As always, the views expressed by this writer do not necessarily reflect those of MyGaming.

“OMG STEAM SUX!!!11”, writes Hypothetical Subject X on Hypothetical Internet Forum Y. It’s also almost invariably followed up with a bitter litany of Steam’s crimes against humanity, most of which also almost invariably have nothing whatsoever to do with Steam.

Modern Warfare 2’s migrating hosts? Yeah, that’s IWNet, not Steam. Your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky is turning up DRM activation errors? Yeah, that’s TAGES, not Steam. Your CD key is already in use? Yeah, remember that next time you download a keygen for Windows 7. It took 17 hours to authenticate Half Life 2? Yeah, that was in 2004, and you were probably still on 56k dialup. You’re rubbish at Team Fortress? Yeah, that’s just you.

But it seems that whenever it’s announced that some upcoming release is going with Steam, there’s this contingent of smug, sanctimonious people who are apparently duty-bound to inform the entire internet that Steam sucks because of this, that, and the other reason, and to declare that they’ll not be buying the game because of it. Like anyone else gives a toss. I think these are the same guys who stop reading at “Modern Warfare 2” and post comments about why Modern Warfare sucks because of this, that, and the other reason, and to declare that they’re no longer playing the game because of it. Like anyone else gives a toss.

Sure, downloading updates is a bit of a drag, especially here in South Africa where bandwidth prices are totally extortionate. But – THIS JUST IN! –  Valve doesn’t care about the 0.002% of its market demographic that is 12, unemployed, and can’t play their Counter-Strike clannie because mom’s said they’re not allowed any more bandwidth for the month. If you’re gaming online, your game has to be at the same version as everyone else’s. That’s, like, the way it works. Besides, Counter-Strike is the worst game in the history of the universe*.
Steam’s not entirely without its real faults, of course, perhaps most notoriously the temperamental offline mode that doesn’t actually work offline. Or the way it locks up sometimes just after launching while it’s downloading something it won’t even tell you about. Or when it starts consuming 100% of your CPU resources for no reason whatsoever. But – THIS JUST IN! – applications misbehave. It’s not an issue limited to Steam.

On the other hand, unlimited installs on an unlimited number of PCs? I’ve got Steam and a bunch of games installed on three computers. Who else lets that happen these days? And those few titles with third party DRM schemes aside (boo, hiss, spit, etc.), Steam’s a whole lot less intrusive and problematic than something like SecuROM (boo, hiss, spit, etc.). Without platforms like Steam, the future of PC gaming could be looking like some sort of choking Orwellian nightmare. So hey, what’s a few crashes in exchange?

*Tied with DoTA, obviously**.

**Like anyone else gives a toss.

Ed’s note. What, no mention of the ridiculously cool specials they have every week? You’re slipping…