What do you think about STEAM?

Having never used steam or even really had anything to do with it until this years Football Manager requiring it to be installed its made me think, the whole idea behind it may be clever and I see the advantages but there are so many drawbacks in my eyes. Drawbacks which just hinder the experience, for example the game insisting you must update although this can be turned off I find that you get given the 'Game not available' or whatever message shortly after any update is released. Then top it off, updates so far have made me do a full reinstall on the game as the update has caused my game to crash constantly every 5 mins until I did so :s haha. I think there is many other reasons but I don't want to go on forever and I was wondering what others on here though about STEAM...Even just in general, I'm sure people will have a opinion outside of FM

Cheers M1D

I must admit that I hate steam and just wish i could load from a disc. I live in an area of the country that has poor internet speed - it took me 8 hours to download the game. Also, Steam client uploads have a tendancy to make either steam or your game crash with the inevitable - having to download again and again.

The sooner the authors realise that STEAM is actually turning me off the whole experience the better. Their response times on support are appalling - usually days to reply and then solution often doesnt work.

Today I have spent 6 hours trying to start FM 2012 following a steam client download yesteradat - nothing to do with FM 2012 and i am locked out of steam altogether

very frustrating that a great game is spoiled by such a horrible on line system - get rid of it ASAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like I have wasted £30 - and I have been using FM since its conception - gone back to FM 2011 and will probably never buy another FM game in future until STEAM gets its act tigether.

Same thought as you have guys.

I don't like steam, never have, it just keeps messing the game up. Error messages, automatic updates requiring internet connection making the game "unavailable"...

I get it if SI or SEGA believe that activating the game through steam might help on preventing piracy but they could try and keep steam interaction with the actual game to minimum.

For those of us who stood in a line and bought the game - as i have been doing since cm4 - having to put up with steam for playing our favorite game is a huge let down. I hope SI/SEGA realize that soon and drop steam now or in future releases of the game.

i got admit iv been lucky with steam having no issues with it tht hasnt been sorted out in 5 mins, but i think its very wrong tht we HAVE to do it via steam now

the only thing i like about steam is i have picked up bargains through it shop and found games tht i havent played or seen in 10-15 years tht i wouldn't probaly find in a shop anymore like X-com if anyone hrd of it. and the medieveal seris on specials. i think Si/sega should listen too pple who been playing the games for years like my self ( ithink i bought my first one in 1999)

. and by interest what happens to our games if steam went bust and closed?????????

Hate it for reasons posted above and more.
Will not be buying further incarnations of the game as long as they are involved. Simple as.

Personally I think it's great some people just don't know how to use it (choose not to automatically update, choose offline mode etc). But woe betide the fact that they are automatically updating and fixing a bug in your software which you didn't even need to leave the house to obtain. Oh and if you live in a part of the country that has slow internet BUY A PHYSICAL COPY OF THE GAME, then all you have to do is download Steam and verify it. Hardly rocket science.

It's made games accessible to me at times where buying a PC game off the shelf is almost impossible here in the states due to the strength of consoles.

It also allows smaller companies a platform to offer their games at great prices without needing a publisher and also offers fantastic savings.

I really don't get what the major deal is with some people struggling with it, it's a very straightforward piece of software.

If so many people hadn't pirated the game in the first place none of this would be necessary but regardless I still would download via Steam because it's so damn easy.

Just my perspective.

# Fmpanda : i got admit iv been lucky with steam having no issues with it tht hasnt been sorted out in 5 mins, but i think its very wrong tht we HAVE to do it via steam now

the only thing i like about steam is i have picked up bargains through it shop and found games tht i havent played or seen in 10-15 years tht i wouldn't probaly find in a shop anymore like X-com if anyone hrd of it. and the medieveal seris on specials. i think Si/sega should listen too pple who been playing the games for years like my self ( ithink i bought my first one in 1999)

. and by interest what happens to our games if steam went bust and closed?????????

As long as you still have your account, you can just re download it again.

I personally prefer steam to buying off a disc because some games(like FM) doesn't sell well in my region so they decided to not put it on shelf at all. And I have a pretty good internet, so don't have much troubles with Steam.

I have not bought a "disk" in years... but the very last place I go to buy games is Steam. I can not stand how they do things. THe way they set up the games they sell where you have to buy the game expansions through them or else they will not work, or the other way around, you can not buy a game expansion through them unless you already bought the original through them. Ridiculous, no other online game seller pulls this crap.

Then there is the updates and patches. How many people have not owned a game at some point where a released patch somehow broke or screwed up a game even worse then pre-patch? What do you do? Go back to the pre-patch version until the developers fix it. You can not do that with Steam. If a developers patch screws your game up, you screwed until they fix it. There also is the matter of "timely" updates.. I do not care what kind of BS people say about how fast and good Steam is about getting updates out... I have in the past had Steam games that did not get updated for MONTHS after official updates were released. In one case they did not even know a patch had been released... which just goes to show they are not always so on top of things. That was a few years ago, and the last time I bought a Steam game on purpose. Maybe they have changed and gotten better on some things... I don't care. They lost me as a customer a long time ago... and the whole update thing really pisses me off. I want to be able to update a game when I am good and ready... not when Steam thinks I am.

I got a physical copy of the game and still had to download through steam.
Took ages.

Steam is great and an easy way to get the game your after and also easy for all your games to be updated without having to search for them. Only problem with steam is that I worry about what happens if your game wont run on your pc no matter what cos you can not "take it back to the shop"

#34566 JalenTigh : I have not bought a "disk" in years... but the very last place I go to buy games is Steam. I can not stand how they do things. THe way they set up the games they sell where you have to buy the game expansions through them or else they will not work, or the other way around, you can not buy a game expansion through them unless you already bought the original through them. Ridiculous, no other online game seller pulls this crap.

Then there is the updates and patches. How many people have not owned a game at some point where a released patch somehow broke or screwed up a game even worse then pre-patch? What do you do? Go back to the pre-patch version until the developers fix it. You can not do that with Steam. If a developers patch screws your game up, you screwed until they fix it. There also is the matter of "timely" updates.. I do not care what kind of BS people say about how fast and good Steam is about getting updates out... I have in the past had Steam games that did not get updated for MONTHS after official updates were released. In one case they did not even know a patch had been released... which just goes to show they are not always so on top of things. That was a few years ago, and the last time I bought a Steam game on purpose. Maybe they have changed and gotten better on some things... I don't care. They lost me as a customer a long time ago... and the whole update thing really pisses me off. I want to be able to update a game when I am good and ready... not when Steam thinks I am.

Is the correct answer.

Personally I like steam, it downloads fine for me, and the updates hardly effect me because I stick to one game for a long period of time making the patches irrelevant to that game anyway. I know others obviously have some sort of vendetta against steam, and I think yes it is slightly buggy, and can be inconvenient but hey its here to stay as physical versions of games will not be being sold, in the next 10-15 years so I am glad football manager has got this connection to ensure the transition will be easier for this game series anyway.

I've been using Steam for a few years off and on. Never had a real problem with it. As long as you keep it to offline - I guess I've been lucky with the updates.
It does make it more convenient for me - I'm a casual buyer moving around a lot, so I don't need the discs.

I've never had any problems with it, but that's not to say I like it!

I used Steam last year and all went well. This year whenever I get to early December of the first year the programme gets corrupted and I cannot start it.
Good idea but poorly executed.