Steam - opinions and experiences survey

[SWAT_Glock 10]

Why does BI even have to use Steam? Cut out the middleman and sell your games directly to the consumer via digital downloads. (like Sprocket)

As far as owning the physical disk, manual, retail box, etc.... I can accept doing away with retail store bought version as long as you can always re-download the games at anytime. I still keep backups of my digital download games and serials on an external drive anyway. Most of the time , if you have to re-download the game, it will already be patched with the latest version.

And the money BI can save not having to manufacture and distribute retail store version, can go back into game development. Just my 2 cents. :)

[Gunter Severloh 4054]

For BI it would be obviously easier to manage only one way of distribution.

Only one way of distribution is right, from all the nos i been reading and posting one myself, I see no point in going all steam,

that seriously puts limits on how potential buyers of the game can get the game,play the game, mod the game as well as patch.

Easier is not always best, what works is best, and whats been working is the option to get the dvd and download from sprocket, as well as other places.

[andersson 285]

Yep, if they do have to abandon DVDs please continue on Sprocket. I guess however that steam is a good way of finding new customers?

[11aTony 0]

I vote no to steam-only even if you can mod it, play or whatever still the same. Steam is the devil.

For example, lets take Black Ops, disregarding how the gameplay is. When you buy it from the local store, in a box and put it in the DVD player, its not the same as CoD 4, is it.

If it needs to be something only, I say non-steam only as well. Like it always was.

For me personally, steam cant give me anything more. I dont buy games online except ArmA 2 DLCs, I dont chat on steam.

I really can take a minute to patch the game. Hell, Im patching missions, mods or whatever daily. Downloading stuff all the time. So what is one patch per month or two more.

"Easer to join your friends with steam and make new friends?" Love-meet.com, really?

If I could somehow just forget about a million "Steam is currently unavailable, go fuck yourself" messages in the past few years, steam still feels like some kind of xbox live thing. Same goes for games for windows and all that crap.

[bangtail 0]

Dear community,

Steam is becoming very significant part of today's PC Gaming as well as it was crucial part of the success of Arma 2 / Operation Arrowhead.

There are already many games that are simply Steam only but Bohemia Interactive so far tried to stay service agnostic as we did not like concept of enforcing our users in any direction. What is your opinion, should we make our games Steam only or provide Steam specific enhancements or not?

Unfortunately, as much as I like Steam, the sticking point with ArmA is Steam and mods.

Because of this, I'd say no to steam exclusivity vis a vis Arma.

[johncage 30]

i have no problem with steam and mods. it even has a built in command line feature. the problem is basically having to re download entire pbo packages due to how steam and the game works. they've circumvented this problem by changing the file structure of patches so they are located in new pbos instead of overwriting the old ones.

i always thought this was pretty cumbersome and surely bis would like to spend their time messing with the game rather than the configuration files for patching.

i vote to discontinue steam association all together so that patching without steam is possible.

[max power 21]

I have not had any negative experiences with steam however I prefer to own physical media. If BIS went to steam only, I would not hesitate to purchase the game on steam. It has been a problem for me to get physical copies of BIS games here in Canada at any rate, so I usually order through a friend in the UK. This arrangement, while somewhat exciting, is also a bit cumbersome. The steam related enhancements for me are just a benefit of steam as a delivery method, and not reasons to go to steam on their own. A concern for me as an end user is future proofing. People have been playing OFP for ten years and continue to do so. Who knows how long they will continue to play it. Will I be able to play a BIS game that I love, using hardware compatible with it, in ten years on steam?

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Only one way of distribution is right, from all the nos i been reading and posting one myself, I see no point in going all steam,

that seriously puts limits on how potential buyers of the game can get the game,play the game, mod the game as well as patch.

Easier is not always best, what works is best, and whats been working is the option to get the dvd and download from sprocket, as well as other places.

You have totally not read Maruk's post then. Abandoning Steam altogether would not be a wise decision considering just how many customers have bought ArmA 2 and its expansions/DLC on Steam. Abandoning Steam would only further limit their potential buyers. Just like there are people who refuse to buy games via digital distribution, there are people these days who won't buy a game unless it's offered through Steam, or are more inclined to buy games through Steam. I know a lot of people here don't want to hear it, but Steam is starting to take over...

[hellfire257 3]

If people don't want Steam only distribution then it is as simple as that. The people have spoken.

[Serclaes 0]

Please continue your way of not forcing a the player down the steam path.

Unfortunately you can't go around Steam these days but i finally bought Empire and Metro2033. I had put it off because I knew Empire required steam. Metro2033 was a "hell i'm bored i need a good shooter" thing. Not paying attention to the cover i only discovered while installing that it required steam. :eek: Then i said "what the heck might as well buy empire".

[KeyCat 131]

I know a lot of people here don't want to hear it, but Steam is starting to take over...

If that would be the case (I really hope not) I'm curious if you think this would be a good thing for us PC gamer customers?

BTW: I have no bones to pick with Steam I personally just prefer the other options like Sprocket/GamersGate/Direct2Drive/etc over Steams added bloatware and the server/on-line dependencies to play my game/sim.

/KC

[abs 2]

I personally voted no steam, because I have bought EVERYTHING off of Steam, and as previously mentioned, the 4-8 gigs of downloads just to update a patch is annoying. It's because of that that I've also bought it off Sprocket. In the future I plan to fully abandon Steam.

But, if it has been successful for BI, then keep using it...just give us some other options, please.

Abs

[SWAT_Glock 10]

I think Steam is for the non-savy, don't know much about computers, type of person. Might as well make ARMA for the MAC. :D

For real though....lets start a list of pros and cons so everyone can see the big picture here. I know some say that they don't have any problems with mods, but majority say they do, so thats definitely a con.

Feel free to copy and paste the list to your post.....

PROS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

CONS

1. Game is tied to one Steam acct forever.

2. Can never sell or transfer the game to someone else.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Edited February 27, 2011 by SWAT_Glock

[Hellhound 10]

For me no Steam for several reasons

1: Its another layer of DRM which i can do without.

2: Pricing (in europe we always pay way too much).

3: Slow updates and big packages.

4: If for some reason they think you did something wrong, they can ban your whole account with everything you bought!!.

5: You can't sell the game if you don't play/like it anymore.

6: Account hacked is all your games are gone.

So any company that chooses to make a game Steam only, lose me as a customer.

[nobrainer 0]

I think that BIS can make more money out of steam than with DVD's.

Hard copy is way much more expensive.

If you all ready have steam, then steam will run on your computer anyway.

I think is they make it more compatible with steam, they might not use these huge downloads anymore. Maybe you don't have to download 5gb everytime they update your game.

I don't like the way A2CO works now, since I got A2, A2:OA, A2:BAF and A2:PMC on steam. But I think that would be a thing of the past if BIS does it right.

I only got 1 BIG concern with a SteamOnly game, and thats dedicated server. I need to be able to install and update the server without having a separate account on steam for running a dedicated server. Since my servers are a long way from my house.

And about selling your games....do you get them sold? I have never sold a game ever...just given them away.

[NoQuarter 0]

You have totally not read Maruk's post then. Abandoning Steam altogether would not be a wise decision considering just how many customers have bought ArmA 2 and its expansions/DLC on Steam.

To repeat, but abandoning Steam was not the root question posed by Maruk... Should BI make Arma 2 and/or future games Steam only? was.

Let's not confuse the question with one of the inartfully-phrased options.

I know a lot of people here don't want to hear it, but Steam is starting to take over...

Steam can (and maybe will) take over -this is true, then again, it could very well topple over under its own weight, right on top of its supportive users.

[CHB68 10]

No spyware/malware please !

[mrcash2009 0]

No for me.

Mainly becuase I dont like being funnelled down a route like a rat stuck in a world of its own set to its own rules and dictations and "hoop jumping", have enough of that in real life :)

I would have thought by the reports of the whole sprocket v steam issues it spoke for itself :)

Also, and this is as honest as i can put it, if you do, I will move away from the sim and buy nothing more that's on offer if it was just a steam thing only. Im prepared to walk away from the whole gaming world based on this logic, much like I will never as long as I breath ever use facebook, yet so many places force you into using it for networking and such, but, that's a different subject and debate :)

Steam can (and maybe will) take over

Steam to me is the long awaiting "computer lock" for software O/S makers have had wet dreams about for years, then it will extend to O/S itself then the option of booting your pc as we move on, but, again ... a different debate. Steam, the Microsoft of the game computer lock :) Dont play into the hands of the monopoly, next thing independents will be sqeezed to have dynamic advertising into the billboards on maps in order to stay afloat via steams rules, much like how farmers/suppliers get the shaft from the supermarkets right now.

Only go with steam, if steam change and pander to the independents, not the other way around, so far I dont see it being that way.

Edited February 27, 2011 by mrcash2009

[jayrad 10]

I used Steam for Fallout New Vegas and it hasn't really caused any problems but i enjoy choices. Arma isn't really the type of game that would benefit from steam only anyways.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

If that would be the case (I really hope not) I'm curious if you think this would be a good thing for us PC gamer customers?

IMO, it really depends heavily on the developers. One thing that I have noticed is that many devs seem to favor Steam/Steamworks over alternatives (like GFWL). I mean in the end it's still the developers of the game who decide which features and how to integrate them. So far Steam hasn't managed to get in the way at all of the things that make PC gaming great (mods, multiplayer, online communities); I mean don't forget that Valve contributed greatly to pioneering PC gaming with Half-Life. It's also a powerful marketing tool that can get even the least recognized names out there.

Personally I also think that Steam is particularly good for niche games like ArmA 2. It's not just a distribution platform, it's a community resource. The only concerns I have about Steam are not even specifically about Steam, but is true of any good thing; it may just grow so big that it begins to lose what made it good in the first place.

On an unrelated note, I do agree that Steam sometimes feels like bloatware, but then again a lot of games these days also feel bloated.

[faguss 65]

No, please not Steam because I don't like the idea of obligatory internet connection in order to play a game.

[sv5000 127]

As has been raised in previous posts..

Say no to Steam only - Steam adds junk and I hate having to run it everytime i fire up a steam only product.

Please keep it the way you have it BI

[Haystack15 10]

Voted No, Reason is...

To Be honest, If ARMA II or Any games where smaller than a GB than I wouldn't mind buying it for digital download. But when it comes to Digital download I've never gotten a grip on feeling safe if something happens to my hard drive or Steam where its not going to let me play then game.

not only that, Sometimes when you buy a game in the Digital format than it might require you to run additional software to play it. That is going to take up Processing power and Ram I can use for the game it self. To make things worst It also might require me to have a constant internet connection to enjoy it. Its a sad thing to say that I cant even trust my internet to stay online all thing time.

While If I just buy a physical CD or DVD the only thing I have to worry is if I lose the DVD or it Brakes. Other than that I like to feel a round object in my hands.

Edited February 28, 2011 by Haystack15

[Baff1 0]

I'm not a Steam purchaser normally.

While I have purchased a few Steam games (in CD form from shops), and i think it an excellently made service....

It is completly user unfriendly.

I have to sign in and launch (and then dick around in some menu's that are essentially just a series of adverts trying to get me to buy stuff at over inflated prices) instead of just click a desktop icon. So I don't.

If I play multiplayer, half the time it starts updating shit that I didn't want updated because I had already got it working the way I like.

So a game that should be a group of people in a room clicking the desktop link and just playing becomes a room full of people complaining and asking what their passwords and account names are and what button to press to launch the game... and a network guy pulling his hair out installing patches and servers etc.

In all honesty, the games I have that require Steam don't get played much, if at all. I am more likely not to buy a title if it says Steam on the box than if it does not.

I actively avoid it.

Edited February 28, 2011 by Baff1

[-Paladin- 10]

I am “not sure†option.

Why?

I like my retail disc i can watch it all the day touch it and play with the disc, I LOVE MANUALS written on PAPER AND NOT that PDF crap that is costing me money (Printing and Printing with Color even more money).I think the print in the retail disc is cheaper for me than printing some few pages at home and it feels different it feels good.

I don't have a credit card. (not yet)

And even if I had one I cant think really of buying things throe the web and giving my card infos just so away.

I am old fashion.

Steam is great for ppl with fast Internet and for ppl that don't want retail discs.

Give both kind of ppl the option to chose.

make a few retail discs and the option to buy on steam both sides are happy.

Ppl get even more happy if the combination of retail and steam buy where not so problematic(A2+OA some one sad) and mods.

but pls don't make a Internet only sale.