There's practically not enough time in a lifetime to play every interesting game that's available outside of Steam.

Thank you ;)

Your condescending tone aside - you're obviously pretty happy with Steam, so I don't expect you to see, even less so try to understand, a different POV. But what you're saying is still irrelevant to what I said; I never claimed that those not using Steam for the reasons I stated, or others, are in the majority.

If DRM-free is a minority, cracking is not. There is a really really long history of cracking games and software since the 8-bit days. I've even managed to crack some software, and it was kinda fun :P

To counter: with the first - and only - title I've ever purchased that required Steam (and I bought a brick-and-mortar package with honest-to-goodness installation files on an actual disk, not just a Steam key), Steam denied me access to a game simply because I didn't acquiesce to the Client's EULA AFTER the game was installed. For a game I didn't buy there, for which I didn't need any access from Steam for the installation, for an off-line game that is now here DRM-free. Thank goodness the developer (TaleWorlds) offered up a workaround.

YMMV.

I'm sure Steam works great so long as you do things their way. But when I refused installation of an unnecessary client attached to the game, Steam refused to let me play a game that I bought elsewhere. That was enough of a warning.

Now, I don't tell people not to buy from Steam or buy Steam keys elsewhere. But they should do so with open eyes. If the customer is okay with how the client operates, then more power to 'em. Most won't care. Some do.

Personally, the simple answer to OP’s question is: there are more worthwhile, handpicked games on GOG’s catalogue than I could play in a lifetime.

Also, there is little to no reason to pay premium price for a shiny, new Steam exclusive I will not actually own and most likely not be able to enjoy to the fullest due to insane system requirements.

However, I’m kind of an oddball case. As much as I’m against DRM and dislike Steam for their anti-consumer behavior, I found GOG very late into the digital distribution era, so I never managed to fully detach from my sizable Steam account.

Although I do not directly support Steam anymore, sadly I still do it indirectly. By this I mean I still keep playing the system which feeds itself with more games (sell trading cards -> use steam wallet to get dirt-cheap Steam reseller bundles from traders -> get more cards -> rinse and repeat).

I realize this probably makes me a hypocrite but I find comfort in the fact that I’m not spending money out of my own pocket on Steam; and that by only getting games from 3rd party resellers through means of trading and Steam wallet, I effectively pay zero for Steam games and Valve gets a smaller cut in the end. Ultimately, that’s all a DRM’d Steam rental is worth to me, nothing.

It’s nice to have a Steam account and all the extra games that come with it. But I don’t need them like I need my GOGs.

This is probably it for me. When I moved away from console gaming and back to PC my first thought was "How the heck am I going to play all those games I used to love? I'm going to miss out on X, Y, Z..." the list was huge.

As I sort of settled in here, I find I don't even care anymore. I've found so much good stuff (and a lot of it more in line with what I originally played) and I continue to get surprised by what shows up here.

I hadn't realized how much I'd moved away from playing certain types of games and how they really weren't on console. Now I can't imagine being without THOSE games LOL.

And this supports my argument above that a vast majority of people who have issues with Valve are those that have had issues with Steam in some form or another. Steam is not perfect, it has it's issues (bloatware being one) but for most people it does work (in the sense that you buy and then can play your games) and that's really all most people care about, especially when it comes to an entertainment hobby such as this. Your average consumer, no matter what medium we are talking about is always going to go for convenience first (how do you think Itunes is so popular?) and Steam represents that in the PC gaming market. The biggest problem for the PC gaming market was always the barrier of entry as opposed to consoles which was just plug and play. Steam makes that a little easier for most.

riiiight because GOG 'chose' not to sell some of the best AAA and indie games ever made. and not because they weren't allowed to.

I made a new steam account 4 days ago cause I know a lot of games will never make it here stuff like quake live and the new quake champions and doom 2016, even though I hate steam I can't just stop using a program if it wont give me access to those sick games I love but are not here.

I will always love GOG but I will have the problem child called steam in the background XD

The funny twist here would be: if MS would embrace gog.com instead of Steam. And there are indeed 2 good reasons for MS in doing so: first, not further empowering already too powerful competitor in the "PC platform defining business" Steam, but the competition... and secondly, MS runs since some time a charm offensive in direction of the "free folks" in the computing domain, open-source and their alike... who would appreciate a MS movement in direction of less locked platforms (especially after this disaster).

Not really. Thanks to all kinds of sales, I tend to have a backlog in GOG and in Steam. Owning a lot of games doesn't really mean you're going to PLAY them, as that takes more time than actually buying stuff.

That's not what I meant at all. It is obvious that kind of games aren't on GOG only because they don't want to. I wasn't trying to imply those titles aren't sold on GOG because they aren't deemed worthy. Surely, GOG would be happy to sell those here DRM-Free if given the chance.
My point is there are enough excellent games on GOG - with no DRM strings attached - to fill that void.

Oh, certainly. If it were such a disaster as some claim then it would stand to reason that the market share numbers would be tilted less in their favor. But, for the way that a lot of people deal with their games, Steam certainly fits the bill for the most part. And for most of them (my guess) the DRM concerns, well, aren't concerns at all. .

I'm just glad there are viable alternatives.

I use steam only iff a game i want is around $10 or I can figure out a cost analysis model of "will i enjoy this equally if it was a movie". A night at the moves is $10.25 for ticket + $1 for gas so $11.25. average movie is 2 hours so for every hour i play the game it must be $11.25 or less... as an example Skyrim has 400 hours clocked... at the price i payed were looking at $0.175 cents per hour... thats pretty freaking awesome.. to equate that to a movie experience it would only cost $0.35 cents for a 2 hour movie with drive time at a theater.... hell YEAH!