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melchiz: Steam is a service that offers convenience at the cost of freedom. That is a dangerous compromise, friends.

Not like we're talking about civil liberties type of freedom. More like the freedom of me to decide ten years down the road that I want to play Witcher or Torchlight again and the Steam servers are shut down without them having provided an offline mode patch. Weighing it all, I side with convenience.
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melchiz: Steam is a service that offers convenience at the cost of freedom. That is a dangerous compromise, friends.

Good grief...were you a speechwriter for Dubya?
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melchiz: Steam is a service that offers convenience at the cost of freedom. That is a dangerous compromise, friends.
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Crassmaster: Good grief...were you a speechwriter for Dubya?

Don't be mad. Any speech of Dubya's would have played down the sacrifice of freedoms (in the name of getting them pesky terrorists).
Heh. I'm pleased that my statement has triggered more discussion.
Steam sucks.
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melchiz: Heh. I'm pleased that my statement has triggered more discussion.

Well, to further elaborate the convenience/liberty balance: A prime example of my Steam purchases was today when I got Overlord 1 and 2 for $8.75. Short of piracy, you'll probably never see it for any cheaper and, at that price, I'm not really concerned if it's just a 'rental.'
So yeah, if you pay $40+ for games on Steam, it's somewhat of a risky proposition. When you wait for sales, it's not really an issue.
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Metro09: So yeah, if you pay $40+ for games on Steam, it's somewhat of a risky proposition. When you wait for sales, it's not really an issue.

That is a reasonable stance, even if I wouldn't endorse it.
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Metro09: You can play Steam games offline (well, the non-multiplayer ones) -- you just can't install them when you're offline, obviously.
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Weclock: but you can't play non-valve games while not logged in. and looking at a steam guy funny will get your login disabled.

Why would you mess with anyone who uses/is involved with Steam? I mean, have you gotten into that many scrapes via the Steam boards/chatlogs? I personally avoid most people who aren't friends that I've met elsewhere, when dealing with Steam.
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TrIp13G: Why would you mess with anyone who uses/is involved with Steam? I mean, have you gotten into that many scrapes via the Steam boards/chatlogs? I personally avoid most people who aren't friends that I've met elsewhere, when dealing with Steam.

You are overanalyzing his statement. Valve has some questionable ban practices, such as refusing to remove a VAC ban for previously hacked/phished accounts. Their support is also far from reliable.
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TrIp13G: Why would you mess with anyone who uses/is involved with Steam? I mean, have you gotten into that many scrapes via the Steam boards/chatlogs? I personally avoid most people who aren't friends that I've met elsewhere, when dealing with Steam.
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melchiz: You are overanalyzing his statement. Valve has some questionable ban practices, such as refusing to remove a VAC ban for previously hacked/phished accounts. Their support is also far from reliable.

I've never had any major issues with them, and those that I did face were dealt with promptly. Maybe I'm just lucky, considering all of the "horror stories" I've heard from several sources of varying reliability.
I will say this: I was able to get a hold of a copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory through Steam, which I otherwise wouldn't have bought. The reason? The version released there (as well as on D2D) was devoid of Stardock's highly invasive DRM. I'll take Steam's method over that crap any day.
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TrIp13G: I will say this: I was able to get a hold of a copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory through Steam, which I otherwise wouldn't have bought. The reason? The version released there (as well as on D2D) was devoid of Stardock's highly invasive DRM. I'll take Steam's method over that crap any day.

The DRM is StarFORCE, and has nothing to do with StarDOCK.
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melchiz: Heh. I'm pleased that my statement has triggered more discussion.
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Metro09: Well, to further elaborate the convenience/liberty balance: A prime example of my Steam purchases was today when I got Overlord 1 and 2 for $8.75. Short of piracy, you'll probably never see it for any cheaper and, at that price, I'm not really concerned if it's just a 'rental.'
So yeah, if you pay $40+ for games on Steam, it's somewhat of a risky proposition. When you wait for sales, it's not really an issue.

Exactly. A given Steam purchase is like a poker hand..only pay what you figure you can get a return on.
IE, if you figure you will get at least 2 months of playtime with Overlord, pay what you would for a 2-month rental and no more.
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melchiz: Steam is a service that offers convenience at the cost of freedom. That is a dangerous compromise, friends.

I agree if you allow compromise in one area of life you will allow it in many more, and yes if your Human it is very anti-Human, and anti-Human Rights AKA God given Rights what Steam and DRM represent. You have to look outside your little box to see what is going on...
If you were not born in a free country I dont expect you to understand this concept...
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CaptainGyro: both oddword games at steam-$10 total (bought both on the sale for total of $5)
at gog-$20
total of gog games that have had problems running on my pc-4
steam -0
I just feel like arguing

I'd like GoG.com to post if you actually have bought any games here or are a anti Gog.com spammer...
Oh and I have never had a steam game work on my PC...
Steam = 0
Gog.com = 5
Post edited November 19, 2009 by FlyByU
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TrIp13G: I will say this: I was able to get a hold of a copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory through Steam, which I otherwise wouldn't have bought. The reason? The version released there (as well as on D2D) was devoid of Stardock's highly invasive DRM. I'll take Steam's method over that crap any day.
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melchiz: The DRM is StarFORCE, and has nothing to do with StarDOCK.

Oh, whatever. All I know is that it had the potential to break your computer.
To any of you people who wish to post nothing more than "STEAM SUCKS SHIT!!!!!" or whatever, don't. We get it already. Have something constructive to say or leave. Just putting that out there.