Hi. My name is Jarhead and I'm a steamaholic.
Does anyone else get a twisted rush from getting home after a long day at work, booting the computer, running steam right away and seeing which of the games in your library are getting updated? I do not even play them usually. I just get a sick sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in knowing they are getting updated or improved without me having to do anything. The high wears off quickly though and the next day if the update list is not larger and more exciting, I get really disappointed and lethargic.
Anyone else have this strange, but ruthless addiction?
You sick bastard. I just fired up Steam for the first time in weeks just for the updates. >:(
Aye...and I get ticked off if a game I really wanted/was expecting to be updated...wasn't >:(
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on March 19, 2014, 06:54:58 PM
Does anyone else get a twisted rush from getting home after a long day at work, booting the computer, running steam right away and seeing which of the games in your library are getting updated?
Yes. But I can quit any time. I just choose not to quit. But don't think I can't quit, because I can. Any time.
(in seriousness -- I completely love Steam, and the whole 'steam experience' you're describing, Jarhead. I love firing it up, seeing what's new in the store, in the Workshops, etc. It's become a thing of beauty. I almost never even bother with GamersGate and similar sites anymore. Steam's where it's at.
...I don't love how spotty the service has been lately, though...)
Yeah, I do that. But even when a game updates I still don't seem to play it. PC game ADD. There is no cure. :)
Quote from: mirth on March 19, 2014, 06:57:43 PM
You sick bastard. I just fired up Steam for the first time in weeks just for the updates. >:(
I can only imagine how many GBs that would be. :o
You know what's worse? Logging on after having been away for a while to see what's on sale, even though you have a massive backlog.
I don't usually check for updates, but I usually do a quick search of my wishlist and the store to see what is on sale.
No....why? Did so someone say something? Was it my wife? I was only checking for a few minutes....sheesh, get off my back man.
I love Steam. I'm sorry.
I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.
I love Steam and I love you Gus.
The first step to recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.
That being said, I am sorry. I think you guys are hopeless. (Where did I put that gog.com link?)
I do love Steam. Yeah, it embeds itself one hard drive and talks to HQ from my computer but I don't care. If it goes down, I restart in offline mode and play my games offline. It takes about 1 minute to purchase and begin downloading a game and patching is automatic. I install and unistall various games with one click.
My only compliant is that I can't "roll back" or I patch a game.
Occasionally (especially with TW games) a patch will come out that breaks something and I want to unpatch it
Hi, I'm Steelgrave and I'm a Steam addict. I relentlessly browse which games are for sale, even though I have way too many games I've never played. I buy games from Steam and breathlessly await their download like they were midget porn with cheerleaders, then I play the new game for five minutes before getting bored and leave to play something I'm familiar with rather than learn a new game. The next day I'm back lurking the virtual alleyways of Steam, looking for a hit, trying to not get mugged, then slinking off into the darkness to enjoy my fix.
I'd kick my mother out of a nursing home for gaming money....I go into the men's room at work to snort a few more lines of code...I'm always uploaded, man, always.
But I can stop anytime I want. I can...
Who am I kidding? I'm the Lindsey Lohan of gaming.
I check my Steam games every morning for updates. As well as new sales, Greenlights, and browse the workshops. I love not having to update my games myself. Now if I could just get someone to play my Steam games for me... then I could play my other games myself. Why would anyone think that's problem behavior.
I too am a Steam addict, but not content with just the gamut of games on offer through Valves offering, I like to avail myself to Desura as well. I used to do Stardock also (when it was Stardock, then Impulse, and then Stardock again). Don't forget GOG.com, Matrix/Slitherine and Gamersgate.com are also in rotation, especially when the Brandy is flowing.
Steam is convenient. And their sales prices can be too good to miss. But I would have to call myself a Gameaholic, because Steam is just one part of the addiction. A very big part - it has to be said, but still a part.
Constant updates do give you a sense that you're getting something, even if its games that you've never played or only have clocked 4 minutes on. My biggest gripe is that I need to know how much of a footprint on my harddrive is a particular game taking. Because the more I stuff into my Installed list the more future titles I know I won't be able to put in. I had to turn down The Elder Scrolls Online beta, simply because it wanted 30+Gb. I can't afford that with my current gaming addiction! :)
I think the way Steam has evolved in the past couple of years is fascinating. Valve saw possibilities in the digital download market that others missed (Gamersgate, GameStop, the now defunct Impulse and Direct-2-Drive, etc.). They realized that it was possible to be more than just a mere conduit for content, which is essentially the model GG is still following. Steam has become a 'full service' gaming application. Buy games. Update games. Mod games (with Workshop). Keep tabs on gaming accomplishments. Hook up with MP communities. Help start-up games get off the ground (Greenlight). I think it's bloody brilliant what they've accomplished. And now with Steam OS and Steamboxes on the way....
Steam also paid attention to aesthetics. It's just a very pleasing application to use, with an attractive, cleverly streamlined and surprisingly function-rich UI. The only other gaming site that pays similar attention to aesthetics and the overall enjoyable experience of using their service is GOG.
...sorry for the unrestrained Steam fanboyism. I know there are shortcomings as well.
I also love the mod workshop. I'm probably in there more than any other part of Steam for Civ and TW mods.
All they are missing is Customer Service!
Quote from: sandman2575 on March 20, 2014, 09:31:35 AM
I think the way Steam has evolved in the past couple of years is fascinating. Valve saw possibilities in the digital download market that others missed (Gamersgate, GameStop, the now defunct Impulse and Direct-2-Drive, etc.). They realized that it was possible to be more than just a mere conduit for content, which is essentially the model GG is still following. Steam has become a 'full service' gaming application. Buy games. Update games. Mod games (with Workshop). Keep tabs on gaming accomplishments. Hook up with MP communities. Help start-up games get off the ground (Greenlight). I think it's bloody brilliant what they've accomplished. And now with Steam OS and Steamboxes on the way....
Steam also paid attention to aesthetics. It's just a very pleasing application to use, with an attractive, cleverly streamlined and surprisingly function-rich UI. The only other gaming site that pays similar attention to aesthetics and the overall enjoyable experience of using their service is GOG.
...sorry for the unrestrained Steam fanboyism. I know there are shortcomings as well.
And this, plus the variety of back-end tools they offer devs for no charge, is why they absolutely crushed everyone else in the market. And even now, nobody has really even tried to compete. Origin actually is a good program that works really well, but they offer nothing substantial for developers and publishers. Unless somebody actually tries to compete, it's over. And it might already be too late for that anyway.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on March 20, 2014, 02:10:04 PM
Unless somebody actually tries to compete, it's over. And it might already be too late for that anyway.
I've been wondering (worrying?) a little about this myself. Steam is so ahead of the curve relative to its pc-oriented competitors that it's hard to see who can cut into their market share. GOG appears to be doing a good job of carving a niche for itself, but it is still a niche. And maybe reading into things too much, but the fact that Paradox is going to stop supporting their games on GamersGate (which Pdox formerly operated) in favor of Steam says something about how they view GG's longterm survivability.
With Steambox and Steam OS, Valve is going to try to start competing in the console market. They are only going to get bigger and richer. Maybe a stretch, but it's not hard to imagine Steam following the pattern of Google, FaceBook, Amazon.com -- the ultra-service that can muscle (or simply buy) out competitors to become the service that pretty much everyone uses by default.
Which is not a good thing. Monopolies are bad. I love Steam, but it would be a healthy thing if some strong competitors started to emerge.
Quote from: Tuna on March 20, 2014, 01:43:02 PM
All they are missing is Customer Service!
Q
F
T
;D
My Steam wishlist is huge. All I need is one good sale and I'll be broke. :)
Quote from: sandman2575 on March 20, 2014, 02:47:33 PM
Which is not a good thing. Monopolies are bad. I love Steam, but it would be a healthy thing if some strong competitors started to emerge.
This has been my biggest worry for last few years...and it's getting worse. Gamestop/impulse has less and less offers as well, at least for people outside US/Canada. >:(
oh so true :)
every morning when i boot the PC i start Steam to check for updates ... next to some games in the list that catch my attention the updates games also generate a 'mental notice': I have to play/explore that very game and especially the updated ones! ...but over the day there is so much interdiction and/or new stimuli that at the end of the day i had played none ... so i postpone to the WE ... and we all know what will happen;-) ...more distractions, duties, you name it, ... result: Not played again...
I would need a period of really really bad weather for several day's to get one actually fired up.
But when the next sale is one ... i surly buy some mores titles, which had somehow gotten my interrest in the meantime and went on the wait-for-sale-nice to have list ... Ahrrrr, beat me! :-[
the only thing i am proud of: I managed to stay clear of Rome II so far even it was on sale twice ;)
Quote from: Anguille on March 21, 2014, 02:59:54 AM
This has been my biggest worry for last few years...and it's getting worse. Gamestop/impulse has less and less offers as well, at least for people outside US/Canada. >:(
Yeah, some of these other sites like Gamestop really seem to be withering on the vine -- I never visit it anymore, and I wonder how long it is before it goes the way of Direct-2-Drive...
I think the thing that has dawned on me recently is: Steam really is in a different league from Gamersgate, Greenmangaming, Gamestop etc. For a long time I thought of these sites as more or less interchangeable alternatives. Now Steam is absolutely the first and often only service I use. Maybe that makes me one of the sheeple, I don't know. But by bringing together so many different dimensions of pc gaming and making things so convenient, Steam makes a pretty compelling (if subliminal) marketing argument: why even
bother with those other sites?
Again, I'm not saying this is necessarily all good, although much of it certainly is to the good. But it's a little like Amazon.com. I love Amazon and use it constantly. But I also worry about how it is destroying other alternatives (bookstores especially). It would certainly be good if a strong challenger to Amazon emerged -- but is the game already over? Kinda seems so. And to me, Steam is becoming the Amazon of digital game distributors -- providing enticing, convenient, often cost-saving services that no one else offers -- and by being so successful is suffocating its competitors that can't catch up.
My name is bboyer66 and I am a Steamaholic.
300+ games.
Must check the daily sales
Bought NBA 2K14 even though I wouldn't watch an NBA game if they were playing in my backyard.
I am sick
Quote from: bboyer66 on March 21, 2014, 10:05:30 AM
My name is bboyer66 and I am a Steamaholic.
300+ games.
Must check the daily sales
Bought NBA 2K14 even though I wouldn't watch an NBA game if they were playing in my backyard.
I am sick
Yeah, man. That's twisted. Even I do not buy games I have no interest in.
I can't fault Steam's auto updater. A real time saver. :)
Quote from: bboyer66 on March 21, 2014, 10:05:30 AM
My name is bboyer66 and I am a Steamaholic.
300+ games.
Must check the daily sales
Bought NBA 2K14 even though I wouldn't watch an NBA game if they were playing in my backyard.
I am sick
I have it too :-[ Played it five minutes.....must have been a really good sale at the time.
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 20, 2014, 08:20:36 AM
I check my Steam games every morning for updates. As well as new sales, Greenlights, and browse the workshops. I love not having to update my games myself. Now if I could just get someone to play my Steam games for me... then I could play my other games myself. Why would anyone think that's problem behavior.
Steam is wonderful. I get to go and look at all the great stuff I'm busy playing and gloat over immense quaniites of stuff I will never even consider buying. It's a non-consumption paradise for me.
All I'm playing on Steam these days is CLOD, ARMAIII and eventually Hannibalization in Rome II.
It can be done, friends. It can be done. The trail of Steam can be broken. I am new-game free since... um.... sometime after January. I mean the first of January. And they were only small games. I'm trying to be honest.
I quickly found I had more money to start a board-game hobby, buying several hundred dollars worth of games that maybe my nieces would be allowed to play, and capable of playing, one day perhaps. years from now
...
........
I am J, and I am a board gameaholic.
Why would I want to stop using Steam? I know it has control over my pc and my destiny and probably my soul but that is small price to pay for OH LOOK SHINY
Quote from: Gusington on March 21, 2014, 08:28:43 PM
OH LOOK SHINY
That's what the aliens say when they look down at you from orbit.
Hi my name is budd......I'm a steamaholic......I was clean for 5 years......no game backlog.......no drymouth waiting for the big sales to start......actually played the same game for weeks at a time. I fell off the wagon a year ago this past Feb. I.......I .......bought 80+ shiny new games last year....I can't see the end of my backlog of games.......and i frequently cant decide what to play....HELP.
P.S. .....when is the next big sale again ;D
Hi Budd! There are coffee and donuts located at the table in the back 8)
Does enjoying a glass of wine with dinner or a cold beer with pizza on the weekend make me an alcoholic? I would answer no. But does having 77 Steam games, many of which I have never played beyond a tutorial, and still buying more when they go on sale make me a Steamaholic? Again, I would answer no....am I in denial?
^It aint just a river in Egypt.
Quote from: Rayfer on March 22, 2014, 09:23:08 AM
Does enjoying a glass of wine with dinner or a cold beer with pizza on the weekend make me an alcoholic? I would answer no. But does having 77 Steam games, many of which I have never played beyond a tutorial, and still buying more when they go on sale make me a Steamaholic? Again, I would answer no....am I in denial?
I guess that would depend on the size of that glass of wine- could the glass double as a goldfish bowl if needed? :D
I just bought warlock 2 last night knowing full well that I will probably never play it; but I kept seeing if their....able to be bought with two clicks of the mouse