Steam - opinions and experiences survey

[spooky lynx 73]

a resource hog Microsoft would have been proud of

Sad but true. Especially for those with average PCs but not hi-end systems.

[old_painless 182]

Voted no. The things that Steam do well I have only seen working with Valves own games that my kids play (Team Fortress 2); you have a friends system, an easy way to browse and buy addons etc.

But I hate that Steam is costing me 20 seconds of startup time, and that I do not have an easy way of playing offline. Also, it seems like mostly a sales channel. While I will gladly pay for good content, especially for kids it can get out of hand because it is too easy to click-and-pay.

[Hanzu 10]

There must be people who play Arma2 series only offline and have no chance to buy games as DLCs because they have no credit card or whatever. Naturally they never or rarely show up here in the forums either.

Let me give an example. If someone buys PS3 and plays games with it, it does not mean he/she would automatically log in to internet just because on PS3 it is possible and free. In that platform there must be more offline players than online players and that makes me wonder how big % it is in Arma2, probably less, but would you build your market strategy on such assumptions, I would not.

Also not all people enjoy playing with other people, instead they like to play singleplayer stuff, since it fits their time schedule better and they are not intrested in competition or cooperation.

By the way I'm not talking about myself here, if you thought so and I have not yet touched SP in Arma2 even once and I'm behind high speed internet.

In that point of view this poll and the idea of making ArmA2 series Steam-only or DLC only is unfair and maybe not good market idea, since they have no voice in this poll and you would only notice their absence in sales.

Ok, I know it is terrible injustice or even torture to play game like Arma2 without ever loading a single patch for it, but I'm sure there must be a unknown number of people who play like that.

[WackyIraqi 0]

I voted the "I'm not sure it depends" but I think I'm more leaning towards the no side.

Fer pretty muched summed up the big points:)

[barmyarmy 0]

AFTER THOUGHT

If BIS are serious about moving to steam then the following needs to happen.

They need to ensure all of the historical problems that have plagued steam users are addressed completely.

They need to then allow use of sprocket/idea/retail CD-Keys to enable the steam version of the game (I've seen this done with other games such as UT3); that way the doubting thomas's can try the steam edition and see if they can live with it.

I think if you force this, it will tank.

[Infam0us 10]

I personally would only say yes if the games on Steam worked identical to those you can purchase hard copies of or off of Sprocket. At the moment there seem to be too many workarounds for my liking, especially in terms of running Combined Operations via Steam, but if those were fixed I would not have an issue with it.

Agreed, issues with patching and running Mods aswell would need to be sorted aswell. But if these did work I would love to use Steam.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Infam0us

[crimsontide 10]

I just don't like steam. I find it much more finicky and unlikely to work, especially when I don't have an internet connection. I know there is a way to run it without the internet, but it seems very glitchy without an internet connection. Also, I run Arma 2 on a lower end laptop that can barely run it and when I run both arma 2 and steam at the same time, I get very low performance. I found my performance increased greatly when I switched to the dvd version with OA.

[-Total- 0]

I would advise to keep the current availability of boxed downloads as well as Steam distribution. Not all of us out here kiss the ground Steam walks on. While have purchased a couple of games over Steam, I prefer to get a boxed version instead.

[Buster_Battle 10]

I love Steam and constantly use it for many games, but Arma is best without steam. For example, One reason I love BIS is the beta patches constantly out, but this isnt really an option/quite difficult to do if you were steam only, since it'd mean going through external support (to do official, auto patching of course).

The system you have now is best, giving people the option to buy elsewhere and not have steam and letting you do all your own support, while letting those who want to buy Arma on steam do just that.

Finally, Arma is a game that requires a lot of resources sometimes, and being forced to have another layer of software running while trying to get best performance would cause many (i'd suspect) to be annoyed.

[SteveJA 12]

From what i can see after reading bits here and there, steam is great for "fire and forget" games *cough*

CoD

*cough*. However Arma is, err not sure if this is the right word, Dynamic?. SP/MP patches, Mods, etc etc. It changes and evolves every day.

[celery 8]

From what i can see after reading bits here and there, steam is great for "fire and forget" games *cough*

CoD

lolno.

Call of Duty on Steam: €50

Call of Duty in store: €40, can be sold off at €20-40 = €0-20

[4 IN 1 0]

No, simply because updating is already a pain in the ass, then there is the mod problem as well

orthrough i understand a part of the reason behind it: the price to making box version is going up high in recent years, thats makes the game itself less profitable because the selling price cant catch up with the inflation

Edited March 4, 2011 by 4 IN 1

[Mickd 0]

I like when possible to have the disk.

[ffur2007slx2_5 11]

Whatever, it will be okay as long as all custom mods and official updates can be conveniently installed.

[fatty86 10]

I have the whole ArmA2 kit on Steam - ArmA2, OA, BAF, and PMC. It has been a pretty painless experience and being able to re-install games without media is a great benefit. I also enjoy using the Steam overlay and, more recently, taking in-game screenshots with Steam. Admittedly, the launch of OA was rather rocky, with trying to get Combined Ops to function on Steam. But today I really have zero complaints and overall, I enjoy playing ArmA2 on Steam and will continue purchasing future BIS games on Steam. Mods and beta patches all function flawlessly.

That said, I can appreciate that some users may not have fast connections or have capped downloads, so it is impractical for them to download large games. So, I hope BIS continues to produce hard copies for those consumers.

But, I also hope BIS continues to make their games available on Steam for users like me :)

[ZZEZ 10]

I don't see whats all the fuss about Steam, I have A2+Arrowhead on it and it works perfectly fine, you can set parameters to launch whatever mods you like and if you really hate Steam so much you can always launch the game without Steam using something like Yoma

[Big Dawg KS 6]

No, simply because updating is already a pain in the ass, then there is the mod problem as well

What is this mod problem people keep refering to? Mods work exactly the same for Steam versions of ArmA 2.

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 PM ----------

if you really hate Steam so much you can always launch the game without Steam using something like Yoma

Well, that's the thing. With Steamworks integration you'd probably no longer be able to launch the game without it going through Steam. I dunno though, I'm not an expert on Steam/Steamworks.

[sbsmac 0]

I don't have strong feelings about whether Arma should be Steam only but supporting Steam has to be a good thing. I've bought all BIS games as CDs or Sprocket downloads so far because:

1) I know there have been problems with BIS distributions on Steam in the past

2) Steam doesn't (last time I looked) offer the option to selectively install games in different locations and I wanted to run Arma from my SSD which isn't large enough to hold all the other steam games I own.

Having said all, that BIS games are pretty much the only ones that I'm willing to make an exception for. For me, Steam is a fantastic platform - I love the fact that game patches are automatically downloaded and installed and generally things 'just work'. If I buy a new PC, all those games just get downloaded again as I want them.

Another interesting point - I have nearly 30 games in my steam library. I've probably bought 4 or 5 full-price, the rest have been purchased through various Steam promotions. Without Steam there is no way I would have bought or played a lot of these games.

In summary, if you only supported Steam it wouldn't put me off buying the games though it might lead to some practical difficulties (eg, installing to SSD or running with betas).

Edited March 4, 2011 by sbsmac

[kashwashwa 10]

ARMA 2 is the only game I've ever purchased at full price on steam, in addition to every single piece of DLC.

Steam is a great service (that only keeps getting better) and would have no problem if future releases were steamworks.

[Inkompetent 0]

Not Steam only. I prefer hard copies for my games, and I do like to get to install them where I want (should an HDD get full for example) rather than be forced to install them all into the Steam folder. And well.. I don't like a 200MB patch to become a 5GB download.

[fusionofp 0]

voted no.

[ZZEZ 10]

Well, that's the thing. With Steamworks integration you'd probably no longer be able to launch the game without it going through Steam. I dunno though, I'm not an expert on Steam/Steamworks.

Yes you can, I do it all the time because I don't like the Steam notifications at the right bottom.

You can launch it using the exes in the steamapps folder, I use Yoma for online play with specific addons/CO and it works perfectly fine....I don't even have to run Steam in order to launch the game.

I don't know if a 'hard' copy requires to have the DVD inside the drive but thats another advantage of Steam, I don't even remember the last time I used my DVD drive except burning music for my car/installing windows.

Steam improved allot since its original launch.

[grub 10]

I voted no as I too like to hold my games in my hand.

I like to be able to reinstall without massive downloads.

I mean I bought the DLC's from Sprocket and that’s fine with me as it’s still simple.

I just find steam can be a hassle some times and I'd hate to see all games go "that way".

Yes its convenient and cheaper for developers, but its much nicer to hold the DVD. For me anyway :D

[Baff1 0]

I don't know if a 'hard' copy requires to have the DVD inside the drive but thats another advantage of Steam, I don't even remember the last time I used my DVD drive except burning music for my car/installing windows.

.

If a software accesses your CD drive, then you haven't got it installed properly.

That's the way I see it.

[Deadfast 43]

Yes you can, I do it all the time because I don't like the Steam notifications at the right bottom.

You can launch it using the exes in the steamapps folder, I use Yoma for online play with specific addons/CO and it works perfectly fine....I don't even have to run Steam in order to launch the game.

I don't know if a 'hard' copy requires to have the DVD inside the drive but thats another advantage of Steam, I don't even remember the last time I used my DVD drive except burning music for my car/installing windows.

Steam improved allot since its original launch.

Steamworks != Steam. You can't launch games using the Steamworks API without Steam. Arma has no Steamworks hence why you can.