When Steam first became required by one of the (non Paradox) game series I was playing, I was greatly annoyed and very much opposed. I was skeptical. I didn't like the idea of a middle man wanting a chunk of my gaming budget. But I had no choice, beside abandoning the game or missing out on upgrades, in accepting Steam. I perceived many potential problems. Most of my predictions were mostly accurate; and still exist as potential problems.
In actual practice, however, the anticipated problems, are much smaller than the huge benefits Steam has provided me.
I remember in the early days, I would restart my desktop, just to assure Steam was not running in the background, consuming precious computer resources, or possibly doing something without my awareness or permission, when I was not actively using Steam to play a game. Closing the app through the Steam interface did not terminate the process. Manually terminating the process was troublesome and created problems. A restart was necessary to successfully terminate the process.
Today, I am annoyed if Steam does not automatically launch and begin working behind the scenes at startup.
Over the years, I have come to really like many, if not most of the features Steam provides. It is to the point where I would now prefer that any games I play be available through Steam.
The ability to install and use my game license on any machine of my choice is huge. I recently was disappointed to realize that I had made all my HOI purchases from Gamers Gate. I would be required to purchase an additional license for my Mac laptop to play HOI 3. If I had purchased through Steam, I could be playing on my Mac right now at no additional cost.
I purchased Tropico 5 through Steam before realizing my graphics card did not meet the requirements for DirectX 11. I didn't go through the trouble of getting my money back; and am now glad. Because I can play Tropico 5 on my newer laptop. The purchase was not a waste, as I initially thought, because purchase through Steam eventually allowed me to utilize my license when more recent hardware became available, even though it used a different operating system than I initially targeted.
There can be problems with automatic Steam updates. However, for the most part, they are smooth and require no effort on my part. There is an occasional delay (for download and installation of updates) before game startup, which is worse for some titles than others.
Some game titles provide better control in automated updates and similar areas than other titles. I appreciate the fact that I have the implicit awareness I am playing the latest upgrade at all times. This occurs without needing to research or do anything else to keep my games always up to date.
Occasionally, for some titles, a bug or incompatibility introduced through an update, rendered a game unplayable. I found that in these rare cases, patch releases were provided in an acceptable amount of time. I have not run across such a situation in years.
A common repository, system, and framework integrated directly into games for cloud storage of game saves is huge! This system is common, to some degree, across development companies and game titles. All the games I (personally) play allow either manual offline management of game saves, or synched cloud game saves. This allows me to choose my preference. I am aware that some game titles might not provide for that freedom, or might not function perfectly for both options, even when a preference is allowed.
Nothing in the universe is either all good or all bad. This was true with both Adolf Hitler and Mother Theresa. Hitler was exceptionally able to persuade people in following him. Mother Theresa would not have won a beauty contest in her later years. I can die of thirst. I can die from over consuming water. Everything has some pros and some cons. Denying that Steam has both pros and cons would be a denial of universal truth.
One of the biggest cons (as in pros vs cons, not con artists) of game series that jump in with both feet, going all in with only Steam, is the requirement for dependable reliable internet access in order to install and play a game, which was not previously required or inherent to the game itself. There are game titles that have allowed disc install and usage, while not yet requiring internet access accompanied with a separate Steam option. The disc option has been phased out in most cases I am familiar with. The general trend seems to be away from such multiple options. There are valid reasons for this. Disc-only software would most likely be an obscurity in all sectors of software applications in the reasonably near future.
The internet provides a wonderful opportunity for many helpful features in installing, updating, and playing games. I would always choose to take advantage of this opportunity when available and feasible.
Unfortunately, the reality is that sometimes the internet is not a feasible, reasonable, or acceptable capability for some machines or consumers.
Sometimes, somebody may live in a part of the world where there is not yet reasonably quick internet coverage, any at all, or service at a reasonable cost.
Some people need to choose between affording food or having internet access.
I find myself presently in a situation, while my machine is quarantined, in attempts to clean up some nasty, persistent, and pervasive malware. I have the ability to recover my machine to factory condition. I have not yet found a way to recover data I want from infected external drives or cloud without re-inviting the malware onto my machine. I am also aware that the malware has been successful in obtaining a password from my machine which allowed access to a monetary account. I am not sure if the password was obtained through key logging or an unintentional and accidental storage of the password. I generally take disciplined measures to avoid allowing my computer or browser to "remember" any password. Fortunately the monetary services company had security measures which were able to detect that the person who had fraudulently gained access to the account was not the true owner, and prevented activity. I have no guarantee that passwords to accounts devoid of this level of security, could fall into the hands of those intending wrong. In this situation, I refuse to connect my machine to the internet unless absolutely necessary. This is only a temporary situation in my case.
Cases of people having a legitimate reason to avoid the internet or having no feasible access to the internet are extreme, obscure, and rare. They do exist.
Some people may choose to avoid the internet unless absolutely necessary. It is difficult to justify game play as a legitimate reason to use the internet for people choosing this approach. They are neither crazy nor delusionally paranoid. I have a tendency in this direction. But I accept the inherent risks in the same way I do every time I drive a car or fly in an airplane. People choosing to avoid those modes of transportation have every right to have their choices respected. They certainly do not deserve public ridicule (as I have seen in other forum threads on this site regarding trusting internet activity or closed software).
Any software, especially a "black-box" operating across the internet, necessarily opens users up to potential risks. As a computer scientist, I have a better informed understand of such things than the average computer user. Back in the day, we would explicitly describe to software users exactly every file which was stored, along with reason for their storage, and certainly every adjustment to the operating system by software we developed.
That was reasonable when things were simple, operating systems were of the command line variety, RAM was measured in bytes or kilobytes, and a Gig of permanent storage at home was only an dream for the future. Now, I seriously doubt that there is a single person in the world, who fully and completely understands all aspects, of even a single operating system, in its current state, and certainly not all points along even its recent evolution. If such things were possible, Microsoft could still be run from a basement or garage.
Now days, with open source, operating systems which are upgraded every 5 seconds, third party utilities and frameworks, which prevent even developers from fully understanding all aspects of software delivered to customers, there is significant potential risk of unintended side effects for users, which is not feasibly within the control of developers. The overhead of tracking and maintaining documentation suitable for software users regarding registry keys, temporary storage, supporting packages, internet interactions, and the like is no longer feasible. The costs in providing accurate information would be extremely unprofitable, as well as demanding unproductive "work".
Such risks did exist when games were installed or played from cassettes, floppy drives, or discs. But the reasonable likelihood or possibility that malicious software could be piggy backed or included in software without awareness of the developers was relatively miniscule. Today, it is nearly impossible, without an inordinate amount of effort (and cost to the consumer) of eliminating or reasonably reducing such potential.
Major corporations and government agencies employing teams of security experts are hacked on a daily basis. I am certain there are many who have been hacked but are simply not aware (yet) of the security breach. There is a significant amount of malware which is not detected by the mainstream (or any other) security software. The more valuable the information to be inappropriately obtained, the more effort and dedication will be applied by successful hackers. They will always have the likely potential of being one step ahead of those attempting to thwart their efforts.
But this is simply an extension of the general principle that any interaction with another human, especially when I extend trust, opens a potential risk. Any business I deal with, could scam me, act fraudulently, under conflicted interest, or intentionally and blatantly violate my rights under the law. Any trustworthy business could have a corrupt or criminal person in their employ without awareness by the employer. These are just some of the many risks of living in our current world.
If I do not use the internet, it is my business. If I do not have the ability to use the internet, I could not choose access if I wanted it. Without having internet access, either by choice or necessity, I am a potential customer who might not be able to provide revenue toward profit. Consumers will not purchase an item whose requirements exceed those they are able or willing to support.
I fully support the move by Paradox toward Steam. I appreciate this service and am glad things are moving in this direction. I am glad the gaming industry is heading in this direction in general.
What totally baffles me is the utter refusal by many or most game developers to provide a downloadable or disc installation and play option which does not require the internet. Of course, I am referring only to games which were not designed with internet access as an inherent requirement in successful functioning of the game.
I can download a distribution, on a machine connected to the internet (perhaps a friend's), and then physically transfer that download to a machine not connected to the internet. Some secure computer systems require this type of non-internet, off the grid, interaction to protect proprietary or secret information (e.g. government defense secrets). Being physically off the grid might be critical regarding some information stored on some computers. But it is quickly becoming an unfeasible possibility.
I realize that licensing keys could be a problem area. If licensing is exclusively managed by Steam, separate independent licensing key systems for disc-only games might not be possible. For all I know, Steam may demand such exclusive control in partnerships with developers. Designing non-internet access into the game would not be worth the benefit to a minuscule segment of consumers in such a case.
Some games, especially those primarily intended for multiplayer environments may legitimately require internet access as an integral part of game play. Such requirements are necessarily designed into the game. I do not see that necessity in the type of consumers Paradox serves. Multi-player seems to be a feature that would actually be used by only a minority of consumers in the future. The ability to play solo games seems critical to future success of Paradox titles.
If internet access during game play was an integral part of game design and development, there is no other option than to require internet access. This would not seem to be the most beneficial design path for some types of games. My guess could be wrong, or deficient in understanding critical details regarding generic third party game development utilities or frameworks (such as DirectX).
I do not understand the refusal to provide an installable and playable distribution when game operation does not strictly require the internet.
I know there are some titles available only through Steam which do offer an "offline" play mode. Steam is still mostly required for installation and licensing in such cases.
I fully understand that providing an option for non-internet game installation and play does add overhead, which is usually shared by everybody involved, in order to cater to a small minority of consumers.
If a game developer is able to burn a disc of the most recent and up to date game files on his system, and provide that to consumers, which could successfully be played without the internet, why would it not be offered? Why is an opportunity to exclusively pay for this service not provided, protecting other consumers from the necessary overhead?
From what I have seen with HOI 3, that certainly would be possible. I really don't know about HOI 4 yet.
Even if I was willing to offer to pay a software developer $300/hr to burn a disc and mail it to me, or provide me an emailed download, why would a game development company not accept my offer to pay for the overhead? Assuming, of course that it were possible. I might even be willing to pay a game developer a 20% profit in the transaction. There is probably a likelihood that someone earning less than $300/hr could perform the work in providing consumers such a disc or download. I would completely accept a disclaimer stating that such distributions would be completely un-supported, not upgradeable, or compatible with any hardware, software, or operating system.
Regarding the possibility of piracy, I believe Steam might be successful in preventing and reducing opportunities. I doubt that such services would ever be able to totally prevent or eliminate piracy.
There definitely is the currently wide open possibility of sharing passwords, which indirectly could assist limited piracy or sharing of individual game title licenses, even through Steam. I believe some internet service providers (beyond just gaming) are actively implementing means of combating misuse and the intentional illegal practice of account and password sharing.
Sometimes neighbors share water hoses or trash pickup service to reduce shared costs at the expense of companies designing usage fees and costs. Such things could never be totally eliminated in a reasonable fashion. They have been occurring since the early days of land line telephones and tapping into cable wires or disconnecting electric meters.
If I am not able to eliminate malware from my current machine, I would certainly purchase a different desktop which would eventually allow me to continue purchasing Paradox titles. Until that point in time, I won't make such purchases because I couldn't use them on my desktop. I would go crazy with the anticipation of playing a game in my (virtual) possession which I am not yet able or willing to use.
I personally am looking forward to purchasing HOI 4 and other Paradox titles through Steam. I am glad that I will have a better installation vehicle than Gamers Gate provided me in the past. I would hope that Steam might allow increased profitability for Paradox through software distribution, service, and support. Either that, or reduced overall expenditure from my gaming budget. I am somewhat skeptical. But I believe the associated indirect costs to me provide value worthy of the expense.
I would always prefer to pay more for purchases directly from Paradox Interactive if a feasible option were available. That would mean more money available for Paradox developers to make more better games for me. I love that idea. I won't be holding my breath for long. I won't be dreaming that someday a Paradox Interactive delivery truck would arrive at my front door to personally install software on my system, while a Paradox instructor, trained as an expert, in my chosen game, personally guided me through installation, setup and tutorials. Such levels of service were provided with some software packages decades ago. It did not pre-date milk delivery to most individual houses in the United States or fresh bread delivery in some parts of the world. By the way, I kind of like email better than snail mail as well. Lol Can anybody see through my delusional and warped sense of sarcastic humor interspersed with rational though limited analysis of circumstances?
One huge problem looming large over my head, causing undo anxiety, is the awareness that Steam will not last forever. Some day it will be come obsolete and be un-supported. Of course, by then, the chip implanted in my brain might allow me to create games at a mere whim, which will allow total absorption and immersion consistent with the level of reality I experience during dreams. Either that, or I'll die before an asteroid renders the relative importance of Steam insignificant to me or anybody else in the potentially extinct human species.
I have fired up some games, from disc, I had used decades earlier, either on dinosaur era hardware, or the latest operating systems. It was always a kick to get one of those previously familiar fantasy worlds working on my monitor, immediately transporting me back to an earlier phase in my life. Most of the time, practicalities prevented successful use of dated software. Having a disc of a game which allowed me to play without the internet in the past, certainly has not guaranteed that possibility into the future. Graphic card incompatibilities, outdated operating system requirements, and unsupported third party software has permanently prevented use of some games. I no longer have 5 or 3.5 inch floppy drives available, even though I have games stored on such media in my basement. Besides, there are so many more game titles which have evolved with the rest of technology, making recovery of dinosaur era games seem similar to chiseling words into stone. It only seems as good as I remember in my somewhat faded and distorted memory, until I am reminded of the limitations of obsolete systems through actual use in the present.
In actual practice, however, the anticipated problems, are much smaller than the huge benefits Steam has provided me.
I remember in the early days, I would restart my desktop, just to assure Steam was not running in the background, consuming precious computer resources, or possibly doing something without my awareness or permission, when I was not actively using Steam to play a game. Closing the app through the Steam interface did not terminate the process. Manually terminating the process was troublesome and created problems. A restart was necessary to successfully terminate the process.
Today, I am annoyed if Steam does not automatically launch and begin working behind the scenes at startup.
Over the years, I have come to really like many, if not most of the features Steam provides. It is to the point where I would now prefer that any games I play be available through Steam.
The ability to install and use my game license on any machine of my choice is huge. I recently was disappointed to realize that I had made all my HOI purchases from Gamers Gate. I would be required to purchase an additional license for my Mac laptop to play HOI 3. If I had purchased through Steam, I could be playing on my Mac right now at no additional cost.
I purchased Tropico 5 through Steam before realizing my graphics card did not meet the requirements for DirectX 11. I didn't go through the trouble of getting my money back; and am now glad. Because I can play Tropico 5 on my newer laptop. The purchase was not a waste, as I initially thought, because purchase through Steam eventually allowed me to utilize my license when more recent hardware became available, even though it used a different operating system than I initially targeted.
There can be problems with automatic Steam updates. However, for the most part, they are smooth and require no effort on my part. There is an occasional delay (for download and installation of updates) before game startup, which is worse for some titles than others.
Some game titles provide better control in automated updates and similar areas than other titles. I appreciate the fact that I have the implicit awareness I am playing the latest upgrade at all times. This occurs without needing to research or do anything else to keep my games always up to date.
Occasionally, for some titles, a bug or incompatibility introduced through an update, rendered a game unplayable. I found that in these rare cases, patch releases were provided in an acceptable amount of time. I have not run across such a situation in years.
A common repository, system, and framework integrated directly into games for cloud storage of game saves is huge! This system is common, to some degree, across development companies and game titles. All the games I (personally) play allow either manual offline management of game saves, or synched cloud game saves. This allows me to choose my preference. I am aware that some game titles might not provide for that freedom, or might not function perfectly for both options, even when a preference is allowed.
Nothing in the universe is either all good or all bad. This was true with both Adolf Hitler and Mother Theresa. Hitler was exceptionally able to persuade people in following him. Mother Theresa would not have won a beauty contest in her later years. I can die of thirst. I can die from over consuming water. Everything has some pros and some cons. Denying that Steam has both pros and cons would be a denial of universal truth.
One of the biggest cons (as in pros vs cons, not con artists) of game series that jump in with both feet, going all in with only Steam, is the requirement for dependable reliable internet access in order to install and play a game, which was not previously required or inherent to the game itself. There are game titles that have allowed disc install and usage, while not yet requiring internet access accompanied with a separate Steam option. The disc option has been phased out in most cases I am familiar with. The general trend seems to be away from such multiple options. There are valid reasons for this. Disc-only software would most likely be an obscurity in all sectors of software applications in the reasonably near future.
The internet provides a wonderful opportunity for many helpful features in installing, updating, and playing games. I would always choose to take advantage of this opportunity when available and feasible.
Unfortunately, the reality is that sometimes the internet is not a feasible, reasonable, or acceptable capability for some machines or consumers.
Sometimes, somebody may live in a part of the world where there is not yet reasonably quick internet coverage, any at all, or service at a reasonable cost.
Some people need to choose between affording food or having internet access.
I find myself presently in a situation, while my machine is quarantined, in attempts to clean up some nasty, persistent, and pervasive malware. I have the ability to recover my machine to factory condition. I have not yet found a way to recover data I want from infected external drives or cloud without re-inviting the malware onto my machine. I am also aware that the malware has been successful in obtaining a password from my machine which allowed access to a monetary account. I am not sure if the password was obtained through key logging or an unintentional and accidental storage of the password. I generally take disciplined measures to avoid allowing my computer or browser to "remember" any password. Fortunately the monetary services company had security measures which were able to detect that the person who had fraudulently gained access to the account was not the true owner, and prevented activity. I have no guarantee that passwords to accounts devoid of this level of security, could fall into the hands of those intending wrong. In this situation, I refuse to connect my machine to the internet unless absolutely necessary. This is only a temporary situation in my case.
Cases of people having a legitimate reason to avoid the internet or having no feasible access to the internet are extreme, obscure, and rare. They do exist.
Some people may choose to avoid the internet unless absolutely necessary. It is difficult to justify game play as a legitimate reason to use the internet for people choosing this approach. They are neither crazy nor delusionally paranoid. I have a tendency in this direction. But I accept the inherent risks in the same way I do every time I drive a car or fly in an airplane. People choosing to avoid those modes of transportation have every right to have their choices respected. They certainly do not deserve public ridicule (as I have seen in other forum threads on this site regarding trusting internet activity or closed software).
Any software, especially a "black-box" operating across the internet, necessarily opens users up to potential risks. As a computer scientist, I have a better informed understand of such things than the average computer user. Back in the day, we would explicitly describe to software users exactly every file which was stored, along with reason for their storage, and certainly every adjustment to the operating system by software we developed.
That was reasonable when things were simple, operating systems were of the command line variety, RAM was measured in bytes or kilobytes, and a Gig of permanent storage at home was only an dream for the future. Now, I seriously doubt that there is a single person in the world, who fully and completely understands all aspects, of even a single operating system, in its current state, and certainly not all points along even its recent evolution. If such things were possible, Microsoft could still be run from a basement or garage.
Now days, with open source, operating systems which are upgraded every 5 seconds, third party utilities and frameworks, which prevent even developers from fully understanding all aspects of software delivered to customers, there is significant potential risk of unintended side effects for users, which is not feasibly within the control of developers. The overhead of tracking and maintaining documentation suitable for software users regarding registry keys, temporary storage, supporting packages, internet interactions, and the like is no longer feasible. The costs in providing accurate information would be extremely unprofitable, as well as demanding unproductive "work".
Such risks did exist when games were installed or played from cassettes, floppy drives, or discs. But the reasonable likelihood or possibility that malicious software could be piggy backed or included in software without awareness of the developers was relatively miniscule. Today, it is nearly impossible, without an inordinate amount of effort (and cost to the consumer) of eliminating or reasonably reducing such potential.
Major corporations and government agencies employing teams of security experts are hacked on a daily basis. I am certain there are many who have been hacked but are simply not aware (yet) of the security breach. There is a significant amount of malware which is not detected by the mainstream (or any other) security software. The more valuable the information to be inappropriately obtained, the more effort and dedication will be applied by successful hackers. They will always have the likely potential of being one step ahead of those attempting to thwart their efforts.
But this is simply an extension of the general principle that any interaction with another human, especially when I extend trust, opens a potential risk. Any business I deal with, could scam me, act fraudulently, under conflicted interest, or intentionally and blatantly violate my rights under the law. Any trustworthy business could have a corrupt or criminal person in their employ without awareness by the employer. These are just some of the many risks of living in our current world.
If I do not use the internet, it is my business. If I do not have the ability to use the internet, I could not choose access if I wanted it. Without having internet access, either by choice or necessity, I am a potential customer who might not be able to provide revenue toward profit. Consumers will not purchase an item whose requirements exceed those they are able or willing to support.
I fully support the move by Paradox toward Steam. I appreciate this service and am glad things are moving in this direction. I am glad the gaming industry is heading in this direction in general.
What totally baffles me is the utter refusal by many or most game developers to provide a downloadable or disc installation and play option which does not require the internet. Of course, I am referring only to games which were not designed with internet access as an inherent requirement in successful functioning of the game.
I can download a distribution, on a machine connected to the internet (perhaps a friend's), and then physically transfer that download to a machine not connected to the internet. Some secure computer systems require this type of non-internet, off the grid, interaction to protect proprietary or secret information (e.g. government defense secrets). Being physically off the grid might be critical regarding some information stored on some computers. But it is quickly becoming an unfeasible possibility.
I realize that licensing keys could be a problem area. If licensing is exclusively managed by Steam, separate independent licensing key systems for disc-only games might not be possible. For all I know, Steam may demand such exclusive control in partnerships with developers. Designing non-internet access into the game would not be worth the benefit to a minuscule segment of consumers in such a case.
Some games, especially those primarily intended for multiplayer environments may legitimately require internet access as an integral part of game play. Such requirements are necessarily designed into the game. I do not see that necessity in the type of consumers Paradox serves. Multi-player seems to be a feature that would actually be used by only a minority of consumers in the future. The ability to play solo games seems critical to future success of Paradox titles.
If internet access during game play was an integral part of game design and development, there is no other option than to require internet access. This would not seem to be the most beneficial design path for some types of games. My guess could be wrong, or deficient in understanding critical details regarding generic third party game development utilities or frameworks (such as DirectX).
I do not understand the refusal to provide an installable and playable distribution when game operation does not strictly require the internet.
I know there are some titles available only through Steam which do offer an "offline" play mode. Steam is still mostly required for installation and licensing in such cases.
I fully understand that providing an option for non-internet game installation and play does add overhead, which is usually shared by everybody involved, in order to cater to a small minority of consumers.
If a game developer is able to burn a disc of the most recent and up to date game files on his system, and provide that to consumers, which could successfully be played without the internet, why would it not be offered? Why is an opportunity to exclusively pay for this service not provided, protecting other consumers from the necessary overhead?
From what I have seen with HOI 3, that certainly would be possible. I really don't know about HOI 4 yet.
Even if I was willing to offer to pay a software developer $300/hr to burn a disc and mail it to me, or provide me an emailed download, why would a game development company not accept my offer to pay for the overhead? Assuming, of course that it were possible. I might even be willing to pay a game developer a 20% profit in the transaction. There is probably a likelihood that someone earning less than $300/hr could perform the work in providing consumers such a disc or download. I would completely accept a disclaimer stating that such distributions would be completely un-supported, not upgradeable, or compatible with any hardware, software, or operating system.
Regarding the possibility of piracy, I believe Steam might be successful in preventing and reducing opportunities. I doubt that such services would ever be able to totally prevent or eliminate piracy.
There definitely is the currently wide open possibility of sharing passwords, which indirectly could assist limited piracy or sharing of individual game title licenses, even through Steam. I believe some internet service providers (beyond just gaming) are actively implementing means of combating misuse and the intentional illegal practice of account and password sharing.
Sometimes neighbors share water hoses or trash pickup service to reduce shared costs at the expense of companies designing usage fees and costs. Such things could never be totally eliminated in a reasonable fashion. They have been occurring since the early days of land line telephones and tapping into cable wires or disconnecting electric meters.
If I am not able to eliminate malware from my current machine, I would certainly purchase a different desktop which would eventually allow me to continue purchasing Paradox titles. Until that point in time, I won't make such purchases because I couldn't use them on my desktop. I would go crazy with the anticipation of playing a game in my (virtual) possession which I am not yet able or willing to use.
I personally am looking forward to purchasing HOI 4 and other Paradox titles through Steam. I am glad that I will have a better installation vehicle than Gamers Gate provided me in the past. I would hope that Steam might allow increased profitability for Paradox through software distribution, service, and support. Either that, or reduced overall expenditure from my gaming budget. I am somewhat skeptical. But I believe the associated indirect costs to me provide value worthy of the expense.
I would always prefer to pay more for purchases directly from Paradox Interactive if a feasible option were available. That would mean more money available for Paradox developers to make more better games for me. I love that idea. I won't be holding my breath for long. I won't be dreaming that someday a Paradox Interactive delivery truck would arrive at my front door to personally install software on my system, while a Paradox instructor, trained as an expert, in my chosen game, personally guided me through installation, setup and tutorials. Such levels of service were provided with some software packages decades ago. It did not pre-date milk delivery to most individual houses in the United States or fresh bread delivery in some parts of the world. By the way, I kind of like email better than snail mail as well. Lol Can anybody see through my delusional and warped sense of sarcastic humor interspersed with rational though limited analysis of circumstances?
One huge problem looming large over my head, causing undo anxiety, is the awareness that Steam will not last forever. Some day it will be come obsolete and be un-supported. Of course, by then, the chip implanted in my brain might allow me to create games at a mere whim, which will allow total absorption and immersion consistent with the level of reality I experience during dreams. Either that, or I'll die before an asteroid renders the relative importance of Steam insignificant to me or anybody else in the potentially extinct human species.
I have fired up some games, from disc, I had used decades earlier, either on dinosaur era hardware, or the latest operating systems. It was always a kick to get one of those previously familiar fantasy worlds working on my monitor, immediately transporting me back to an earlier phase in my life. Most of the time, practicalities prevented successful use of dated software. Having a disc of a game which allowed me to play without the internet in the past, certainly has not guaranteed that possibility into the future. Graphic card incompatibilities, outdated operating system requirements, and unsupported third party software has permanently prevented use of some games. I no longer have 5 or 3.5 inch floppy drives available, even though I have games stored on such media in my basement. Besides, there are so many more game titles which have evolved with the rest of technology, making recovery of dinosaur era games seem similar to chiseling words into stone. It only seems as good as I remember in my somewhat faded and distorted memory, until I am reminded of the limitations of obsolete systems through actual use in the present.
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