Explain Steam to Me

[Rick Dangerous]

I have a ton of consoles and games, and a few old computers, but I don't really do much "modern" gaming. The newest systems I have (and will likely ever have at this point) are Wii U and PS3. I have a friend who is a retro gamer and keeps talking about steam, and how great it is. Can anyone explain how it works, what it is, and why it is a good thing for retro gamers. Does it suffer from the same update/always online issues as modern consoles? Will I have to re-buy games every few years? Are there compatibility issues (i.e games run poorly on an average laptop, you need a gaming PC.) Please school me on what the hell steam is and if it's worth my time. Thanks in advance!

[Rick Dangerous]

Okay, after visiting the website my understanding is this:

 

-Download program which is a GUI containing a store

-Buy games, launch from program, save states to program.

 

Am I missing anything?

[R.Cade]

It's just an online marketplace and network backend, like XBOX Live or the Playstation network.

 

You buy and download games, and it manages the installation to the PC. The computer/video card requirements depend on the game.

Edited December 22, 2016 by R.Cade

[boog]

I've avoided using Steam after hearing that it requires your PC(s) to make occasional online check-ins or you can't play your purchased games... even single player. I don't know if this is still true, and I don't know if it's true for every game, but I won't make purchases through an ecosystem that requires online check-in.

[R.Cade]

Well, that leaves buying from Gamestop, which I believe will be gone before long. I actually can't believe they still exist other than they must have some power/pull with the game companies (or are owned by them).

That and old games from the flea market.

[HammR25]

If you're worried about online check ins you're better off getting games from GOG.com. All of their games are DRM free. Steam has an 'offline mode' but its' far from ideal.

 

Steam is good for retro gamers because there are a ton of new games that are created in the spirit of the retro games and those particular games don't have huge hardware requirements. The other thing that's great that you wont' get on consoles are Steam sales. There's one going on today. Check out the site store and see how crazy some of the discounts are.

[boog]

This article is from a few years ago, but still relevant:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/im-longer-buying-games-steam-opinion/

 

 

GOG, humble store, amazon, etc. offer many of the PC exclusives without DRM.

[spacecadet]

I've avoided using Steam after hearing that it requires your PC(s) to make occasional online check-ins or you can't play your purchased games... even single player. I don't know if this is still true, and I don't know if it's true for every game, but I won't make purchases through an ecosystem that requires online check-in.

 

That's game-dependent. Publishers don't need to enable it. I'm guessing most of the big publishers do for the bigger, newer games, but I buy a lot of older games on Steam (even year-old games can go for $10 or less) and I've never had any sort of issue with playing offline even for extended periods of time (I'm talking weeks).

 

I resisted Steam for a long time but once I did start using it, I basically became hooked. I mean look at it realistically. Steam was launched in 2003 - 13 years ago. I've purchased plenty of games on CD that became unusable on my modern computers in less time than that (generally because of the jump from 32 to 64 bit Windows). And sure, you can hook up an old computer running an old version of Windows and a CD ROM, but that's a hassle (though I'm someone who has an old PC for just this reason). There are lots of reasons why a game could become unusable after a certain period of time even if you buy it, so I don't think it's really worth worrying about Steam suddenly going out of business.

 

As for DRM, it's just never been an issue for me at all. I had way more DRM issues with old CD games and even floppy games (remember floppy-based games that asked you to find a specific word in the manual? Or ones that came with those "wheels"? Good luck if you've got some obscure game and lost the manual or the DRM wheel at this point - you'll be searching for a crack for your storebought game).

[BillLoguidice]

As others have stated, this is exactly like owning digital games on Xbox 360/One and PS3/PS4. Your purchases are tied to an account, not a console/system, so what you own is effectively portable. While you can go the GOG route if DRM for some reason bothers you, there's very little danger of Steam going away, and yes, in theory, your purchases should work regardless of what computer you get in the future (barring OS-specific games, of course). I have literally thousands of digital games (thanks in good part to regular Humble Bundle, Bundle Stars, etc., purchases) and, while I use other services like GOG, Origin, Ubi, D2D, etc., I greatly prefer Steam. It's the most comprehensive and best implemented of all of the services.

 

As for the online check-in, I really don't find it a big deal. The idea of me not being connected at some point online is foreign to me, pretty much regardless of the device that I'm using.

[spacecadet]

The portability thing is actually a big reason why I like Steam, and I didn't mention it before. It's not like CD games where legally you are only supposed to install on a single computer. You can play the same games on, say, a desktop and a laptop and in most cases your save games will be stored in Steam as well, so you can just pick up where you left off on any computer. For games that don't support that (and it is an option like the DRM), you can usually do something like keep your saves in a Dropbox or OneDrive folder, which is what I do for Kerbal Space Program. So you still can get full portability including save games even on games that don't support Steam's built-in cloud save function.

 

In that sense, legally at least Steam is actually more liberal than physical copies of games. There are a lot of (especially later) physical games that require an activation code and then will be tied to that one computer unless uninstalled. I know there are ways around that, but if you're talking about circumventing DRM or activation on physical games, then you can't really complain about the DRM on Steam that's a lot more liberal to begin with.

[Newsdee]

I find it very convenient to setup new systems or to play across machines (like my main PC and a tablet) since many games store saves in the Steam cloud.

 

There are very good games that can be had for quite cheap. Probably on GoG as well but Steam is more geared to show you whats on sale (obviously on purpose; you can disable/reduce it though)

[Rick Dangerous]

Thanks, all very interesting and informative.

 

How is the library for retro gaming for example? I'm more interested in playing 1975-2000 era games, both arcade and mac/pc.

 

Any console games on the service, like nes/genesis, etc.?

[BillLoguidice]

Thanks, all very interesting and informative.

 

How is the library for retro gaming for example? I'm more interested in playing 1975-2000 era games, both arcade and mac/pc.

 

Any console games on the service, like nes/genesis, etc.?

 

Tons of PC stuff from mostly the 90s through to the present day, with a smattering of other stuff in there. There are Genesis collections, the ColecoVision/Intellivision stuff from AtGames, Neo Geo stuff, etc., although obviously few of the other big names that aren't traditionally on anything else (like no Nintendo stuff). There are also tons of remakes and re-imaginings of classic properties. It's pretty much the same type of stuff you get on the 360/One/PS3/PS4/etc., only moreso.

[Rick Dangerous]

Nice.

 

Well, despite my reservations about the online connectivity (mitigated I think by the fact that I plan to play mostly older games,) I think I will have to check it out!

 

A good point was made that there was plenty of annoying DRM password schemes on 90's pc/mac games as well. Always hated putting in password keys as a kid...lol

[Flojomojo]

Steam is gaming. It's not like you need to always be online -- it's just needed to enable the digital rights management to play your games. I believe the installed stuff is unlocked by your Steam account.

 

There are lots of other Sega games on there too, like Crazy Taxi, Nights into Dreams, and one of my favorites, Space Channel 5 Part 2!

 

I can't believe you haven't tried it yet, but then again, you do have a Max Headroom avatar. :-)

 

Also check out the Humble Bundle store for frequent deals on lots of games. I have over 1000 games, more than I can ever play in a lifetime, mostly from deals and bundles. Much of it is quite good!

 

The second-best online store is GOG because they have no DRM and lots of oldies. Much of their non-DOS titles are already on Steam, though. If you have both GOG and Steam, you can connect the two and bring (some) Steam games over to GOG. https://www.gog.com/connect

[MrMaddog]

Honestly, I would only use Steam for modern games which benefit from the same Xbox/PSN type environment like friend lists and achievements. For older games GOG does work better because they're modified to work on modern PC's. Yes there are classic games on Steam but trying to get them to work on Windows 10 (or even 7) is a pain. Plus you don't even have to use GOG Galaxy if you don't want to, just download and install from GOG's site like any other PC game.

 

As for Steam's online requirement again that's mostly optional. You can go into Offline Mode under Settings if you can't or wouldn't connect to Steam servers. You only need to be online to download (obviously) and activate one time when you install the game.

 

Of course I have some DOS games on Steam due to bundle sales and when I do get them off GOG I add "open port" versions to Steam for modernized graphics.

Edited December 22, 2016 by MrMaddog

[omegadot]

I've used Steam since it's inception as they tied Counter-Strike to it. I hated it for a long time. A lot of its features were just broken and it was a mess. In the last 5+ years though, it's been great. Early on the check-in for the offline mode was a pain but I haven't had that issue recently enough to recall. It's been years.

 

One negative I and a few others have noticed is it has bandwidth limitations you can set for downloads but it still tends to hit the network pretty badly when doing large downloads. This is anecdotal as I only talk to maybe a dozen other users. I also had issues with a few games for windows releases they had, but I think that's a tiny percentage of the library and might be mitigated now. I specifically had a heck of a time getting Red Faction: Gorilla working, I believe. The vast majority of my experiences are simple and enjoyable though.

 

I also use GoG but Steam is just so convenient and reliable I deal with the vague anxiety of possibly losing games someday. Historically it's probably no worse than the other DRM schemes that come and go on PC.

[Necron99]

I use both (GOG and Steam)services. I prefer GOG because it is DRM free and I have all the game installers saved and backed up. however, Steam has options to add a non-steam game to your dashboard so I do that so all my games are in one place.

[leods]

I'll explain Steam to you:

 

Go to a store and buy a PC game. Get home, put the disk into your PC, and it will say you have to install Steam. So you install Steam, put the code that comes into the game on the steam client and you unlock your game.

 

Now the best part, is when you buy another PC game at the store. You put the DVD in the tray kinda pissed off, cause you know it's just going to be a Steam key, and then the games tells you to install Origin.

 

Welcome to the future.

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

For me its the sales Steam has.

I bought the Quake collection yesterday for 8 bucks.

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/434/

I never had a PC when the series was huge so I played the games on N64 and DreamCast.

Pretty sure their online communities are stil going but I just love single player bot matches.

Only thing that may throw at wrench in your fun is if you want to play with a controller.

Look very closely in the store to see if certain games have pad support.

If not you'll have to use a 3rd party program like joy to key or xpadder to play the games with a controller.

 

Steam is great though. Give it a chance,you'll be hooked.

[Flojomojo]

Steam means never having to use an optical drive.

 

[spacecadet]

Just to add, this is the perfect time to get in on Steam, because the winter sale's going on until January 2nd. Lots of people spend literally all the money they ever do on Steam during the summer and winter sales, because you can get a lot of crazy deals and end up with more games than you can even finish in 6 months. I haven't really dived into the current sale yet but last winter I bought something like 12 games for under $50 and I haven't even installed all of them yet.

[JamesD]

I actually like steam, but...
Hmmm... I want to play a game.
Launch steam.
"Steam requires an update"
Repeat weakly.

[Flojomojo]

I actually like steam, but...

Hmmm... I want to play a game.

Launch steam.

"Steam requires an update"

Repeat weakly.

It's software. If you install it, you should keep it up to date. Unless your computer is on strictly metered bandwidth like a mobile phone plan, I don't see how this is a hardship?

[spacecadet]

It's software. If you install it, you should keep it up to date. Unless your computer is on strictly metered bandwidth like a mobile phone plan, I don't see how this is a hardship?

 

It's a little annoying because it does it right at the moment when you decide you want to play a game, and then you have to wait.

 

However, this is par for the course these days. My PS4 does the exact same thing. (I admit I might have set it that way to avoid auto-updates that brick it.) I think that eventually this is something that's going to have to change... somehow. But it's not just Steam. Every gaming platform right now just has too many damn updates.

 

Sometimes it seems incredibly obvious to me that the "update" Steam installs consists of 5 new pop-up ads and nothing else. Those are the ones that really infuriate me.