Steam. Rrr. - Most annoying software ever?

[BSRaven]

As the really observant would've noticed, I got my hands on Half-Life 1, but the old Sierra Best Sellers edition. Turns out that a lot of HL1 mods these days need Steam, so I download it and make an account etc.

So I put in the CD Key for my HL1, and it tells me that someone else has dibs on the CD Key. I'd request a CD Reset, except that the CD Key Reset address is an American one, and, no offence intended if anybody here's a postal worker, I wouldn't trust my local postman with a blank page, nevermind my HL1 manual (as that has my CD key printed on it) and £5 (approx).

So does anyone else think that Steam is the most annoying software they've ever used? I don't think it's THE most annoying, but god-damn it's up there.

[troubletcat]

Ack, bad luck.

I've been using Steam since it came up and they shut down their WAN hosts (Incidentally, I've been playing Half-life since I was and if you think it's bad now you should have seen it in the old days.

For a while, it was the worst thing that ever happened to gaming. Ever. It's still pretty bad, sure, but it's gotten alot better and now I don't mind using it. A friend of mine had the same issue you did. It's Steams fault, and it sucks, but it's a rare issue. These days.

Anyway, only thing you can do really is request a CD-Key reset. Think of it this way - if your postman does something nasty, what have you really lost? A disfunctional CD-key, that's about it. You can send an E-mail to Valve telling them your problem and requesting an alternative option, but I doubt they'd agree to anything.

[gebbss]

Why don't use just use a Key gen?

[kaki123]

Actually, I like Steam, your CD-Key probably has been used because of a keylogger in your computer or your friend that you gave your CD-Key to him

[el nini]

Same thing happened to me a while back. I bought the "Counter Strike Anthology" from some online shop, and when I put my CD Key in using Steam, it said that someone had already used it.

You can resolve it via email, though. I did. I took a photograph of my CD-Key, and a photograph of my receipt and emailed them to Steam Support. A couple of days later, they activated Counter Strike, Condition Zero, Day of Defeat, Ricochet and Team Fortress. I'd only paid for CS and CZ.

[crazy.neo]

Steams sucks donkey ****. That's it. It's:
a) A piece of ****, buggy, resource-consuming and bandwidth stealer program.
b) A stupid, Utopian idea that ended with WAN, which worked fine.
c) Commercializes everything, even freeware games
d) It makes you launch it just because of a quick HL round
e) It intends to end piracy, but it does the exact opposite (HL non-Steam, anyone?)

[mrtomjohn]

steam sucks monkey balls

apparently my team fortress 2 is registered to someone else although I registered it as part of the orange box

[tibiazak]

yea, the only reason i'd use steam is for the Orange Box (which i'm planning on getting in the next year) so i could play multiplayer and mods :p


but yea, it's stupid. instead of ending piracy, it makes more people turn to piracy to avoid it! Valve is really stupid - which is annoying because the games they make/release via steam are awesome...

edit: which reminds me, i need to move my copy of de-steamed portal over to this computer xD

[el nini]

Steam isn't THAT bad. Look at the plus sides:

It's secure as hell.
Games on there can be pretty cheap.
Free demos and mods.
When minimized, it only used 7mb of memory (That's HALF of MSN messenger)
Easily patches and updates your games

[Kotti]

It's a good software, but it has many flaws in it. After all it gave me free Opposing Force and Blue Shift when I put in my HL1 CD-key. But I just can't figure out why do you have to download the games instead of installing them from the CD? That's the main reason I haven't installed HL2, with my slow connection that would probably take a week. And why do the games download to the Steam folder? I first installed Steam to drive C (Windows and some software, 30Gb) instead of drive F (everything else, 200Gb) and of course Steam wanted to install everything to C.

[crazy.neo]

Steam isn't THAT bad. Look at the plus sides:

It's secure as hell.
Games on there can be pretty cheap.
Free demos and mods.
When minimized, it only used 7mb of memory (That's HALF of MSN messenger)
Easily patches and updates your games

Criticism of Steam

System failure
The error that European owners of Half-Life 2 received when trying to activate their game.

It is necessary to validate every Steam game online before it can be launched, although an offline mode is available. There are no alternate methods of activation such as via telephone or fax, which causes the system to deny access to those without Internet connections. According to the Steam Subscriber Agreement, Steam's availability is not guaranteed and Valve is under no legal obligation to release any such update disabling Steam's authentication in any event.[30]

Temporary system failures may occur preventing users from activating their games. The first temporary system failure affected Europe on November 2004 just after Half-Life 2 was released[26], and in December 2006 the root authentication servers were unavailable due to storms in Seattle.[31] These temporary failures must currently be weathered by users wishing to play online or make new purchases.

Forced auto-updates

By default, to play a game offline, Steam and the game itself must be fully updated. When Steam starts online, the system checks to see if there are updates available. If there are, the user is forced to wait for update process to finish before being able to play again, though games can be streamed online[32].) These updates cannot be rolled back by the user, which prevents users with unusual or unrecognized issues reverting their software to its previous, functional state. Steam can be set to stay offline and not attempt a connection,[33] but this offline mode has its own restrictions and limitations, including preventing games which have not been updated from running in offline mode.[34]

Changes to minimum specifications

On June 30, 2007, users who ran Windows 98 or Windows Me were no longer allowed to run Steam or any games that previously supported those operating systems. Additionally, users without SSE processors were warned that Source engine games would no longer function "within the next few months" if they did not upgrade their computer hardware (due to the impending release of its multiprocessor update).[35] However, only a small percentage of Steam users were affected by these changes[35]. Installing Steam on either of these operating systems results in an error forwarding the user to the Steam support website.[36]

Gaming websites have criticized Valve for not making the system available on Mac OS X.[37] Valve has described the system as "strictly a Windows application".[38]

Privacy

Steam collects and reports anonymous metrics of its usage, stability, and performance[39], all without notifying the user at the time of collection or offering an opt-out. Both a notification and an option to opt out are available for personal information. Steam is also used to report similarly anonymous and non-identifying data by several of its games[40]. While some forms of this data are reported back to the public in aggregate form, for instance hardware specifications and gameplay statistics, other non-identifying data has been known to be collected without any indication, as is described in Valve's privacy policy[39].

The only known example of this undisclosed collection of data has been that of the level of internal fragmentation of Steam's files. The data was used to justify the development of an internal defragmentation utility to reverse the performance-degrading process. "Rather than having to guess or estimate performance bottle-necks", a Steam Update News entry said at the time, "Steam gave us the ability to precisely solve the real-world problem."[41]

Resale limitations

Games bought through Steam cannot legally be resold due to the unsuitability of current Proof of Purchase laws. The only valid proof in an entirely digital transaction is the credit card used during the process, but as ownership of credit cards cannot be transferred, neither can that of Steam-bought games.

When a buyer purchases a boxed game he/she must authenticate it with the registration of a CD Key.[42] In the event that the CD Key that they have registered is already in Steam's database, the user is required to submit an image of the physical purchased CD Key for verification purposes, as well as a purchase receipt less than 90 days old[43].

Payment issues

Due to Steam products' ephemeral nature and Steam's resultant susceptibility to fraud, billing details entered must match exactly with those held by the bank.[44] Similarly, certain types of failed transactions (such as chargebacks) will cause the user’s Steam account to be disabled until audited by support staff.[45]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_%28content_delivery%29
Pretty much sums it up...

[BSRaven]

Aw man... Now I just need to get the damn printer to print anything OTHER than pink so that I can spend some of my goddamn Christmas money being able to play a 9-year-old game that I got as a present. NNH!

Question: What does the Half-Life Platinum Pack contain? Because I got the Sierra Best-Sellers edition of HL1, and it came with Team Fortress and Deathmatch Classic...

[crazy.neo]

Aw man... Now I just need to get the damn printer to print anything OTHER than pink so that I can spend some of my goddamn Christmas money being able to play a 9-year-old game that I got as a present. NNH!

Question: What does the Half-Life Platinum Pack contain? Because I got the Sierra Best-Sellers edition of HL1, and it came with Team Fortress and Deathmatch Classic...

* Half-Life
* Counter-Strike
* Team Fortress Classic
* Half-Life: Opposing Force

Same ****. Not worth it. Try to get HL: Source (HL1 with the Source physics engine and graphics). Really cool!

[BSRaven]

* Half-Life
* Counter-Strike
* Team Fortress Classic
* Half-Life: Opposing Force

Well, I gotta admit, that's three more games than I can use right now without Steam...

Try to get HL: Source (HL1 with the Source physics engine and graphics). Really cool!

Can I borrow your credit card?

[crazy.neo]

* Half-Life
* Counter-Strike
* Team Fortress Classic
* Half-Life: Opposing Force

Well, I gotta admit, that's three more games than I can use right now without Steam...

Try to get HL: Source (HL1 with the Source physics engine and graphics). Really cool!

Can I borrow your credit card?

I meant "get it". Ya know... :;):