The Brewster

Ok can somebody explain Steam, what it is and how it works? What is the benefit of buying a game through it? Asking because I see FMH 5 is on sale today.

It's basically an application that simply allows you to buy various games through it. You can launch Steam and then launch any of the games you have bought and downloaded through it (your library), rather than launch them independently. You also have "buddy lists" on there and such, to communicate and play with others who have Steam. That's the main benefit, there really isn't any huge difference between buying a game stand alone vs buying through Steam. I imagine it exists due to the aforementioned, and I'm sure game creators prefer having their game marketed and promoted through Steam rather than independently. That's my best explanation of it.

Joshua Biddle wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:52 pm

It's basically an application that simply allows you to buy various games through it. You can launch Steam and then launch any of the games you have bought and downloaded through it (your library), rather than launch them independently. You also have "buddy lists" on there and such, to communicate and play with others who have Steam. That's the main benefit, there really isn't any huge difference between buying a game stand alone vs buying through Steam. I imagine it exists due to the aforementioned, and I'm sure game creators prefer having their game marketed and promoted through Steam rather than independently. That's my best explanation of it.

Pretty much this. It's a combination storefront/game organizer/friendslist. I would add few other things regarding an advantage of getting games through steam. It does two other somewhat linked things very nicely. I haven't thought about installing an update for a PC game in more than half a decade. It's just taken care of for me. Haven't had a single problem, ever. Second, many games release DLC content, and many more now even let users create dlc content and steam does a wonderful job of organizing this and allowing ease of access and install. Also, it's kind of created a message forum hub for each game, which can be really helpful in the cases of ones that wouldn't otherwise have their own. I guess lastly there are sales all the time, too. If you don't play PC games much, it's really not that big of a deal. If you do, it's pretty much one of the better things to happen to PC gaming ever (speaking as someone who dealt with the headaches of compatibility issues, tech support, patches, etc from PC gaming in the 80's,90's, and even early 2000's when STEAM existed but hadn't gained much ground). It now has at least 75% of the PC gaming market share, simply because it is incredibly efficient in terms of managing game libraries and provides tremendous access for all types of games from big company multiple hundred million dollar developments to stuff some dude wrote in his parent's basement.