Which platform would you prefer?
I'm here (on steam) for the games, not the people who play them. Besides, even if it's not on steam, there will always be gaming forums.
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Keeping in mind, the community features may also lead to making it easier to get games in your library, for less cash. Things like trading, gifting, etc. And knowing more people makes it more likely those people may be feeling generous someday (and/or giving you the freedom to reciprocate the generosity).
But I do understand, assuming you're going with Steam 1, why it's important to game on the platform with the games you enjoy the most.
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Good points, but I wouldn't give up quality over social interaction or money, even though I got most of my first games by trading.
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Steam 3 - The existing Steam (with better support service)
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I like that assumed just because there are community features i us them and am actively chatting with a bunch of people. I'd choose Steam 2, but not because of the community features, but cause without steamgifts i wouldn't know what to do with myself, however i didn't vote because the choices are bs imo.
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It's really pretty simple, would you rather play the best games (whatever that means to you)... or would you rather play good games but have all the community extras like the Steam market, trading, gifting, etc... and by association, sites like SteamGifts that take advantage of them. As well as the people you would meet by using them.
If you aren't going to use any of these features, then the answer is probably the one with better games.
If the choices are BS, it's just because it's tough for you to pick between them... I think it's a fair poll.
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I don't really use the community extras, but i rather use steamgifts forum mostly :D The choices are bs because even if steam completely shut down there would still be a forum i'd probably find and use it to avoid being responsible. Also the price thing is kinda vague, but yeah, sorry if i sounded harsh i just feel like even the parameters you set for two versions of steam are too vague and the games, the community features are the prices are really individual and i'd be difficult to determine what games and how cheap would exist in this imaginary scenario. I'd probably choose one or the other based on how harsh the good and bad conditions are.
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We're just playing pretend here. Fill in the blanks however you see fit. :-)
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There were and still are communities, forums, guides on games outside of Steam. Although I do use the forums, guides and even started this whole pay-to-level-up-for-no-reason game (to a degree), if they would say that from tomorrow on it'll be gone forever, I wouldn't care, there are enough other places to do the same.
Plus it may give them time and manpower to focus on having an actually working support, some minimal quality check for new content getting in the store, and overall start making a client that doesn't need to be updated every second hour because a new game completely breaks it.
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I suck at social... so Steam 1
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The one that gets the best ports or PC exclusives...
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I want a Steam with ALL the games that exists, console games included (yes, E.T and Superman 64 too XD)
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At the end of the day I'd be happiest playing my favourite games, rather than just a game so I'd have to put up with any flaws of the prior option and just keep hoping that anything exclusive eventually gets ported to the system I actually do have and apply a bit of patience to relive the pricing issue somewhat.
Favourite games have a way of destroying common sense and reason and you'd likely end up with the prior system eventually anyways even if you chose the second system first.
And if you just want to play A game, any game, instead of your favourite games then you might as well just play freemium stuff from the Android store on your phone and not bother with either system you damn casual.
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"...not much multiplayer gaming happens."
This is a big negative to me so I chose steam 1.
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Neither, I'd go with physical copies if that were the case. :P
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I don't see why it couldn't be both. This dilemma is ultimately contrived. An ideal Steam would be one which is subscription-free (see below), offers all games in existence, and provides a comprehensive social networking platform to serve as a community for all gamers everywhere. That won't happen because I seriously doubt Blizzard, Kongregate/GameSpot, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and all those other big companies will be merging into a supermonopoly anytime ever, but it would sure simplify things. I don't see why exclusives should exist, though, and I don't see why there needs to be a trade-off between community and game quality. Why not both?
(And now, onto my tangentially-related tangent...)
Then again, I'd recommend not using Steam at all. I made the mistake of getting involved before I was fully aware of the implications of the Steam Subscriber Agreement, which effectively designated all my purchases to mere license subscriptions which could be revoked at any time at the decision of Valve, especially if my Steam Subscription (i.e., my account) is terminated (i.e., banned). All of the games are protected with Digital Rights Management (DRM) and thus cannot be played without the Steam client and the account to which it is tied, so if my subscription is revoked, I essentially lose my game. At least with other social networking platforms for gamers, such as GoG or Desura, all my purchases are DRM-free and I can keep them even if I lose my account (so long as I have them saved). One could of course make the argument that the purchase of physical copies is best, despite all its limitations, because you have a physical disk with all the content (though this could theoretically be procured by burning a DRM-free game onto a blank CD).
Ultimately, it's a matter of whether you're willing to sacrifice autonomy and independence for increased online synchronicity, social networking capabilities, cloud storing, and play tracking. It would admittedly be better if Steam wasn't subscription-based, but that obviously won't happen anytime soon (it doesn't appear that subscription-free companies are as successful, anyway). Valve is leading the gamer's social networking scene and is now rivaling giants like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo in the process. You could fall back to Desura or GoG, but I don't expect those companies to last much longer with Valve still dominating the playing field.
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Sega Dreamcast. I have one with 3 controllers, 2 memory cards and about 40ish games.
I love Metropolis Street Racer. =]
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It's kinda like I'm pretty much on Steam 1 anyways. I have no friends to begin with, so definitely games.
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I have a decision to make. I'm going to invent two versions of Steam for the sake of this question, to avoid the inevitable bias if I started naming names. Which of these two situations would you prefer?
Steam 1 -
This version of Steam has a handful of series/franchises and individual games that you just think are top notch. Some of the best games ever made, in your opinion (think of you favorite games). And more are assuredly on the way. They are all exclusive to Steam 1.
However, community features are lacking. No market, no trading, no gifting. No third party sites like SteamGifts to kill time on. Outside of one or two friends you occasionally play online with... you don't really know anyone here. And with lacking community features, good people are hard to find. You can take screenshots/video, it's not really difficult to do, just no really effective ways to share them with people, if you had people to share them with.
Games are more expensive here... but with a little diligence you can still find good prices.
Steam 2 -
This version of Steam has a lot of very good games. There are only a few exclusives here that interest you... but none of them are your absolute favorite games. Good games, not great. Your favorite games, some of which you consider the best games you've ever played, are on Steam 1.
However, it comes with all of the community features you may or may not love. Market, trading, gifting, etc. You've befriended a large number of people, though you mostly chat with them... not much multiplayer gaming happens. Easy to take and share screenshots/video with said friends.
Games are regularly cheaper here than Steam 1.
Both platforms have a healthy selection of classic multiplatform games. Both use your preferred control scheme (kb/m or gamepad, whichever you like). Both utilize the same kind of digital distribution, both are equally reliable, games have roughly the same number of issues on both platforms (nothing is perfect). Both have some of the smaller features, like achievements, savegame clouds, etc.
You can't choose both!
Which would you go with? Let me know if something isn't clear. ;-)
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