For the longest time whenever I’ve wanted a computer game I’d go to the store and buy a copy. I like having an actual physical copy.
But today I suddenly got into a mood the play the Sims 3. I’ve had the game since the day it came out but I recently switched out hard drives and didn’t back the files up. And, of course, I can’t find my disk now. Even if I found it I doubt I’d still have the manual with that damn serial number I have to put in.
So yeah, from now one whenever I want a computer game I’m just getting it from Steam.
Me too - in fact today I bought a game through Steam even through it was more expensive than an alternative online download service. I’m a slave to Valve.
I buy more and more often downloaded games, if only for convenience. I didn’t even know of “Steam”, but I’ve bought games from, for instance, Gamersgate (the irritating part is when I get the message “this game isn’t available for your country :mad:”).
In theory, I’d prefer to have a hard copy, though.
I’m digital-only these days, too. I’ve been gradually making the change but just today I had to find something in my tech closet and pawing through box after box of video game packaging was so aggravating. I feel like hauling those boxes straight out to the curb.
I ended up doing just that. I was thinking about giving them away to people. Nothing like free games to get new gamers to try PC gaming, but it would be such a hassle to test everything. Some fo them had limited installs, some of them had registered serials so DLC and other features were missing.
Done with physical purchases here as well, aside from cases where there’s some kind of actual stuff in a collector’s edition that I want. Last time that happened was with Fallout 3, which had the Pip-Boy lunchbox and bobblehead.
I love not having to find disks and screw around with license keys. Yes, I need to connect to the Internet to get my game, and to enable it, but that’s a non-issue for me - I have Internet access everywhere I’d want to play my Steam games.
Steam is pretty awesome. You can even register some of your retail games with them and they’ll provide you with a permanent download location for those games, in case you lose your disc. That’s pretty awesome. It’s not all games, true, but at least the ones on this list:
They do it with all games that use steamworks, their API for security/registration/server lists/friends management/etc. They can’t really do it with other games because they don’t have the authority to validate cd keys and stuff with the central service, but any game they do have control over they’ll let you download/play over their service regardless of where you got it from. More and more games are using the steamworks API - this is somewhat controversial since in theory it could make people who weren’t on steam but have to authenticate through it to install their game more likely to just use steam in the future, disadvantaging other distributors, but in practice I like it a lot. It lets you directly invite/join friends easily, integrates with community profiles, provides a unified achievement architecture, etc.
Anyway, yeah, I’ve been all digital for a few years now. The last game I remember buying a retail copy of was in 2006. I do have a few disk-based games that I got as packaged as part of bundles with hardware, but even those are a pain in the ass because I have to start digging through boxes if I want to reinstall them. Dealing with optical media is such a pain in the ass after you’re used to just having a giant list of your games that you can open and start playing in a second.
The only thing I don’t like about Steam is the need to have Steam running when you play the game. Well, that and the whole, no used game purchases things. I think I’ve told the story on the board before about how I bought a used copy of Empire:Total War on e-bay, and then when I got the CD, found I couldn’t install it because it had to be installed through steam and the original owner already had. So, I don’t like that.
I only buy digital versions now too. I’ve been using Steam for a few years and slowly replacing my collection of games. I’ll buy from other DD stores too, GOG is my favourite, but I prefer Steam so all my games are in one place. I just wish they allowed more flexibility when categorising and arranging your list of games…
