• My idea for a major overhaul of how Steam works, to prevent fragmentation without making it a monopo
    9 replies, posted
The problem: Valve recently decided that they're not going to let developers who sell DLC exclusively through Origin or GFWL put their games on Steam. On the other hand, a lot of competing stores refuse to sell Steamworks games because it's basically like giving customers a big flashing sign saying "hey idiot, you should buy your next game here instead!" Both of these positions are fair enough. Why should any store have to both inconvenience their customers by making them go through another system to get DLC, and fuck themselves over by advertising their competitors? My idea: First of all I believe most gamers agree that the current system is shitty. You can't have a thousand different stores, each offering their own MP and update services and stuff. It's inconvenient for the developers to have to package all their updates differently and comply with all the T&Cs, and it's inconvenient for the gamers to have to keep accounts for all the different systems, especially since some of the services are shitty So what do we do? Do we want all the developers to just sell their games exclusively on Steam? Fuck no, that's a monopoly and no matter how great you think Valve is you don't want that. I think that Steam needs to be the only service that sells DLC and provides game updates and multiplayer services. This is already what happens on the consoles. But wait, the consoles are a closed system, and that sucks dick! Let me explain how I think this could be implemented without fucking everything up. For the following example you are a new, inexperienced gamer. You've never heard of Steam, but you just bought this new game Call of Lmao 9: Faggots in Space from Direct2Drive. Also, D2D is my example of a store, and GFWL is my example of an MP service other than Steam. To make this work, Valve should separate Steam Community from the Steam Store. Steamworks games shouldn't require you to install Steam, because all the Steam Community code should be packaged into the main exe. This way, when you buy Call of Lmao from D2D, you don't have to install Steam, so D2D doesn't have to provide you with a competing store. But wait, that still sounds a bit shitty. If you just bought that game from D2D you're still going to have to register a Steam account to play MP and that is still enough to piss you off. To fix this, Valve should extend their existing OpenID support to allow you to use your D2D account to sign into Steam Community. Obviously all Valve can do is offer OpenID reliance, it's up to D2D to implement it on their end and seal the deal. However, once Valve implements it they're done, it's up to the customers to go "D2D for fucks sake" until they implement their end of it. What about DLC and updates? This is where it gets kind of hard. If you put DLC up on all the different sites then it's a problem for developers. If you put it up on one site then it's a problem for gamers who don't like that site, and they have to register an account there, and it might be a different site for every game. There's also a monopoly issue, but it's less of a problem when you're only talking about DLC and not the games themselves. The only real solution I can see is to let Steam handle it. To remind you, this model is already what happens on the consoles. You should be able to buy and install DLC entirely without installing the full Steam software, or touching the full Steam Store where games are sold. This way if you bought your game from Steam it's easy, if you bought your game from D2D it's easy, and the developers don't have to fuck around uploading their DLC everywhere. The stores lose out, because they don't get to sell DLC, but think of it this way: Brick-and-mortar stores never got to sell DLC. They never got to provide multiplayer or any of that, and that was fine. Also if Steamworks was cut-down as much as I'm saying it should be, then this would be no different from selling a game which updated itself, and used its own MP service independent from Steam or GFWL or anyone. Everyone already sells games like that. So the nut-and-bolts of this idea is to break down the connection between a digital distribution store, and a provider of MP and DLC services. If you buy your game from D2D, you can log into Steam Community with your D2D account, and download updates and DLC from Steam without even knowing that Steam also sells games. If you buy your game from Steam, it's just like it is now. The only reason I've chosen Steam to be the sole provider of the latter, is that everyone likes and uses Steam, so they already have a system ready. If I'd chosen GFWL for example they would need to do some serious work to get their system out of the shitter. If I'd said everyone provide their own MP then that sucks dick for the players who have to keep signing up for stuff. There are still a few problems with this plan, such as: What happens when a huge update or DLC comes out? You don't want to be stuck in-game for 10 minutes downloading it. I think the best way to solve this would be that it checks for updates quickly before starting the game, and downloads them before the game runs so you can do other stuff. For DLC, I guess it would have to exit you out to a downloader that you can minimise and run in the background, or it could download the DLC while you play the game. If you have the full Steam store it could be just like it is now. Another problem I thought of is, what happens if you buy Call of Lmao from D2D, then later you find the full Steam software anyway and you want Call of Lmao registered to your new Steam account? The Steam software lets you convert your OpenID'd D2D account into a full Steam Community and Store account, carrying all the games over. Carrying all the games over already happens with Steamworks games, I've just adapted it into my idea. D2D doesn't lose out because they've already got your money and if you've fucked off to Steam then that's just how competition works. Steam hasn't been going "OMG buy your games here now" Also obviously I don't think D2D and GFWL and all the developers would see Valve implement all this and go "oh that's great, we'll go along with that." I think that if Valve implemented this the other stores would eventually be forced to agree to it, because they'd be losing out on selling big games like COD if they don't, and their remaining objections to selling Steamworks would no longer be big enough to turn the revenue. GFWL might keep going, who knows? They've shown considerable arrogance in the past, after all. The developers might keep using GFWL instead, but I think we've recently been seeing a move away from them regardless, with devs like Bethesda who used it for FO3 now using Steam instead. Come to fucking think of it, my idea is BASICALLY just for Steam to change to use GFWL's model isn't it? They've already split their store from the MP part. Fuck me, that would have been a SHITLOAD easier to type. But I'm fucking submitting this essay now, it does at least have a few nuances to it. [b]TL;DR[/b] (disclaimer: reading the tl;dr does not qualify you to come in here and rip my idea apart) • If you buy a Steamworks game from another store like D2D you don't have to install Steam, and all the community stuff is packaged into the main exe with no reference made to the full Steam game store • The in-game Steam thing does updates, MP and sells DLC and the long-term goal is that it becomes the only place that sells DLC - after all, brick-and-mortar stores don't get to sell DLC and they're fine • Using OpenID you can sign into the in-game Steam thing with your D2D or whatever account so you don't have to sign up AGAIN to play MP • If you have full Steam installed it's just like it is now • Although this is closer to the closed console model, devs could still use GFWL if they really wanted to. Also the next gen consoles will probably have a single buy-and-download store, thus monopolising game sales. Here you still have loads of competing stores • Under this system, stores like D2D and Impulse should no longer have a problem selling Steam games. Thus developers should have no problem using Steamworks. Thus we get a unified MP service, shit like GFWL (as an MP service) probably dies out eventually and Steam doesn't have to become a monopoly • After typing this massive fucking thread I realised a way easier way of putting it is that I want Steam to use GFWL's model. With GFWL you don't have to install anything, it's all in-game and the game store isn't advertised at all. Obviously that doesn't mean I want Steam to use GFWL's shittiness too, but it's the same basic idea
Sounds like a great idea it's just the matter of getting a lot of game companies to agree to this. They'll all probably be a bit sketchy about it imo, for example I doubt microsoft would like their software (GFWL) replaced with a rivaling software
Not going to happen sadly. EA is already being big enough cock bags because they couldn't shove DLC down players throats and reap 100% of the profits. To be honest I expect other major publishers to follow suit sadly, as there's money to be made and gamer asses without dicks in them.
Maybe I didn't make this clear enough but I think Valve should just do this and go "this is how it's gonna be." If anything it's not going to make everyone go "Steam sucks dick now," the worst case scenario is that people who hate Steam because they have to install it won't hate it anymore GFWL already seems to be in decline to me with devs rapidly learning why not to use it, and if D2D still doesn't want to sell Steamworks after all this then that's really their loss. I don't think many developers would choose GFWL and not being allowed on Steam (as seems to be the case if you sell DLC through it under the new rules) over using Steamworks and being allowed on Steam and any stores who aren't cocks
This sounds good in theory but it doesn't seem like it'd really work.
[quote]So what do we do? Do we want all the developers to just sell their games exclusively on Steam? Fuck no, that's a monopoly and no matter how great you think Valve is you don't want that.[/quote] i don't care as long as it means all my shit's centralized
[QUOTE=smurfy;31572517]So what do we do? Do we want all the developers to just sell their games exclusively on Steam?[/QUOTE] I really wouldn't mind this. Really though, I think the devs should just get used to uploading their DLC to multiple platforms for PC. After all they can just hire people to ensure the correct DLC gets uploaded to the correct places, and it'll be easier for the consumers since they can choose their service. Except then you get devs like EA, Microsoft and, dare I say it, Valve who only put their games and DLC on their platform since that's free advertising for them. So in other words nothing is going to change. Either you get used to using multiple services or you only buy what games are on one service. Also I bet Valve, EA, Micosoft, D2D, and whatever other game distribution services don't like this... [QUOTE=smurfy;31572517]Another problem I thought of is, what happens if you buy Call of Lmao from D2D, then later you find the full Steam software anyway and you want Call of Lmao registered to your new Steam account? The Steam software lets you convert your OpenID'd D2D account into a full Steam Community and Store account, carrying all the games over. Carrying all the games over already happens with Steamworks games, I've just adapted it into my idea. [b]D2D doesn't lose out because they've already got your money and if you've fucked off to Steam then that's just how competition works. Steam hasn't been going "OMG buy your games here now"[/b][/quote] [editline]7th August 2011[/editline] Anyway those are my jumbled thoughts on your ideas. They probably won't really happen or work, sorry.
[QUOTE=Zedicus Mann;31579222]I really wouldn't mind this. Really though, I think the devs should just get used to uploading their DLC to multiple platforms for PC. After all they can just hire people to ensure the correct DLC gets uploaded to the correct places, and it'll be easier for the consumers since they can choose their service. Except then you get devs like EA, Microsoft and, dare I say it, Valve who only put their games and DLC on their platform since that's free advertising for them. So in other words nothing is going to change. Either you get used to using multiple services or you only buy what games are on one service. Also I bet Valve, EA, Micosoft, D2D, and whatever other game distribution services don't like this... [editline]7th August 2011[/editline] Anyway those are my jumbled thoughts on your ideas. They probably won't really happen or work, sorry.[/QUOTE] You wouldn't mind Valve having a monopoly on everything, but you mind them having a monopoly on only DLC? Of course this won't happen, Valve will never get off their asses and do it. I'm just saying it's my idea. And as for the quote from my post, that was only about being able to register Steamworks games with your Steam account, which you can already do and which wouldn't directly cause competitors to lose any money. Throughout the rest of my post I point out multiple times that competitors stand to lose something from this, but I argue that they'd gain from this from being able to sell Steamworks games like COD
[QUOTE=smurfy;31579292]You wouldn't mind Valve having a monopoly on everything, but you mind them having a monopoly on only DLC?[/QUOTE] Actually I'd prefer to have a where to buy the game from, except you'd have to own the game on that platform to get the DLC on that platform. Whatever, things are okay as they are.
The steam shouldn't be incoded in the exe, its inefficient to have several copies of the same thing on your computer. We need away of seperating the store/community/downloads from each other. xfire before it had a store managed community and downloads. The only way to have a better system would be to get all of the companies to join together and build a client that manages downloads and community. All downloads are done in a specific format made to work well with the downloader, but hosted by the company who made the game. One IM and friends system would be nice. This would never happen though.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.