Steam ain't worth it

[Epsi]

If I could make two improvements to Steam which would make it more acceptable to people, they would be these:

1. Make Steam decentralized. By decentralized, I mean the way the program operates on the end-user PC. Roll all the Steam functionality into HL2.exe itself, and then have each Steam-enabled app communiate with each other to end up with the same functionality set as provided by the seperate Steam application.

However, a seperate Steam app could be maintained, providing all the services it currently does, such as out of game server browsing, updates rolled out on the desktop, and Friends.

2. Side-by-side versioning.

When a patch happens, download the new files in the background, while keeping the old files untouched. When enough people have the update, the update is switched on, and the old files are purged. This would also help with updates breaking offline, as going online wouldn't break your working version of the game until you were done with the update.

 

[$kelet0r]

another improvement not go online just to play an offline game

 

[tacobc]

The ability to push escape and going to options. That takes a good 1.3 seconds. Now any other game, it would take a bit longer to load the starting menu from the game.

YMMV on that one.

Now go into the video tab and change video modes/resolution/advanced properties. Notice you don't have to exit the game at all! (only in source games?) That seems worthwhile to me.

I don't think this is correct. I play Team Fortress and when I change resolutions I have to exit the server. Maybe what you meant was that you didn't have to leave Steam - because what happens is that Team Fortress really restarts. It's the outer "shell" that you stay in.

The update system is unbelievable. I love it. I don't have to go searching for a damn patch, and I don't have to waste the space on my HDD by holding them just incase I gotta reinstall!

Yes, the update system is pretty nifty. But I prefer to choose my updates myself. I have Windows XP, but I chose not to install SP2. Suppose Microsoft made me download it and made me install it. Well, alright I guess if you trust Microsoft.

And speaking of reinstalling, it's so easy. Due to the GCFs, you can delete the entire CSs/hl2 directory, and have it up and back in under 30 seconds. It's just like a clean install! (unless the gcf is currupted )

Guess my computer isn't as fast as yours.

Now there are a few downsides,

I'll add to yours these: the inability to block the ads during "security download",
having to trust a third party to play the game that I bought and paid for (for instance,
trusting this third party not to ask for money in order to keep playing the game I
already paid). The day might come when you still like playing Half-Life, but you
do not like Valve anymore. Oh, and last but not least: the inability to get a reprieve
from VAC. Once you're on, for whatever reason, you cannot get off the list anymore.

If Valve was really serious about providing better gaming experience with Steam they
should have made it possible for others with enough cpu power and bandwidth to
become SteamID server. But Valve isn't - Valve is a business and businesses are
in the business of making money.

Taco, who does not look at Valve through rose-colored sunglasses.

 

[Funky Munky]

Steam always works fine for me.

Anyways it does have short comings granted but the gaming makes up for it. BIG TIME.

 

[Yombi]

But Valve isn't - Valve is a business and businesses are
in the business of making money.

I think that's the primary goal of many businesses now days....face it that's what games are today, a bussines.

If you led a group investing a good 45 million USD smackers i'm sure you'd like to see yourself breaking (atleast) even.