Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[Max Peck]

I held out from installing Steam until October 2009, at which point I reluctantly broke down because it was the only way to play Borderlands. Even then, for the first couple of years I only ran it in offline mode.

[Paradroid]

I held out until November 2011. I was very suspicious of Steam for a long time. I was on a long anti-DRM campaign and I perceived the Steam client as DRM. I also had no reason to believe it would last as long as it has, and was never convinced that libraries would be safe if the unthinkable happened. To be honest I'm still not convinced of that, but as 99% of PC games are sold in the same way these days, it doesn't make any difference.

I didn't look back, of course. The Steam client is amazing, the Steamworks API truly revolutionised multiplayer gaming, the sales are excellent, modding is now as easy as launching a game, etc. I haven't had to visit patches-scrolls.de since 2011. Also for a long time I was exclusively a Linux gamer and Steam has been a miracle for that group.

[Sudy]

I think my biggest concern was losing the ability to trade/sell games I didn't want anymore, and not being able to buy used (which I almost exclusively did). But of course that was mitigated by the prevalence of sales and price reductions that seemed to occur sooner than in the pre-digital era.

Wasn't it Green Man Gaming that initially allowed you to "trade in" digitally purchased games? What a bizarre concept. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information about it online. Apparently Brian Fargo was trying to do something with blockchain a couple years ago that would also allow you to trade and re-sell licenses on a new platform.

[Daehawk]

I remember all the arguments against Steam. I never had any problems with it. I was part of it from the beta or closed beta or some beta onwards. Back then I was still buying physical copies of stuff too though. I miss new big box stuff though.

[Paradroid]

Wasn't it Green Man Gaming that initially allowed you to "trade in" digitally purchased games?

Yeah. I never tried it, but I did sort of sell a game back to them once, for a paltry amount of store credit. Presumably they used a wrapper in the same way that Gamersgate used to.

Apparently Brian Fargo was trying to do something with blockchain a couple years ago that would also allow you to trade and re-sell licenses on a new platform.

Huh. That sounds like it could work.

[Blackhawk]

I didn't love the idea of Steam, but I'm also a realist and recognize that the old model no longer works in the modern world, so I came to accept Steam. I still don't trust them (or Ubi, or Origin, or Epic, or any of the others) not to have a bad day and make my library disappear, but it is what it is.

[Paingod]

I still don't trust them (or Ubi, or Origin, or Epic, or any of the others) not to have a bad day and make my library disappear, but it is what it is.

I know it's not the most popular and seems to get little talk, but GOG.com allowing me to download installers has been the main reason I buy 75% of my games there. I know no company will ever last forever, and being able to re-install my games when a company goes under has always been important to me, even in the days of CD's when they'd come with activations that you'd have to reach out to a server to trigger. The server poofs, the game breaks. I hated it.

Drive space is cheap and bandwidth is essentially free if you have a good carrier. I don't mind storing an archive and keeping a backup.

[hitbyambulance]

Also for a long time I was exclusively a Linux gamer and Steam has been a miracle for that group.

this really hasn't been noticed on this particular forum (or among Windows-only PC gamers) but this was huge - WINE and Proton made 'mainstream' gaming on Linux feasible, but Valve made it visible.

[Rumpy]

I should finish it one of these days.

Lol... me too. I've tried a few times. I'm an explorer type gamer who often replays sections to "get it right", and I often lose interest or get distracted before finishing the longer shooters.

Wow... I had forgotten when Steam looked like that. But it all comes back to you. I remember how pissed everyone was when we had to install it. Now here we are, hundreds or thousands of titles in our libraries, and Steam an essential app.

Whoever had the bright idea for it to have a green UI? I mean, green. It looked way too utilitarian.

[Sudy]

Lol, it looked military.

[Daehawk]

Steam used to let me get the occasional refund even way back in the day when they didn't do refunds.

Also people gripe about Origin but Ive had a couple problems and they instantly fixed it to my benefit. Like once I couldn't get my old CD Key for a C&C game to work on it and they simply GAVE me the entire C&C collection with all C&C games and RA games to fix it for me.

[Rumpy]

Lol, it looked military.

I hesitated saying that, but yeah. I mean, looking at it now, it doesn't look like anything a gamer would necessarily touch. I don't think I had an account during that time, but I think it was around the time Fallout 3 came out, therefore shortly after they debuted their black theme.

[Blackhawk]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

[JCC]

I should finish it one of these days.

Actually, this should probably be: VALVE should finish it one of these days.

[Rumpy]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

Oh, that does remind me that I had it before Fallout 3 for HL2. I think Fallout 3 was one of the first games not developed by Valve that required Steam.

[Daehawk]

Still waiting on ep 3.

[Isgrimnur]

I got lost in Ravenholm.

[Rumpy]

Well, they did release Alyx, so here's hoping they've become emotionally invested in the franchise again, enough to give us some form of continuation. But thing is, it's been too long now since Episode 2, and at this point, I think I'd be happier if the franchise moved forward in time to a completely different location and separate us from the whole history of HL2.

[TheMix]

It's been a while, so I fired up "I'm Still Seeing Breen". Still great.

I might just have to do a replay one of these days.

[Blackhawk]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

Oh, that does remind me that I had it before Fallout 3 for HL2. I think Fallout 3 was one of the first games not developed by Valve that required Steam.

There were a few (Rag Doll Kung Fu was first.) But Fallout 3 did have some huge controversy regarding Steam. People were pissed about... something. Maybe it was the first third party AAA release on Steam, or... Been too long.

[JetFred]

Now here we are, hundreds or thousands of titles in our libraries, and Steam an essential app.

Or if you're JetFred hundreds of thousands.

The irony of this is how much I initially disliked the idea of digital-only since I had amassed hundreds of physical copies of games from floppy to optical. But unlike my conversion to digital music, I did NOT get rid of my physical games when I finally accepted it. Lately my re-obsession is physical copies of movies, of course realizing that all of this optical media could last 20 years or 500 before it turns unreadable.

[dbt1949]

How I hated Steam when it first came out. But the reality was deal with Steam or do without.
I'm still non too happy about it but I have somewhere between 350-400 titles with Steam and some 250 DLCs.
So I guess I don't hate Steam THAT much.

[Daehawk]

Still have my 100s of boxed games too.

The thing with physical media of any type is finding a working player for it decades later. After a century I dont think you could unless you simply build one yourself.

[Blackhawk]

I've still got every physical game I ever owned, save for those that I traded on GG/OO. I did have to say goodbye to all of the boxes and jewelcases a few years back, as I just didn't have room for them anymore. A couple of years ago I also accepted the need to toss most of my manuals and strategy guides, save for a handful that were either really cool, had special meaning, or that I had worked on. All of my disks are in three giant CD wallets. It was the only way I could keep them all with my limited space. A year ago I had to do the same thing with my DVDs/BluRays.

[Max Peck]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

Oh, that does remind me that I had it before Fallout 3 for HL2. I think Fallout 3 was one of the first games not developed by Valve that required Steam.

There were a few (Rag Doll Kung Fu was first.) But Fallout 3 did have some huge controversy regarding Steam. People were pissed about... something. Maybe it was the first third party AAA release on Steam, or... Been too long.

IIRC, the issue with Fallout 3 when it first released on Steam was that it still used Games for Windows Live.

[Jaymann]

Heck, I still have some games on 5 1/2" floppy disks (but no player). I have a usb CD/DVD player, and a few years ago I bought a usb 3 1/2" floppy disk player at work.

[Daehawk]

Heck, I still have some games on 5 1/2" floppy disks (but no player). I have a usb CD/DVD player, and a few years ago I bought a usb 3 1/2" floppy disk player at work.

I only have a couple 5 1/4" in games. I collected them later though and never played them. My pc in 94 came with a 5 1/4" drive but I never used it and removed it soon after. My games up until like 96 were all 3.5". I stored away my 3.5" drive around 2002 for good. I still have a cd/dvd rewriter installed but only use it for backups. I haven't installed a game with it in at least 5 - 8 years. I was noticing that new cases dont even have a place for physical media drives now.

[dbt1949]

I still have my floppy discs that gave me X-Com. I think there were 5 of them.

[hitbyambulance]

i made my peace with Steam (and other digital-distribution platforms) by never buying any game at full price. soooo many of the titles i have were purchased at $5 or under.

actually... the first full-retail price game on Steam i ever got was Serious Sam 4, last month (and i still got a small discount by purchasing through Fanatical... and i really... should have waited for a bigger sale on that one). no regrets on pre-ordering Cyberpunk 2077 from GOG tho.

[Blackhawk]

I've got probably 800 titles on Steam. A huge number were from the old Steam sales where you could get outdated games for two bucks. Another huge swathe are from the Fanatical/Bundle Stars/etc bundles where I'd spend three bucks for a game I want and get twelve others I've never heard of.

[Sudy]

Agreed... with everyone. Any new Steamworks games I buy are almost always through Green Man Gaming, never Steam itself. My library is overflowing with bundle fodder. Most is probably worth checking out, but I'll never have the time or interest. When bundles were "new", I initially bought almost every one, at least at the cheap tier. But the majority of bundles at almost every site except for Humble became so crappy that I unsubscribed from their mailing lists years ago. And now, since Humble was bought out, I rarely see a bundle worth getting even at their first tier (but that's usually because I have the titles I want already). The only consistent new flow of games for me is Humble Choice.

I realized I have games in my library older than 10 years that I earnestly want to play, but still can't find the time for.

[Daehawk]

Thats sorta the way with me and Loot Crate. I used to get it when it was new and cheap. Over time the only good item became the tshirt. The rest was left over garbage where LootCrate became the last stop before the actual garbage dump for it it looked like to me. And the price went up. I checked the other day for their 'game' crate. It was expensive and junky.

[Rumpy]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

Oh, that does remind me that I had it before Fallout 3 for HL2. I think Fallout 3 was one of the first games not developed by Valve that required Steam.

There were a few (Rag Doll Kung Fu was first.) But Fallout 3 did have some huge controversy regarding Steam. People were pissed about... something. Maybe it was the first third party AAA release on Steam, or... Been too long.

IIRC, the issue with Fallout 3 when it first released on Steam was that it still used Games for Windows Live.

Are you sure about that? I remember buying a copy fairly close to release day and I never had to deal with Games for Windows Live. I only remember it needing a Steam account.

[Max Peck]

I'm reasonably sure about it. If you look on Steam there are discussion threads and guides about getting Fallout 3 to run on Windows 10, and they all seem to touch on disabling GFWL as one of the things that needs to be done.

I tried looking at my own copy on my current rig (which has never had GFWL installed) and the game won't launch at all. The error dialogue that pops up sends me to a Microsoft URL to download a GFWL installer that fails if I try to run it.

[hitbyambulance]

I remember green. Steam tells me I joined on July 25, 2004. My first registered game was the Half-Life Platinum Pack, which I think they gave away for free to encourage people to try out the service before HL2 was released.

Oh, that does remind me that I had it before Fallout 3 for HL2. I think Fallout 3 was one of the first games not developed by Valve that required Steam.

There were a few (Rag Doll Kung Fu was first.) But Fallout 3 did have some huge controversy regarding Steam. People were pissed about... something. Maybe it was the first third party AAA release on Steam, or... Been too long.

IIRC, the issue with Fallout 3 when it first released on Steam was that it still used Games for Windows Live.

Are you sure about that? I remember buying a copy fairly close to release day and I never had to deal with Games for Windows Live. I only remember it needing a Steam account.

yup, it was GFWL. i got a cheap copy of Street Fighter IV for PS3 as GFWL was never patched out of the Steam version and it's a pain to work around that on Windows 10.

[Kasey Chang]

I got FO3, FNV, and FO4 running fine on Win10. But yes, FO3, did come with GFWL. Disabling it was not too difficult though.

[Rumpy]

Ok, maybe I did end up disabling it. Can't remember what I did, but it does strike me as odd to both require Steam and GWFL that early on in Steam's history. I think I possibly installed GWFL but never activated it, as I do remember something about the game being OK as long as GWFL was installed but not running. Just seems like an odd requirement for PC?

Ironically, now with Microsoft owning Bethesda, the circle seems complete.

[Max Peck]

Fallout 3 wasn't originally released on Steam. At release it was a Games for Windows Live title. When Bethesda put it on Steam they didn't bother patching out the GFWL requirement, even though it made no sense to have it, hence the controversy that Blackhawk recollected.

[Rumpy]

It wasn't? My copy required Steam in order to get it installed, downloaded and activated.

[Blackhawk]

All disabling requires is a simple download from FO3 Nexus.