Can Steam avoid becoming evil?

[J T]

I just read some stats about Steam. They now have 30 million accounts and see 6 million unique users per day utilizing the service. The Steamworks tools are being increasingly used for game develoment. Steamcloud is increasingly used for storing save data online. And Steam itself has become a popular choice for low-invasive DRM. They've also developed clever ways to deliver in-game shopping and marketing.

Basically, Steam just keeps getting bigger and bigger with more and more features.

As it currently exists, I really like Steam. I wonder how long they can keep it up, however. Every game I buy from them makes me more and more dependent on their success as a company and a service since you can't play your Steam purchased games without Steam. You also have to accept pretty much whatever update they add. While I love most of the features now, I can also imagine them adding features that I dislike. Actually, there are things I already don't like. As an example, I don't necessarily want everyone to have access to how many hours I play my games, but anyone can look at my account and see that.

I guess I'm just worried about them becoming too big and doing stupid things. Myspace got too big for it's own good and became increasingly bogged down with features and pumped full of spam. Facebook added all kinds of crap that reduces your privacy and somewhat forces you into having different circles of friends collide. When companies get too big and gain too much power, they can make big mistakes. They can also become overly concerned with pleasing investors to the detriment of the customers. Buying games on Steam entails a commitment to using the Steam client, regardless of how it changes over time. It's like being put into an arranged marriage or something. You start out wiht Steam not knowing much about it, but then you are committed and you have to learn to live with it and deal with any changes that happen. Will Steam remain a great service or will it make a turn for the worse int he future?

[irixith]

I think Steam is great -- and I have almost 250 games purchased to prove it. PC gaming *needed* a Steam to keep it flowing. As far as I'm concerned, Valve has done it right -- lots of free updates to their own games, automatic patching, can download to as many computers as you feel like (except that small portion that feel the need to use additional DRM). The client is unobtrusive, and isn't even required to be running for a large portion of the games. You can even take it offline, and it simply does a check every week or so to ensure things are still legit. I really don't see anything wrong with it -- anything that encourages developers to keep looking at the PC as a platform is a good thing. I don't think they're evil, I think they're simply the best and easiest choice, and gamers have responded to that.

Their competitors are just not there. They either don't have a dedicated client (GOG), are far too expensive if you're not a US Citizen (Impulse, just about all the others), use horrendous DRM schemes (Direct2Drive), have horrible customer service (Direct2Drive), have a clunky client with too many DRM restrictions (GFWL), etc etc. About the only thing the GFWL client has going for it is the direct connection to your gamertag and gamerscore if you're a 360 owner -- and that's only if you stay online at all times. God help you if you go offline.

Steam is open and friendly enough to not get in your way or treat you like a thief. I really don't see what they could do that would suddenly make it worse, unless they did a complete 180 on everything that they do now -- and that's just not likely.

[Merz]

The individual decides what is evil or not and going into the Steam service they should know things will change over time. I can't imagine what kind of changes Steam could do to make me quit using their service unless they do something ridiculous and bizarre. Like any business, they are trying to make money and they will do whatever is necessary to make more of it. I doubt they are trying to lose members and the only way to keep them is to give them what they want and what they pay for. If the user base decided this is evil and quits then good for them for being righteous. I'm sure they will be rewarded in the afterlife.

Or if the service turns to shit people will bounce and someone will take steams place.

[ZeroAX]

And I was correct to guess 4 years ago, that Steam will become a platform of its own. It has more customers than the N64. And it is still growing.


Now if only they did something about running old games on windows 7

[thekorean12]

I'm a big fan of steam and I have faith that they'll continue to offer great service... FOREVER.

[Goodygumdrops]

Their competitors are just not there. They either don't have a dedicated client (GOG)

maybe this is a stupid question, and i've never used steam, but why is not having a dedicated client a bad thing?

also <3 GOG

[MrPopo]

Their competitors are just not there. They either don't have a dedicated client (GOG)

maybe this is a stupid question, and i've never used steam, but why is not having a dedicated client a bad thing?

also <3 GOG

The dedicated client is very convenient. The store is integrated in with Steam, so I can find a game I want, input my payment info, and it auto downloads and installs into the appropriate location without any further action from me. It's also a one-stop area for launching all my games. This was more of a concern back in the XP days, before the advent of the Windows Games folder.

[jfrost]

Even without DRM, I would use a GOG client.

I have bought some games on Direct2Drive, but their frankly horrendous interface keeps me from even playing them.

[irixith]

Their competitors are just not there. They either don't have a dedicated client (GOG)

maybe this is a stupid question, and i've never used steam, but why is not having a dedicated client a bad thing?

also <3 GOG

The dedicated client is very convenient. The store is integrated in with Steam, so I can find a game I want, input my payment info, and it auto downloads and installs into the appropriate location without any further action from me. It's also a one-stop area for launching all my games. This was more of a concern back in the XP days, before the advent of the Windows Games folder.

Perfect answer

I love GOG, but after having Steam, managing my own downloads from GOG is a pain in the ass.

[GSZX1337]

The thing that keeps me from using other download services is that I can't integrate them into Steam. Using the "Add a Non-Steam Game" option makes the interface look like shit. Also, it bothers me that AFIK, Steam doesn't keep track of your play-time for non-Steam games.