I have installed Civilization V and so, obviously, I have also installed and joined STEAM. This angered me as I had not followed the development of Civ V closely and had no idea this was a requirement. My interest in PC gaming has declined over recent years, mainly because few titles have been released which appeal to me, but also because those that do insist upon employing some sort of 3rd Party DRM, which I do not want to support. I checked the retail box after install: sure enough an internet requirement for activation is listed, so Mea Culpa.
My friends are also fans of the Civ series. We still play and discuss Civ IV and we had been discussing the release of this latest title. I have advised them of the requirment for STEAM. One couldn't care less, another, like me, has a purely emotion objection and won't buy the game and yet another simply won't be able to install the game if an internet connection is required. From a quick review of some Civ forums it seems these anecdotes are often repeated.
This brings me to my question: given that the introduction of STEAM would seem to have discouraged a small proportion of customers from adopting Civ V, what advantages has this brought to the publishers, the developers or the game itself which outweigh this? I know very little about STEAM, but it seems this client is being used for licence verification, patch distribution and multiplayer, all features which were present in previous Sid Meier titles, so what are the benefits?
My friends are also fans of the Civ series. We still play and discuss Civ IV and we had been discussing the release of this latest title. I have advised them of the requirment for STEAM. One couldn't care less, another, like me, has a purely emotion objection and won't buy the game and yet another simply won't be able to install the game if an internet connection is required. From a quick review of some Civ forums it seems these anecdotes are often repeated.
This brings me to my question: given that the introduction of STEAM would seem to have discouraged a small proportion of customers from adopting Civ V, what advantages has this brought to the publishers, the developers or the game itself which outweigh this? I know very little about STEAM, but it seems this client is being used for licence verification, patch distribution and multiplayer, all features which were present in previous Sid Meier titles, so what are the benefits?
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