Can you game on a PC w/o Steam?

[Ack]

Are there any games on Steam that aren't available on bittorrent? Has Steam's DRM actually prevented anyone from pirating anything? I doubt it. Publishers are only leaving money on the table by implementing even the slightest DRM.

Probably not, though Steam does serve as a nice means for providing Indy devs a way to distribute their game to a larger market while earning some kind of income.

For instance, I like Gaslamp Games and their Dungeons of Dredmor series. Sure, they're light and easy roguelikes, but I enjoy them. Without having access to Steam and seeing some of my friends trying it, I never would have encountered them as I use no other distribution system besides GOG(nor do I want to). And I also like how, if I want to use a mod, they are readily available to peruse through Steam. And when the game crashes, Steam has a system for submitting a report on it happening (Hell, there's an acheivement for the game crashing).

[LugNutX]

I look at it this way...

Sure, Steam acts as a form of DRM. Sure, you're tied to a service that could hold your games hostage or take them away at any point.

BUT

The incredible deals more than make up for those inconveniences. If I was paying Gamestop-esque prices for games, I would be a lot less lenient. I can handle $5 and some non-intrusive DRM vs. $40 retail for a physical copy that I will likely never resell anyway - that's more than a fair trade-off.

I'm also fairly comfortable that IF Steam ever shut down, the hacking community would find a quick method to get their library playable offline.

Besides, as a PC gamer, it is inevitable that a day will come where your game (physical or digital) will no longer function without some heavy tinkering. People don't hold onto old PCs like they do consoles. Hardware updates, OS revisions and the general progression of PCs naturally cause this to happen. At that point, you can either spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get your original copy to run using a variety of hacks/patches/VMs/dedicated legacy PC...or you could rebuy it for a couple of bucks from whatever digital download service exists at the time.

I've already re-bought a boatload of games from my childhood and adolescent years (despite still owning a large number of the original disks) just because the cost vs. effort factor is worth it to me.

I got off on a little bit of a tangent, but I would recommend giving Steam a try. If you don't want to jump in head-first, wait for a sale and pick up a few games that interest you. If you aren't convinced after using it, you're only out a few dollars and can still seek out that [ever elusive] DRM-free version.

Last note - a number of retro-inspired games are actually indie releases...most of which carry no DRM. Aside from GOG, check out the random bundle sites that group these titles together (Humble Bundle, Indie Royale, etc.)

[Ack]

I'm also fairly comfortable that IF Steam ever shut down, the hacking community would find a quick method to get their library playable offline.

Actually Valve has indicated that the possibility of Steam going down some day worries them, so they've worked on ways to make sure people can still access their games. I don't know the effectiveness of said ways, I just know that Valve has at least considered the potential, which speaks better for them than the various console distribution services that don't seem to care what happens once they pull the plug.

[Hatta]

Steam does serve as a nice means for providing Indy devs a way to distribute their game to a larger market while earning some kind of income.

And it's great at that. I have no problems with steam as a distribution platform. Many of those indie games are DRM free, and that should be encouraged.

Actually Valve has indicated that the possibility of Steam going down some day worries them, so they've worked on ways to make sure people can still access their games.

I think the only way steam would "go down" is if Valve goes under. In that case Valve would be liquidated, and it might not even be legal for them to release their keys, as they would have obligations to whoever bought the relevant rights. The only way you can take such a statement seriously is if the keys are actually in third party escrow right now, to be released in the event of Valve's bankruptcy or buyout.

[Cronozilla]

Uh .... no DRM of any kind at all? So you're limiting yourself to humble bundle releases, Alpha Protocol, and Prince of Persia 2008. Everything else has some sort of protection system.

[irixith]

I've been avoiding games that force me sign up for Steam or any other service. I almost bought Fallout: New Vegas the other day until I read the back of the case. I'll get the 360 version instead.

Are you an Xbox Live member? If so, I don't understand your point.

[sonic2041]

I've been avoiding games that force me sign up for Steam or any other service. I almost bought Fallout: New Vegas the other day until I read the back of the case. I'll get the 360 version instead.

Are you an Xbox Live member? If so, I don't understand your point.

Xbox live is not required to play the game offline.

Also I think the original quote was backward because most multiplatform PC games are ports of Xbox games.

[LBJeff]

Fighting digital distribution is a losing battle. It's the evolution of gaming, at least new releases. I mean, look at retail copies of PC games - they are steering you towards Steam anyways. They are only putting physical copies in retail space because they know that the general public still shops in stores and wants to look at boxes. Plus, mom and pop buying a game for little Jimmy don't have a clue about Steam and have no idea that they can wait a month or two for a Steam sale and get it way on the cheap.

Plus, Steam has offline mode anyways. So it's not like you really have to be connected to play. If your internet is down you can't play multiplayer anyways.

Finally, I got LA Noire, Hotline Miami, Doom 3 BFG edition, Dead Island, Dark Souls, Mark of the Ninja, Batman AC, Jet Set Radio, Mirrors Edge, Nights in to Dreams, Borderlands 2, Civilization V, and Sine Mora for somewhere around $75 during the last holiday sale. That's a whole lot of gaming for my dollar.

[J T]

If you want to stay DRM-free, your main options are:

http://www.gog.com/
http://www.dotemu.com/en
http://www.desura.com/
http://www.indievania.com/

Many of the indie bundles out there have DRM-Free options. You can sometimes buy a game DRM-free directly from the developer too, so it's worth searching for their websites.


It is hard to find modern mainstream releases that don't require some form of DRM, and that DRM is increasingly Steam. Even buying a disc from a retail store will
often just give you a code that forces you to get the game from Steam anyway.

For mainstream games, I recommend you check out http://www.gamersgate.com/. They aren't entirely DRM-free like the other sites I mentioned, but they do at least tell you whether a game is DRM-free or not, so you can use that to inform your decisions when purchasing there.

[Anapan]

I bit the bullet last month. For the price of a couple of retail PS3 games I have 7 great games I could not otherwise play (outdated hacked torrents aside) running at 1080p and they're what I've mostly been playing since. Yeah, you gotta get steam. DRM isn't aparent and my system doesn't even notice the client as far as performance (CPU&RAM) are concerned.
Of course there are tons of PC games that you can get outside of Steam, but there's just too many good games on it to ignore. Conform - be one of us.