Julian, the Internet from 2005 called; it wants its hot topic back.

Seriously, though, all this sounds to me like a PC problem. You sure your connection wasn’t being hammered by torrents or other slowdown problems? I’ve installed Steam afresh a number of times and it’s never taken more than 15 minutes to fully update, and games patch up in about the same time if it’s a biggie (and patches are important. You need them installed ans Steam makes this easy). After that, you stick it in Offline mode, thus removing the need of an Internet connection. Still, don’t let this fact get in the way of your misinformed Angry Internet Man rantings…

>it’s never taken more than 15 minutes to fully update

It has now. Repeatedly. In public.

The net can debate whatever it likes in 2005, but when Steam is applied to the only reason for the continuation of PC gaming, it’s unsurprising that it is held to a higher standard of scrutiny, and has fallen woefully short. My connection was performing fine- I’d been streaming movies immediately beforehand, with no problems. And Steam wasn’t patching anything except itself, unless “Steam Client” is a special codename for “Empire: Total War”. While it’s an impressive measure of your devotion to Valve that you are so willing to deny the crippled reality of their authentication service, I shouldn’t need to remind you that I’m far from the only Total War fan who has found the system unworkable…

First experience with Steam:
The Orange Box. Like, four or five months ago.

First impression of Steam:
This blows…I need to download the entirety of the games I just purchased in a store. (This was proven to be incorrect; it was downloading patched and updates…but it was substantial enough that it FELT like a fresh install.)

Current impression of Steam:
Extremely handy. The shopping is easy, the selection wide, and the prices (in 80% of the cases in which a game actually interests me) are fair.

Question for Julian:
Will the game not allow you to play it if Steam is operating in “offline mode?” I’m not trying to belittle your feelings here, but is that something you tried?

Julian’s right, this sort of thing is just anti-consumer nonsense. No one actually wants it but the publishers get away with it because people just shrug and accept it until it’s considered “normal”.

I’ve got Steam. I use it to play a couple of games I received through it. It’s fairly unintrusive (I only run it when I play said game), I still think this whole system stinks.

What’s really needed is legislation laying-out consumer rights with regard to software. People should be able to buy and play a piece of software by right and as long as they own it, they should not have to rely on the publishers servers or request permission each time they play. That skews things massively against the consumer and in favour of the producer. They should be doing things for me, that’s how the market is supposed to work (although given the turmoil of the last year or so we’re all learning that the market doesn’t actually do what it’s supposed to, but I digress…).

Here’s something more important, and which reflects on what that law on IP is supposed to do.

I went to a retro-gaming convention recently where all sorts of vintage consoles, computers and games were on display playing original boxed copies of games. In thirty-odd years this will not be possible with much current software because of the use of dedicated servers to play the games, downloadable content etc etc.

The IP laws are based around the idea that they encourage the creation of art, that the creator can benefit from it for fifty-odd years and that it then enters the public domain.

What are modern software developers plans to make their games available in the public domain when the IP runs out? Older software is on media that wears out so people have been forced to break IP laws to preserve it. Will the downloadable content for various games and their dedicated servers be released to the public domain or deleted once the games become “obsolete”?

If these software houses cannot demonstrate that they will make their IP available once the IP limit runs out - in entirety - then they are reaping the benefit of the IP laws without holding-up their side of the bargain. If that is the case (and I suspect it is) then something ought to be done.

Phil- I wasn’t aware of this mode that, if it does what it says on the tin, would remove half of my complaint. Through poking around, I’d managed to stop it activating every time I switched on the PC, but had seen no sign of the Offline Mode. I am rather surprised to learn of this, however- the software has made no attempt to inform me of this, defaulting to its intrusive online incarnation. I’ll take another look!

Zagrebo- Exactly, which is why it’s such a shame that the Mecca of abandonware Home of the Underdogs recently shut up shop. Cultural artefacts like MMOs will inevitably be experiences limited to the time of their release, but given the size of the industry, a voluntarily funded achieve isn’t inconceivable, if the will could be mustered.

In my version of Steam (presumably the newest…it’d update itself if not, I think…) you hit File > Go Offline. That gives you the option to restart in Offline Mode.

You could also boot up your computer without it being connected to the internet, and Steam will ask you if you’d like to work in Offline Mode.

Hopefully this helps. Again, I’m not meaning to undermine your complaint…but maybe this can at least let you enjoy the game properly.

>You could also boot up your computer without it being connected to the internet, and Steam will ask you if you’d like to work in Offline Mode.

Interesting- I haven’t recieved this prompt when not connecting. I’ll have a go at what you suggest.

>You could also boot up your computer without it being connected to the internet

What is this, the ’30s?

> and games patch up in about the same time if it’s a biggie

I just want to point out for the sake of argument that my steam games currently update at a speed of 4.6Kb/s. This is with no torrents running, or other downloads for that matter, on a connection that generally prefers 1.8Mb/s

This does not impress me.

Speaking of Home of the Underdogs, someone appears to have resurrected it:

http://hotud.org/

Excellent!