Why I still hate Steam, as wonderful as it is

[IPD]

Let's face it, Steam has given gamers an easy-to-use, one-stop-shop of sorts for PC gaming. The fact that you can DL to install any of your games, and that they are automatically patched...that's just money. Unfortunately, there's still some BIG issues that I have with it.

1. You can't sell or give away used games. There's a "trade" feature of sorts now, but that's not what I'm looking for. There's still no secondhand sales. I think European laws might crack this one open eventually though.

2. You can't upgrade games. Far be it from me to understand WTF Steam is set up like this, but you can't upgrade games. I had Fallout: New Vegas. I wanted Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition. Problem is, I either have to buy all the add-ons separately ($20) or buy the complete game as UE for $20. I can't just pay the cost difference between my game ($10) and the UE ($10). In any other universe, this would make sense...but DRM. F**k.

3. Activating games. I have a half-dozen games that I've NEVER been able to activate on Steam. This includes Fallout 3: GOTYE. I've tried different combinations of letters, dashes, no-dashes, etc. No dice. Still can't activate Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Star Wars: Empire At War, or Serious Sam 2. These are ALL games that are SOLD on Steam. This is a HUGE issue because it effectively price-gouges people who would otherwise go to the cheapest vendor for a game.

4. Minor point, but I have to use VPN service when I buy games. Otherwise I'll get charged in Euro instead of Dollars. It's the same amount ($20 or 20 euro), but the exchange rate means that I'm paying more...just because of my stupid internet provider location. Utter B.S.

Just another rant thread from me. The world is an annoying place for me.

[Alan92RTTT]

#2 would be the same if you bought disc from a store. But I agree it would be a nice feature.

[sergechronos]

Let's face it, Steam has given gamers an easy-to-use, one-stop-shop of sorts for PC gaming. The fact that you can DL to install any of your games, and that they are automatically patched...that's just money. Unfortunately, there's still some BIG issues that I have with it.

1. You can't sell or give away used games. There's a "trade" feature of sorts now, but that's not what I'm looking for. There's still no secondhand sales. I think European laws might crack this one open eventually though.

2. You can't upgrade games. Far be it from me to understand WTF Steam is set up like this, but you can't upgrade games. I had Fallout: New Vegas. I wanted Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition. Problem is, I either have to buy all the add-ons separately ($20) or buy the complete game as UE for $20. I can't just pay the cost difference between my game ($10) and the UE ($10). In any other universe, this would make sense...but DRM. F**k.

3. Activating games. I have a half-dozen games that I've NEVER been able to activate on Steam. This includes Fallout 3: GOTYE. I've tried different combinations of letters, dashes, no-dashes, etc. No dice. Still can't activate Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Star Wars: Empire At War, or Serious Sam 2. These are ALL games that are SOLD on Steam. This is a HUGE issue because it effectively price-gouges people who would otherwise go to the cheapest vendor for a game.

4. Minor point, but I have to use VPN service when I buy games. Otherwise I'll get charged in Euro instead of Dollars. It's the same amount ($20 or 20 euro), but the exchange rate means that I'm paying more...just because of my stupid internet provider location. Utter B.S.

Just another rant thread from me. The world is an annoying place for me.

Another issue you left off: If you forgot to set Steam to offline mode before you shut it off and go someplace without internet, it can keep you from accessing your library on the grounds that it can't establish a connection. Highly irritating if you're going somewhere for a while that you won't have internet access. And sometimes even if it's set to offline, it will still try to connect and if it can't won't let you access it.

I do agree with the upgrading thing for #2 though. Skyrim would cost me more to buy the DLC separately than it would to just buy the Legendary edition. So I refuse to buy it.

[IPD]

well the gist of it is that i learned my lesson. i don't buy 1st release bethesda games. EVER. even if the price is very tempting. i can wait.

maybe someday steam/bethesda will get a clue and stop dicking around the people who buy their stuff at the MSRP at debut. i'm more than content to wait until prices hit $20 for GOTYE, etc. i'm tired of being raked over the coals. no, i haven't played skyrim...no i'm not sure i ever will. if i do, it's JUST NOW getting to the point where i'd consider it. but for that matter, i'm playing Fallout instead.

p.s.
i completely agree about offline mode. pisses me off to no end. i make extra sure i'm in offline mode before i go TDY. problem is, if my pc reboots to install windows updates, i'm fucked.

[sergechronos]

I will put this here though.

[IPD]

yeah, kinda funny how you'll see games for $.50 or something ridiculous.

by the by, wtf happened to that new tron game? i was gonna buy it when the price dropped...but then it was suddenly gone off steam ENTIRELY. wtf?

[sergechronos]

No idea. Maybe a fight between publisher and steam? Couldn't say.

Had that happen with DLC for some other games (both on Steam and XBox live) that I wanted to Dl when prices dropped but then the DLC was gone. Even some of it that I had paid fo rbefore I couldn't reDL, which I think is bullshit. That's the shit I hate about digital distribution.

[IPD]

No idea. Maybe a fight between publisher and steam? Couldn't say.

Had that happen with DLC for some other games (both on Steam and XBox live) that I wanted to Dl when prices dropped but then the DLC was gone. Even some of it that I had paid fo rbefore I couldn't reDL, which I think is bullshit. That's the shit I hate about digital distribution.

This is one of the unfortuante truths about the 21st century. I don't want to turn this into a political thread. At the same time, it bears mentioning that our laws just have NOT kept up with technology, and in turn, digital distribution has evolved into something which companies have leveraged to kill off second-hand sales. If you mentioned 50 years ago the idea that you could buy something, but the vendor would prevent you from selling it used to someone else--you'd be laughed out of town.

In my view, this is a fairly easy fix for Steam, since each product has a copy license. "Selling" from one owner to another should be a straightforward process of removing the game from library A and adding it to library B. The financial transaction would also be fairly straightfoward. I'd be ok with "store credit" in this case, rather than cash money--since I'll probably spend it eventually. So long as the credit isn't volatile and doesn't expire, it shouldn't be a problem. And if we use store credit, then it's also fairly easy for Steam to simply take a cut of the transaction fee--which would have to be more than $1 and less than the current cost of the game. Steam can then take, say, 5% of the cut ($1 on a $20 transaction).

I'd be hugely in favor of this, and it would have virtually unanimous support from all Steam users. Problem is, Steam won't allow 2ndhand sales until they're forced at legislation-point.

[sergechronos]

I'd agree to that, even if Steam wants to take a higher cut than 5% (say $1 or 10 to 15%, whichever is greater) simply because otherwise it'd be worthlessly sitting on your computer. They can even put some restrictions on it (say, can't be used with Greenlight/Early Access games since those depend on people buying the game for funding to actually develop the game).

I do understand Steam not wanting to do it though. From a business standpoint, they would likely have lower revenues after such a move and they would bear the cost of doing this with a massive library (as opposed to say..origin) and the maintenance of doing so (since the games would have to stay up longer.) And of course, you could expect that these companies (EA, Steam, Microsoft, Sony, etc) would lobby the shit out of Congress till what gets passed is some limp wristed bill that helps the companies and hurts the gamers. So, it would have to be done properly.

[IPD]

Agreed. Guess we'll see. I'm about to experiment and send my old copy of New Vegas to my sister and see if she can get it to work for her. I suspect not, but In all reality, it should be allowed to work, since I had to purchase a COMPLETE COPY of ultimate edition for myself.