5 ms·

Apart from a few games purchased on GoG, everything I buy is on Steam. It’s been a very consistent experience for a long time. My first Steam “purchase” was me

Apart from a few games purchased on GoG, everything I buy is on Steam. It’s been a very consistent experience for a long time. My first Steam “purchase” was me plugging in the CD code from a copy of Half-Life purchased ~1999. Everything I’ve purchased since then is playable in minutes—most of it playable on Linux. The killer feature of Valve / Steam for game developers is customer trust. For me, that trust has translated into a resolute refusal to buy games on any other platform.

jterrys 5y ago
Shoutouts to GoG. I'll buy games off of them even if they're on Steam. Making old games compatible and offering DRM free downloads deserves respect.
- RealStickman_ 5y ago
  I've started to migrate off of GOG again after switching to linux. The main reason was steam's investment into linux gaming and I decided to support that. Also, GOG have promised a linux client for years that still hasn't materialised.
paulryanrogers 5y ago
Considering all the broken or neglected games on Steam I've lost trust in them. GOG has started slipping in quality as they've grown, but at least they strive to host playable games and without DRM. Competition among stores and hosting is good IMO, even if a modest inconvenience.
- debaserab2 5y ago
  Platform loyalty in gaming has always struck me as an odd phenomenon. You don't hear people raving about netflix or hulu being superior, but for some reason there is a huge fanbase for Steam itself. I mean, I don't mind steam, but I'd really prefer to have software that I purchase not check with a gate keeping entity before launching itself.
  - nindalf 5y ago
    I bought several games in my childhood. Games that mean a lot to me personally because of how much I had to scrimp and save to be able to afford. It took me nearly a year to cobble enough money to buy Warcraft III. And I can’t play the game anymore because I’ve lost the CD. Ditto with Halo, CS, AoE and others. Every game I’ve purchased on Steam I can play right now with one click. Obviously others offer the same thing now but Steam offered it first. They also have region specific pricing, a huge pull for me at some point. There are other good store fronts, I’m sure. But the amount of trust they’ve built with me over the last 10+ years can’t be replicated overnight by anyone else.
    - simion314 5y ago
      >And I can’t play the game anymore because I’ve lost the CD. Ditto with Halo, CS, AoE and others. The disadvantage is that your game is locked now to your account, I cant just gift my games to my son. I have to make sure to keep my Steam version in Offline mode before he tries to play from his PC using my Steam Account. I wish there was a way to create family accounts and share the game or even gift them to your children, you could add some rules like you can't re-gift same game for say n years or whatever.
      - bluely 5y ago
        Have you tried Steam Family Sharing? https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing It won't support every game but it should help you in your quest to share games with your son
        revolvingocelot 5y ago
        The problem with Family Sharing is that it requires that the donor account not be playing any of its games while the recipient does. The workaround is to kill the internet connection to the donor account, then both accounts can play to their hearts' content! Er, as long as the donor doesn't mind single-player content. Which is essentially what grandparent is already doing. Alas!

jterrys 5y ago

Shoutouts to GoG. I'll buy games off of them even if they're on Steam. Making old games compatible and offering DRM free downloads deserves respect.

RealStickman_ 5y ago
I've started to migrate off of GOG again after switching to linux. The main reason was steam's investment into linux gaming and I decided to support that. Also, GOG have promised a linux client for years that still hasn't materialised.

paulryanrogers 5y ago

Considering all the broken or neglected games on Steam I've lost trust in them. GOG has started slipping in quality as they've grown, but at least they strive to host playable games and without DRM. Competition among stores and hosting is good IMO, even if a modest inconvenience.

debaserab2 5y ago
Platform loyalty in gaming has always struck me as an odd phenomenon. You don't hear people raving about netflix or hulu being superior, but for some reason there is a huge fanbase for Steam itself. I mean, I don't mind steam, but I'd really prefer to have software that I purchase not check with a gate keeping entity before launching itself.
- nindalf 5y ago
  I bought several games in my childhood. Games that mean a lot to me personally because of how much I had to scrimp and save to be able to afford. It took me nearly a year to cobble enough money to buy Warcraft III. And I can’t play the game anymore because I’ve lost the CD. Ditto with Halo, CS, AoE and others. Every game I’ve purchased on Steam I can play right now with one click. Obviously others offer the same thing now but Steam offered it first. They also have region specific pricing, a huge pull for me at some point. There are other good store fronts, I’m sure. But the amount of trust they’ve built with me over the last 10+ years can’t be replicated overnight by anyone else.
  - simion314 5y ago
    >And I can’t play the game anymore because I’ve lost the CD. Ditto with Halo, CS, AoE and others. The disadvantage is that your game is locked now to your account, I cant just gift my games to my son. I have to make sure to keep my Steam version in Offline mode before he tries to play from his PC using my Steam Account. I wish there was a way to create family accounts and share the game or even gift them to your children, you could add some rules like you can't re-gift same game for say n years or whatever.
    - bluely 5y ago
      Have you tried Steam Family Sharing? https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing It won't support every game but it should help you in your quest to share games with your son
      - revolvingocelot 5y ago
        The problem with Family Sharing is that it requires that the donor account not be playing any of its games while the recipient does. The workaround is to kill the internet connection to the donor account, then both accounts can play to their hearts' content! Er, as long as the donor doesn't mind single-player content. Which is essentially what grandparent is already doing. Alas!