Something I’ve noticed in this community is that whenever I criticize Steam, or point out something I don’t like about the platform, I tend to get a ton of downvotes.
And honestly, I’m just curious why.
This is a piracy-oriented community, so I find it kinda interesting that Steam seems to have such a strong positive reputation here. I’m not saying people shouldn’t like Steam, obviously everyone has their own reasons for using it. Steam is convenient, has huge sales, supports Linux, has a massive library of games, etc. I completely get why people use it.
I’m just wondering where the line is for people.
For example, do you like Steam despite the DRM because the convenience outweighs the negatives? Do you see Steam as fundamentally different from other forms of DRM? Do you consider Valve one of the “good guys” in the industry? Or do you simply see Steam as a convenient storefront and don’t really think much about the DRM side of it?
Or maybe you actually agree with some of the criticism of Steam, but just think it’s being exaggerated.
For me personally, I don’t use Steam because I don’t really like having my games tied to an account and a platform. I’d rather have the actual files, be able to back them up, move them around, mod them and know that I still have them years later. That’s basically what I was getting at in that video I made about Steam as well.
But I’m not trying to start another “Steam bad!” argument here. I’m genuinely curious because sometimes the reaction seems surprisingly pro-Steam considering the nature of this community.
So what is it about Steam that you guys actually appreciate?
My guess after doing some self-reflection as a Steam customer… Because there aren’t really any truly comparable alternatives, so until that becomes the case people with thousands of dollars of game licenses in Steam are paranoid about the idea of needless exodus away from the platform, as they don’t know how secure their purchases would be in the long term under that scenario. Competition risks stability. So they kneejerk downvote criticisms out of that paranoia. I think it’s far more that investment self-interest emotion than say, fanboyism of Valve.
And thats the biggest objection I have with it: You don’t truly have ownership. You’re basically just “renting”. Again, thats just my opinion and how I feel about it, please don’t hate me for it.
Oh I don’t hate you at all! I actually agree with you, if the DRM-free software or license isn’t actually in your possession, you really don’t have security of ownership.
My goal is to support developers. Not to own a game. If I just wanted to play i would pirate. Download it and store the game files on my backups. I had a collection of CDs to install games from and I don’t even own a CD ROM anymore. Steam is a delivery system that allows me to sync my saves and support developers. That’s about it.