What's your opinion of Steam right now?

[The Mad Monk]

I have never used Steam.

What would you say to encourage me to use it?

What would you say to discourage me from using it?

[Aeson]

I used to really dislike it because my internet connection sucked. Now that my internet connection is passable I only mildly dislike Steam. If I had a very fast/stable internet connection I'd probably view Steam positively..

[The Mad Monk]

I've always had this impression that you have less control of a copy of a game purchased on steam. How true is that?

[Spaced Cowboy]

I just lost my internet for a week. Played Steam games..."off-line" with no issues during that week. I love steam, no more boxes to store.

[N35t0r]

I think Steam is doing to the videogame industry what the Film and Music industry need to do in order to survive.

[The Mad Monk]

That is reassuring. What do you think the chances are of a game becoming unplayable in the future due to changes in or the failure of Steam?

[snoopy369]

Less than that of any other current option.

[Sava]

I've always had this impression that you have less control of a copy of a game purchased on steam. How true is that?

No.
It is not true.

The only thing is that Steam games get installed into the Steam dir. You can choose install locations for the Steam Library. But you cannot create a custom install location.

Other than that, there's no noticeable difference.

That is reassuring. What do you think the chances are of a game becoming unplayable in the future due to changes in or the failure of Steam?

Near zero.

The only exceptions would be multiplayer-only games... if nobody plays, nobody plays.

THe world could be annihilated by nuclear war. Just choose "offline mode" when it fails to connect with Steam servers.

[The Mad Monk]

Okay, can you purchase games on one computer and then install them on a different computer? I ask because my "financial" computer is a completely different box for security, and I don't like using my credit cards on my gaming computer.

[snoopy369]

Sure, you can install Steam with one account on multiple PCs, though it can only be active on one of them at a time. Your purchases carry over.

[Sava]

Sure, you can install Steam with one account on multiple PCs, though it can only be active in online mode on one of them at a time. Your purchases carry over.

Slight fix/addition.

You can have offline mode enabled on as many machines as you want... even playing multiplayer LAN games with the same account. IIRC, some games in the 90's would not allow you to connect the same account/CD-key to LAN games.

[speedymoist]

I would encourage you to use it, I enjoy it
Keeps things organised

[Proteus_MST]

Slight fix/addition.

You can have offline mode enabled on as many machines as you want... even playing multiplayer LAN games with the same account. IIRC, some games in the 90's would not allow you to connect the same account/CD-key to LAN games.

Also you can share games across multiple accounts with family sharing.


All in all I can also recommend Steam (which is surprising, considering my initial reluctance, some years ago, to get me a Steam account)