cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/15970074

Valve:

  • popularized DRM on PC
  • killed the used games market on PC
  • bans people for selling their Steam account
  • contributed to popularizing microtransactions, loot boxes and Battle Pass
  • forces you to run a proprietary app to play your games
  • forces updates on you
  • pretends they invented Wine
  • ships devices with a proprietary SteamOS
  • forces devs to use proprietary libraries to use Steam’s features

Gamers:
Yes uncle Gaben more of that please!!!

  • lemmeee@sh.itjust.worksOP
    0·
    8 months ago

    DRM was not popular on PC before Steam became popular. It used to be possible to buy physical copies of games without DRM. On consoles that is still the case.

    I didn’t participate in the used games market, but the steam sales are like paying used game prices.

    I don’t know, but you can’t sell your game anymore if you get bored of it, so it’s still a loss. Games are overpriced most of the time only to have a -75% off sale a few times a year.

    I must have missed how vavle contributed to lootboxes and microtransactions, was that in their games?

    Yes, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, CS:GO.

    Updates are turned on by default, but honestly moat games need the regular updates and steam made those so much easier.

    They have also removed content from people’s games.

    The devices with steamOS installed are sold to distribute steamOS…

    Which is proprietary software.

    f course they have to use proprietary libraries to use features. That is how it works…

    So I can’t release a libre game on Steam and use those features. I can’t compete on the same level with proprietary games.

    • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      DRM was not popular on PC before Steam became popular. It used to be possible to buy physical copies of games without DRM. On consoles that is still the case.

      Apparently you don’t remember SafeDisc and all the bullshit for PC games in the 90s which required physical discs. All kids of games had DRM that was not the same as always online DRM, but was actually even more annoying than what we currently have.

      I don’t know, but you can’t sell your game anymore if you get bored of it, so it’s still a loss. Games are overpriced most of the time only to have a -75% off sale a few times a year.

      Games are still mostly $60 or less like they have been for decades, and 75% is cheaper than my friends bought used games a couple decades ago. The sales let me buy so many more games than I did before steam at an overall lower cost.

      Hell, I can still games that are a couple decades old while games in the late 90s/early 2000s were hard to get working after a few years because of DRM.

      Everything else is a tradeoff, but your memory is failing if you think PC gaming was a better and cheaper experience before steam.