Steam - your views

[Kyubi_ZA]

I like steam Love that everything is central friends etc.

[tpex]

Yeah, but that was a short term problem that's been fixed. The main reason host migration occurs is because - drumroll! - the host has abandoned the game, forcing IWNet to transfer the game to someone else. People quit the game. Sometimes that's the host. It happens on console all the time too.

It's a no-win situation, isn't it? Everybody complained about the game dropping back to the lobby in the first Modern Warfare. So IWNet implements host migration, and everybody complains about that instead. Being a developer is just about the most thankless job in the universe.

LOL there is an easy way to fix it... I don't have to say it

[Isengard]

I don't mind Steam at all, in fact I think it's the best "anti-piracy" measure out there and then it does a whole lot more besides. Steam gets my seal of approval.

[TheKnowing]

Steam is good, but can be a hassle some times even for users with originals. Many people have complained about the support they get from steam as well, for me never had a problem, but do not really play online as cap to expensive.

I think its a good start to combat piracy, but hope there will be better ways to improve even on steam in the future.

[Blackhand]

The only problem with Steam, is not a Steam problem, but a South African one. Shitty internet.

When I got usable internet, 4mb uncapped, Steam became my preferred means of buying games. No worries about disks, updates and game stock. Central location for friends, tournaments, forums and tech support. Loads of AAA, indie games and frequent specials (once to twice a week at least).

With internet connections getting faster and faster, bandwidth becoming more widely available (at least everywhere else in the world), Digital Distribution is picking up popularity very fast. Hard drives and the internet are the biggest storage mediums and with internet connections getting as fast as they are (100mb/s overseas about R700), game physical disks are going to have a hard time competing in terms of storage space and delivery/transfer speed in the future.

The only time I buy/order games from shops any more is when the game has a REALLY nice collector's edition.

[Matty28]

I have to say that steam is not the problem just the cost and speed of the internet in SA.

[Sockmonkey]

Makes you wonder if a SA company will take the initiative and start our own locally hosted Digital Distribution service. I realise two things - the market is not ready yet coz of the hight cost of bandwidth and that WAGE will soon implement a free steam server. Nonetheless, its worth a shot.

[Keldarza]

Only time I curse steam is when its "updating games list"... just means that I'm about to be hit with a bajillion updates.

And lets not forget the cheap price of steam games.

[Keldarza]

And then, this sucks too:
"
Beginning at 6:00 pm Pacific time Thursday February 4th, we will be performing software maintenance on some Steam servers. We expect the resulting downtime to last three hours at most, putting the end of the window at 9:00 pm Pacific time.

Some Steam services will be offline during this time. Affected services will include the Steam Community, in-game matchmaking or lobbies, downloading games from Steam content servers, and making purchases from the Steam store. Games that do not rely on Steam matchmaking services should remain playable.

We will work to make this downtime as short as possible. Thank you for your patience!"

[Blackhand]

It seldom happens Keldar, Steam still has record uptime with less than 40 hours downtime for 2009. They announce three hours, but are often done in 10 or 20 minutes.

The games still work and multiplayer still works (in games using dedi servers of course!), your friends list and matchmaking goes off for a bit.