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[-] FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 102 points 3 weeks ago

I remember hating the idea, during the age when games came in boxes. Now i support Steam with the tremendous support they've given the Linux platform. Most games i have are games on Steam, but i do have a bunch on GoG, as well as Itch.io. Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, but have to admit the Steam basket is humongous.

[-] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 36 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

GOG is pretty good but they have zero Linux support that I'm aware of. Had to return a game I bought off there last year. Bought it through Steam and it worked seamlessly.

[-] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 20 points 3 weeks ago

Some of their games have Linux support but also it seems very much that they do not care about going out of their way for Linux so it gets forgotten about for most titles

[-] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

In GOG's defense, they don't have the resources that Steam does but it's still pretty annoying. I have no plans to personally seriously use Windows ever again for personal use but Linux desktop usage is low and not something I'd expect a company that's GOGs size to spend much time on yet. Steam can and does. I respect that a lot.

[-] sep@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Companies can choose to be a part of the solution, or a part of the problem. And i can choose to spend my money on the solution. I would love some redundancy on the linux gaming store front tho, just valve seams a bit fragile. And afaik gog or anyone else can also use proton or???

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 weeks ago

I feel like proton is going to bandage it all together. Most indows games that don't have kernel level anti cheat are going to work using a proton layer.

[-] weker01@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago

GOG actually has a relatively good selection of Linux games.

[-] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

Relatively is the key word. I haven't had a serious issue with anything running on Proton and the way Steam implements it. I've had one issue out of one trying to play a game on GOG. Don't get me wrong, I think GOG is great though.

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[-] Thrawne@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I still have a bulk of those CD’s (not the boxes anymore). I keep them in a binder with the CD holder sleeves. Same for my drivers, and operating systems. I have disks of going back to NT, 95b, and 98. I only started in to PC’ in 1998/9. I wish i had my original Voodoo3 driver disk. I remember buying that card in my way back from school one afternoon. I was so excited to install it.

I was skeptical of Steam when it launched as well. It has proven to be a good service.

[-] turmacar@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Beware bit rot.

Granted most of those are going to be archived anyway but I wouldn't count on them being useable indefinately.

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[-] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

But that's just a happy little accident. Gabe is too much of a good guy, so he actually built a good distribution platform that also pushes for improvements for the whole ecosystem (like the Linux thing).

When he's gone, capitalism dictates that enshitification must ensue in order to squeeze out every single cent of short term profit, and we'll be screwed.

[-] lud@lemm.ee 9 points 3 weeks ago

Depends on what happens to the company. Maybe he has children that can inherit his company shares and maybe they don't want it to change.

Maybe they set up a trust or something that can take ownership.

I really hope valve never gets sold.

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[-] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 59 points 3 weeks ago

So are we just going to get an article from every other line in the hl2 documentary?

[-] BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works 30 points 3 weeks ago

News are slow. The milkman has to do work.

[-] slaacaa@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

No, we stop at the second

[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 57 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

He's right. Everyone hated the idea of any always online DRM to play the disc you bought in a store. Steam backed off with options for a game to sometimes work offline and a pinky promise to free your games if Gaben died and the new owner decided you own nothing.

It's weird, people hate the current DRM system for games and love Steam. Yet it was Steam that pioneered it. If Steam failed, there's a chance we would still own games instead of them being tied to online DRM verification.

Steam is the benevolent dictator but that's not going to last forever.

[-] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 53 points 3 weeks ago

This is revisionist history. Steam was not the origination of DRM or even online DRM.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 49 points 3 weeks ago

I remember, buy game. Enter CD key "key already taken" Return game "sorry, box is open we don't take media returns" Rage.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 weeks ago

"Actually this disc is defective. I'd like to exchange it for a new one."

This trick will be useful if you ever go back to 1999.

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[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 weeks ago

I remember taping over the square hole.

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[-] usrtrv@sh.itjust.works 32 points 3 weeks ago

No, that's what consumers like you are thinking in hindsight and unrelated.

The context Gabe is talking about is when he was approaching publishers. They were just being anti tech and believing in traditional brick and mortar. They were definently pro-DRM. They just couldn't fathom a digital marketplace.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe you weren't old enough to remember it, but people were pissed and swore they would forever boycott Steam when it released

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

I indeed was one of them. Managed to boycott until left4dead2. Then i caved in. The war was lost anyway. And now i have easily put 5 figures into steam and own nothing.

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[-] stardust@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 weeks ago

Games used stuff like cd keys and even pieces of paper that deciphered codes as DRM. DRM was always something sought after by companies. Just take a look at Sony rootkit scandal for music CDs.

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[-] 100@fedia.io 16 points 3 weeks ago

steam drm is the bare minimum license check and its not mandatory for anyone to implement in their game

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Steam is undoubtedly convenient.

But if any game you care about keeping is on GOG, it's a good idea to buy a copy on there, and then squirreling away the offline installer files/extracted game files somewhere safe.

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[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 weeks ago

It could last a very long time, though. It's a privately owned company, so if they keep it that way, there's no board to satisfy with big payouts and stock holders to appeas. There's a lot less bullshit to deal with when you're a private company.

Also, drm and online registering is way older than steam.

The best drm was back on floppy drives. You needed a piece of tape to cover the square hole so you could copy the game for your buddy. Lol.

[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago

There were some very elaborate copy-protection schemes. Like, "go to page 12 in the manual and enter the word at the bottom of the page". Of course, people could just share what the word was, so some games did stuff like having a fucking codewheel in the manual, instead. So you had to take the code the game gave you, turn the wheel to the correct spot, and then enter the result the wheel gave you.

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[-] trag468@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago

I sent them an angry email when I bought my first house. I had purchased a physical copy of a game because I was waiting for my Internet to get turned on. I wasn't able to play because it required an internet connection to complete the registration. I was so mad. I told them I would never buy another thing from Valve. That turned out to be the lie of the century. I was super wrong and Valve has been a company you can be proud of for decades. I often think about what a jackass I was for sending that email.

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 65 points 3 weeks ago

I don't think you were a jackass. You purchased a physical copy and thus shouldn't need an internet connection to start your game (unless it's multiplayer only). It's crazy how easy it is for people to get used to new normals when it comes to things like this.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yup. Valve rocks, but they're not perfect. When I buy a game from Nintendo, I expect it to just work without updates, and they do. I don't understand why other companies get a pass.

This is why I don't but games on release anymore (except Nintendo first party), and why I'm largely okay with PC being digital only. Reward the behavior you want to see.

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[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 27 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Guess nobody remembers when Steam first started out and had enough bugs and compatibility issues that they spurred a lot of hatred evinced by the pump icon shoving into and out of a user's butt. Can't seem to find a graphic of it anywhere these days but it was funny back then

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah seriously, Steam was universally hated at the time. Anyone else remember this gif?

(Sorry for the imgur link BTW, but Voyager uses the default Android upload dialog and it's AWFUL. Half the time the picture I want to upload isn't there, even if I directly navigate to the folder it's in.)

[-] BigPotato@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

I remember Green Steam on dialup. The steam loading bar frolicking across the screen, left AND sometimes right. No "offline" mode. And, of course, being the only way to play Half Life 2.

[-] MrGerrit@feddit.nl 17 points 3 weeks ago

I like that even without real competition on the market, they keep on improving and innovating the platform.

It's a company that want's to make money but they way they do it, giving the customers the best most experience possible, wishes me for other companies would take notice of. And i don't only distribution platforms.

[-] Demdaru@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

even without real competition on the market,

Which is the effect of

giving the customers the best most experience possible

[-] MrGerrit@feddit.nl 6 points 3 weeks ago

I mean, if even Steam would have stopped 5 years ago with adding and innovating and just maintaining everything to work smoot, they still would be better than any other platform. Just sit and count money.

Look at epic, I happily claim every week the game they give away, but where is the motivation to even consider them over steam. They had all this time and money to just copy things steam did right or add new things themselves .

Almost nothing happens.

[-] SineSwiper@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 3 weeks ago

That's the difference between a private company and a publicly-traded one.

[-] Venator@lemmy.nz 6 points 3 weeks ago

The competition might not be real right now, but they're smart enough to know it'll eventually catch up if they don't stay one step ahead.

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Even the launch version of HL1 was a great game but gosh, were Valve a crappy company back then. HL1 shipped with a bunch of trailers, so far, so good. But update patches contained mandatory new trailers. That was dialup era and downloading the updates cost much more money because of those stupid trailers. Then came Steam and made it worse. Imagine the pushback to ads in Windows 10 but add to the annoyance the fact that the annoyances also cost money. Broadband was still just getting started. My family certainly couldn't afford it and they could even less so afford me being online on dialup all the time. So my more wealthy friend passed me CDs with the last non-Steam updates, mods like Counter Strike. Me having been a dumb kid would have ruined my family's livelihood otherwise.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 weeks ago

So we ended up hiring most of the original Steam team from that other company to build initially this sort of in-game advertising streaming model but then [Steam]

Wow it could have been so much worse

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

That tracks, everyone still owned their games back then. At least Gaben got his 8 yatchs though.

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 weeks ago

Remember when you could sell games you'd never play again and people less fortunate than you could have their fun with them for a much lower price?

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, but now at least the games still go on sale for a cheaper price and there isn't a rare game that you can't find anymore and if you do it's $130.

Fun fact: if you want Harvest Moon for snes the game will cost you about $400. Good condition with the box and papers will go over a grand. Snes Aero Fighters is $1,500 for an ok cartridge.

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[-] Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I am old enough to remember it being just a launcher (ala Ubisoft or EA games) for Half life 2 and a way to counter-strike with no mods. TBH I thought it was gonna fail hard and then after a decade of success, even I was stuck on steam. Also to add originally they only sold valve games as literally no third party was willing to give them a cent and they were short on IP.

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this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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