I strongly dislike Valve and Steam as a company but I don't boycott them in the sense that I don't use the service. I do, however, refuse to buy them at full price (heck, 50% off is the minimum) and, if possible, buy the games elsewhere. For example, I buy a lot of CD keys from shops at a third or a quarter of retail price if they're Steam exclusives (like Sleeping Dogs and Borderlands 2). If publishers insist on using Steam, that's what they get.

I do not boycott Steam. I have always avoided buying from Steam as much as I can. I still have issues with playing any game with the Steam client (or any front-end client) running. I do not like the idea that Steam will be able to cut me off from the games, at any time, for whatever reason. Steam has the power to stop me from using any product I bought from them, at any time, for any reason. Basically, the games on Steam are completely useless without the Steam client and Steam's continuous permission for me to use the products. It's like, I am paying for Steam's good grace to allow me to use the products as long as Steam pleases. I still can't swallow that idea.

I buy a game from Steam only when it is not available on GOG.com and the retail version is difficult or expensive to get. I'd rather buy from GOG even though the same games are often cheaper at Steam when it's on sales, (and Steam has lots of sales.) When I buy a game from GOG, it's mine for good after I download it. Let say I have a dispute with GOG and GOG bans me for any reason, but GOG will not be able to lock me out from playing the game that I have already paid for and downloaded. With Steam, it's a whole different power arrangement: Steam literally has all the powers and I have none as the consumer.


I have bought a few games from Steam because I did not have a choice, (i.e., Vampires the Masquerade, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, etc., those are unavailable elsewhere.) As soon as GOG get them, I will migrate out of Steam. I have a few other games at Steam from product keys I got from elsewhere, (i.e., some Humble Bundles provided Steam keys as bonuses.)

I think DRM can help preventing piracy, at least for some not so savy people. However I also don't like Steam but my guess is that the number of people who like it is far more greater. People don't care much about DRM and tolerate it and apart from the DRM Steam is a very good service. So my guess is that about half or less of the GOG customers have none or only a few Steam games.

By the way: there are a few good DRM free Steam games. http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/list_of_drmfree_games_on_steam

This minus the positive experiences with them.

I was boycotting them up until 2010. As I didn't like the concept of needing an internet account to play SP games. But as the internet is nowadays pretty much mandatory in our society, I can't really hold that against Steam. (I actually used Steam for the first time in 2009, as I bought DoW II without knowing it needed Steam. So I "used it" in that year. But I never used the store or anything besides the launcher for the game. The fact I hardly noticed it in the first place made me also rethink that "having an internet" wasn't as outrageous in 2010 as it was in 2004

Also, my gaming experience has been the best in my life thanks to Steam nowadays. I was a gamer in the "golden days" and I remember that they weren't as golden as many paint them.

Ever since then Steam has grown on me. Many people I like and respect in the industry have made positive comments about Steam (eg Tim Schafer). And it was a godsend for small devs, indies and kickstarters by providing a comparatively cheap platform for distributing their games. It also pissed of EA, which is always nice (not that I dislike EA, but it knocked them of their high horse). And as I care more about the people who create the games I enjoy then the sensibilities of some gamers, I tend to to slowly actually like it. Also, with unlimited downloads it set a good industry standard that otherwise would have been limited downloads/ download periods like in other industries.

Therefore, I no longer boycott Steam.

Very much this.

Well drm free is better and I buy from gog whenever I can (gonna buy rollercoaster tycoon in a few minutes) but steam is cheap and i can live with that, there are bigger problems to worry about and i'm not gonna loose sleep over drm.

In b4 this thread goes down in flames...

And no I don't boycott Steam/(works) games, but unless I really have the strong urge to play them, like New Vegas and Torchlight 2, I won't buy them.

This, 1+.

I will probably never boycott Steam, their service is almost flawless but for some reason I just prefer having games DRM-free so I lean towards GOG and HIB.

I don't know about the other games you mentioned, but recettear is available drm free at gamersgate: http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-RAIST/recettear-an-item-shops-tale

And Vampire the Masquerade is available at DotEmu

"I never use a seatbelt or had a home insurance, and I've never had any problem."

Frankly I don't see why the OP had to single out Steam. I guess he could have mentioned any site with unnecessary DRM to their single-player games.

I don't boycott Steam/DRM, my massive Steam library and my avatar title speak for themselves. :) But like many others, I much prefer DRM-free versions of games, due to less restrictions they put on you, and they are more future-proof. I buy DRM-free games into my backlog much more "casually" than DRM games.

Pretty much the same why I don't like the idea of streaming games, where the problem is just more profound and the umbilical cord is even more rigid. But still, it might be possible that somewhere in the future I might pay something for playing a streaming game, if there is no other option, it works ok and the price is right. But it still doesn't mean I'd prefer to play my games that way, at least all of them.

GOG should really get Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines when other digital distributions already have 'em without DRM.

I've happily used Steam since 2006 and really have no reason not to, so no, I won't boycot it. (big shock! :D)

Steam is as standard as anything on my PC these days. It's really easy to keep track of my library, install/uninstall, and since years ago I stopped using other internet messengers and only use Steam's chat features, particularly because it works with ease in most games, which is an incredible boon when the GF's in another country and Skype/chat is our best option for communication, and we're both gamers.