Today I decided to Install Left 4 dead on my computer, not the new one but the Original. Unfortunately I was immediately bombarded with STEAM install requirements, telling me I had to install steam and its updates prior to installing the game itself. Okay great, so I installed Steam, and waited another 3 minutes while steam updated.
Once Steam was updated I tried installing Left 4 Dead, but Steam said it couldnt, that the server was busy at the time, and that I needed to wait till a little later. Okay So I waited 10 minutes came back, and Steam said I could install.
I Then put the disk into the computer, (which I bought at Best Buy last year), and Steam wouldnt let me install it from the disk. It said it would download all necessary files to a local destination, and it asked if it could commence download. I looked at my screen in disbelief, Steam was trying to Download a 4.6 gb game from the internet, at 132kbps.. Thats right not even 1 mb per second, and Im on a cable modem with 5mb download speed. Steam said my estimated Download time was 3 hrs and change.
I stopped the download, and tried this very same process again to see if there was anyway to install my (retail version of Left4Dead with Box and disk and manual) without downloading it. There was no option. I then tried exploring the disk to see if there was a setup.exe file for just the game itself..... there was not. I then became enraged and threw my disk like a saw blade at my cat...( not really).
Okay so I said there must be a way to bypass this, I looked at steam, and everytime I tried to do anything it said It was starting the download. So then I swithched Steam to Offline mode, and tried it, but it told me I couldnt install my retail version of my game without having Steam in Online mode..... So I was pissed off now, so I said what about this..
I disconnected my internet connection by completely disabling my network connection in VISTA, then TADA!! The disk said it would install from DISK!! Hooray I thought... So it installed , but wouldnt play unless steam got to update the game, so then I said sure update...20 minutes later I was able to finally play my game....
SO in closing what I am getting at is ....IS Steam really that great, and convenient?/ It forces me to have an internet connection to play/install my game. It Auto updates my game without giving me any option to just play the damn game, and while its updating, the game of course is offline. It has server issues telling me the server is to busy or not available, and has incredibly slow download times for both updates, and full games... I mean theres a reason I bought a CD wasnt there?? Or was that just to make me feel better about myself?? If this is the future of Game purchasing as I have recently read about online, I wonder how long it will be before customers start getting pissed off when they lose their Codes, Dont have a CD to install their games, and as has already been done , have their Steam accounts stolen.
What happens when I want to play Left 4 Dead and the server is down? Or it decides to download updates...and I cant play because I dont have control of the game I bought? Why did I ever buy my game at Bestbuy and get a CD, if steam never intended to use it to install my game.. What happens when my computer gets a virus or crashes and I have to re-download all my steam games again, because all the local files are gone, it will take days of downloading instead of just a couple hours of reinstalling all my games by disk.... HOW is this convenient??
I have read many forums of other players who have had bad experiences with STEAM, and I wanted to know what others On TOM's thought about it... Thanks for your replies ahead of time.