Stream Only Forever?

[Tarkus 10]

I played several of the older games and was really looking forward to getting back into this franchise. However, I won't play it if it's only available on Steam. Are there are plans to get rid of this requirement? Thanks.

[windies 11]

No, it's Steam only and for the foreseeable future it will remain that way. What exactly is the problem with Steam though anyways?

[EvEnLeaSe44 0]

I <3 steam.... instant patches, reliable (mostly) service, and neat features.

I don't see the problem with it, only over paranoid people seem to.

OT: It'll probably stay steam exclusive, for ever. Much easier for the dev team to push patches and content.

[Tarkus 10]

No, it's Steam only and for the foreseeable future it will remain that way. What exactly is the problem with Steam though anyways?

Way back when I gave an old computer of mine to my son. He bought some Steam games that ended up on my account. When I went to play my games I discovered we couldn't both play at the same time. I created a new account and tried to transfer my games. No dice. I contacted Steam and explained the situation and they would do nothing to help me. I have bought a ton of games in my life, more than I care to admit. I paid for every game I bought and always got the retail box. Heck, I've never even stolen a song off the internet. I had all the game discs and all the codes and they would do nothing to help me, basically saying tough luck. It was at that point I pretty much gave up on Steam.

Since that time I've gotten a few Steam games that came with computers I'd purchased. I frequently had problems with those games. Often I would get the game not found message and have to reinstall Steam. This would frequently occur when I hadn't been on Steam for a while. I'm just tired of dealing with them. I see they are finally going to address my issue with the Steam Family Share Plan , but that's too little, too late.

This is a bummer for me. I played all the Operation Flashpoint games and loved them. Didn't even know about ARMA until I came across it searching for a new game to play. Unfortunately I'm so soured on Steam I can't bring myself to give them any more money.

[grillob3 11]

Just play arma 2 then! i can buy the DVDs!

[windies 11]

Way back when I gave an old computer of mine to my son. He bought some Steam games that ended up on my account. When I went to play my games I discovered we couldn't both play at the same time. I created a new account and tried to transfer my games. No dice. I contacted Steam and explained the situation and they would do nothing to help me. I have bought a ton of games in my life, more than I care to admit. I paid for every game I bought and always got the retail box. Heck, I've never even stolen a song off the internet. I had all the game discs and all the codes and they would do nothing to help me, basically saying tough luck. It was at that point I pretty much gave up on Steam.

Since that time I've gotten a few Steam games that came with computers I'd purchased. I frequently had problems with those games. Often I would get the game not found message and have to reinstall Steam. This would frequently occur when I hadn't been on Steam for a while. I'm just tired of dealing with them. I see they are finally going to address my issue with the Steam Family Share Plan , but that's too little, too late.

This is a bummer for me. I played all the Operation Flashpoint games and loved them. Didn't even know about ARMA until I came across it searching for a new game to play. Unfortunately I'm so soured on Steam I can't bring myself to give them any more money.

Those sound like old teething issue's that Steam had around when it was first created. In fact they are even creating a system whereby you can share games between accounts now I believe like you said. If you want to continue hating it, go ahead. It's come a long way though and there's a reason it's pretty much the premier digital distribution platform now.

[Sandy* 10]

Way back when I gave an old computer of mine to my son. He bought some Steam games that ended up on my account. When I went to play my games I discovered we couldn't both play at the same time. I created a new account and tried to transfer my games. No dice. I contacted Steam and explained the situation and they would do nothing to help me. I have bought a ton of games in my life, more than I care to admit. I paid for every game I bought and always got the retail box. Heck, I've never even stolen a song off the internet. I had all the game discs and all the codes and they would do nothing to help me, basically saying tough luck. It was at that point I pretty much gave up on Steam.

Then why did you register the game on your own account and not your son's?

Since that time I've gotten a few Steam games that came with computers I'd purchased. I frequently had problems with those games. Often I would get the game not found message and have to reinstall Steam.

This sounds like a problem in your system instead of Steam. Did you go around moving the game files? Faulty hard drive?

Also, the game series itself has had its share of bugs which I'm sure you ran into in Flashpoint, but those didn't stop you from enjoying the game did they? So why let a couple of weird occurences with Steam be a deal-breaker?

Edit:

Those sound like old teething issue's that Steam had around when it was first created. In fact they are even creating a system whereby you can share games between accounts now I believe like you said. If you want to continue hating it, go ahead. It's come a long way though and there's a reason it's pretty much the premier digital distribution platform now.

I'd like to emphasize this as well. Steam is a very different (better) platform than it was in 2005/2006.

[David77 10]

What exactly is the problem with Steam though anyways?

Because he doesn't want to jump through (perceived) hoops to play a game.

Here are my own personal view(s) regarding Steam:

Steam's like EA in a sense. Aside from potential problems, they... have a bad effect on certain, good games. Niche games. Only not directly like EA does. And in a different way. Niche games (like Arma) don't belong on steam IMHO. They no longer are a Niche, they change for the mainstream over time & before you know it Arma4 will be BF. Also we'll be paying for user made addons & missions. Which that idea already seems to have a full head of steam (pun intended) & is in the works so to speak. On that note, some of the very staunch steam supporters here, who were saying how great steam would be for Arma3, are now some of the exact same people complaining that the game is "dumbed down". :rolleyes:

It's not that steam itself is bad. It's just bad for games a community like Arma's... in my opinion.

Edited September 18, 2013 by David77

[dmarkwick 261]

Way back when I gave an old computer of mine to my son. He bought some Steam games that ended up on my account. When I went to play my games I discovered we couldn't both play at the same time. I created a new account and tried to transfer my games. No dice. I contacted Steam and explained the situation and they would do nothing to help me. I have bought a ton of games in my life, more than I care to admit. I paid for every game I bought and always got the retail box. Heck, I've never even stolen a song off the internet. I had all the game discs and all the codes and they would do nothing to help me, basically saying tough luck. It was at that point I pretty much gave up on Steam.

Since that time I've gotten a few Steam games that came with computers I'd purchased. I frequently had problems with those games. Often I would get the game not found message and have to reinstall Steam. This would frequently occur when I hadn't been on Steam for a while. I'm just tired of dealing with them. I see they are finally going to address my issue with the Steam Family Share Plan , but that's too little, too late.

This is a bummer for me. I played all the Operation Flashpoint games and loved them. Didn't even know about ARMA until I came across it searching for a new game to play. Unfortunately I'm so soured on Steam I can't bring myself to give them any more money.

Hi Tarkus. I feel your pain, but I think that possibly things have changed slightly with Steam, in that, I think, you are able to transfer games between accounts. Even so, I don't think it's unreasonable for Steam to insist on one user at a time per account on their system ;)

I tried to avoid Steam myself, but of course some games just.... require it. Orange Box. Skyrim. And now ArmA3. Those games are worth the Steam hoops IMO, but, each person has their own view :)

Hope you get some solution sorted anyways.

[mmcnosferatu 10]

Way back when I gave an old computer of mine to my son. He bought some Steam games that ended up on my account. When I went to play my games I discovered we couldn't both play at the same time. I created a new account and tried to transfer my games. No dice. I contacted Steam and explained the situation and they would do nothing to help me. I have bought a ton of games in my life, more than I care to admit. I paid for every game I bought and always got the retail box. Heck, I've never even stolen a song off the internet. I had all the game discs and all the codes and they would do nothing to help me, basically saying tough luck. It was at that point I pretty much gave up on Steam.

Since that time I've gotten a few Steam games that came with computers I'd purchased. I frequently had problems with those games. Often I would get the game not found message and have to reinstall Steam. This would frequently occur when I hadn't been on Steam for a while. I'm just tired of dealing with them. I see they are finally going to address my issue with the Steam Family Share Plan , but that's too little, too late.

Well, that's the best we got on PC. Other companies are not really in hurry to offer platforms with better performance and comfort, there are only bastardous off-springs like Origin or Uplay.

And consoles aren't better, at least in this generation.

[antnxx 1]

No Steam - Your personal loss.

[Sandy* 10]

Because he doesn't want to jump through (perceived) hoops to play a game.

Here are my own personal view(s) regarding Steam:

Steam's like EA in a sense. Aside from potential problems, they... have a bad effect on certain, good games. Niche games. Only not directly like EA does. And in a different way. Niche games (like Arma) don't belong on steam IMHO. They no longer are a Niche, they change for the mainstream over time & before you know it Arma4 will be BF. Also we'll be paying for user made addons & missions. Which that idea already seems to have a full head of steam (pun intended) & is in the works so to speak. On that note, some of the very staunch steam supporters here, who were saying how great steam would be for Arma3, are now some of the exact same people complaining that the game is "dumbed down". :rolleyes:

It's not that steam itself is bad. It's just bad for games a community like Arma's... in my opinion.

I haven't read anything sillier in a while. You're saying that the industry-wide everyday phenomenon of developers/publishers "widening their target audience" (also known as streamlining or more aptly "dumbing down the game") in order to gain more profit is Steam's fault? :rolleyes:

Now I know that Gabe Newell is to blame for every lacky console game out there, and I should also start preparing for the day ED switches my Steam-bought DCS modules to toy planes. :cool:

[ProfTournesol 956]

I'm not sure we need another Steam discussion.

[Harbinger2456 10]

Yeah, Prof, they don't want me to get started on how much I hate F-ing Steam.

[Smurf 12]

Yeah, Prof, they don't want me to get started on how much I hate F-ing Steam.

So, you took the day to hate on anything BI\A3 related today?

@Steam: Could be one of the best things that happened to Arma! A game based on communities and community made content sharing all it's things in one place without the serious struggles you had to use them?

Time will tell but so far so good. And things that will be big game changers aren't implemented yet (namely, better MP browser\design).

[Tarkus 10]

SandyBandy. My son was very young at the time. He didn't realize he needed his own account and inadvertently registered his games on the account that showed up, which was mine. The biggest issues I have with them is they essentially screw you we don't care about your problem. I just have issues with companies that treat their customers that way. As far as errors go I know many people who have gotten the "This game is currently unavailable message." In fact there's an official Steam post on how to fix it (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4595-wexn-6831). Whenever I would be away from a game for a while I had to uninstall and reinstall Steam to play the game again. It got annoying.

DMarkwick. Yes, it seems like Steam is finally addressing the issue where you will be able to transfer games between family accounts. That might be enough to entice me back if they solved some of the other issues I've encountered. And I wasn't trying to get them to let me play two games from the same account, that would not be appropriate. I wanted them to let me switch a few games from one account to another. They refused. I hear you about some good games on Steam. Company of Heroes 2, Dishonored, and ArmA3 are some of the game I've passed on that require Steam. I might give ArmA3 a shot once you can move games and see if the old problems are gone.

MMCNosferatu. Well, I like Uplay. Never had any problems with that platform. And at least you can talk to them on the phone is you have a problem.

Thanks for the replies folks. I'll give ArmA3 some serious thought and see if I can get past the Steam thing. I know it's not a huge deal, but I've very principled and don't like to support company that I perceive have slighted me. Ignoring them is cheaper than therapy! :D