Thread: The PC Gamer Dilemma - Steam or Torrent?

I want to know where you guys stand on this.

Since the ye olde dayes of Don't Copy That Floppy, PC software has been transfered, downloaded, burned, copied, "backup"ed, and in general shared due to the contribution of a few talented computer engineers in an attempt to establish a Fight Club-like world, or for their own fame and contribution or achievement, or who knows? You'd like to think people like aXXo and rld are doing it for some reason, and because they'd rather keep their identities anonymous, I doubt it's ever for personal gain.

And so have software companies followed by packaging their products along with walls and walls of DRM that increasingly get thicker and more annoying, barring more and more of minority gamers (people without constant internet connections, people in other countries, etc.) from ever reaching their game, even though they've paid for it in full. Pirates, in turn, have cited such measures as the reasons for their activities, and even went so far as to propose legislation to their local governments in the boundaries of free speech and freedom of communication. In my personal opinion those claims are entirely unjustified, even though I've participated in my fair share of "recovering from a backup file" myself.



And here comes the mighty Steam, brainchild of Valve, the same company that have brought you the greatest PC game of all time (by Metacritic), who have had their source code stolen and released to the public months before the initial launch (much alike to what is happening to Crysis 2), and who have somehow tapped into the niche in between the war between the developers and the consumer-pirates and made a LOT of money in it. How did they do it?

Well first, Steam provides two things that pirates and companies can't offer. The first is the multiplayer and community experience. The gaming community that Steam has fostered, consisting of their main forums, along with the many, many background IMing and intranetworking between players, provided a haven for gamers that both companies and players can't afford. Before Steam, if you wanted to chat with your friends, you switch to an IM client, or post on a forum, or have a LAN party. All three of which are rather bothersome, and you can't see who is playing what, or easily invite them to join your game, join theirs, view their games, stats, information, etc. Pirates couldn't provide that because that might be a potential identity risk for the players, companies couldn't do that because it would involve cooperation with other developers in building a gaming social network. Steam filled that gap nicely.

The other thing that pirates and developers couldn't offer was legality and price, respectively. Pirates were complaining that they should be able to download because the games are overpriced (and they are. $60 for a (closed-network) Xbox game? Back in 2000 that's enough for an entire console, maybe). Companies complain that they should raise the price because of pirates and the lack of volume. Steam filled in that gap nicely, by offering games (especially out-dated ones) for a bargain (I once bought 8 copies of TF2 for $2.50 each, and Battlefield 2 was only $7.50 during Christmas), while guaranteeing volume for the developers. Plus, the game was mostly DRM-free, players could join multiplayer without worrying about authenticity, installation is much easier, everything was on the same page, and the games were cheap (or at least, priced correctly).

So of course I know a lot of gamers (from reddit, trackers, etc) who are pirates turned Steamers. What are your thoughts on the issue? Would you rather torrent or wait for the Steam deal? Why? Which types of games are better to buy, which to torrent?

i use steam, but i am no full convert. i still believe that steam DRM is not the final straw, it is still too restrictive. however, my belief is that at this stage, as a consumer, i can most help the free culture movement by rewarding small victories and compared to other attempts, steam can be seen as a victory. their pricing and regularity of sales is indicative that they understand most of us driven to piracy are more that willing to reward game developers. the cloud service they provide is very well designed and convenient.

any game that contains extra 3rd party DRM is never purchased by me however.

I agree that steam is a step in the right direction. The best way in my opinion to combat piracy is to make it easier not to. That being said. I am not about to start paying for single player PC games or Wii games anytime soon. Money plays just too much of a role. I have trouble spending money on things I could get for free.