melchiz: The iTunes (old, DRM-heavy style) model for gaming seriously irks me. Steam is a strong platform, but as gamers, we are locking ourselves in and giving Valve far too much control over PC gaming.
Steamworks, including the Steam Cloud, is a great system, but it emulates Apple's FairPlay DRM. Valve will never abandon this DRM model so long as consumers buy into it. Consumer outrage killed FairPlay, but gamers and the gaming media have been anything but critical of Valve. We love the Steam sales, but do not pause to consider the consequences of supporting a model that is inherently distrustful of paying customers.
To borrow a phrase, we are selling the rope with which Valve could hang us. Sure, the short-term benefit is obvious, but it is best for the future of gaming?
Broken record, give it a rest. Do you really have this uncontrollable urge to read from the manifesto anytime people talk about Steam?