help with steam

[crustyasp46]

HERE, HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kherr]

Where do I start.

1 to 11
I hate the fact that you MUST install it in order to play a game that you have already paid for. For everything else you will ever buy, once you pay for it you can do with it as you wish. I can buy a DVD then burn it if I like. Not with Steam ... no.... to play the game that I paid for, I HAVE to load up Steam and login and wait and then download an update for Steam that I dont want ... then download an update for the game that I dont need .... then after 20 minutes of fecking around I might get to play the game. That is if Steam is actually up and running.

12: I hate the fact that one day Steam decided that I had illegal software on my PC and without any warning banned my account.

13: I hate the fact that after signing up to their supprt system (you cant just send them an email ... no, you have to join another forum and wait to be accepted just to be able to register a problem ) I never ever ever (1 year later) got any reply to my 'Open Support Issue'. Nothing not even a welcome.

14: I hate the fact that after I raised that support call, I then raised another call and still never received so much as a reply.

15: I had my account banned which meant that the game 'THAT I BOUGHT' then stopped working.

16: I HATE steam, they are everything that is wrong with PC gaming these days.


Before anyone asks, no I did not have a cheat on my computer, what Steam had found was tsearch, a program that allows you to debug live code. Apparently it is also used by people that make cheats. Without stopping to ask me why I had this, Steam simply banned my account and there is NOTHING that can be done to remove the ban because apparently all FAC Bans are perminent.

There are assholes and we need to rise up against them. Steam SUCKS big time.

Again, yes. I really don't like steam, for reasons like this. I really 'effin hate that I have to be connected to the internet to play a game that doesn't have any internet connectivity at all... no multiplayer... nothing. The only thing online for it is updates, but the game works fine without them... My main problem is that. And lord help you if you forget your logon credentials, because there isn't a way to retrieve them. I almost had to create a new account the day they were giving portal away for free... Then I would have had to logon to two different accounts... one to play portal, and one to play HL2.

That's another thing I hate about ALL PC games nowadays... you have to be connected to the internet to play them... the only game of late that I've found that you don't absolutely need to be connected to the internet to play offline is Unreal Tournament 3... But, what's the point of having to be connected to the internet at all times to play even in offline mode... single player. Why do I have to abso-fucking-lutely HAVE to be connected to the internet for that? I mean I can understand having to register your CD-Key, but seriously, after that I shouldn't need the net for a single-player only game. Even then, to register the key I should only have to phone in... The reason I'm like this is because I bought Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Unreal Tournament 3 for under 25 bucks, all brand new because the store was having a closing sale, and when I got home and installed all three then took the night to defrag. Then I loaded up mass effect and it told me I couldn't play because I needed an internet connection (I didn't have the net at the time) to verify the Serial Key to make absolutely sure it was a legit copy of the game, and closed the launcher on me. I was now stranded without the game I just dropped 10 bucks on which I could have spent elsewhere had I known that. So I loaded up Bioshock and it told me the same fucking thing. Now, I was really pissed, and was about to just shut down my pc and go to bed even though it wasn't time and I wasn't tired... and UT3 loaded and let me play at least offline without verifying the serial key. After playing UT3 for around an hour, I stopped and started looking at the boxes for the games. I found on each box in super small print in a spot that you normally wouldn't look at when buying it was a sentence... It read: "Internet connection required to activate game for play." WTF? Then, get this... after loading bioshock up once after getting the internet and verifying my keycode, playing, shutting down, then re-loading the next day... it made me verify my key again... and the next time... again... It did this a total of 6 times. The first 5 times went smoothly, only took about 5 minutes each time... but then... the 6th time... it told me that the keycode was used more than 5 times and was now flagged as invalid and closed the launcher on me... So now I have a dead copy of Bioshock that I spent 10 bucks on and it pisses me off everytime I look at the case. Thus far I've heard they released an update that allows unlimited uses of the serial key now, but I still haven't installed it again because of before...

So now, I've set myself to four things...

1. If it's online and requires the internet to activate to play, then it's on a console instead.

2. If it's offline and requires the internet to activate to play, then it's getting cracked to remove the actiavtion...

3. If it's offline or online and doesn't require the internet to activate to play, then I'm game.

4th bonus rule: If it requires steam, I more than likely won't be playing it on a computer if there is a console release, if there isn't a console release, then it looks like I'm probably not buying it.

My point is: If I have to have the internet to activate it to play (or generally just be connected to the internet to play it at all when it doesn't require the internet for multiplayer) then I'm not buying it. And if it's on steam... *shudders* looks like I'm never playing it on a PC at all. Now that I think about it a little more... I don't want MW2 on my pc. Just because of steam. I've had too many problems (not as many as you HT...) and I've heard too many horror stories such as HT's here to bother with steam. I'll stay with my HL2 and Portal, and that's it.

Sorry about the rant...

[Jesse]

Hmm, that does sound pretty bad. But my experience with it has been much different. Yeah, It's kind of a hassle to need to be connected to the internet in order to download Steam in order to download, verify, and play your game, but once you do that you don't need the internet to play your offline single player games. You just start up in offline mode and play.

And isn't Steam much more effective against piracy?

I'm not defending it or anything. But I don't really have much reason to hate it at this point. Besides a few spots of trouble, all it's ever done is keep my stuff up to date, and offer deals on games that range from a bargain to simply bat shit insane. Which is the main reason I like it, I guess. SO many great deals.

And it's hard for me to be mad at Valve. Steam or no, ALL their games are beautiful masterpieces.

But yeah, if I had a choice I'd probably do away with it as well. Or change a few things about it.

[Kherr]

And isn't Steam much more effective against piracy?

I agree, but one thing you have to wonder of late is:

Why are these companies so worried about piracy... So worried in fact that it hurts the end-user because of some inane set of hoops you have to jump through just to play the game you dropped money on that you worked hard for... and then... there's no guarantee that it's going to play more than a few times because now it's going to flag you for an invalid keycode because IT MADE YOU verify more than ONE TIME... So what's the point of releasing the game? It would just be easier and more time consuming to take it to the next step... Why not make you re-install it AND download the updates, AND login to your account with some inane third-party program, THEN update that just to find that there's ANOTHER 'effin update to the game, DL that, then finally you get to play (3 or 6 hours later) and by then you've fallen asleep because of how long it took to get started, so you close the program just to have to do it all over again the next day... What fun! >.>

I mean I can understand worrying about piracy... but as long as computers exist, piracy is never going to be stopped. It can't be. You'd have to take the internet and destroy it to just slow piracy down. You can't stop it, and they're going to crack your shit, so you might as well not put any defenses in it at all. There are "No-Steam" cracks out there for just about ALL of steam-required games. So steam exists why? I can understand having a store with killer deals. I like their deals. I mean come on... I got portal for free... Need I say more?

I'm sorry, I'm not yelling at you... I've gone and pissed myself off just thinking about my experience listed above coupled with thinking about steam and how it's hurt a few of my friends and screwed them out of hundreds of dollars in games... >.>

I'm going to bed now...

[crustyasp46]

I have never and never will buy a game, that requires the internet to play, except for keycode registration, call me old fashioned but when I buy something I own it, I am not renting it to get permission to play or use the product. I own it and I do not care what they offer as a pacifier to get me to buy their product, I will not buy it.

just my own opinion, everyone to their own poison

[Kherr]

I have never and never will buy a game, that requires the internet to play, except for keycode registration, call me old fashioned but when I buy something I own it, I am not renting it to get permission to play or use the product. I own it and I do not care what they offer as a pacifier to get me to buy their product, I will not buy it.

just my own opinion, everyone to their own poison

Remind me if I ever meet you in person to buy you a beer.

[Hot Trout]

I can not think of one good reason for Steam Jesse, honestly. The only thing it does is install Big Brother onto your computer so that they can effect your buying decisions. If I want to get some good value games after they have moved out of the charts then i will go to my local stores.

Good topic here guys.

[Jesse]

But what about for the developers? Isn't Steam a good way for them to get their product out there, and to combat piracy of their games? And with digital distribution there's no need to get tied up with a publisher or having to worry about all those costs. And so isn't it a great way for indie developers to safely and simply get their work out to a large audience? I don't think Steam is all bad. It can be very convenient.

Or maybe I'm just under Gabe Newell's spell.

[Kherr]

But what about for the developers? Isn't Steam a good way for them to get their product out there, and to combat piracy of their games? And with digital distribution there's no need to get tied up with a publisher or having to worry about all those costs. And so isn't it a great way for indie developers to safely and simply get their work out to a large audience? I don't think Steam is all bad. It can be very convenient.

Or maybe I'm just under Gabe Newell's spell.

If steam existed as a store and a store ONLY, then steam wouldn't be too bad (provided it didn't install "big brother" like it does). I'm sorry, but steam is like being told I have a square inch hole to piss into from across the room. Lord help me if I miss from 15 feet away; get a drop anywhere else, and we'll cut it off for you so you never miss again. T_T

[The Shadow Dragon]

I bought Portal when it first came out by itself on PC, I still had dial up then, and I swore off Steam after I realized my $20 had been wasted on a download that was going to take 48 hours. I have done the same thing for Command and Conquer 4, I won't get it unless there is a workaround for the internet required thing. The site I use all the time for my no-disc hacks is Game Copy World. I was looking for an anti SecuROM workaround for Sims 2, because I use Daemon Tools to run an image of other games (Elder Scrolls 4) that aren't protected, and SecuROM didn't like that. They have workarounds for most games, for both using disc images and no disc at all, a rather useful thing for playing on the go, so I don't have to carry 10-15 discs around with me.