Again, this was at a time when I was sharing a 384K line between 5 people. I was referring to the downloading and installing of games via Steam (not from disk), which, with such a shameful line speed, would understandably take ages. It makes sense that the latest version of Steam games would download, but there were often major updates that occurred before play time began. Perhaps that’s different now.

A few times I had a Steam message which said “your game will launch in approximately X days/hours”. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a screen shot at the time, but I shit you not. Won’t likely see it again since getting a much faster line.

Perhaps off-line mode is being confused with being offline altogether. What I meant was (at the time of writing) that it was not possible to play any of your Steam games if your Internet connected was down. I don’t know if this is still the case? For that matter, is it still possible to buy a hard-copy game on disk and play it independently of Steam and an Internet connection? More and more games are becoming “Steam-powered” which doesn’t make this possible for people without Internet connections and painful for those with slow Internet connections.

Waiting days to simply install a game? Where do you get that from? Seeing as you say it has to update after installing I’m going to assume you mean the disk version, because if you install by directly downloading from Steam you get the fully updated version and don’t have to update it after install.
If it does take you days to install using the disk, maybe it’s time you upgrade that 0.025 write speed DVD-Rom? Steam games installing directly from disks install the exact same way as any other disk-based installs, only difference being it has to check the Steam servers to see if you own the game before it can install. If it takes days to install from the disk, the issue is definitely not with Steam, but with your PC.

And the line about waiting in a queue to play your game? That’s absolute nonsense. At most, if the Steam servers are overloaded, it might tell you that the servers are unable to handle your request, and even then, trying again once or twice will let the game launch. It is extremely rare for you to be unable to play a game due to the Steam servers being overcrowded. So rare, in fact, that it is just about unheard of. It happens often that the ‘cannot handle your request’ popup appears for people, but then it is always a technical issue with server, and not due to overcrowding.

For the servers to tell you you have to wait days to play your game, it would require the servers to utilize ‘slots’ for the amount of players who can play a game simultaneously, which Steam does not do. When starting the game, the client only has to contact the Steam server to verify ownership of the game before starting and then after that only if a player receives an in-game achievement. It does not continue sending a stream of data to the server that results in other players being unable to play until you are done.

As for offline mode not always being available, where’d you get that from? Offline mode has been available since I initially got my Steam account back in 2007, and probably even before that. Some people encounter technical issues with offline mode, yes, but there has never been a time when offline mode has simply not been available.

I wrote this at a time when I was sharing a 384K line with 5 other people; hence my frustration with having to use Steam back then (I literally had to wait days before I could play anything new).

Things are better for me now, but it doesn’t erase the fact that gamers with slow lines (consider young gamers whose parents pay for the Internet) are still subject to these problems. The platform almost assumes that everyone has a fast internet connection, which, globally, is not the case.

I personally enjoy the benefits that come with using Steam (updates, cheap games, Steam Cloud etc.), but do see a problem when gamers are left with little or no choice in the matter…

Well, this is exactly what steam offers with the offline option… I don’t think you really know what steam offers as most of your statements are false (waiting list launch games??? no offline option ??)

I live in New Caledonia, small island in south pacific, most games are downloaded and running in 3-4 hours.

Unless you have limited bandwith, i really see no reason to buy physical version anymore. And with the cloud backup of your game save, you can install steam on multiple computer (laptop + desktop) and just play !

Just love the fact that when you get your new computer, your game list is just waiting for you with all your game saves.

I think things would be a lot better if gamers only had to do a once-off activation through Steam on the very first install and then have the choice to play offline. Things like achievements and updates can be done when you next log in.

Steam crashing is my biggest issue. I leave my updates going overnight and throughout the day while I’m at work and it often simply stops responding. Not cool.

I most certainly prefer buying hard-copy games from stores and adding them to my gaming bookshelf. Yet the fact that more and more games are becoming steam-powered forces one to have to use their platform in order to install, update and play these games. Again, it boils down to a lack of choice. If you can’t get Steam to run (as in your case) you’re pretty much screwed. If you share an Internet line with digsmates or family, there are feelings of “screw you”, if you have a slow line, you’re forced to endure a significant waiting period.

People don’t seem to find this a problem in a broader sense. I’m getting the general impression from Steam users that if it’s working well for them then screw everyone else.

I was an avid gamer at varsity and used Steam all the time to get new games. it used to drive my digsmates crazy as I was always using the broadband cap up. Needless to say, this is now largely a non-issue with the introduction of cheap(er) uncapped broadband options.

I don’t ever remember having a huge issue technically with Steam back then and waiting 2 days while the game downloaded was par for the course.

BUT, in my last year of varsity I switched to Mac (mostly for work) and never really looked back. You can imagine my excitement when Steam for Mac came out! I rushed over to the Steam site and downloaded it but it just. won’t. work. It keeps trying to update itself, gets to a point and then fails ad infinitum. I have tried everything to resolve this issue (deleting it, doing a clean install, downloading a new copy yadda yadda) to no avail and I am not alone in having this problem. I am naturally disappointed.

I suppose my point is: what sort of experience is Steam giving us (I don’t really give a rats ass about all that fluff you said about being cautious of that which is powerful- as long as it works and works well it can have all the power it wants, I am a Mac user,Steve Jobs anyone, hello?- sorry Galen)?

Back on point: It is STILL quicker for me to get in my car and go and buy the game off the shelf somewhere than to wait for a download. Just like it is still quicker for me to go and buy a book from a bookshop instead of ordering it from Kalahari (average wait time for an item is 10-12 working days BEFORE they will post it to you- pathetic).

Steam is not perfect and, in the internet backwater of SA, these imperfections are magnified 20-fold due to our slow broadband and generally crap infrastructure.

However, like most things internet shopping related…it is convenient…if you are 2 days from your nearest computer games outlet that is.