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I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

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Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#51

Post by easyThrowaway »

reedf1 wrote: post #13

> I buy games from Epic Games Store , Microsoft Store and GOG precisely because those stores have no bloated features unrelated to DRM crammed down your throat. Absolutely unhinged opinion.

Also absolutely not true. GOG games ship by default with their Galaxy Runtime SDK built against for savegame sync unless you download one of their legacy installers; any game bought on Microsoft Store adds several containerization features that usually end up requiring a fully separate build.

Some of those examples are almost parodistic, specifically compared to the Epic Games Store equivalent offered. It feels there's something missing from the full story presented here.

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#52

Post by close04 »

weberer wrote: post #40

>Games you purchased on a Windows 98 machine later had their system requirements bumped up to Windows XP, then to Windows 7, then to Windows 10... >Because the Steam client patches itself and because Valve was lying about contingency plans, their DRM prevents running Windows 98-era games on original hardware. What about Linux? Steam has supported Linux since 2013, and is notably the only big store that does. Personal…

> What about Linux? Steam has supported Linux since 2013, and is notably the only big store that does.

Steam is a big contributor to making games run on Linux but it's not some magical sauce unique to Steam. Unless you're talking about the store client software itself having better support, I haven't used any of the first party store clients on Linux. My GOG games run fine on Linux with Heroic Launcher.

But the bigger issue for me was when I bought older games from the Steam store only to discover that they didn't run properly or at all on Windows 10 despite the statement that they do. I bought them again from GOG who actually patched them to work. Supporting the OS I bought the games for should be guaranteed unconditionally for as long as I own the game. Support for additional OSes, especially when it's best effort, is just a bonus not a replacement.

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#53

Post by littlestymaar »

shmerl wrote: post #23

GOG is DRM-free indeed. Others like MS Store and Epic? Lol, they aren't better than Steam in regards to DRM. I prefer GOG, but it's cool that Valve are advancing Linux gaming.

Interestingly enough TFA doesn't complain about DRM at all, it's quite the opposite actually, they complain that Steam does more than DRM when according to them game marketplaces should not be doing anything apart from DRM.

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#54

Post by poulpy123 »

It's true that Steam is a DRMed app store, and that means you are as owner of your game as in any other DRMed app store, but they prove regularly they are for the moment the most consumer friendly DRMed app store. They support linux, they support macos, they open their steam deck, they open their steamos beyond what is required legally, and many I don't remember.

GOG is great because of they are DRM-free app store but there are also challenges: no linux client, no support for the steam deck, etc..

There are some insane takes also: nobody care that windows 98 is not supported anymore, steam is no more responsible for the fragmentation than any others distributors, Ubisoft+, EA Access (and maybe Game Pass) are much worse than Steam

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#55

Post by alpine_accentor »

It’s really weird for the author to put all blame on Steam while they don’t actually require devs to use any of their proprietary features, including DRM. Lots of indie games on Steam are just like the GOG games, you can copy and run anywhere. It’s all dev choice

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#56

Post by nithssh »

Lots of the key people working on things like SDL that Value very heavily relies on are also very vocal critics of the Steam Input API. Steam Input is a bastardization of SDL technically.

I have personally benefitted from the steam input feature in niche cases, but the way it hijacks everything by default even when not enabled does seem to be poor engineer-ship. I have run into some issues when doing controller management within games, only to realize it has to be solved at the steam level.

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#57

Post by yread »

reedf1 wrote: post #13

> I buy games from Epic Games Store , Microsoft Store and GOG precisely because those stores have no bloated features unrelated to DRM crammed down your throat. Absolutely unhinged opinion.

OTOH steam launcher has a lot of features not related to playing games: friends, items, achievements, forums, workshops, screenshot sharing... Useful for some but not for all. Is that not the definition of bloat?

And the library management is pretty basic. And the whole thing is slowwww. Especially, if you don't know what to play and need to look at multiple store pages to figure out what those games are about. I switched to Playnite

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#58

Post by glimshe »

teamonkey wrote: post #48
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've collected so many free games on the Epic store, but almost never play any of them due to issues with them running on the SteamDeck. With some persuasion they can be made to work, but I don't want to be tinkering when I just want to play a game for 5-10 minutes.

Apart from multiplayer games with anti-cheat I’ve had no real problems running Epic or GoG games on Steam Deck via Heroic Launcher. In fact, SD is helping me work through my free Epic games backlog. The most problematic was Deathloop, which flashed up some messages about it being an unsupported APU but ultimately worked fine. Occasionally some games crash after waking from a suspend.

How's the experience of playing mouse centric games (like Civilization, Factorio and other strategy games, for instance) on the Steam Deck?

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#59

Post by glimshe »

close04 wrote: post #42
mog_dev wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam has Comprehensive library management with categories, tags, and collections, Built-in screenshot/video capture and sharing, Steam Workshop for mods and user-generated content, Robust review system, Steam Cloud saves with reliable sync, Family sharing and parental controls, Active discussion forums for each game, Stable, well-tested interface refined over 20+ years, Offline mode that actually works reliably, Big…

The only store that really stands out in that list is GOG so I don't really see it appropriately bundled with the others in the article. It's the one store with no DRM, you own the game. And you'll own it when the current owner/CEO dies and is replaced by a rent seeking MBA who charges you $10/mo to maintain access to the library of games you already "own" (for those who don't already do that). For the rest of the st…

This. Everybody must remember that Steam doesn't sell games. It sells a license to run games on Steam.

You "have" games on Steam as much as you "have" the apartment you're currently renting.

Re: I Deleted My Steam Account After 20 Years

#60

Post by esseph »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #43
weberer wrote: post #40

>Games you purchased on a Windows 98 machine later had their system requirements bumped up to Windows XP, then to Windows 7, then to Windows 10... >Because the Steam client patches itself and because Valve was lying about contingency plans, their DRM prevents running Windows 98-era games on original hardware. What about Linux? Steam has supported Linux since 2013, and is notably the only big store that does. Personal…

I've collected so many free games on the Epic store, but almost never play any of them due to issues with them running on the SteamDeck. With some persuasion they can be made to work, but I don't want to be tinkering when I just want to play a game for 5-10 minutes.

5-10m? Sounds more akin to a phone/mobile game.
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