BSN:"Valve to take over all PC gaming distribution"

[skace]

What was the point of writing that? One thing I have learned is that no-one does anything without a reason. That includes disliking something. If enough people don't like a company, you better believe that there is a good reason for it. People really aren't that stupid.

People really aren't that stupid eh? I bet you the large majority (75%+) of people who claim to "hate" Microsoft either don't have a valid reason or are grossly misinformed. By that I mean they blame Microsoft for something that occurs that isn't really Microsoft's fault or they hate Microsoft because they can't do something that they really can do.

Face it, most people just want something to blame that isn't in any way related to themselves. The bigger and more anonymous the entity, the easier it is to blame.

I don't expect 100% of people will ever like Steam or Valve. Because face it, they have a remote chance of at least /slowing/ piracy. And we have to believe that at least some of the people here pirate games. Assumption being, regardless of how good Steam is, there is always a guaranteed group that will hate it on the basis of everything that it is.

 

[BladeVenom]

People really aren't that stupid eh? I bet you the large majority (75%+) of people who claim to "hate" Microsoft either don't have a valid reason or are grossly misinformed. By that I mean they blame Microsoft for something that occurs that isn't really Microsoft's fault or they hate Microsoft because they can't do something that they really can do.

That's what a fan who is blindly devoted to a company or product would say.

There is a very long list of legitimate reasons for a person not to like a criminal monopoly.

If you were a PC gamer first and not a blind zealot of MS, you would understand. Ever since they got into the console market, MS has been the biggest enemy of PC gaming.

 

[Howard]

I wish Steam would adopt Interac Payment.

No good would come of it.

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

That's what a fan who is blindly devoted to a company or product would say.

There is a very long list of legitimate reasons for a person not to like a criminal monopoly.

If you were a PC gamer first and not a blind zealot of MS, you would understand. Ever since they got into the console market, MS has been the biggest enemy of PC gaming.

This is true. Buying game companies to console their games to hell.

 

[Martimus]

I bet you the large majority (75%+) of people who claim to "hate" Microsoft either don't have a valid reason or are grossly misinformed.

Where did you get this statistic from? Why would someone hate something for no reason? I know that I don't hate anything without a reason.

I don't hate Microsoft, but I don't like that I don't have other attractive options for an Operating System. I would like at least one other quality competitor, and preferably 3-4 of them. I want to have a nice low footprint OS, where there isn't a whole lot of extra processes running in the background like all current desktop MS OSes have.

I also don't like that I have to drop $200 for the operating system, when all the actual application software I will run on it (the stuff that actually accomplishes the work I am trying to do) only costs around $50-$60 at most.

I don't expect 100% of people will ever like Steam or Valve. Because face it, they have a remote chance of at least /slowing/ piracy. And we have to believe that at least some of the people here pirate games. Assumption being, regardless of how good Steam is, there is always a guaranteed group that will hate it on the basis of everything that it is.

I can't imagine any truly plausible reason a pirate would hate Steam. The pirate doesn't have to deal with Steam. I really can't imagine what you are trying to say here, but I can't follow your logic.

Also, just because you don't like everything about a product doesn't mean you hate it. I don't like a lot of things about Steam, but I still like some of the features it has, and I have a bunch of games on it. They make buying games easy, which is an obviously good business strategy.

 

[Lonyo]

People really aren't that stupid eh? I bet you the large majority (75%+) of people who claim to "hate" Microsoft either don't have a valid reason or are grossly misinformed. By that I mean they blame Microsoft for something that occurs that isn't really Microsoft's fault or they hate Microsoft because they can't do something that they really can do.

Face it, most people just want something to blame that isn't in any way related to themselves. The bigger and more anonymous the entity, the easier it is to blame.

I don't expect 100% of people will ever like Steam or Valve. Because face it, they have a remote chance of at least /slowing/ piracy. And we have to believe that at least some of the people here pirate games. Assumption being, regardless of how good Steam is, there is always a guaranteed group that will hate it on the basis of everything that it is.

I don't pirate games (anymore), but I don't like Steam and I refuse to buy any game which requires Steam these days (except CoH ToV which I bought after I already had the other two on Steam anyway so it made no difference - although I haven't actually played it).

Being a pirate and disliking Steam are not one and the same, and you can dislike Steam without being a pirate.
One reason I dislike Steam for instance is because of the pricing, I also dislike the lack of freedoms, and I had a nightmare with it when I was on a slow internet connection (due to moving house after already owning products on Steam).
I haven't hated Steam since forever, and in fact at launch I thought it was a great idea, to the point of paying more for HL2 than I needed to just to get it on Steam.
Over time (in fact, as I started pirating LESS) I grew to dislike Steam more, and it's not just a price thing (Steam being roughly 2x as expensive as online stores in my country) since I won't even buy a Steam requiring game from another (cheaper) source simply because 1) it encourages the model and 2) it's not all about price.

So yes, not 100% of people will ever like Steam, but those who don't like Steam will not necessarily be pirates.

 

[Atreus21]

Steam/Valve = the Apple of PC gaming.

Saying Apple and gaming in the same sentence is something of a contradiction.

 

[skace]

I can't imagine any truly plausible reason a pirate would hate Steam. The pirate doesn't have to deal with Steam. I really can't imagine what you are trying to say here, but I can't follow your logic.

If the product is only available via Steam, they have to deal with it. Even if only to crack it. The more it intertwines with Steam, the worse it is for them. You couldn't follow that logic, really?

Granted, most products aren't only available via Steam, however if you read the subject of this thread, you'd realize where I was going with this...

And Lonyo, I agree that not everyone who dislikes Steam is a pirate, I never meant that to be my point either. My point was simply that it is a lost game to try to make everyone like Steam. Because there is a guarantee that some will dislike it for ulterior motives. Likewise, someone who dislikes Steam because of piracy isn't going to come right out and say that, they are going to find something to nitpick at because saying they are a pirate would be a nice way to end up banned. It would also lose any support to their cause.

Martimus, it sounds like you want the desktop equivalent of Windows Server Core. I don't keep up with it anymore, but maybe you should look into Shell replacements. There is a lot to be said for customizing Windows however you want. I understand this puts some of the work on you, however MS is probably against putting out a stripped down OS because it is more prone to failure, hacking, etc.

Oh and the stat came from nowhere, that's why it was a bet. If I could prove it, I would have simply cited it. My point wasn't that people don't have REASONS for hating Microsoft, it's just that those reasons are often inaccurate and unfounded. Such as hating Microsoft because their 3rd party scanner breaks. Microsoft is a big fucking catch-all, a lot like Steam has been lately, just look at some of the recent threads. People blame Steam for the prices, games for windows live, etc, shit they have no control over. I'm surprised people don't blame Steam when the game they buy turns out to be awful.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Utter utter bullshit.
Every game on Steam, except for when they have a sale, I can get cheaper elsewhere. And sometimes even when they DO have a sale.
And not every game goes on sale.

If Steam becomes pretty much the only way to play PC games (I do not see this happening), then I will unfortunately have to stop playing PC games.
Steam/Valve = the Apple of PC gaming. Sure it all looks pretty, and there are lots of fanboys, but in the end it's all about control. Them having control.

I would not go as far as this poster, but I agree that I am concerned about one company having control of the PC gaming market. As I just posted in another thread about steam, I also dont like having to be connected to steam to play their games. If your internet goes out or the steam servers are down, you are out of luck. I know there is offline mode, but you have to be online to set it up, and you can also mess up your saves if you have both local saves and saves on the Steam Cloud.
Besides, what if Steam should go out of business at some point?? Would you still be able to play your steam games?? Also, I still like to have a DVD copy of the game. The only reason I buy from steam is for the sales.
I also dont like the trend a la MW2 that you buy a retail DVD of the game, but have to go through Steam to play it.