Hi Folks,

Although I have had no problems staying Steam-free all these years, the sad lack of shmups here and GOG curators' questionable attitude in this matter (see: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_sad_lack_of_shootemups_on_gog) finally forced me to loosen up and reconsider my strong anti-Steam stance. I am still a believer in DRM-free everything, and hold the opinion that Steam itself is DRM, but I'll live with it; as I think GOG is the "greater evil" in this matter, so to say.

Anyway, that is the premise, and I don't intend to discuss the issue any further here :) Onward with my question.

Let's say I avoid games with 3rd party DRM (e.g., Securom), and those that require an always-on connection. Games that need the Steam client installed, or need a one-time online activation are fine.

How easy and plausible is it, then, to get the Steam client and Steam related "features" completely out of my way? I have never installed or seen somebody use Steam. So off the top of my head, from what I've heard and read: Can I disable Steam's background processes, block all social features, turn off the in-game overlay & browser & other game integration, disable achievements, disable playtime & activity tracking, prevent others from seeing what I've purchased, and prevent any other intrusive stuff I don't know about? How close can it get to installing the game from a simple & stupid installer?

If the game uses Steam-integration for actually useful stuff (online highscore boards comes to mind), can I disable those if I wanted to? Or is this a game-implementation specific issue, not handled by Steam's API?

What is essential for functionality and cannot be blocked?

Does disabling the above require hacks and tricks, or are they simple options in the client?

Anything else I should be aware of before proceeding with this?

Thanks for the responses in advance. If all goes well, I hope to fully exploit the current Steam sale on shmups. Mushihimesama, Eschatos, Ikaruga, DeltaZeal, XIIZeal, Strania, and the upcoming Darius Burst, here I come!

I don't have the answers to all of your questions, I only know that you can disable the in-game overlay and cloud saving easily via the client settings, and you can set your profile to private, so that noone can see what games you play and for how long, or any activities you do. You can start the games via desktop shortcut or the .exe file in your explorer, without using the client interface. No idea whether you can disable playtime tracking and achievements though, and AFAIK you will always have to use the client interface to download and install games.

From my experience:

- Like all profiles on the internet, you can set it to private, and you can customize who sees you on log in, who see you inventory, gifts, library, etc.;
- Disabling overlay will get rid of any pop up regarding anything social while in game, they wont disable the features, it just won't bother you with it, the functionalities still there but you can safely ignore it;
- Download game> set offline mode> Done with all integrations direct involving the Steam Client internet usage;
- Essential for functionality and can't be blocked? Uhm, can't think of anything. Some games aren't possible to be launched without launching the client, but there is a lot of exceptions;
- You can't choose to install the game from a "stupid installer" since it is a automated process of downloading and installation;

I hope I've helped a little. :)


Edit: Oh and here is more halp: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/how_to_run_steam_games_offline_forever_tutorial

;)

Above posts did well to address your Q's, but I'd also like to chime in and just say that many games on Steam actually do not require the client at all once they have been downloaded once. Valve hates advertising the fact that many of the games available on Steam are fully portable and do not require the client because they want people locked into their ecosystem. Here's a maintained list that still has a lot of drm-free games available through Steam (and still many games which need to be tested):

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/steam_games_you_can_play_without_the_steam_client

you can't disable Steam's tracking but can make your profile private so others cannot see your games, what you've played, what's in your inventory, and so forth.

how tied to the client the game is depends on the game. there are some games which, once downloaded with Steam, have no need of Steam anymore. there are some which will look for Steam in some fashion but are not expressly tied to it. then there are those that have made use of the CEG wrapper Steam provides and will not run without Steam.

Steam overlay is easily disabled.

in general, you can't disable anything. but you can make your profile private. it kind of sucks in that it's all or nothing, but there it is. if you're only using Steam for a few shmups, you probably don't care about the affect of going around with a private profile. on Steam, in general, rocking a private profile is looked at as fishy somehow by others and is generally cooties or something. but if you don't engage with the community then it shouldn't bother you.

there's russian sites about fiddling with Steam but I wouldn't recommend. if Valve or there support wing finds out you could have your account suspended and then you're enjoying the support system nightmare.

all that said. Steam will probably work just fine for you. you will probably not have any reservations once you get going with it. Gaben loves you. Games are what he left Microsoft for. He loves us. He cares for us and he makes sure to look after us. gaaaaaaaaabe

but in addition to all that:

DRM-Free. make sure to only buy your shmups on the cheap. and do not be so quick to give positive word of mouth on any you like.

Annoying emails can be turned off and you won't get any (unlike on... cough, cough... GOG).

Neither GOG or Steam cares about sending me some emails.
Makes it feel that my games wishlist and me are unimportant.

;_;

THAT! Zone Alarm!

...also remaining offline after signing in.

Actual stuff!

If you want I can subscribe you to some of the russian brides- / penis extension surgery- / erectionpill sites I never subscribed to but get tons of emails from every week, nothing makes you feel more important than that.

I'm afraid they would make me feel even smaller and unimportant. xD

First rule on Steam: do not mess with Steam application and/or background process.

Either you take it or leave it.

Thanks for the detailed info, folks! Sounds like I can live with that, proceeding with the purchase.

Why do you have a need to disable the social features, achievements and such? Can't you simply ignore them? If you don't want to e.g. have Steam friends, fine, don't add any friends to your friends list. Or achievements, the worst that can happen is that you occasionally see a small box/text appear on the corner of your screen where it states you have achieved some achievement while you played the game.

I don't care about Steam friends, achievements etc., I just ignore them while playing Steam games. Oh it said I accidentally reached some obscure achievement in TeamFortress 2, ok, meh, moving on.

EDIT: Ok apparently you had already reached somewhat similar conclusion...