Comment on As Xbox and PlayStation flounder, Steam is reportedly having another record year

AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  There’s no “extraction”, you literally just navigate to the game folder (or click “game files” in the properties window for the game), and click the .exe file.

  Make a shortcut to it if you want.

  If it’s a game without DRM (yes, those are on Steam too), you don’t need to have Steam open to play it.

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  • AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Thanks for the response.

    This reminds me of another issue I ran into. I grabbed the F.E.A.R. pack when it was on sale, but only two games are playable. The OG, and the late latest release.

    I tried every fix the community provided, but nothing worked for the me.

    This is the only time I’ve had this problem, however I’ve played a minute amount of games compared to the avid steam user. I’d imagine plenty of people run into similar issues in other older games.

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• ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  There are DRM-free games on Steam, but they really ought to advertise on the store page which ones those are, because we can currently only find out by experimentation and community wikis.

  You’ll get a human in a couple of days if the automated portions couldn’t resolve your issue in full.

  It’s not a monopoly.

  My guess is that they’re actively purging chat logs at the same rate that they disappear off of your system. They’re storing data for over 130M active users every month, and I’m sure they’d be happy to be rid of a lot of the least useful of it.

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  • AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Chat logs are stored on the clients system? First I’ve heard of that. If that’s true why the need to delete them off the client?

    The reason this bugs me is that I’ve had people accessing my account when I’m not online. Which in the past 8 years, I’ve only been on 99% of the time.

    I know this for many reasons, one of which is the 142 hours logged on No Man’s Sky. I only played that game for 5 minutes.

    Another reason, one day someone on my friends list messaged me. They said they were an old co worker of mine, a particularly nasty individual, someone who would never be playing any video games whatsoever. This person had detailed information about about me and used it to harass / scare me. When I was offline, someone logged in and added / accepted this person as a friend.

    I blocked them and reported it to support. But never received any response. Not sure what they could do anyhow but I at least hoped for some kind of response. Perhaps the response came in when someone else was logged into my account?

    No matter what I do to protect my account, they’ve always been able to get in.

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    • ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If I keep a chat window open for three weeks, the only one that will retain my last chat history for that long is the active chat tab. Any other tab I have open in that same window will purge the chat history after a week or two. That’s about all I know for how long it’s kept on the client, and I doubt they’re keeping it any longer on the server. The truth is I don’t know why they purge it, but if I were placing bets, my first two guesses would be cleaning up garbage on their servers that they don’t need; and preventing scams from lingering that could compromise your account security. If you haven’t set up two-factor for your Steam account, I would do so, and sharing your account with others like you’ve been doing is likely asking for trouble as well, so you might want to use the family sharing feature instead.

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      • AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah I’m aware of the 3 week rule. My issue with that is I have to turn off my PC when I’m not on it, for fear of nefarious actors accessing my physical PC when I’m away, remotely of course. Which has happened numerous times.

        I’m only ever on my PC a few days to a week per month.

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• FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  What else would purchases be tied to??? This criticism doesn't make any sense. Support has been great for me and no, it's certainly not a monopoly: There are dozens of game stores online. Just because Valve created the best one doesn't mean it's a monopoly, it means that all the other ones are shit (except for GOG, they're awesome and even better in some ways).

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  • AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s a monopoly of attention and convenience in the same way that smart phones and social media overall.

    Rest assured I enjoyed Steam in the decade plus after the launch. In throughout the years that followed, I found myself amassing games that I’ve yet to play. 2 bucks for a $50 game? It’s too easy and convenient to resist! I feel I’m not respecting or more so showing less appreciation for games and those that make them. Most all of the physical disc games I’ve acquired in the past. I’ve played heavily. I can only think of one game I never installed / played. Most were full priced games, 40-60.

    I’ve found that the convenience offered by Steam and other systems like it, have hidden costs, security and privacy amongst other things.

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    • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      So, you are blaming Steam for other platforms being way shittier: Maybe the other companies should be less shitty instead instead of trying to nickle and dime their customers while offering up garbage-to-mediocre services. Blaming Steam for making a platform that isn't a fucking dumpster fire is ridiculous.

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  • Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The first point is explained if you read

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    • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I did read and I disagree with your assessment: It was not really explained.

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      • Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Ya see, if i buy the game and it’s strictly tied to my account, then they can revoke tbe access when they want, but if it’s something that i buy and then i can download to use even without steam, it’s not strictly tied to my account anymore, which is what GOG does

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• hydrashok@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  all purchased games are tied to the account

  This isn’t exactly hidden detail. I do wish you could sell/transfer a game license though.

  However it’s not quite clear to me how to go about finding that out and how to do it for each game.

  Nothing special. Install the game. When you’re offline, play it. Of course things like multiplayer won’t work, or games that require you to be online like an MMO, but that’s about it. The online and offline experience are identical.

  #2 Support sucks. It’s automated as hell far as I’ve experienced. Nobody human to speak with.

  What do you need support for that isn’t documented, out of curiosity? I’ve been on Steam for 20 years and have never needed to contact support.

  it’s a Monopoly.

  It’s the biggest, but it’s not a monopoly.

  Privacy issues. Mainly, no access to full friends list chat logs. Surely Steam has full access. Why withhold it?

  Why would you assume that Steam has access? Chats are auto-deleted after 14 days per Steam policy. This has been the case for at least 5 years now.

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  • AnalogAllamma@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Why would I assume they don’t have access? Based on how every other large internet company operates, they are capable of using and storing your data for any purpose they want, for however long they want, and not declare it to their users. If questioned, they lie.

    Perhaps I’m an anamoly in that I don’t hold Valve in such high esteem as most do.

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• hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  #3 it’s a Monopoly.

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew1yU-6V8jc

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• mrslt@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  The only time I needed Steam support for resetting my authenticator, they resolved the issue on the same day, no issue. And I was messaged by someone in Steam support after I submitting the ticket, letting me know it was handled.

  Also, a monopoly isn’t what you think it is. Steam isn’t preventing or penalizing you from buying from other marketplaces. Steam isn’t actively trying to kill its competition. They’re not a monopoly.

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