Steam is the RTW2 deal-breaker - here is why

[ISG01]

Steam is the TWR2 deal-breaker for me. In the recent Poll here ONE THIRD of the responders voted for non-Steam.

Here are my reasons for voting for non-Steam:

1) I don't like to give companies an after-sales backdoor into my wallet
2) I don't want a storefront on my desktop
3) I do not support unethical companies like Valve (they sell email addresses to 3rd party direct marketing brokers)
4) I don't want to have to be connected to the net
5) I don't trust their security (http://arstechnica.com/security/2012...alicious-code/)
6) I don't want anything running in the "background" potentially collecting my usage information with the intend to sell it to internet marketing brokers
7) I really don't want to give the founder a single penny, same reason I don't watch Tom Cruise movies.

It must be a considerable business risk for CA to have such a close partnership with $team. What if they have to close down shop due to, for example, a law suit? Valve Sued by German consumer group

/KP

Here we go again...

1) It's not an after-sales backdoor to your wallet. You are actually in control of your own spending and if you buy a copy of RTW2 in the shops you don't even have to link any sort of credit card or bank account to your Steam. That's like saying CA putting up an advertisement on the launcher is a backdoor into your wallet.
2) It's the most non-intrusive store front I have ever seen and you might actually find some nice deals and games that cannot be bought anywhere else on this planet, because Valve and Steam are willing to help independent developers sell their games to a massive audience where normal shops won't and couldn't do that. Do not underestimate the infrastructure required to properly sell a game online, and Steam helps many people with that.
3) I'd like a source on the selling of email addresses, but in any case, Valve as a company is not limited or corrupted by shareholders and the people who set it up and are the key people in Valve (Gabe Newell, Doug Lombardi, etc.) have done more and will do more for gaming than you and I most likely ever will. And that includes Total War. I should think SEGA would never ever have upped the RTW2 budget by 40% compared to previous instalments if it wasn't for the massive success that Total War's been on Steam.
4) You do not have to be connected constantly, just for your first install and launch is enough. And that has been common practice outside of Steam as well for years already. Also, if you have a patchy internet connection Steam will not throw you out of the game, it is not like Ubisoft used to do for a while with their 'constantly online' policy.
5) I'm sure they've plugged that hole. Do you also use Windows? People constantly find holes and bugs in that too and in other software. It actually being reported is a good sign. Steam gets patched constantly, is very secure and I've never had a problem with its security or it taking up system resources. In fact, Gabe Newell was so sure of their Steam Guard service he once gave out his password at a conference and didn't get hacked or whatever you wish to call it.
6) At this moment, my Steam is using fewer system resources than my Dropbox folder and again I asked for a source on the info being sold. As far as I know, the only thing they do is collect statistics on the usage of the systems anonymously to research how people play games and on what systems, which, believe it or not, will help you in the long run.
7) This might seem a bit extreme, but what have you got against Gabe Newell? I simply do not understand. Have you played Half Life? Half Life 2? Portal 1 and 2? Have you actually used Steam? As an avid PC gamer I think Steam is responsible for keeping PC gaming afloat and actually growing, including Total War. Gabe Newell might be a celebrity in gaming circles, but it is for all the right reasons. The only person Valve and Newell have to please, is the customer, i.e. you and me, because as I said, they do not have shareholders. That is more than can be said for EA, Activision or even SEGA/CA.

Steam has always promised that if something were to happen with Steam they would unlock all games from it. However, that will not happen. It is very unlikely that Steam will somehow get blocked or shut down and certainly not a reason to not go with it.

I know people here like to believe that Total War and Steam are separate entities. The fact of the matter is simply that Steam has given Total war sales, multiplayer support, good patching infrastructure and a great platform. Stop trying to see everything as evil. If there is one company you should put some faith in in the gaming industry it should be Valve.

[King Philip II]

Here we go again...

1) It's not an after-sales backdoor to your wallet. You are actually in control of your own spending and if you buy a copy of RTW2 in the shops you don't even have to link any sort of credit card or bank account to your Steam. That's like saying CA putting up an advertisement on the launcher is a backdoor into your wallet.

Thanks for sharing your opinion. We'll argumented opinions is what makes people change their minds. I'm not ready to do quite that, but I'm listening.

Of course I have control, but I just don't like to provide them with easy access.

re 2) Intrusive or non-intrusive - it doesn't matter. Try asking a parent with teenage children how they feel about this.

re 3) I did try to Google a source, but came up short. I don't recall where I heard about it - probably an internal analysis from a previous employer. Anyway, it the rule rather than the exception unfortunatly, so "it's likely" that they do sell your email address as you can't regard them as an ethical company. The "brilliant" part in this dodgy trade is that you buy from the broker so you don't know the origin of the email address.

re 4) Sometimes I'm physically not able to connect. Also, The Assembly Kit requires Steam to launch.

re 6) I would never give them permission to use any of my personal information. It's violating privacy laws in Europe to use my information without my prior concent.

re 7) I don't know the man personally. I just don't like what he is doing. Never played any of those games.

[ISG01]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. We'll argumented opinions is what makes people change their minds. I'm not ready to do quite that, but I'm listening.

Of course I have control, but I just don't like to provide them with easy access.

re 2) Intrusive or non-intrusive - it doesn't matter. Try asking a parent with teenage children how they feel about this.

re 3) I did try to Google a source, but came up short. I don't recall where I heard about it - probably an internal analysis from a previous employer. Anyway, it the rule rather than the exception unfortunatly, so "it's likely" that they do sell your email address as you can't regard them as an ethical company.

re 4) Sometimes I'm physically not able to connect. Also, The Assembly Kit requires Steam to launch.

re 6) I would never give them permission to use any of my personal information. It's violating privacy laws in Europe to use my information without my prior concent.

re 7) I don't know the man personally. I just don't like what he is doing. Never played any of those games.

I'm not trying to make you guys look bad or call you names, I'm just one of those people who genuinely thinks Steam is what saved PC gaming when it was in the gutter around 2008-2009 and I think they have done and still do loads for us.

Re: 2) The storefront is only there when you go to it, any child can just as easily go to Amazon or whatever online store. You do sometimes get a pop-up advertising current deals (which are invariably very good deals, I might add), but it doesn't bother me at all, personally.

Re: 3) Without a source it's difficult to convince me of this one simply because with things like Facebook and Google, they give you stuff for free, their revenue comes from ads and selling your email address to advertisement companies. Steam earns its money from customers buying their products and the products they provide via Steam so I don't think they necessarily have a need nor the inclination to sell your account info. From the things I do know, I'd say Valve is exceptionally ethical. Some of the stories you can read about the way they run the company makes me sad not more companies are run that way (look up the story about Portal 2's writer if you want).

Re: 4) Granted it's not the easiest aspect of Steam, but with some fiddling, you can work Steam in offline mode. The Assembly Kit is simply a part of that and I'm sure part of the support for it comes from Steam, so it's only fair really.

Re: 6) Again, I don't think they do, otherwise than the usual telemetry which actually helps you and doesn't reveal anything about you personally.

Re: 7) It's a shame really, I think he's doing a lot of good and you really should play those games, you're in for a treat. It's some of the best stuff to represent games as a medium and as art.

The fact that it directs you to a website link to fix a connection problem is the biggest joke about it

What do you mean? If it's about fixes for games, often the problem doesn't come from Steam and they still help you. Also, if it's about security, again I say loads of software, including Windows relies on people finding these holes to report them, it strengthens security in the end.

I think major problem for me is, when the games you bought are tied up to some online account, and can be accessed by ANYONE with an Internet connection, then, that means anyone can do something to your online account and to your games.

You bought 100 games worth, I don`t know, 1000 $, and someone, on the other side of the planet, can hack them, or, even STEAM can take them away from you.. without even giving you the reason.

There are more reasons for why I never even bought a single damn steam game, everyone has it`s opinion about steam, yours is that it`s a good system, while mine is not same as yours.

Steam Guard works very well in that respect, I have never had a problem with other people accessing Steam from somewhere else. However, if I want to access my Steam somewhere else, I can and it means I can play all those games anywhere I want. It's really quite secure. Also, you can always appeal to Steam if they do something to your account, but out of the many many people I know who all use Steam and whom I talk to through Steam, I have never heard of anyone losing their account. The things I have heard about were invariably misunderstandings or the fault of those people themselves. Usually though, the ban is only from multiplayer aspects of games as far as I'm aware.

In any case, I am sad so many of you dislike Steam, because I don't think we could have wished for a better platform managed by Valve in the midst of all these huge corporations messing up big games.

[DaciaJC]

You do sometimes get a pop-up advertising current deals

Which, I might add, you can disable.

[wozzar]

I haven't purchased any TW games since it came out on Steam. However i wanted RTW2 so know i will have to use Steam. This about choice and Sega should be giving choices and should be listening which they never have. I wonder if Sega will sell a non Steam version in the EU because of the new laws all digital downloads can be re sold and this is bad news for Steam.

As for Orgin it is worst than Steam and EA know this which is why they try to buy Valve. However Valve told EA to go away.

[Aymer de Valence]

I dislike Steam, but it does make gaming a whole lot easier and the screenshot system is fantastic. I think the hype of the game and the countless videos and screenshots of Rome II after it's been released will make you get it in the end!

[ElvenKind]

Steam is a collection of good ideas - done very badly.

[ISG01]

Steam is a collection of good ideas - done very badly.

Really? In what way? Sure they have developed a lot over the years and the beginning wasn't without hitches, but they were pioneers. In my experience it works extremely well and keeps adding good features and keeps improving. I honestly think so many of you dislike it because you do not play that many different types of games or something, because I simply cannot understand how you could dislike it if you play several different games.

[ElvenKind]

Really? In what way? Sure they have developed a lot over the years and the beginning wasn't without hitches, but they were pioneers. In my experience it works extremely well and keeps adding good features and keeps improving. I honestly think so many of you dislike it because you do not play that many different types of games or something, because I simply cannot understand how you could dislike it if you play several different games.

I think major problem for me is, when the games you bought are tied up to some online account, and can be accessed by ANYONE with an Internet connection, then, that means anyone can do something to your online account and to your games.

You bought 100 games worth, I don`t know, 1000 $, and someone, on the other side of the planet, can hack them, or, even STEAM can take them away from you.. without even giving you the reason.

There are more reasons for why I never even bought a single damn steam game, everyone has it`s opinion about steam, yours is that it`s a good system, while mine is not same as yours.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

Steam is a collection of good ideas - done very badly.

What is origin? recreation of the devil?

[MDT]

I like steam because you can buy games outside germany for about half the price and play them on the same day very comfortable with steam.

[I2ain_2_Battle]

steam is both good and bad, mainly bad. but i'll start off with the good.. you can play games without having the cd

mostly bad.. why? i have experience with having a crappy internet connection trying to download all the updates for shogun 2, not knowing how to download shogun 2 from the cd at the time, took me about a week and a half just to play it.. anyone with a ****** internet connection hates steam. anyone with a great connection doesn't mind steam..

but one thing is certain. on day of release, steam is going to be so incredibly slow due to everyone downloading it the same day.. that in it's self makes me want a non steam version of the game, and heaven forbid if they have updates for this game on day 1.. i don't even want to image that.

[1cmanny1]

Steam has gotten much better. I would actually prefer it to be Steam now, as long I can still use the disc to install.

[Sherm]

All games are converting to Steam, i have too many reason to criticize many action of steam, also the fact that is monopolizing, but from other point of view we have to said that Steam saved the PC gaming, revitalizing it, making it an option for the masses.
People that don't like steam are a minority.

[century x]

I prefer to have it as a stand alone and not tied to steam or for that matter any other online thing

[ElvenKind]

Games tied to some online thing can be accessed by anyone, so, why should my games be accessed by anyone else except me who bought them?

In a modern world there should be a choice between steam and non steam game, not just have steam as an option.

Steam was made as a control mechanism used by the companies, this way, they can pull the plug out when ever they want. And, they can do it legally without any refund to their customers, or moral obligation.


Future of PC gaming.. BAH.

[Greve Af Göteborg]

Games tied to some online thing can be accessed by anyone, so, why should my games be accessed by anyone else except me who bought them?

If you don't want anybody to access your games, don't share your account information.

Edit: And if Valve would suddenly "turn off" steam, without any kind of refund/alternate solution then that would pretty much be suicide for them. So tell me, why would Valve commit suicide when they almost have a monopoly on their hands?

[Achilleslastand]

Games tied to some online thing can be accessed by anyone, so, why should my games be accessed by anyone else except me who bought them?

In a modern world there should be a choice between steam and non steam game, not just have steam as an option.

Steam was made as a control mechanism used by the companies, this way, they can pull the plug out when ever they want. And, they can do it legally without any refund to their customers, or moral obligation.


Future of PC gaming.. BAH.

Exactly.....

Steam was put into place after the Half Life 2 source code was stolen right from under Gabe Newells nose. PC gaming was doing just fine before steam and im sure will continue even if something happens to Gabe Newells draconian love child.

[HinFoo]

sucks to be you, i already preordered it on steam

[Aymer de Valence]

because I simply cannot understand how you could dislike it if you play several different games.

The fact that it directs you to a website link to fix a connection problem is the biggest joke about it