Where is STEAM headed?

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

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Joined
31 May 2005
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STEAM has had a very chequered history.

At the start, it was a little like marmite, you either loved it or hated it.

Some didnt like the idea of digital content delivery at start, others saw it as the natural progression which it was.

I was an early adopter of STEAM and really did like what it did. I never experienced any major issues other than the whole "Friends" thing when HL2 was released but I am mindfull that others have had MAJOR issues with the system.

It really annoyed me when HL2 was released when loads of people were complaining about having to have an internet connection to play the game. DAMMIT - I know some may not agree, but if you dont have an internet connection, why the hell do you have a PC with the intention of playing games?

Slowly, STEAM has been evolving over the last few years. Its userbase as slowly risen.

With the market being soo fragmented, it seemed for a while, that we were going to have to have multiple "STEAM" like clients from all major publishers/developers installed on our systems has few were signing upto the platform as a delivery medium.

E.A Launched their own digital content delivery platform - ROFL - Nuff said.

NOW, over the last few months, some BIG Devlopers have signed upto STEAM and the future looks promising.

I long for the days of smaller devs creating original titles, STEAM can and is in some respects making this happen.

Also, they seem to be focusing very much on the "Social" aspect of Steam what with the Communities being added and the ability to create "Events" and see what other friends are doing.. and being able to see friends of friends. Reminds me of a cross between Facebook and LIVE on the XBOX.

With "Live For Windows" being VERY Poorly implemented thus far on the Windows platform, STEAM is now looking VERY promising indeed both as a standalone Content delivery platform and as an Online Social gaming platform.

I know VALVES primary focus is games, but could STEAM be used as a delivery platform for other media such as Music and Video?

The potential is there for PPV Video purchases/rentals etc, maybe even LIVE PPV streams? As mentioned, they appear to be building social networking aspect of the platform which in some ways, would make it similiar to JOOST.

Maybe im talking ******, just thought i'd throw it out there and see what anyone else thought on the future of STEAM?
 
I'm also a fan of Steam...wasn't perfect when it started but it's just so handy that I'd buy every game off it if I could. I'm just surprised no other developer/publisher has followed Valve's lead (apart from EA...but Link is just so bad).
I suppose music/video distribution is possible through Steam, but I think there's enough established channels for that already.
 
I, unlike you I was not so sure of Steam. I didn’t like the idea that having bought your games you still needed access and verification from Steam before you could play them.

That said, I have been using Steam for 18 months now and mostly find it fine.

However, I have had 2 occasions where Steam has screwed up my account. Each time they have corrected it but each occurrence cost 5 working days of downtime. Remember that Steam support is based in the US so also allow for the time difference as their support is not 24/7.

I haven’t tried the additional Steam features as yet, I’m in no rush atm.
 
I didn't like it initially when it seemed to never work properly. It's fine now and pretty cheap for buying games.

I'd like to see it become more like Xbox live, albeit free and less proprietary.
 
Used steam from the start, never had a problem with it, my only gripe with Steam is that its too damn easy to buy stuff from! :mad:

Average Steam scenario:

1) Boot PC
2) Steam News Loads
3) "Ooooo (insert game title here) for $4.99"
4) Clicks Buy
5) Downloads
6) GOTO 1

Fast Forward to the end of the Month

7) Credit Card Bill arrives
8) Wife opens
9) "You spent how much on Steam!"
10) Wake up in hospital
11) Spend the next few months in traction
 
I wasn't fond of it when I first used it but it's definitely grown on me. I'm quite liking what they're doing with it at the moment (Communities etc.).
 
I'd like to see better pricing, some games are well priced but others are just silly, when i can get the physical game for half the price on Steam then i can't see how they get many buyers.

I'd also like to see other companies make their own content delivery, if Steam isn't the only market player then it promotes competition.

Otherwise i like it.
 
I share the same love as you do for STEAM, especially now with Steam community half available to us. I was not the earliest to adopt Steam, but it has been some years now. It has only been relatively lately that I have begun to see what Steam really is capable of. Seeing where VALVe are taking steam with the new community feature, I would be extremely happy to see Steam as our primary gamer communication software and game distribution channel.

I think they know what we as gamers want, and are doing a much better job of delivering it compared to say EA Link or Windows Live.

I eagerly await future updates.
 
chimaera said:
I'd also like to see other companies make their own content delivery, if Steam isn't the only market player then it promotes competition.
Click to expand...

I understand that competition would be good, but I envision a time when we will need to have 5 or 6 STEAM "Spawns" on our desktops from different developers which I personally would find annoying.
 
I like Steam too - but I've seen a few times where the Steam servers have been down. This has meant that no-one can sign into their account. Anyone who was already logged in was fine, but for several hours no-one was able to login. Admittedly this has only happened 2 or 3 times as far as I can recall, but it was still incredibly frustrating.

I think Steam needs to improve the way 'offline' mode works and make it easier to use some games 'offline'. But I also understand the reason why they make people connect in order to try and cut down on piracy.

Generally Steam is a good thing though imo.
 
Gimpymoo said:
I understand that competition would be good, but I envision a time when we will need to have 5 or 6 STEAM "Spawns" on our desktops from different developers which I personally would find annoying.
Click to expand...

Yeah when i was writing it i thought about that, and envisioned all these programs trying to run on Windows startup, not ideal but its inevitable i think.

EA will never go to bed with Valve because they'll always want their own system, as will MS, similarly i can't imagine Ubisoft or Take Two giving money to another publisher to deliver their content.

Personally i think hard copy games will dominate for a long time to come, the retail industry will either oppose content delivery programs through aggressive pricing or make their own versions which is an even bigger problem.

Either way until Steam offer lower prices than online retailers i can't see it becomming more than a niche retail tool.
 
I like it, works very well.

I couldn't actually use Steam or play HL2 when it 1st got released as Steam wouldn't connect (very annoying), so just had the game and couldn't play :(.

When it worked, it was great. (after I made a new PC).

I still have issues when adding people to the friends list though.
 
chimaera said:
EA will never go to bed with Valve because they'll always want their own system, as will MS, similarly i can't imagine Ubisoft or Take Two giving money to another publisher to deliver their content.
Click to expand...

I have to admit I thought the same about ID, but then lo and behold their games appeared. Don't Activision or GT Interactive still own the rights on those?

To be fair, none of these content systems need to start with Windows. I've disabled both Steam and EA Link autoload, and it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference to how they run.
 
when i first started using steam, i only used it for hl2 and css.... that was it, but over the last 3 or so months, ive been using it for much more! news, demo's, chat and community! ive even put it back on my msconfig startup line!!! which is special, considering ive only got msn on it and thats it. i love the fact you can simple purchase a game, go out and aboutt o town, have a laugh, go to sleep, what ever, and when you come back, its done :D and also stays on your steam for ever!!! so you can use it at multiple locations at the expense of a few hours download....

as OP said, it has come along way, and i truely think this is the start of a very large and well known gameing enterprise.

ags

(sounded a little like spoc then)
 
I like Steam having just reloaded it again recently after installing it for the HL2 release. There are a couple of concerns I have though:

1. If several years from now I end up with a catalogue of (say) 80 games purchased through Steam but then something goes wrong with my account such that I'm banned through no fault of my own, those games are gone. From what I've read, the appeal process seems unreliable at best.

2. As mentioned above, the prices of the games. I can buy Prey for $30 (or whatever it is) from Steam, or I can pay a fiver and get it from an online retailer. That's not an isolated example. You're hard pressed to find stuff cheaper on Steam than you can get it elsewhere. Very hard pressed indeed.
 
I don't like it. I don't think users who legally buy a game should HAVE to use Steam in order to play it, it's wrong and just encourages piracy as the legally buying user always gets screwed over. Also Steam has quite a few problems.
 
I've been using steam since it was first released back in the days of CS 1.6 and was a player of CS before STEAM I prefered the cs before steam because my computer back then was pretty lame and couldn't handle it as well :D. Now days I like what Valve have done with their games its a good way to purchase new games and finding servers is brilliant
 
Been using steam for ages, got to say I love it. It's so much easier to just download the games you want. The only problem I have with it is that they need more games. I would also like an option to have the hard copy sent out. With those two thing I would always use it to buy new games :)
 
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