PC Rant: Why Steam discs? (Plus optional exposition about Terraria)

[Pandaxclone2]

Warning: A big wall of text lies beyond. It is not for the faint of heart or quick to bore. Or you can just read the parts in red.​

Let me paint the situation. I've been having a blast with Terraria on the 3DS ever since I got it in September this year. It's a very enjoyable, expansive and long game. That being said though the ports for this game has its drawbacks; not everything in the vanilla (PC) will end up on ports of this game. That's fine, it's understandable that small changes have to be made and other technical stuff forces changes in these games. It goes the other way too; the ports have unique stuff which isn't on the PC version.

The problem arises when huge chunks of the PC game (namely updates) aren't present in the ports. For the most part the current-gen consoles will catch up to what's been added now eventually, but underpowered system like the 3DS will just simply never catch up due to using up whatever resources the system has to offer.

So keeping that in mind I decided to purchase this game at its source: PC. The problem with that however is that you can only purchase it through Steam. Now before you decide to bring out your pitchforks and defend Steam's honour, let me clarify; I'm not here to debate Steam as a platform. All you need to know is that I despise using it or even having it present on my computer. 'Nuff said, moving on.

Not wanting to submit to that, I was reminded that a few years prior, when the game was nothing more to me than occasionally seeing it from time to time in stores; they sold physical retail copies of the game and it was a collector's edition to boot! So today I went down to my local store, bought a copy and brought it back. Peeling the price and bar code stickers off I immediately noticed the glaring "Steam Powered" logo pasted on there.

My mind instantly thinks back to the first time I encountered this years ago; putting in my "Half-Life 2: Episode 1" disc into the computer, only to be met with a program that basically states, "You need Steam in order to download the contents this disc promised you, and will constantly need it present on your computer to even use the game whenever you want."Admittedly at the time I didn't know you could install 98% of the game straight from the disc if you turn off the internet for that period, but I digress.

The big issue here was that a game disc that I bought, expecting the content to be there ready for installation without any dependencies beyond just requiring my computer, was telling me "thanks for your money, now pointlessly waste your internet to get your game." What?

This is exasperated further by the fact that I was on mobile internet at the time, so not wasting my internet data on unnecessary downloads was a very big deal back to me then. Being the minority of the group since everyone and their mother have the internet though, there was little I could do but shelf the game away to collect dust and take space.

TL;DR: I wanted to buy PC Terraria but didn't want to buy it through Steam. Thus I bought the Collector's Edition disc with the intention of installing it directly, only to be forced to use Steam anyway lest my copy winds up inert and dusty.

The entire purpose of purchasing Terraria through the physical disc was so I didn't have to deal with Steam, but now I will have no choice but to do so anyway. So I ask you, why even have the discs in the first place? I'm sure there's probably some business reason Valve/Re-Logic did this but from a gamer/consumer's perspective it makes nearly no sense.

Digital distribution is fine as much as physical, debates on which is superior aside. If a game can be bought through both, cool. If it's only digital then I'm willing to oblige if I want the game enough (Steam being the exception), but don't give me the illusion of choice when there is none to begin with. I only bought this disc because it was an option over Steam, so I see no reason why the disc exists in the first place; it offers false hope and lies. You may as well just have kept it at digital purchase then.

Yes, I realise it's my own fault for not researching this further before I purchased it but can you really blame me for expecting common sense that it was the same as most other game discs? This honestly seems like a joke at best and insane troll-logic at worst.

TL;DR: I see no point in making a false second choice of physical media that ultimately leads to the ONLY choice, thus leaving the consumer frustrated, annoyed and with a slightly thinner wallet.

So there's my rant on Steam discs. Do you think Steam discs should be around? Feel free to discuss and vote in the poll above.

 

[Hayleia]

I don't know. I could think of something like "if the game gets removed from Steam's server (meaning you can't download it anymore), you can still play it with your disc (though you still need Steam)", but I'm not sure this kind of stuff happens. Other than this, I don't see the point of the disc, it can't be less expensive to produce than a dowload through the internet (notice the "to produce", because yeah, not everyone has a cheap data plan).

Does the disc need to be inserted when playing after installing the game? That would be the worst, to need both Steam and the physical disc to play...

 

[Pandaxclone2]

I don't know. I could think of something like "if the game gets removed from Steam's server (meaning you can't download it anymore), you can still play it with your disc (though you still need Steam)", but I'm not sure this kind of stuff happens. Other than this, I don't see the point of the disc, it can't be less expensive to produce than a dowload through the internet (notice the "to produce", because yeah, not everyone has a cheap data plan).

Does the disc need to be inserted when playing after installing the game? That would be the worst, to need both Steam and the physical disc to play...

The disc isn't needed to play as it's basically the required Steam key and means of setting up Steam so your game is functional. In other words exactly what you can already do on Steam but now comes with a glorified trophy!

My understanding is that these discs contain most of the game that you can install (not that the disc lets you know this) and then need the last little bit from their server. It's like buying a door and then getting the key to use the door after you've done a cross country run. Not to mention the game is crippled now and uses Steam as life-support.

I like your point of future-proofing the games in the event Steam shuts their servers down since they do promise not to leave their customers out in the wind, but that's assuming they still allow inputting keys on what would be an archive you can download from if you have the privilege of access. By that point you could only hope the devs push out a DRM-free copy.

 

[Ace]

Who flipin' cares? Discs or no discs, steam is still kinda questionable with a large number of bad games. (For the record, Not all games on Steam are bad, but a lot of bad games are on Steam.) Its community has been empty for me too. I have met only a few people but only talk with them here.

 

[etrian_warrior]

I agree with the redundancy but I feel like Steam may be going in the direction of release for a while then take down, so I don't know a physical copy may not be so bad, but that's just me alot of what I was gonna say has already been said above.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

I may as well point it out now before somebody else does and in case somebody in the distant future is reading and having similar problems. (Hi future human, how's life? ...Ouch. That sucks. ;-; )

Terraria on PC isn't only obtainable through Steam alone; you can also purchase it from another site completely DRM-free and legit, although due to advertising rules I can't specify where. Doing a quick google search should help. I honestly wish I had known this earlier before, but I suppose if I didn't then I wouldn't have gotten so salty as to post a wall of rant on Steam discs and how useless they are, which they still are despite the above news.

 

[Blue Knight]

I pretty much agree completely.

There's honestly no point to buying a physical copy when it'll still be treated as a digital copy for all intents and purposes >_>

 

[Hayleia]

Oh, good someone bumps that thread, I had actually thought about one more argument in favor of discs. They give you more paying options.

I mean, say you can only pay by cash (because you're young and your parents didn't give you a credit card but they give you cash for your birthdays). Well, that doesn't really help you pay stuff online, on Steam. Not sure if Steam has Steam cards, but even if that's the case, they are not so convenient either since you'd need $100 to get a Steam card that would allow you to buy a $60 game, and then you'll have $40 on your account for no reason and they won't be enough the next time you need a $60 game...
But if discs are in stores, you can pay your game by cash for the price it's worth.

Don't get me wrong though, I still think it's stupid that they force digital anyway, I just don't get why they exist so I try to find reasons.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

Steam cards are indeed a thing, pricing at $20, $50 and $100 respectively (or £ if you're in Europe). Given that you can get the game through a combination of these cards it shouldn't be a difficult thing to do. Plus extra money in your steam wallet isn't a bad thing; if you have enough you could buy another game you're looking for, or wait for a Steam sale to go on which is another potential reason not to buy steam discs. Steam sales can be insanely cheap at times. The example of $100 card and using $60 to be left with $40 with no way to purchase another $60 game? Simple; if you want it now then buy another $20 card. If you can't buy another then hope for a sale.

Anyway regardless of all that, that doesn't excuse the fact that these discs shouldn't have Steam on them. At all. Unless it's only released on Steam (which is acceptable in some cases e.g. Half Life 2, but that's a very limited pool), the games are entirely capable of running independently of the platform. If there's a DRM free version, manufacture and sell discs of that. If the game has Steam features that aren't integral to the game it'll mean reworking the code but you'll be thanked by (and sell to) many gamers outside of the platform.

TL;DR: By putting Steam on there you're just unnecessarily restricting what would otherwise be a perfectly decent retail disc of a game, especially when there's Steam free versions of the game available.

 

[Ace]

You know one problem I have about those steam cards? When ordering them online, they ship it to ya rather than show you the code. (Steam's trying to milk ya with shipping and handling that way "I tell you what.")

 

[18]

Yep, I'd have complained to the Steam team about this even though it probably wouldn't have done any good.

The only thing I liked about Steam was that it served as a mildly decent index for finding new games, and because it was kind of like a better AIM in terms of chatting with your friends, which I used to do a lot of in 2011-2013.

Yeah, Steam was mainly a chat client for me. I'm getting nostalgic and sad just thinking about it.

 

[28142]

I use steam too much, like WAY too much. I just worry about the future and the inevitable time when steam will shut down. I just see steam disks as a way for them to get more money, they're nothing more then a glorified steam key.

I absolutely love Terraria, been playing it for a few years now, and I prefer the steam version over any other version because of how easy it is to join up with friends. And of course, PC usually wins over other versions because of mods and such, and all the extra content.

About steam cards, I don't get very much money, so over the course of the year I save up and get steam cards whenever I can, so when it hits the winter/summer sales I got enough money to get the majority of games that I want. That's what I like about the steam wallet, it accumulates and doesn't expire so you can just save up and wait for sales.