Steamed

Recently I’ve had a massive shift in thinking, this doesn’t happen too incredibly often, at least not such a permanent shift. I’m fairly set in ways, especially as a gamer. Sure, I’ve had my run ins with consoles, maybe even bought a few, but as a gamer you’ll find me in front of my monitor with mouse in hand. I don’t stray too far off the tried and true FPS trail I’ve been following for fifteen years now (oh God!). The odd RTS has been played, and subsequently thrown out of a moving vehicle, violently. But before I get off track, let me name the looming futuristic trend that has shifted my thinking. Digital distribution.

Years ago I laughed to the point of exhaustion when someone mentioned all my games might be purchased and stored digitally, that I wouldn’t go to the store to get my lovely giant box anymore but rather click a few buttons and download my game. When I started reading about what would eventually become Steam, TF2 was still a realistic military shooter, and I was maybe 15. I believe a lot of the disbelief that such a pie in the sky idea could ever work was that my only experience with highspeed internet had been ISDN, so basically it was shitty, really really shitty. I still scoffed at the idea even after tasting the sweet fruits of cable internet a few years later. Why the hell would anyone want something intangible over something you knew was yours.

I’m bad about selling my games when I’m done with them. I know I shouldn’t, but I do every single time. I sell everything when I’m done with it for some reason. This always ends up biting me in the ass later when I inevitably want to revisit the Phobos base, or the Wasteland I left behind, maybe the cockpit of that Direwolf that had been sitting empty for years. Whatever the case was, it was no longer an option for me and I had to resort to unpleasant methods of obtaining it due to lack of availability of pay some asshole way too much for a “classic” game. Digital distribution has solved this problem of mine. Years and years from now when I’m in a gameless slump or the dry season I may think back to Left 4 Dead and wonder if anyone is playing, or my adventures in The Zone. While before these would have stayed just that, thoughts, they can now come to fruition. I’m going to own copies of these games I’ve purchased on Steam forever, potentially. They (hopefully) aren’t going anywhere.

The digital desk drawer that Steam is also has a digital storefront, another zany idea from the future. Who wants to give their credit info over the internet? I do, at this point, I feel much safer about giving my money to some website I trust rather than the kid with the lip ring giving me dirty looks from behind the counter at my reefer scented local Gamestop. Also, I don’t have to drop any money on gas, or endure seeing bizarre new trends and hearing kids say “That shit was beast” as I try to wade through the pools of loitering emo kids at the mall while all I want is to get to Gamestop. I don’t have to listen to the jerkoff behind the counter ask me if I want to preorder Final Fantasy XIII when I’m purchasing a bunch of PC FPS games. I don’t have to deal with stupid.

Alongside this, my games are patched automatically. I don’t care if I don’t get the patch as soon as it’s out, I don’t play anything too regularly anyhow. The point is that I get it, most of the time without me even knowing, which is great. It’s one less thing for me to worry about. Another software related treat is the fact that DRM exists almost purely as Steam itself, with a few exceptions I don’t need to go into here, this is a happy writeup. It’s like having my games managed by a hivemind that just wants me to be happy.

I consider myself fully indoctrinated into the ranks of mindless idiots letting robots handle even more for them, I couldn’t be happier to oblige.