Gameguru Mania

ggrobot · Elite Member Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 53571

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell left no doubt about his company\'s stance on DRM in

a recent email to a fan:

Left 4 Dead is developed entirely by Valve. Steam revenue for our games is not shared with third parties. Around the world we have a number of distribution partners to handle retail distribution of our game

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smnoamls · Contributor Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 3

You know I like to contribute to your site when I can, but I cannot remotely agree with you on this.
Steam has got to be the best thing since sliced bread.
Their DRM is not even REMOTELY invasive.
They have no driver install base, you dont need the dvd in the drive . . .
Its easy as pie to buy games and play them, and they even remember your settings for you ( steam cloud ).
They are pioneers in the digital distrobution game, bar none.
Their DRM is not better?
Its the best.

doodaddy · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject:

Hmm. I completely agree that Steam DRM is no better than the others. I've sadly been bitten by it twice. Once, I simply bought a used version of Half-Life 2 on Amazon. I'm pretty sure that that is a completely "legal" purchase, yet it would not run. My attempt to navigate Steam's site and explain the situation was so obtuse that I'm sure it was purposely confusing so I'd go away. Which I did. Except I don't plan to buy another Steam game ever. Should I feel guilty that I didn't read EULAs and what-not first? Of course not. Shame on Valve. I can only assume many customers with less knowledge than me are having a worse time.

Also, it is ugly and starts slow, so there. It just feel clunky. No love lost from me.

P.S. I went on a job interview with Valve... unfortunately it was the Steam group. I think my lack of enthusiasm was fairly obvious when I found out. I didn't get called back even before a tech interview. (-:

electronox · Contributor Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 2

I have to agree with smnoamls. If anything, Steam is the best consumer DRM out there. You get to be a legit customer and you can download and install your games on any computer, log in, and play! What isn't easy about that? You don't even have to forfeit a portion of your money to Worst Buy or Ugly Mart. Instead it goes to Valve, who heavily REINVESTS its money in improving Steam and its own games, creating a cycle of awesomeness.

Sure it sucks if you still want to pirate your games. But if you are a legit customer, you win.

As far as reselling your games - well, you should have downloaded the demo, decided if you liked it, and then bought it on Steam. Games with replay value are only the highest quality games, and this is what you should buy on Steam.

That said, it would be rather intriguing to see an Amazon Marketplace-like addition to Steam, where Valve gets maybe a 15-25% cut of what you sell the game for to another user. If you think that sounds like a big margin, you have never sold your game to Gamestop, et al.

Steam naysayers seem to be jealous of the incredible business plan that is embodied by Steam. Get over it, your pirating forced it upon us, and embrace the future.

Sabot · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 6:05 pm Post subject:

nb411 · Elite Member Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 497

A lot of games are so dirt cheap on steam I can't see much benefit in selling them on anyway. I think that is a very weak argument for not liking steam. The money you save is about what you would get from selling on your hard copy anyway. People just seem to hate it because it is different, and fail to see what advantages it has over other alternatives.