This always bugs me.

Steam does not necessarily equal DRM. There are quite a few games on steam that do not require you to be logged in, or have the steam client running. Steam is a game delivery platform that can include DRM, but doesn't require it.

Thanks, now i want to buy onedrive too ;)

It's free up to 7Gb limit ... ohhh do you want the whole Mictosoft's department ?

True, but the masses are by and large uneducated. Look at me, running windows instead of playing games on wine because I can't be bothered with installing Debian, in fact it's been a long long time since my last dual-boot pc.

So while I'm a step above a yokel I'm not part of the finely educated gentleman's consumer club.

Also the steamed competition's DRM scheme is in my opinion DRM done right (and yes I am perfectly aware that is an oxymoron, just bear with me a second). It controls what and how you can play, but it does so in the most unobtrusive way possible, it is there but it stays quiet and limits himself to a corner of the room and tries not to get in the way as opposed to other drm mechanisms which are more akin to someone jumping on you from behind a door to bear hug you and then poke you repeatedly in the eye to remind you that they 're there.

That is NOT to say that I think DRM is ok. I hate DRM, it is the reason I don't own a kindle (and the ridiculous prices of nooks in the uk but that's another story). But I don't think they're evil anymore, they're disgusting parasites which feast upon our blood, like the flu or leeches, and like those I don't think they're going to go away, ever.

So what I did was endure a couple of mosquito bites to get cheaper goods. Now if the offer had been at origin... leeches are a poor comparison, here, have some visual imagery.

DRM done right is DRM-Free. Even though I do have lots of games on steam, I'd prefer GOG instead. Unfortunately there are some perks for using steam also, but GOG is trying to catch up quickly so I'm hopeful.

I concur, though I am even more absolute in my stance. I can understand the relative convenience of some of the DRM'd services, and the fact that there are games only available that way. For myself I am just unwilling to support the "rent instead of own" model that is becoming more and more prevalent with digital media. I only buy DRM-free ebooks (or ones that are easily made so), music, and games, and am lucky that sufficient marketplaces for these exist to meet my wants. I don't know how long that will continue though, as content producers by and large clearly want to control consumption as minutely as they can.

Missed the american nightmare freebie, yeah thanks a lot GOG, this was supposed to be last night *sigh*

Now I gotta go hunting for some gog community people that I must poke with my trusty pokey stick until they are nice and hand me a gift code...bwahahahahaha *evil cackle*

Hey I was tired...had like 10 hours sleep...can somebody help the bunnie?

Much can be said on both sides, but I'm too lazy to do so.

The gist of it is: Valve is nice, they're not evil, I like them and their drm is mild enough that I don't even notice it.

Origin causes rectal prolapse.
Also I don't like kindles that are not for burning.

Unfortunately it's hard. I try to avoid steam and other services as much as possible, but some games are not available DRM-Free. Other times I've bough games in bundles and because of the low price I could overlook the need for steam.
That being said I think my all-time game spendings are about 70% GOG, 20% bundles and 10% games bought on other services.
I'm not trying to defend EA, but lately Origin is no worse than Steam. I have installed it for only one game, Dragon Age: Origins, and the experience with Origin was pretty painless, after installing the game, I never needed to start it (which I can't say about steam). My only big complaint is regarding to DLCs, which were a bit of a hassle to redeem from the Bioware account.

I don't get the 'enjoy it quickly or it's gone argument' because again it assumes something that may or may not happen. It's no more an absolute that you will lose your access to Steam games then it is that you won't. Games that I own on Steam that I bought circa 2005 still exist in my library. I certainly didn't make sure I 'enjoyed them quickly' or was worried in any way that whey were going away (which they have not).

Like Blotunga, I'm curious. Why the Origin hate? I use both Origin and Steam and I find there's not much difference in them as far as intrusiveness (in a few ways, I actually find Origin less of a hassle than Steam).

Don't even try to. EA is the one thing we can all agree to hate on.

HATE!

I don't hate them, but I try to avoid them. I loved DA: O for example and bought it because they made an Ultimate Edition with all DLCs. However I won't buy any of their later games because of the DLC crap. I also refuse to buy games which need me to stay online. Thus I avoid Ubisoft also... And Rockstar games because of Rockstar Social crap...

Everyone has to decide what is right for themselves. As for me, after the near miss I had with JManga, I refuse to use any kind of content-rental model, unless I'm just renting a movie to stream for the night or something. Games I prefer to own and control my consumption of on my terms.

Yes, I can understand when there is no other way to get the game that you would resort to these other services.

My spending originally was probably 50% GOG, 30% Desura/ShinyLoot/GG, and 20% bundles. Now it's basically 90% GOG and 10% other DRM-free, with very few bundle purchases anymore (and most of those for Android games).