Steam. Unfamilar with this. Will it run on a dialup?

[sdrefugee]

I received a demo disk with my copy of PC Gamer.
Enjoyed it.
Signed on to my dial up and purchased. Thought I would get an unlock code.
358mg download? OK I can download it at work. Copy to disk. Bring home to install.
Then........
What is this Steam thing. I have heard of this in gaming magazines in a not favorable tone.
Have avoided to this point.
Spend a couple hours this afternoon signup with and installing Steam and I get two different messages:
Steam Servers are to busy to handle my request......WTH?
Steam ...Preparing to Start Defense Grid ....(and then nothing)
Can I get a refund?
Or a disk with a game on it?
I don't mind paying for a pleasurable experience.
This ain't it.

[klausbreuer]

Well... here's my (definitively never very humble) opinion.



Steam is a lousy idea. Especially for dial-ups.

This system doesn't sell you a game (which you can sell on via eBay, for example), but it sells you the permission to use a specific game. If you loose internet access (or have a slow dial-up), you're very much out of luck.

Also, if the Steam server has trouble, you're simply not allowed to play the games you bought.



I buy indy games because they don't use DRM. Steam is a DRM, and thus doesn't get touched by me.



This game is also sold via Greenhouse - another DRM, but not as lousy. In this case, it will insist on calling up once after the install, even if you have your keys and everything already.

Whenever you update your PC, it'll have to register again. I certainly hope that Greenhouse will be around for a long time... otherwise you will only be allowed to play this game on your outdated PC.



My suggestion to your problem: try to give the game back, registering it via Greenhouse instead. Thus you'll be able to play offline.



Yes, if I 'd known about the DRM, I wouldn't have bought this game, although I do like it quite a lot.



Ciao,

Klaus

[sdrefugee]

Klaus,
I could not agree more.

I finally got my game to run after exiting my internet connection. Huh?

So I guess I must sign on the net, launch the game, when it hangs, alt-tab to the internet connection, exit back to the game.

Like I say , this is my first experience with Steam. Am I correct, that every time I want to launch the license I purchased, I must ask Steam if I may use this program?

Thank you in advance for your response.