Steam

Let me start this post by saying that I love the idea behind Steam, Valve's gaming platform (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php). Being able to buy a game, download it, and then have it automatically update seems like such a great idea that I find it hard to believe that it's not more popular. With a high speed connection, it's ridiculous that one would have to drive all the way to a store to buy a game! Just download and play! So easy and convenient! Sign me up!

And I did sign up, I bought a few games through Steam, and I must admit, I was loving it. I could browse the store, try out demos, and I knew that if I ever bought a new computer, I could just re-download all of the games without the hassle of trying to find those long lost cd keys. Not to mention not having to pop a disk in to my pc every time I wanted to play a game (what is this, a console?).

Unfortunately my early optimism has been steam rolled by a horrible UI, debilitating DRM, poor network connectivity, and resource hog. Not to mention the fact that I am no longer able to play Team Fortress 2.

Steam can take a long time to load, and has increased my windows start time. That bugs me. It also does not work on networks with a DMZ. That bugs my room mate, who is kind enough to switch the option off (thus making his self-hosted site inaccessible when I want to play a game). For some reason, Steam still does not work on my network, and the UI gives no indication as to why, or even that a problem exists. This drives me nuts, because I don't even have an error number to start looking for help with. Finally, I can't play TF2, which downright infuriates me because I paid for the game.

Well, I might be able to play... I hit the launch button about an hour ago, and it appears that the game is finally updating. Finally. Two weeks ago I decided I wanted to see what was new in the Heavy update, and since then it has been an ordeal trying to update steam and get it to run a game. Although the whole time Steam was able to keep me updated on when all of my friends where online playing. GAH!

And when you get down to, all the convenience that is potentially gained by this content delivery system has been totally obliterated by the all of the problems I have run into. I like the idea, but thus far the implementation has left a lot to be desired.