Steam Love it or hate it?

[nutstuart]

Steam do you love it or hate it? I have mix feeling about this service in one hand I like owning a physical copy of a game if am going to pay 30, 40, or 60 dollar on a game I like to be able to hold the game in my hand and put it on my bookshelf along with all my other games. I feel like I don't really own the game if it is a digital copy. On the other hand steam has some great sale just this weekend they had the GTA collection for 12 dollars.

The only time I buy games on steam is when they are heavily discounted. That is the only way I can justify getting a digital copy. I see it more as a rental than a purchase.

 

[TheViper]

I don't hate or love it.

Steam seems to always crash when downloading or loading. Or just have random problems.

I would rather buy a hard copy.

 

[RaggaJungle]

I don't have steam but I think it's a great idea, as it saves time in purchasing a hard copy. Like the above poster though, I have heard people complaining about issues with Steam so I guess it's far from perfect.

 

[runejet]

I love Steam! Will usually be on the lookout for the discounts to see if there are any games that I like. It's good for me since I don't have a lot of space in my room and downloading the digital copies gives me the best of both worlds. But I get what you mean by the ownership of the game. I will try to make an effort to buy the physical copy of any games that I really like, such as The Witcher, but apart from that it's Steam for me.

 

[ozadin]

Love it. No icons to clutter your desktop and easy startup. It's a great client.

 

[nutstuart]

I don't hate or love it.

Steam seems to always crash when downloading or loading. Or just have random problems.

I would rather buy a hard copy.

Do you run it on an older Computer? I had the same problem when I first downloaded steam but I had a really old computer. Even when I did get it to run all the multiplayer games would run super slow. Once I upgraded my laptop I never had any issue with it, steam is always running in the background on my laptop with no issue. If that Steam Box ever comes out it might make this service a lot more popular no more computer compatibility issues. That also bring up a question if the steam box or that ouya box thing become popular will that kill physical copies of games?

 

[danealegana]

I never had any problems with steam getting my games (especially free ones like DC Universe).

Its not much different from buying a hard copy, but without the inlays, case everything sometimes doesnt feel that you bought it.

 

[xHysteria]

I like steam for it's anti-cheating system. I also like it for it's free legit games. Otherwise, everything else I just download.

 

[themarksquared]

I freaking love Steam. I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder when it comes to tidiness, and fortunately, Steam is a great organizer for my games. In addition to that, they have these random sales which makes me want to buy new games, even if I know that I won't be playing them. It's quite sad, I know, but I love collecting games.

 

[andyred]

I didn't like the idea of Steam at first, a place that wanting to keep all my Games together, but nowadays I love it!

For new Games it's a decent price and downloads are fast for me over here in the UK. They also have great Daily and Weekly Deals with major discounts on well known stuff. The other week they were selling the whole Grand Theft Auto Collection for only £8 - bargain!!!

As other people suggested, it's an easy way to keep all your games in one place as well as seeing your achievements and screenshots etc. The Community Hub is the best part about Steam though, the ability to download Addons straight to your game with new campaigns, items, graphic mods etc.

 

[themarksquared]

They also have great Daily and Weekly Deals with major discounts on well known stuff. The other week they were selling the whole Grand Theft Auto Collection for only £8 - bargain!!!

Now this is one reason why i hate Steam. With all those awesome and tempting sales, there's never a time when I could keep more than $10 in my paypal account. Freaking Steam keeps on draining my wallet! I hate it! I need help to stop my addiction towards impulse buying!

 

[Seiryu]

Steam is a definite love for me. I love everything about it from the fact that they almost always have the cheapest prices, to the fact that even though they operate as a form of DRM, I get to keep all the copies of my games in one collated collection that is completely portable! It's even better now that Valve is a completely solid company that we don't have to fear them caving on us all of a sudden and having us lose our games.

 

[Joker99352]

I don't buy expensive games for my PC, mainly because it wasn't built for gaming. I agree with with other people in this thread who like Steam for its lack of DRM, which is a huge plus. I have a ton of games that I've bought from Steam, but that's because they were such a low price that I just had to buy them. I don't regret buying them, in general, but a lot of them don't work on my computer and I kind of feel like a fool for not knowing that ahead of time.

 

[Kendra Taylor]

Steam do you love it or hate it? I have mix feeling about this service in one hand I like owning a physical copy of a game if am going to pay 30, 40, or 60 dollar on a game I like to be able to hold the game in my hand and put it on my bookshelf along with all my other games. I feel like I don't really own the game if it is a digital copy. On the other hand steam has some great sale just this weekend they had the GTA collection for 12 dollars.

The only time I buy games on steam is when they are heavily discounted. That is the only way I can justify getting a digital copy. I see it more as a rental than a purchase.

I actually like Steam Games. I used to own lots of them but they have somehow vanished. I would always get the action games and my sister and brother were into the sport games such as tennis and soccer. I still remember the games I used to own, they were so much fun!

 

[DrRipley]

I'm not too sentimental and don't mind not having a physical library. The only part I wouldn't like about Steam is that if something were to happen to them then all the games I've collected would disappear with them. Aside from that, as long as their company stays alive and I can play my games, I would have to say that I like the convenience they provide. The Steam sales and all the bonuses are great too since trading them provides for some nice activities to share with the gaming community.

 

[razuto]

I can honestly say that without steam I simply would not play any pc games. I use it to play with other member of my family as that is what makes gaming fun for me. The bargain deals, the communication and the easy ability to join others games is what makes it awesome. I also love how you can trade games, my sister gave me castle crashers yesterday!

 

[Joel]

I do love all the mini games that you can buy on Steam. I do like some of my PC games on Steam. I like Blizzard better but steam is necessary for some. I won't give up my consoles and I won't give up my PC. I believe they are two different experiences in general. No two routes are wrong, but steam serves a purpose of managing your games on the PC and I really do like the service.

 

[branwen]

If I have a PC with great specs, then I think Steam would be awesome. i personally like it because it organizes games really well, but it just keeps on updating or crashing before I can even load it. I doesn't help that my Internet provider really sucks. I guess really getting a hard copy is better because at least, I hope, I can set some limitations and I won't have to depend on my crappy internet all the time.

 

[Medza]

Definitely love it. It gathers all of the best games, puts them in one place and then makes them ridiculously cheap. The integrated community workshop it also great, you can download thousands of mods and plugins with just one click and it does it all for you. It's definitely the model that game retailers and publishers should look up to as an example. Their customer support is pretty bad and you are only allowed 1 refund ever, but still I think that it's a great service.

 

[Gamer_Fries]

While I enjoy Steam and use it almost anytime I play games it can be a little annoying at times, one of the major pros to it would be the deals. I really like getting a bundle of games for a meager amount of their original price, which is also why I love all the game bundles they have on the internet.
So while Steam might not be the best it's certainly a top dog when it comes to this kind of thing, GOG is not far behind though with DRM free games.