There isn't anything anyone can do about Steam apart from voting with their wallets. I don't plan on keeping my preorder. I don't plan on buying it even if it's on sale. I don't plan on even thinking about it, either. To me, when a company shoves DRM down your throat, that tells me that the game they're selling probably isn't worth buying in the first place. I have never once played a game and said, "That was so good it totally makes up for the DRM."

 

Maybe Valve and Acti-Blizz will miraculously destroy themselves with that DOTA lawsuit going on, but that's wishful thinking at best, given how much money each company makes.

 

Pretty much this. A lot of Steam's features seem really pointless to me and don't add any value to a game at all. I've always felt that any kind of DRM lowers a game's value, be it Steam, Origin or GfWL. Why should I have to have an annoying client running in the background just so I can play a game?

 

Steam may not take up a lot of space in the background, but it has been a nightmare on a daily basis for me from day one. I lost count of the number of times Steam tells me that it can't connect to the servers, or the games are 'unavailable,' yet I still have an internet connection. And offline mode is half-assed at best. Funnily enough, unlike GfWL's offline mode, you have to be online to even use it. Why even call it offline mode?

 

It makes me sad to see another dev go the Steam-only route. I'm surprised that, of all the companies, it would be Stardock and the folks behind the gamer's bill of rights.

 

 

 

 

 

This will probably downgrade me from buying Rebellion when it comes out to buying it when it's on sale for $9.99.  I expect I'll be waiting another year and a half.

I don't get it.. what is so inconvenient about steam? Is there something other than being required to be online to play?

I just don't appreciate being tracked every time I boot up a game.  It's my game, my business when I play it.  But also the online thing, too--I like to be offline altogether unless there's a good reason to be online.

There is the indie steam called desura, pretty good actually but I don't know if the features actually match up.

Does Desura offer the features your looking from from steamworks?

Got desura for playing StarDrive...best thing about Desura is that the offline mode actually is offline...steam's ghetto sketchy offline mode apparently is quite the misnomer...

That you must have it. It will patch your games without you giving permission, it will track how often you play said game. The list goes on.
I consider Steam to be bloatware. It does zero for those who do not want to use Multiplayer. And like any other bloatware, you uninstall it. Every other feature can be replicated by SD, if they choose to do so.

There seems to be a growing consensus here. I know that Brad or someone else is lurking this thread so i'd like to ask,

Is the use of Steam with Rebellion a firm decision? Does the communities feelings on Steam have any weight on your choice to use it, or are we all just flogging a dead horse?

Wikipedia is your friend : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desura

Seem that they don't have all Steam options but they have some strong point like a anti-DRM policy and when they sell game with third party DRM, they inform their customer... not sure if it good or not but they are from the same company that ModDB and mod are integrated in Desura... Seem that the recent mod thing from steam was somehow a response to Desura...

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/03/08/desura-moddb-takes-on-steam/

“The main problem modding communities face,” says Reismanis, “is that the majority of gamers don’t know what a mod is or where to find them, and even fewer know how to install and play them. There’s a large barrier to entry that instantly rules out a large majority of gamers. Desura knocks down this wall.” The service even includes an Installation Wizard, which checks your system to ensure you’ve the right versions of the right games installed to be able to play the mods on your wishlist.

“So many mods are amazing and deserve their 15 minutes of fame,” says Reismanis. “Blizzard knows this, and that is why a ‘modshop’ for Starcraft 2 is one of their big selling points. Desura going mainstream would be a game-changer for mods, and great for the PC games industry.”

To be perfectly honest, I don't think the communities' resistance to this is particularly relevant...this is a small community, and I think they are hoping rebellion opens this game to a much larger market...

Even if every person in the current community decided not to buy rebellion, simply putting the game on steam could get so many new people that it would still be more profitable...

 

Why talk about something you neither know anything about nor care to know anything about?  Your own statements make your opinon on the subject of STEAMWORKS and integration with same pointless.

 

Entitled-gamer syndrome........

Wrong.  It's a checkmark option.  Automatic patching yes/no.

 

Mark your profile private.  You can't stand seeing your own gameplay stats privately? 

See your previous posts.  According to you yourself you know nothing about STEAMWORKS and don't care to know.  So how would you know that "every other feature can be replicated by SD, if they choose to do so"?

Growing consensus?  Yeah and guess what?  You constitute the 'few' in terms of potential sales.  Games are made successful beyond some DEV's wildest dreams on STEAM everyday.  Just look to indie devs like the DEFCON devs for stories that make the alternative (not going with STEAM) sound like the dumbest move a DEV could make.

There will never be ANYTHING everyone likes....so as long as we keep that in mind.....

So..... so long crybabies...

Sins will sell thousands of copies not possible without Steam...Steamworks integration is probably a deal to get ON Steam.

I play single player so I'm not intersted in the mutiplayer benefits.

But the over the top hatred is strange.

Just think of what Google is doing to your info as you read this......

 

 

At the expense of alienating every loyal SD customer, that without which, SD would not exist?

I see your point though, it's a shame profitability is the new focus of SD.

Hey, I'm not happy about it either...

I don't think it's just profit...I genuinely believe that the devs are trying to make the best game they can...part of that is making Sins a fantastic MP game, and I think that the devs believed putting it on steam was the best choice in that regard...

Is it the right decision?  I think only time will tell...if 10 million copies sell on steam, I don't think you can really hate them for it...

 

 

But Sins Trinity is already on Steam without Steamworks. I want them to sell it on steam, just not require people who buy directly from Stardock to use it.

You don't have to love the pizzaguy,...just the pie!

I'm more concerned that Stardock has three games coming out it seems at the same time..FE, Rebellion, and Ironclads game.

Is there enough company to handle all three at once?

It would be perfect if they could run sell it either way.  That said, it's a business and as a business it would be stupid not to use Steam's success. 

It's the 80-20 rule.  No matter what you do, 20% of the people will never be satisfied.  Doesn't mean they are "wrong"--it's just not possible to please everyone.

Stardock is not publishing Ironclad's new game (Sins of a Dark Age), as its a free to play game and thus not really in Stardock's area of expertise.

I won't be alienated.  You don't speak for every loyal SD customer.  

And it's a shame that a privately owned company wants to turn a profit?  Really?

What I really want is a very detailed description of what Steamworks offers for MP (aside from achievements and leaderboards) and why SD cannot mimic those features...I assume there are some good reasons, I just want to hear it from SD (and if I'm being dumb and such secrets have already been unleashed in another thread, my apologies)....

I'm not interested in furthering a debate....

 

The small community of old player against the large younger teen community that steam will bring, illustrated in image at :

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/online_gaming

 

FANTASTIC, Thoumsin!