Posted August 17, 2020
But those pros are tarnished by a massive list of cons and issues that Steam can and does cause. That's without mentioning the fact that virtually every major, important feature Steam has is also available through GOG and/or GOG Galaxy.
I get that Steam was the first to do it and thus people tend to gravitate toward it, but Steam has been surpassed in every way by services like GOG and, unlike Steam, GOG actually gives a crap about the games they host and the players that play them. The fact that we actually own the games we purchase (instead of leasing the rights as we do on Steam) is a major plus.
Overall, I still do primarily use Steam but there's only one reason for that: they have prepaid cash cards in retail stores for Steam credit. I'd be almost exclusively a GOG user if not for the fact that I don't have a credit card (nor do I want one) and thus, buying games on here is far harder than it needs to be. The fact that I have to ask permission from a relative -- which ends up being my grandmother as she's the only one with a credit card -- to buy games as a fully-grown adult is extremely irritating, especially since she is pretty leery about online shopping. I won't use a debit card on here either, as I rarely use one as it is and I definitely don't like using them online. Prepaid credit cards won't work, either, because they implemented a policy a year or two ago where you can't use them to make purchases outside of the US. Since GOG is a Polish company, they're disqualified.
If GOG had prepaid cards in retail stores like Steam does, I would 110% do almost all of my game shopping on here except when a game is unavailable on here. Given GOG's intention to revive the glory days of gaming, albeit in the modern/digital age, the ability to use cash to purchase games (via retail cash cards) instead of being forced to use a credit card, that'd be an appropriate thing for them to do. Besides, I love GOG and CD Projekt and thus I love supporting them whenever I can; the fact that I can't do that because they don't have a payment option that works for me, it's frustrating. I know I'm not alone on this, either. People like me, we may not be a majority by any means, but there are plenty of us out there that would rather use prepaid cash cards to buy our games on here. I mean, I suppose it's partly a good thing they don't have them because it means I won't lose all restraint and buy more games here than I can afford, but still, it kinda sucks that I can't choose to use GOG more than Steam due to this issue.
But I digress, Steam has too many issues and not enough people recognizing them. It's frustrating to be one of the few that address this issue because if more people stood up and realized what Valve is doing to gaming, maybe GOG could actually rise to the top so gamers could once more truly own the games they purchase. Steam is literally only good for its convenience, at this point.
