Steam: What A Load Of Crap! I wish I could download pirated games.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

If I'd had the first clue that I'd be sitting here on Boxing Day, waiting for TW Shogun 2 to download all the guff from Steam, I'd have left it in the shop. I don't want to play online, multi-player, none of that stuff, I just want to play the game.
As the previous poster says, it says nowhere on the packaging that you HAVE to download Gigs of files to get the game to work, it simply says an Internet connection and a free Steam account is required. Well, I have both of those, so I should be playing my game NOW, not waiting for files to download.
I mean, what exactly was on the TWO DVD disks in the packaging?

This is like the bad old days when I was a kid, sitting in front of the telly, listening to a cassette player squealing away whilst I waited for ZX Spectrum games to load. One difference, I'm in my forties now, and I have lots of real-life stuff to do, the small time slot I had to myself for relaxation is nearly over, and I've spent it staring at a screen again.

Steam is a great name for this process, my dog lays things that steam out in the garden, and now I have to go and pick them up before my wife gets home. Cheers Steam, I'll try to avoid buying anything with your name on it again...

"Outraged", Tonbridge Wells

Well, regarding that, the problem is that games are being rushed out full of bugs. Look at Skyrim -- an offline game that's already gone through four big patches (the last one is 230 MB's or so). It used to be where games would release and in the off-chance that they DID need a patch, it was small. Now everything's so bug-ridden you can expect a lot of patching regardless of the game.

[iGuest 3]

If I'd had the first clue that I'd be sitting here on Boxing Day, waiting for TW Shogun 2 to download all the guff from Steam, I'd have left it in the shop. I don't want to play online, multi-player, none of that stuff, I just want to play the game.
As the previous poster says, it says nowhere on the packaging that you HAVE to download Gigs of files to get the game to work, it simply says an Internet connection and a free Steam account is required. Well, I have both of those, so I should be playing my game NOW, not waiting for files to download.
I mean, what exactly was on the TWO DVD disks in the packaging?

This is like the bad old days when I was a kid, sitting in front of the telly, listening to a cassette player squealing away whilst I waited for ZX Spectrum games to load. One difference, I'm in my forties now, and I have lots of real-life stuff to do, the small time slot I had to myself for relaxation is nearly over, and I've spent it staring at a screen again.

Steam is a great name for this process, my dog lays things that steam out in the garden, and now I have to go and pick them up before my wife gets home. Cheers Steam, I'll try to avoid buying anything with your name on it again...

"Outraged", Tonbridge Wells

I also bought TW Shogun yesterday and have been experiencing the same some problems as yourself. Just uninstalled and re-installed steam this morning and the Shogun install is running of the disk not steam this time. Might be worth trying it again, but agree Steam is Crap.

[iGuest 3]

I have come to the conclusion that most people that say steam is good is relatively new to pc gaming. Why I think this ? Well we hate steam because it has turned pc gaming into a nightmare. It was much simpler and hassle free before steam. So we have little reason to like it. But what gets to me is the fact that you are forced to use this softwAre. Why not give us a choice ? So I can play Skyrim without having to be online and the problems that go with it. Steam supporters socialise whilst gamers despise steam, if I was given a choice to have steam the answer will be undoubtably NO !! Regardless of online play.

[iGuest 3]

STEAM SUCKS, I CAN NEVER GET ON TO THE NETWORK, I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING TO DO WITH STEAM AGAIN!!!!!!

[iGuest 3]

I couldn't agree anymore my friend. Spent almost £40 on Skyrim and so far managed 3hrs of actual gameplay in 4 days due their crappy servers; and as for Napoleon: Total War! well I won't even go there, (it took the best part of a week just to install the effin thing!!). The best thing thing any of these manufacturers (SEGA etc.) could do to save their reputation is to tell Steam to stuff it where the sun don't shine. I can guarantee I'll be checking EVERY game from now on, no matter how much I want to play it, to see if it needs Steam; if it does, I'm sorry but it will stay in the shop.

[iGuest 3]

yep steam no good i brought shogun 2 and all i had (at the time) was a dongul 3 hours later steam worked then up came a note saying game will start in 2 HOURS!!!!!! think i will stick with the ps3 thank you.

[iGuest 3]

I am haveing alot of problems with steam lately i bough left 4 dead 2 and i cant install it because apparently my product code has been already used ? which doesnt make sense i mean what is the point of even trying to game on pc anymore half of the games out there you have to use steam to install it ...i mean i tryed everything ..disconecting from the internet ..removing steam of my pc and alot of other useless *BLEEP* !! *BLEEP* YOU STEAM ..... U HAVE PISSED ME OFF ENOUGH

[cc0 0]

I agree with this, Steam was once a very good application but over the last few years it has become much worse. Valve have also ruined many of they're games, including Counter Strike Source (2005), by adding multiple updates which have ruined the gameplay completely. I think it is because they are releasing CS:GO and they want people to hate the older CSS to then migrate over to the new game, which in my opinion is a silly idea. Other programs like Evolve are the way to go!

[iGuest 3]

I've been an avid steam opposer since the first game that required it for install entered my house. I live in a rural environment, I don't have internet to install this game, that's what I bought the cd for! Of course we then upgraded our internet to satelite... which has a bandwidth limit... see where this is going? Now, recently I pre-ordered Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai, and have been very excited to play it. Steam lost my game. It's no longer part of my games list, yet steam still knows that I own it (I looked for it in the store again and it says "play now") so I click "play now" and steam freezes for 1-2 seconds then carries on it's shotty-ness. I don't want this program, I don't support this program and I don't see the need for such security measures if they're going to inhibit the players. Give me the option!

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I've been an avid steam opposer since the first game that required it for install entered my house. I live in a rural environment, I don't have internet to install this game, that's what I bought the cd for! Of course we then upgraded our internet to satelite... which has a bandwidth limit... see where this is going? Now, recently I pre-ordered Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai, and have been very excited to play it. Steam lost my game. It's no longer part of my games list, yet steam still knows that I own it (I looked for it in the store again and it says "play now") so I click "play now" and steam freezes for 1-2 seconds then carries on it's shotty-ness. I don't want this program, I don't support this program and I don't see the need for such security measures if they're going to inhibit the players. Give me the option!

Sadly the only way to get any change with this is to get enough people to boycott them until they drop the client. But the chances of that happening are almost non-existent, especially with all of the deals they have going. I, for one, will never play a Steam game though. I can't support that type of behavior.

[iGuest 3]

Yes, I hate steam as well. It's as much a scheme for them to make more money than about piracy. Once you purchase a game, it's yours and you shouldn't have hassles to use it. Piracy is a problem but it's THEIR problem and they shouldn't transfer the crap of dealing with it on their customers. It's also a question of greed. Even with piracy, the game industry makes tens of billions, more than the film industry. These games a grossly over priced. The profit margin is huge. Like other big businesses, they want to squeeze every penny they can out of the consumers and are not interested in simply making a decent, fair profit. Lastly, when you buy a book, which is soon to go extinct, you can pass it out to anyone you want. That has been true for hundreds of years. Did the publishers and authors ever complained about it? Did they try to put some kind of self destruct mechanism in the book once you read it like in Mission Impossible?

[NNNOOOOOO 0]

I agree with everything I read here so far (all negative). All I wanted to do was install 6 GIG's of Train Sim and ended up with STEAM too. I have since uninstalled it all. And if I do recall correctly, STEAM has the right to disable your game, your copy of STEAM, and your STEAM account for any reason whatsoever.