much!

Not sure why anyone is in love with any game store, or anyone hates one vehemently. Stores are means of getting games. In the case of Steam the app is also a means of keeping them updated, sorting them, keeping in touch with gaming friends on Steam and some other things which for some add value. Oracle doesn't make malware. I assume it's an exaggeration on your part, an over-reaction like uninstalling Steam because a game doesn't work. And assuming you're talking about Java, here's a link to the page at Java.com explaining how to uninstall it. Consoles are a pretty good way to make sure games you buy actually work. (It's not 100% guaranteed, but it's close.)

Oops! mistake!

I confess up front to being a little lazy and skimming your post versus carefully reading it all. It's 2 in the morning here and I am a little tired. That's my story, etc.

From what I just gathered though, I am:

"a sell-out with no integrity"

because I like to shop on Steam I guess. I probably am too because I bought an Apple computer. I've bought some games on Origin too from the dreaded and terrible EA. I am trying to think of what else my sins might be whist coming clean here. Hmm. Well, I am too tired to keep going with the confession. That'll have to do. Bless me Father for I have sinned.

Let me just say that is a pretty foolish and ignorant statement to make about people who you know zero about, other than say the purchasing habits I just confessed to in this case. Actually, you know absolutely nothing about my integrity or really anything else about me.

I did however just learn some things about you from that diatribe. Here's a hint. They were not too good really.

Will the Steam rants ever end? Can there be no peace? Is there no hope for humanity?

Tune in on the GOG.com forums for news on these burning questions and more tomorrow and every day, right here on www.gog.com.
This is purely a guess from a dumbass with no integrity to speak of but I am just gonna toss this out:

Maybe somebody would buy Sim City 4 because they want to have fun.

I know. I know. Fucking stupid really. It's probably just people without integrity wanting to support the evil that is Electronic Arts and the many terrible things that they do.

I just tried searching for War Z on Steam and couldn't find it for some reason. I did see it the other day on sale and was very surprised at how many people were online playing it. The reason I searched just now was I wanted to find out how many people are playing it at this moment and having their fun despite my own and I guess your inability to imagine how that can even be possible. The point being, Steam served up a game some people like even if it does defy reason and they are not dishonest in how they do so. The 20 metacritic rating is right on the store page where you buy the game. At least it was the other day when I looked which is how I know it achieved a glorious 20 rating.

The game's name got changed to Infestation: Survivor Stories. Here's the link.

Edit: 1,986 In-Game

Now I see why you called yourself dirtyharry50... you dirty, dirty sinner!

I believe they changed the game's name.

edit: ninja'd. Oh well, at least I wasn't ninja'd by the templar.

Hmm, I must have warped into the same universe as you. I have been using Steam for over nine years now and I honestly cannot recall ever having a problem. I've purchased over 500 games from them and thus far I have just never had any problem purchasing or playing anything I wanted to whenever I wanted to. How do you like that?
Ah, thank you. Wow, almost two thousand people having fun. That is awful.

I've had, let me think, three problems with Steam games. Bioshock didn't have sound (found a solution), Max Payne 1 just absolutely refused to run for months after I bought it until one day it did (resolved itself, possibly by magic), and there was something wrong with Scratches ... can't remember what, but the GOG release fixed it. Anyway, a perfectly acceptable tally given the number of games I've bought from them; GOG's sitting at about the same (Grimrock was overheating, and I had to copy files around to make Syberia run).

I'm not denying that people have trouble with Steam, but I definitely haven't noticed the massive, symptomatic problems that the GOG forums might sometimes lead one to expect... Even the infamous offline mode works fine.

Does anyone know if they improved WarZ when they changed its name? I didn't really follow that mess, aside from viewing TotalBiscuit's video.