Hi everyone,

          I have a quick question about Steam. First a little backstory. I have been reluctant to get Steam for one main reason: I consider myself a collector and I like having the physical copy of a game. About a year ago, my friend built me a pretty good gaming PC, but I haven't played too many games on it because of the STUPID DRM some games make you go through/install (e.g. Mass Effect 3 (Origin)). I have been told by my buddy (and others) that while Steam is a form of DRM it is a great platform and is not too intrusive and that they all like it. Also, just to note, they buy all their games digitally.

With that said, my questions are 1). what do you think of Steam's service and DRM scheme and 2). If I buy a physical copy of a game can I load it on my Steam account and bypass the DRM (besides Steam's of course)?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Steam is usually pretty good and tho there are negatives to the DRM being that you need to have Steam active to play, and the offline mode doesn't really work. Tho once you are logged on you can go offline and play fine. There are perks that come with it tho such as the ability to download and play your games on any PC (even if you lose the disc) and you don't need a disc to play the games, cloud saves. unified freinds list for supported games, etc.

Only Steamworks games allow the physical copies to register on Steam. You can't strip the other DLC out and run on steam tho I guess you could probably get a crack or something but then it might not work on Steam. A lot of Steamworks games don't have any other DRM tho.

I'm a huge fan of Steam and having the games on steam eliminates the need for backups. Plus the deals you can get on steam are quite impressive.

I'm definitely in the minority here but I dislike Steam. It's a pretty good service but I don't like being forced to use it (that's the DRM part) and I'm pretty distrustful about giving so much control over my games to one company, even if it's Valve.

When you can get new and recent releases for less than 5 dollars on steam vs 50 in the store, its impossible NOT to use steam if you like money.

Steam has some of the best gaming deals around man. It is an excellent service, and its not complicated to use at all and does not get in the way of your gaming. Some games you purchase out of steam can be added through steam, whether you have to go through that game's intended DRM is beyond me. But dude, just download steam, its free, and give it a shot. There are sales all the time, daily deals, midweek madness, weekend sales, and the huge summer and winter sales. You get AAA games that came out just last year for 5 bucks if you catch it on a good deal. Go for it man!

If it was run by anyone except Valve, I probably wouldn't use it haha