Questions about sellin games

[LP]

For example, what is "Pay for play" (or Pay4play, as I've read)? I've bought Minecraft, which is pay4play, but I don't understand it. Ok, if I don't pay I can't play multiplayer mode and it doesn't updates automatically. Is that all? All games that are Pay4play are the same? Isn't Pay4play another way to say shareware?

(not specifically about Minecraft) My understanding about pay for play is that real money is exchanged with virtual money in the game to advance on levels, getting items and other features unlocked.

Another concept is "DRM free". I know what DRM is (I think ), but I don't get that concept. I see that some Steam games are DRM free, but do you need to connect to Steam to play them as in any other Steam game? If you need to then it isn't DRM free actually, is it?

Steam *is* a DRM and just by definition of it, any game published through Steam uses DRM. For instance, I've purchased Metro 2033 on GamersGate, and it requires Steam, so just to run the game, I had to download a third-party package that limits the usage of product; this is exactly what DRM is.

And talking about Steam: Last time I used Steam was about 3 or 4 years ago, and it was painful. People said me that it changed a lot in last years but I'm not sure. I remember that it starts-up with the OS and it steals a lot of resources (memory and CPU) and it isn't possible to halt it, not even to uninstall it (I had to format and re-install Windows to remove it). How does it work now?

In my own experience: it did not improve. Their buggy application when doesn't break, downloads things without your consent and displays popups when you least expect it. But maybe I'm not their target audience.

Google's Play Store is much the same dog* but this time the culprit are the software-makers themselves (not all them, fortunately) adding buttons in the appropriate places to be clicked.

Google Play Store is very similar to Apple Store. Both are okay, but can be widely abused by app makers. For instance, Apple has been sued for allowing unlimited charges without even asking for password.

Many games try to make money by "black mailing" you: the game seems innocent at first, but then to build things, or get things, you need to pay, then, to advance to another level, you need to pay, and then, just to view your progress, you need to pay, etc.

And I've read that Microsoft has it's own store and that anything that isn't acquired through this store are treated as malware by Windows 8. Is that true.

I think this applies only to Windows 8 RT. However, I would suggest to avoid this platform altogether because... it's Windows 8.

[User137]

Steam *is* a DRM and just by definition of it, any game published through Steam uses DRM. For instance, I've purchased Metro 2033 on GamersGate, and it requires Steam, so just to run the game, I had to download a third-party package that limits the usage of product; this is exactly what DRM is.

That third-party package being Steam itself? Only real limitation as far as i see, is that you must have internet connection, and that's not even true always. Offline playing works aswell sometimes.

In my own experience: it did not improve. Their buggy application when doesn't break, downloads things without your consent and displays popups when you least expect it. But maybe I'm not their target audience.

You must have alot of trojans on your computer It doesn't break, and all of the things you mention are configurable. Downloads are games auto-update features which you can disable per game, but are you sure you want to play old version? Popup you mean is propably steam overlay notification, but you can disable the entire overlay. Don't know other popups, took off friend status notifications long ago if such were ever on.

Anyways, does Steam even have Pascal API or something?

[Cybermonkey]

Steam is a pain in the b... *cough*. Take Half Life 2 for instance. I bought it on a retail DVD, installed it and thought that's it. How wrong I was! The complete game was downloaded again (several GBs) so I could start playing a few days later ... Updates are well and good, but if I buy a game on DVD I want an instant play after installing and let me choose if I want to update or not. This bothers me about Steam. Anyway, I think it's good that it is now available on Linux.

[Super Vegeta]

Anyways, does Steam even have Pascal API or something?

No. To make the joke even better, Steamworks comes in C++ only, there isn't even a C interface. (Not that I loathe cpp much, but on average C interfaces can be translated more easily.)

[Ñuño Martínez]

I see most of us really have bad experiences with Steam.

(not specifically about Minecraft) My understanding about pay for play is that real money is exchanged with virtual money in the game to advance on levels, getting items and other features unlocked.

That has more sense. Thanks.

Steam *is* a DRM and just by definition of it, any game published through Steam uses DRM. For instance, I've purchased Metro 2033 on GamersGate, and it requires Steam, so just to run the game, I had to download a third-party package that limits the usage of product; this is exactly what DRM is.

In my own experience: it did not improve. Their buggy application when doesn't break, downloads things without your consent and displays popups when you least expect it. But maybe I'm not their target audience.

That was my experience. I think I'm not their target audience too.

I think this applies only to Windows 8 RT. However, I would suggest to avoid this platform altogether because... it's Windows 8.

Thanks for the links.

That third-party package being Steam itself? Only real limitation as far as i see, is that you must have internet connection, and that's not even true always. Offline playing works aswell sometimes.

That's the problem. I don't have the modem running all day. I put it on only when I'm using it, and I don't need it if I'm not playing a multiplayer net-based game.

A question: Is it possible to get the requirements of all the stores (Steam, Apple Store, Play store, etc.)?

[SilverWarior]

I myself must join others who are not happy with steam.
First thing that bothers me about the steam is the fact that all games get instaled into the steam client folder. This can be very inconvinient when you are slowly running out of space on that drive and still have plenty of space on other drives.
Also I must say that I dislike the steam client entirely. I hate the fact that steam client needs to runn at the same time as steam games do. I have steam client autostart feature disbled becouse I don't like the fact that it is downloading updates both for games and for itself whenever it pleases as it can consume your whole bandwich. I hate for it to shows me various popup windows even when I least wan't it (when I'm playing non steam based game), which can sometimes lead to undesired consequences (crashing some older non steam games). I cerainly don't like that if you don't have steam client already running and try to start one of the steam games it always goes and checks for updates even if you have them disabled.
I also hate that if for some reason steam client freezes due to some bug you can quickly end up having multiple steam clients running at the same time.

So in short I'm trying to avoid in buying steam games whenever posible.

[LP]

You must have alot of trojans on your computer It doesn't break, and all of the things you mention are configurable. Downloads are games auto-update features which you can disable per game, but are you sure you want to play old version? Popup you mean is propably steam overlay notification, but you can disable the entire overlay. Don't know other popups, took off friend status notifications long ago if such were ever on.

Maybe you are their target audience.

[User137]

Maybe you are their target audience.

Yeah why not. I'm just very puzzled by some comments about it on this thread. I have never heard of such issues with Steam.

First thing that bothers me about the steam is the fact that all games get instaled into the steam client folder.

There we have another... Steam lets you choose where you want to install your games, split them all between multiple harddrives if want.

Every problem mentioned here so far has simple answers available, if you just bother to search a little. It is not intrusive software at all if you configure it to your choosing. No unwanted popups, downloading or anything. On era where everybody has broadband internet connections and multicore processors, i really don't find anything to complain about. Some games are really cheap, like 1-2 euros piece on discounts, if games are not completely free to play anyway (some examples MMORPG's Star Trek online, AION, DC Universe). You can't find that anywhere else.

[SilverWarior]

Steam lets you choose where you want to install your games, split them all between multiple harddrives if want.

Would you like to share how you can do this please?

[User137]

Click Install button, then first dialog that opens has "Choose location for install:", with a dropdown list where you can select different path.