Steam sucks

[Gibaholic]

Some of the game's valve develop are kick ass, im downloading the half life 2 demo but this steam thing is bull shit. Ive been waiting an hour and it still isnt done "updating". And when steam is down I cant play my steam games offline. Anyone else think this is bull shit?

[Sporku]

No. Anything and everything made by Valve is 100% perfect in every way. This includes Steam. Gordon Freeman is my hero.

[Captain Red]

I miss half-life 2. I tried to log into steam one day (after it updated it's self) only to find my password didn't work anymore. I have no idea why. I sent a letter to technical support asking what could have gone wrong...

...that was three months ago. *sigh* I guess if I ever whant to play the game I FUCKING PAID FOR agian I'll have to use a crack.

Steam is bullshit.

[OldMan]

I downloaded HL2 demo, dealt with the Steam BS, hated it so much I will never buy a Valve game or any other game that requires Steam or anything like Steam to play.

I dislike modern games that require the CD to play, but I can deal with that. When it takes FOREVER to play a game that requires internet validation and updates to play, even with a high-speed DSL connection, I figure the company doesn't want my money so screw em'. I'm just glad I found this out with a free demo and didn't pay money to then find out how piss poor their system is.

[Gibaholic]

The demo finished updating, I played it. Half life 2 is pretty cool I think im gonna go buy it. But why do they need steam?

[Enjay]

Yup, Steam is absolute arse. I will not buy another game that requires Steam.

I bought HL2 on DVD-ROM - so I had the full game in my hand! I took it home, installed it - all went smoothly, then the whole Steam fiasco started. Over an hour later I was able to play. An hour! For a game I had a full disk copy of and had already installed! I could have played without an update, but Steam didn't give me the opportunity. It also means that, had I only had dial-up, or possibly a machine with no connection, I wouldn't be able to play the game even though all the data I actually needed to play was already in my sweaty little hands. What's more, every time I played, it delayed the start-up of the game.

Having that vile little program sitting in my system tray validating, checking for updates, getting news etc etc (OK, so I disabled what I could) was just pish. It is a clumsy, slow, badly written, unfriendly piece of crap and until Valve release a game that does not use it my days of buying their games are over. It acts as a barrier to getting the game started and playing and, in its default configuration, is a constant little resource hog sitting there interfering with anything you try and do on your computer. The negative aspects of Steam far outweigh any enjoyment I get from the games it polices.

Because of Steam, I uninstalled HL2 far quicker than I would have normally and now I have a couple of very expensive drinks coasters just sitting here - there is no way that crap is going back on my machine. But hey, what do they care, they got my cash right? Never again. Not whilst Steam is on the go.

I hope that the backlash against it has done some significant damage to the company. I hope thousands of people like me will refuse to buy Steam powered games in future and that such a reaction will be seen in their financial figures and cause them to realise their mistake. It would be just desserts - fair payment for them releasing it on the public, for the disturbance and frustration it caused and most of all, for thinking the public would be fine with it.

[Captain Red]

Man...

The really shitty thing about this whole fiasco is that I love half-life 2. it really is an awsome game :(

Are steam really that worried about piracy? everybody copied doom a one stage or another yet id still made an arse load of cash.

maybe onedsy, they will re-release a non-steam powered versin of half-life 2.

[Opulent]

Captain Red said:

The really shitty thing about this whole fiasco is that I love half-life 2. it really is an awsome game :(

that's the real crap part for me... I went through all that and DIDN'T like the game.
mostly because it is not single-player... it is coop and buddy-assisted, scripted garbage.
a pale shadow of the original game.

[Relica Religia]

I've had Steam since its early beta days a couple years back, and I've never had a problem with it.

The only gripe I have is that Valve is trying to consistently phase out any sort of "going to the store and buying a game" concepts, which really blows balls for people like me who absolutely refuse to get a credit card or buy serious purchases online.

Valve is overstepping themselves constantly, and the fact that they don't really listen to critiques is really bothersome.

[Bucket]

I've had to reinstall Steam and HL2 a total of three times (soon to be 4), and I've never had issues of any kind. At the most, my net connection would freeze up for a minute after loading CS:S. Seriously-- what are you people doing??

[geekmarine]

I've actually come to dislike Half-Life 2. Not because of the gameplay or anything, or Steam, but just the fact that individual maps are so small... Can't go five minutes without running into a "Loading..." message. Totally kills all the joy of playing it. That's one thing I love about Doom 3 - good, long levels, giving you plenty of play time between loading screens.

[Captain Red]

Relica Religia said:
Valve is overstepping themselves constantly, and the fact that they don't really listen to critiques is really bothersome.

They don't need to.

For some wired reason, everybody plays CS:S. valve could ask players to take a depository the size of a football to play it, and people would. Because... well I really don't know.

Opulent said:
that's the real crap part for me... I went through all that and DIDN'T like the game.
mostly because it is not single-player... it is coop and buddy-assisted, scripted garbage.
a pale shadow of the original game.

What?

You don't really get team mates until just before the last act, And even then you can ignore them. Though I do wish thy'd sitck with the "Follow" "stay" commands of old. Simple, effective.

[Graf Zahl]

Bucket said:

Seriously-- what are you people doing??

Maybe just looking somewhat deeper. The average user will probably never realize what Steam is really doing. For me it was enough not to buy the game. If the software companies insist on such methods they can forget my money. I find playing Doom as much - if not more - fun than most of the new overscripted garbage.

[Bank]

I cant spell u said:

Steam sucks

Yes, burns too.

[Bucket]

Graf Zahl said:

Maybe just looking somewhat deeper. The average user will probably never realize what Steam is really doing. For me it was enough not to buy the game. If the software companies insist on such methods they can forget my money. I find playing Doom as much - if not more - fun than most of the new overscripted garbage.

"Deeper"? "What Steam is really doing"? I believe we're talking about software bugs, not how Valve is trying to take over the world one harddrive at a time.

[Bloodshedder]

Obviously, with pretty much any software program, your mileage is going to vary. As such, I've heard of people never having problems with Steam, and I've heard of people having issues galore. I for one don't plan on throwing my system into the pool very soon.

The concept of Steam makes sense, but the current buggy implementation only tarnishes what could otherwise be a great method for purchasing and distributing games.

[Opulent]

Captain Red said:

What?

You don't really get team mates until just before the last act, And even then you can ignore them. Though I do wish thy'd sitck with the "Follow" "stay" commands of old. Simple, effective.

almost the entire game you are either with someone or something.
You and the dog, you and the girl, you and the boat, you and the other boat, you and the .... worst part is, you don't have a choice. that is the only way you CAN play.

In Halflife, YOU do everything. big difference. If I wanted a team game I would've bought BField2.
I know LOTS of people who enjoy HL2, and that's cool.... but that wasn't the game I went to buy in the store, it wasn't worth my money or my time, and it wasn't a respectible sequel to a great game. Shame on Valve for packaging second-rate stuff as a FPS.

[wildweasel]

HL2 is a good game, but Steam generates far too much overhead for my system to be able to handle it. 512 MB of RAM and it still takes about five minutes to load a single freaking level (with all details at low). And I'm not even guaranteed a decent frame-rate OR a stable game experience (far too often, I'd have made it a decent way into the game and had it crash on me - the autosaving was the only thing that prevented me from utterly destroying the game).

Nowadays, not even the fun of the game is enough for me to forgive Valve for their travesty. I've since deleted my entire Steam directory. And it saved me about twenty gigabytes.

[Grazza]

I loved the original Half-Life - the only computer game that IMO rivals Doom in terms of originality and gameplay. Ah OK, maybe Lemmings too, but it's hard to compare such different games. So of course I was greatly looking forward to its sequel.

However, my experience of HL2 and Steam more or less exactly matches Enjay's (except that it was my sister who wasted her money on it, as it was a Christmas present), and his post mirrors my views on the subject. I didn't even get as far as playing it before I decided I didn't want Steam polluting my computer any more.

I do understand their need and desire to combat the warez monkeys, but this surely isn't the way.

I don't think I would buy anything from Valve ever again, even if they did abandon Steam. How can you trust a company that does this not to do something equally absurd for its future products?

[Opulent]

My frustration was that there should have been 2 versions of the game if they are so worried about illegal copies and cheating: an online Steam version and an offline version that you can NEVER play online.
They would be surprised how many people would opt for the second choice. They are so consumed with their suite of games and everyone wants updates and the latest online play that they forget the fact that they are just selling a game.
I didn't buy it for CSS (I own HL, why would I need a new version?) or the online games... I wanted HL2, the real HL2.
Anti-cheat protection has hurt every FPS online game... I'd rather play against cheaters than not be able to play at all.
As a software developer, I can appreciate what Steam was trying to do, but they didn't think it through... and they certainly didn't test it before they released it.
To be honest, I didn't have that much issue with the Steam authentication... only took an hour or so and a few forced reboots.... I liked the fact that you could just authenicate and play offline.
However, you get pushed updates without any notification... and the contents of information that was sent to Valve is never communicated to the customer.
the updates obviously break any demo playback support, so you know how I feel about that. :)
Lastly, it is just a bad precedent to be starting for any software company... that any online product must always authenicate and update remotely outside the user's control.

[Naked Snake]

I don't understand everyone's problem with Steam. It's never given me problems, the games update fast, there's a built in Server browser I can jump game to game with (so say I get bored of TS, I can instantly be looking for DOD servers as soon as I quit).

The Steam platform also allows game companies that normally would have no retail distrobution abilities can distribute their games with no overhead and for merely a cut of the profits. Once their customers buy the game, any updates can be released instantly.

Steam also lets developers ship their products at a better, lower cost because there is less "money-trickle" in the Steam distro platform (like, they don't have to pay for CD duplication, making a printed instruction manual, pay for the storage of product, pay for the shipment of product, etc.) That is why new games like SiN Episodes will be released via Steam and their prices won't be as high as retail games, it'll probably be like, say, if it would cost $60 in a store, it'll probably cost $30-40 on Steam, if that actually. Some games like Rag-Doll Kung Fu cost only $15 (then again, this has a very limited appeal)

Also, on another note, Steam allows Valve to constantly provide support for their games and engines. They are still releasing updates for the HL engine and have added new content to the games via Steam. For those that were disappointed with the meager offering of levels that came with DOD Source and CS Source, you're going to always be getting new maps as they are built.

Steam also lets Valve add new tech to the Source engine immediately, which is another bonus for those who can take advantage of that.

Also, for those that have been knocking CS Source, it really feels like a totally different game, seriously. Aztec is beutiful, Dust looks damn good, all the maps have been totally revamped so they are chock full of realstic details (like the tunnel in de_dust has a high ceiling instead of being one flat area. Areas are littered with trash, there's movable props, etc. It just totally blows CS out of the water. I'm glad I got the HL2 Silver package off Steam, I got HL2, HL2 DM, HL Source, DOD Source and CS Source for the price of just Half-Life 2! CS Source and DOD Source are both about $15 apiece themselves, so that was $30 saved right there. When I bought it, I got all the games except DOD Source as soon as they were released (DOD Source wasn't done at the same time as the rest of the titles) and guess what? As soon as that was unlocked I was able to play it, didn't even need to messing around with installing because I pre-loaded the files previously.

Speaking of pre-loading, yes, I was quite pissed when they pre-loaded HL2 files onto my computer but guess what? The backlash of that was huge and now all pre-loads are started by the user. Valve really does listen to its fans once in a while.

DAMNIT I keep remembering stuff :

Steam lets Valve keep the community posted on whatever it is they want, from the planned release of new content to the release date of HL2 : Aftermath, whatever. So yeah...

Rumor has it Steam will soon allow 3rd Party Mods to work through the network like sending updates / patches / whatever and being able to browse for and DL new 3rd party mods.

[Opulent]

I'd buy an Xbox if I wanted mindless gaming fun.... I want a permanent, unchanging serious game from a real game for the PC. A game I can play 5 years from now -- or it is not worth my time.

I guess it is a matter of taste, I'd rather pay 1000 USD for WindowsWhatever that doesn't require registering with Microsoft than a $100 copy that does. Same thing with any game.
But to be clear, I didn't have severe issues with Steam (although I shouldn't have had any issues at all, IMHO), I didn't like the game itself.
and IMextremelyHO, CSS is not as good as the original. (especially since versioning is often broke and the demo playback is not as good)

[Captain Red]

[Bashe]

LOL

[leileilol]

too bad that gif's so timeline it's THE OLD VERSION OF STEAM

Valve gimped out gffx5200 users by forcing dx8 and removing hdr support for that card while it can support it, them fanATIcs i want to kil them

and lol, they said they developed hdr... lol there's techpapers of that which existed years ago lol

[Kristian Ronge]

That whole moronic Steam idea is enough to keep me from ever buying HL2 in the first place. I had a look at it, and played it a bit at some friend's place... that's it.

To me, Steam is an example of trusted computing, step 1. I don't want to ever see steps 2 and beyond.

[Lobo]

Just like to add my own personal views about Steam.


Yes, it sucks. I actually went to the trouble of buying a game in a store to be "legal" and be able to play on line and so forth and I have to download a shit load of steam updates and crap, and then it informs me that my key is not valid!!!

Of course I can send those nice folks at valve a copy of my game with packaging and proof of purchase and so forth (all shipping costs at my own expense!) and hopefully they would see fit to give me a new key(maybe) but I'm not in the mood for wasting more money for something that should have worked "out of the box" anyway, instead of forcing me to have an go online and download shitloads of updates and crap to be able to play.

So I basically wasted my fucking money buying the damn thing: next time I'll just warez it and they can go to hell. I will NOT be buying another Valve product: I hope they're happy that they have actually succeded in converting someone who has always been against warez into a pirate.

My €0.02...

[Darkman 4]

I actaully like Steam. Some of the patches are a bit buggy, like how the lastest HL1 engine patch sent my FPS in Counter-Strike from a solid 60 FPS to a choppy 20 FPS, but it's still not a bad service. Granted, I bought their whole catalogue online via the (now defunct) HL Silver package for a cool $60, so I didn't have to deal with CD keys or whatnot, which seems to be the main complaint from a lot of people here and at other places.

[Zaldron]

gargoylol said:

and lol, they said they developed hdr... lol there's techpapers of that which existed years ago lol

Do they say that?

There's papers on graphic programming all the way up to the next twenty years of engine evolution, but there's always a challenge in implementation and optimization.

[Enjay]

Opulent said:

My frustration was that there should have been 2 versions of the game if they are so worried about illegal copies and cheating: an online Steam version and an offline version that you can NEVER play online.

That would have suited me.

To be honest, I didn't have that much issue with the Steam authentication... only took an hour or so and a few forced reboots....

That's sarcasm right? If not, and hour and a few forced reboots to play when I wouldn't normally expect either of those things (maybe one restart maximum). Unacceptable. The install finishes, optionally I can check for updates, I play. That's how it should be. Not install then wait an hour whilst some clumsy piece of software goes through a mysterious, arcane procedure tying up my whole machine and then sits there doing whatever it does for the whole time the game is installed.

Lastly, it is just a bad precedent to be starting for any software company... that any online product must always authenicate and update remotely outside the user's control.

Indeed. And if all gaming companies went down the same route - imagine it - I different "Steam" sitting in your system tray for every game company whose products you have installed. And getting back to your first point - it's not just online. I never went online with the game. I never wanted to. Yet I still had to put up with the steam crap.

BBG said:

I don't understand everyone's problem with Steam.

The first big problem is that, for me, it doesn't need to be there. It provides me with nothing I need, it actually detracts from my experience with the game and my ability to use my machine but it's not optional.

The Steam platform also allows game companies that normally would have no retail distrobution abilities can distribute their games with no overhead and for merely a cut of the profits. Once their customers buy the game, any updates can be released instantly.

True, but such companies aren't using Steam - one of the industry giants are. What's more, they are still distributing on disk yet crippling those copies until Steam has worked it's "magic". Updates, most of the time, I don't care about them for stand alone games. What's more, I never had a problem getting updates from games websites and optional downloads before. Plenty of games come with a "check for updates" option without having to ship a whole raft of crap with it. I don't need to be forced to get updates either.

What's more, with other companies, the update files are usually easily savable to a directory of my choice and can easily be backed up. So if I uninstall and then decide I want to reinstall I can also update from the files I have already DL'd and saved somewhere rather than having to do the whole steam thing again.

That is why new games like SiN Episodes will be released via Steam and their prices won't be as high as retail games, it'll probably be like, say, if it would cost $60 in a store, it'll probably cost $30-40 on Steam, if that actually. Some games like Rag-Doll Kung Fu cost only $15 (then again, this has a very limited appeal)

Well, with any luck, they'll have less people buying to offset that. I won't be buying any of those games and I hope thousands of others follow suit. That's the only way to make these chuckleheads sit up and notice. So they can take their low prices and stick them where the sun doesn't shine. I'd rather pay a few £ more and get a working, uncrippled copy on a disk in my house. That's no longer an option from this company.

Also, on another note, Steam allows Valve to constantly provide support for their games and engines. They are still releasing updates for the HL engine and have added new content to the games via Steam...

Steam also lets Valve add new tech to the Source engine immediately, which is another bonus for those who can take advantage of that.

I still don't see how any of that is quicker, easier or cheaper than just providing a download from their website. Plenty of game manufacturers are doing those things. None of them are doing it via Steam yet they all seem to manage.

Steam lets Valve keep the community posted on whatever it is they want, from the planned release of new content to the release date of HL2 : Aftermath, whatever. So yeah...

No. Again there are already alternatives to this. Steam does not allow this. It is already allowed. I find out about all sorts of gaming news - none of it comes via Steam. None of it is out of date. None of it requires an alternative little resource hog sitting in my systray doing stuff I neither want nor like.

What's more, the information I get comes from a variety of sources, not just a single source that only distributes information about the games it has a self-interest in. It's advertising and PR nothing more. I'm not a Valve fanboy. I couldn't care less what "essential" tidbits of information they want to tell me about their world. Most of it is irrelevant to me and nothing more than another form of spam.

Steam may benefit Valve but nothing that it does for Valve has any direct importance for me. I have received no positive benefit from Steam but have experienced many negative aspects. Steam is not there to suit me. It is there to suit Valve - and I'm (or rather I was) the paying customer, yet I end up paying for a tool that suits their ends, not mine. It is not a service I need and it provides nothing I want. It's all for the benefit of Valve and I will not have that piece of junk on my machine just to help out Valve.

What's more, this thread hasn't really touched on the problems of selling games second hand or making rental copies. That doesn't bother me, but it is an issue.