Disclaimer: My steam account is turning 21 next month, and I own more games there than I’d like to admit.
There’s a lot of valid criticism of steam or valve.
The main one I’d say is the 30% cut. But that’s sadly basically industry standard. For an indie dev, that’s still a lot better than having to go through things like a publisher.
Oh, and lootboxes. fuck those. should be banned.
Other than that, let’s go through the list:
- paved way for MT: Mobile games did that first. And nobody is forcing you to use them. But people do. So they keep coming. Solution: don’t use them if you don’t like them (but hint: people genuinely like them). (Although lootboxes etc are a whole different and rightfully critisized thing that should indeed be banned)
- forces you to get the mobile app: I mean, it’s annoying, sure. But I wouldn’t call it spyware. Personally, I’d be happier with a simpler TOTP 2FA integration. What it does do is cut down massively on account hacking
- The multiplayer API is quite nice. Personally, I don’t really care much about pirated games, but I can kind of understand them not working with steam. But that’s 100% on the game developer. They are the ones integration steamworks. Or any other matchmaking service.
- stopped HL3: Not really. For a long time they already stated that they will not be forcing HL3 development “just to get HL3 out”. They will develop it when they have an idea and story that will absolutely be worth to tell. and it will have some accompanying tech “revolution” with it. HL:Alyx was close. I’m still surprised that they didn’t use that as a base to start HL3 (or maybe they secretly do?)
- gamification: it’s not really that much more gamified than having any other game collection before steam? It’s just a lot more social and easier to obtain. Would I have spent this much money on games without steam? no. Would it even be possible? Likely also no. Too many indie games due to steam.
- pay for animated wallpapers/avatars: I mean… okay? Personally, I have some weird animated wallpaper, but I got that for free somewhere. and it’s annoying as hell.
- Broken features: I don’t really encounter any broken features. Even my Steam Link hardware box still works (although last time I tested it was a couple months ago). Even the single group chat I’m in works fine.
- Steam chat: no idea what the features are they are talking about. So no comment.
- Useless reviews: The world moved on from 5-star reviews. With almost all reviews either being 5 stars or 1 stars, it doesn’t really make a difference. In the end the question is: would you recommend it? Which can be somewhat binary, or at least tending towards one direction. For details, use text
- family share: I mean, that’s kind of the point. The idea is to simulate having only one copy. So you’ll get booted out if someone else you’re sharing with is using it.
- steam deck worse notebook: kind of. But my linux laptop also doesn’t have a dedicated GPU. and gamepad controls.
- JS desktop app: oh boy, it was so much worse when it wasn’t
- it’s not literally an always on DRM. there’s literally an offline mode. If the developer wants an online connection, annoy the developer.
tl;dr: apart from the gambling enabling, it’s fine.
Isn’t the Steam Deck is also cheaper than most laptops?
Imo the Steam Deck is superior to most laptops for gaming, including higher-end laptops. Does it get better performance than your i9, RTX4090 Alienware M-whatever? Almost certainly not. However, it’s significantly more portable, probably has a far better battery life, has a god-tier integrated controller + keybind system, suspend mode that doesn’t cause games to crash, and an OS will all kinds of 3rd party goodies like RetroDeck. And it’s not very expensive either (relatively speaking).
If all you’re wanting is to play games on the go, then imo the Steam Deck absolutely destroys most laptops despite its lower power. If you’re wanting to do more than that, like you’ll mainly be playing games at a desk/TV or you’ll be wanting to use it for other tasks like programming or creative stuff, then yeah, a laptop is almost certainly better for mobile computing. However, if you just want a handheld with optional docked capability, then the steam deck is way better than any laptop imo.
I think you misunderstand family share. I’ve used it and it’s basically if you share with someone else then whenever you are online and playing any one of your games then the other person cannot play any of your other games. So you’re playing game A, well the other person can’t play game B, C, D, E, etc. from your library. That’s what anon is talking about. Steam is introducing Steam Families that is supposed to fix it but I haven’t tried it since I gave up on family sharing long before it was announced, I went back to pirating to share games.
It’s been a while since I used family share, but I’m fairly certain that it was done on game level, not account level. Did that change at some point?
It was account level, if I went offline then the other person would get a notification from steam that said something like “Hooray, X’s shared games are now available for you to play!”
https://lr.vern.cc/r/Steam/comments/wrwvs1/how_do_you_remove_this_notification/
If you’re talking about the new steam families beta then yes that is when it was changed to be game level not account level.
Also provides:
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a giant platform
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a payment system
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distribution network
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servers
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sales data
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fraud prevention
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networking
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automated build processes
Also the drm is completely optional. So if a game has it, it’s because the devs wanted it have it.
Edit: these are only a few. Take a look at the official steamworks page
If the game is local co-op ask you need to do is click a checkbox.
Also community mod support.
I get that the post is probably just meme, and that if real the type of person to post this probably pirates all their games on Linux and doesn’t use other storefronts either, but like do they want everyone to do the same thing? Don’t we want to buy games from developers so they can continue to do that? And the other storefronts, well one, might have a lower cut, but they also provide pretty much jack-sh unless you count money upfront and no lasting support as being a provider.
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Man, the deck runs a customized arch, not that piece of trash mentioned in the post.
You have to pay for animated pfps?
I have more points than I’ll ever use and that was just from patient gamering. If this isn’t about the points system, I’m clearly out of the loop.
Same here. I even remember I got some expensive seasonal badge (given I can’t remember really shows how much I care) because I had so many points
I feel like they’re a nice thank you for buying games you were probably gonna buy anyway and people able to “buy something”. I don’t think it would even make a difference if they made all point shop items free
Also steam has offline mode so I’m confused about the drm part
Some badges give experience to level up your steam account. That being free is gonna be a chaos lol
Oh yeah I forgot about that lmao
I think it’s just that animated pfp are only available if you pay, even if it’s not for the pfps themselves.
There’s definitely an interesting aspect that you can only access games profile content if you own the game. So, no Starfield pfps of you didn’t buy the game.
On one hand, buying the game gives you points which is usually enough to buy the set. On the other hand, you do have to own the game to get access to buying these accessories in the first place.
Personally it’s not really a big deal to me given that they are just .APNG’s that you can upload yourself. But I guess the OP didn’t want to put Valve in a positive light by saying that users can customize their accounts for free.
Calm down there, Sweeney.
Need online to play? I’ve played all the games I wanted offline. Well the ones from bugisoft or Paradox Interactive no.
Big picture mode is used for the steam deck, but considering anon is a cynical and jaded person who hates everything, including the steam deck, so it’s not like that probably matters to them.
Works pretty well on desktop too, helpful when you connect to a TV.
Not in for the discussion, but to add info:
You could use e.g. KeepassXC or “steam desktop authenticator” to avoid their aweful app.