It's like Valve thinks the entire world revolves around their games. I play through HL SP maybe once a year, then I do the few SP mods that have come out, buy the two expansion packs, but that's it for me and Valve games. The rest of the year I don't even think about them. I'll only bother to download a patch when a mod requires it.

I know there are gamers who are CS junkies, they play CS several times a week, they want the mods and the patches, their worlds DO revolve around Valve. Sounds like Steam is exactly their thing.

When you've labored away and obsessed over something like HL2 for five years, when the net goes crazy with excitement when people finally hear about it, when you're used to seeing every other game on Earth compared endlessly to yours as the gold standard for five years ... I guess it's easy to lose your head a little, set yourself up as a god and start to believe every gamer is as obsessed with HL 1 and 2 as you are.

But it's just a game. Most of us plunk down our fifty bucks, spend hopefully 20 or 30 hours playing it, then forget about it and play something else. Most of us aren't waiting on the edge of our seats for the next patch. We're not frantic to download the latest mods. We're not saving up to buy the next Valve game the second it's released. We don't dream about Valve, doodle little Valve logos while chatting on the phone. We don't name our kids Gabe.

There's the CS and MP junkies and there's the rest of us (not to imply anything demeaning about them -- Hell I was a UT junky for years), and Steam has to make you wonder if Valve even believes the rest of us exist. I have no problem with Steam as a concept, some people are just going to love it. But the rest of us don't want this huge, obtrusive presence lurking on our hard drive, always listening to our internet waiting to download, upgrade, patch just so we can play a single, fucking Valve game every few months or so! I like SP mods. Am I going to have to deal with this ugly thing when I want to spend 8 or 10 hours maybe twice or three times a year when Neil Manke or Joe Blow or whoever releases some little thing?

I don't for a second think Steam is some plot by a greedy Valve to bilk us out of more money. Though I think a desire to reduce piracy and cheating are a part of their motivation, mostly I think they truly believe they're making something convenient, designed to make gaming easier. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't be thrilled to get the very latest patches and mods and expansions the day they're released? Most of us, actually. I just don't think Valve can conceive of that.

Message to Valve: It's just a game. Get over yourselves. Why make this huge unnecessary production out of the whole thing?

This comment was edited on Sep 13, 13:58.