[SNIP]

So far, the only Steam games are from Valve. The multi-player games and
HL mods were never available in the shops before Steam, so you needed
an internet connection to get them anyway. So no change there.
As for single player games, HL2 is available in the shops, in a box.

Then get a different card. I have several credit cards and none of them
charge me an annual fee. Some of them I have for their cheap interest
rates, and some of them actually pay me in the form of cash-back or
loyalty points (eg. Airmiles).

This, like all the internet-related items in this list, is an
additional cost if you either do not already have an internet
connection, or have a Pay-As-You-Go connection. If you have a Pay
Monthly internet account, then there is no additional cost.
As has been discussed previously (including in the German courts), the
box should (IMO) state more clearly that an internet connection is
required to install the game.

You can download the patches over a narrowband connection - it just
takes longer. That is true of downloading anything, including email and
newsgroup messages. Also, there are broadband connections which cost
the same as narrowband, so this is a cost that is optional and can be
avoided.

As stated above, this is only an additional cost if you do not already
have an internet connection.

Again, if you do not already have an internet connection, then you will
need these things. You can buy them, or you can use free versions. For
example, Windows XP has a basic firewall built in, or ZoneAlarm have a
free version of their firewall. I think SpyBot is also free for
anti-spyware.

Not sure if this is true if you install from the DVD.

If you buy the retail box, then you already have a physical DVD. Also,
if your hard drive does fail, or the game files get corrupted, you can
just download them again from Steam; you have a permanent on-line
backup. This cost is a luxury that is not necessary.

See point above about DVDR hardware.

You don't have to buy the game again. You can download it through Steam
again. In fact, once you have registered your game, you can go to any
internet-connected PC in the world, and download your games through
Steam.

If your hard drive fails, you will probably have more difficulty
reinstalling other programs that require registration because your
CD-Key will apparently already have been registered. With Steam, you
are still registered in your name and you can just download the
software again.

I don't think this can be counted as an extra cost because any new
software will bring additional troubleshooting requirements. For
example, most non-Steam games do not tell you when an update or
additional content is available. You have to search for it yourself and
if you find it, you have to download and install it yourself, and hope
that you haven't just installed a virus or similar.
Yes, some people have trouble with Steam, but other people have trouble
with other games and programs.

Again, if you aleady have these items, this is not an additional cost.
In any case, the DVD is a one-off operation and only necessary if you
download a game (instead of buying the box) and the modem uses very
little power. This is a negliable cost.

If you're worried about your electric bill, then the big power-users
are things which generate heat and things which move. Heaters, cookers,
toasters, lightbulbs are the main culprits. If you close the curtains
at dusk, turn the heating down by a degree, fit energy efficient
lightbulbs or don't leave the TV on standby overnight, you'll more than
recover the cost of the DVD and the modem's power consumption.

If you're already connected to the internet, then Steam does not make
it any more dangerous, so your maintenance costs are not changed. Steam
also allows you to backup and replace your game files, making
maintenance (or recovery at least) much easier. If your PC is in good
health generally, Steam won't make it any worse.

True, they could do any of this. A couple of points:
Expansion packs are often released commercially, so you have to pay for
them anyway.
A lot of multiplayer games already do charge monthly fees.

Although most of these costs are to do with having an internet
connection. If you already have this, for other reasons, then these
costs are not additional.

You said above that they could add monthly fees to a single-player
game; now you say they definitely will. Which is it? Personally, I
don't think they will because that would restrict the PC games market
even further (I won't pay monthly fees for a single-player game).

correct version
                      the extra costs in steam
                            by sayNO2steam [authentic]
                             version 1.1
                              march 2005

- index
. introduction
. the admissible costs in pc games
. extra costs now present with steam
. extra costs possible in the future with steam
. conclusion
. what pc games to buy with assurance of no extra costs
. notes
. other documents by the same author
. how to get this and other documents by the same author
. contact and feedback
. thanks
. version
. copyright
. authenticity

- introduction

this is a list of extra cost present in any steam based game, versus the
time wasted in reading my hate filled stupidity, if you look you can see the
current standard controlled costs found in every other pc game
that i'll tell you to buy at full price and won't buy myself until a year later
this document is to show how much more expensive does steam turn pc games
you should save this money and spend on pc games, to cover my share

- the admissible costs in pc games
the costs we pc gamers have been paying to play pc games for over one
hundred years, maybe half a hundred years, ok, maybe twenty years or a
decade have been totally admissible, controled and balanced like:
. cost of buying a pc
. cost of buying cd or dvd drives
. cost of buying individual titles, pay once use forever
. cost of paying monthly fees for online role
. cost of electricity bill
. cost of food
these are all costs we all agree must pay to play pc games, there is no
way you can avoid eating for twenty years or even a decade so end of
discussion and its totally unanimous among pc gamers
that there should be a free choice at the shop, buy what you want, but
with the current system no need to pay extra superfluous costs like for
per minute charges for internet access, oh, some people pay for that or for
backups or humiliating online activations or extra hardware and software
so every game should run on a 286 with 4 meg of ram and a mono monitor
but adding to this will always be superfluous and abusive, that is why i
can't believe that developers spend extra money on color or music and
decided to list the extra costs in steam all of them completely not
compatible with running a new game on start of the art hardware, this is not
admissible

- extra costs now present with steam

. internet connection to buy
extra cost of needing an internet connection to buy a pc game cause it
has no precedent, like Everquest, it should never require an internet connection which
will not be available in your local retail store
extra cost: between 1 and 5

. credit card
extra cost of needing a credit card to pay to buy pc games cause it will
mean that stupid w.nkers unable to buy the game in the store will be hosed and
not accept any other means of payment
extra cost: monthly fee between 1 and 5

. internet connection to install
extra cost of needing an internet connection to install a single player
MMORPG, which is not admissible, nor is the use of music or color admissible in a
pc game, cause without it you will not be able to use the single player
option on every computers, every computer should be able to play every
pc game you have bought
extra cost: monthly fee between 10 and 20

. broadband connection to patch
extra cost of needing a broadband internet connection to patch the pc
except for 56k, which can download 650 meg a day, is no reason to allow it for a
game cause no other way is given cause patches are not available in a
5 1/4" floppy that is standard computer hardware and use of 3 1/2" denies a
single file format to be freely accessible and distributed
extra cost: monthly fee between 20 and 50

. hardware for internet connection
extra cost of needing to buy specific hardware for either a normal or
"extra content" game needing color or music isn't allowed, nor is a
broadband internet connection cause without it you will not be able to
get low pings and frag your friends, otherwise you might as well get deerhunter,
install, play and patch the single player pc game you have bought
because you will always suck at multiplayer games due to latency
extra cost: between 50 and 200

. software for internet connection
extra cost of needing to buy specific software for either a normal or
broadband internet connection like anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall
unless you use AVG, Spybot and Zone Alarm, which are all free
cause without it you will not be able to install, play and patch the
software you have without being buried in Spam, having no time for the
single player pc game you have bought
extra cost: between 50 and 100 unless you use the free ones

. bigger hard drive
extra cost of needing a bigger hard drive cause you need at least two
hard drives at all times, one for games, one for donkey porn, even with two
times the hard disk space for each pc game you buy and play, the space
used by your porn collection will easily be four or five times the space used
for the downloaded installation files and the space required for the pc
software to convert xVid to SVCD to watch in your DVD, even with the space for the
game to be installed, so it doubles the space required and consumes two
whole hard drives without a DVD drive to back up your collection and free up three
times the space for gaming
extra cost: between 100 and 200

. dvd recordable hardware
extra cost of needing a dvd recordable drive for you to backup the pc
porn isn't a big deal, with a Samsung DVD/CD combo drive costing less than the
game you just bought cause steam doesn't give you any physical medium,
so you'll have to use a $34.99 DVD burner and a 32 cent dvd to store it and
and you only have a bunch of files on your hard-disk with a high risk of
just sitting there for years since hard drives last for thousands of hours without
getting damaged, erased or simply vanishing cause of hardware failure
which just means you need to download it again
extra cost: between 100 and 200, if you buy 3-6 DVD burners

. dvd recordable blank media
extra cost of needing one or more dvd recordable blank media for you to
store your porn or just backup your other stuff, and if you really want to
backup the pc game you just bought cause steam doesn't give you any
lip and can easily be downloaded again by normal folks, but if you must have a
physical medium, and you only have a bunch of files on your hard-disk
that will last for years of normal use and under normal circumstances don't
have a high risk of getting damaged, erased or simply vanishing cause of
hardware failure you can get a 50 pack of blank DVD -Rs from newegg.com
for $19.50 (delivered right to your front door)
extra cost: 39 cents per DVD, from Newegg.com

. increase probability of loosing the pc games you bought
extra cost cause of an extremely less reliable archive and storing means
that in 10 or 15 years your DVD might fail and that means a
so a much higher probability of you loosing the pc game you have bought
compared to the CD that is just as likely to fail in 10 or 15 years
cause you don't keep a physical medium and it must be you doing so and
if you don't take good care of your discs you'll scratch them and
we all know the majority doesn't do it and even if it does, a home made
DVD is exactly as reliable an archive medium as a manufactured DVD
and also if the game only remains in your hard drive there are a bunch
of things that can happen, all of which allow you to just redownload the game
as opposed to damaging a store bought CD, which at best means you send
in the damaged CD with some money for a replacement, at worst it means
you have to buy the entire game again, paying double for the same game
extra cost: between 50 and 100

. increase in game troubleshooting
extra cost in game troubleshooting cause steam creates many new layers
allowing the developer, should they so choose, to get reports
of complexity which makes more pc gamers dealing with problems related
to hardware easier to troubleshoot and diagnose, allowing a reduction
to installation and authentication so more cost in phone calls, emails
as opposed to more people with just broken games
extra cost: between 1 and 5

. increase in the electricity bill
extra cost in the electricity bill cause need to power extra superfluous
equipment like dvd recordable and internet connection hardware
and color monitors and sound cards and video cards and optical mice
extra cost: monthly fee between 1 and 5

. increase in pc maintenance cost
extra cost of maintenance cause extra hardware and software and the more
complex stuff in modern pcs which actually allow games to run is offset by the
complexity of having a pc connected to the internet makes it much more
fun in general and the increased tech knowledge of the user makes they
likely to fail and need maintenance either hardware or software related
tech support with the higher end users assembling and supporting their whole systems
extra cost: between 50 and 100

- extra costs possible in the future with steam

although not yet present at the time, steam give the publisher a great
way to distribute future content without giving 2/3 of their profit to others
deal of power for in the future start charging for many things in pc
games we now have for free like:
. pay to play, with by the minute charges or monthly fees
. TRUE pc gamers pay to play, there are NO exceptions
. pay for patches, with by the patch charges or monthly fees
. pay for expansion packs, with by the pack charges or monthly fees
. pay for mods, with by the mod charges or monthly fees
. pay for multiplayer, with by the minute charges or monthly fees
of course if a company were this stupid they wouldn't have a customer base and
no customers means no per anything charges

- conclusion

steam adds a great number of extra superfluous costs that will make pc
games much more expensive, so costs in yet another reason why to fight
against steam and your too stupid to decide this for yourself, that's why I'm here
also the future is extremely worrisome cause steam gives the publisher
a great power to start charging for everything, from playing to patches
or anything else related to the game, even charging you to uninstall it!!!!
we must protect the way it has been for over a decade with the pay once
and play forever system in pc games with no extra superfluous costs
like electricity costs for downloading developer supplied patches
steam wants to kill that system and replace it with pc games as service
in which you have to pay to play adding monthly fees to the market, so
i'll keep making this claim without even a shred of evidence to support it
we must fight it to keep and protect pc games as a affordable, popular
widely accessible form of entertainment that caters to the stupidest people

- what pc games to buy with assurance of no extra costs

to buy pc games and be sure you will not have to deal with extra cost,
please don't accept steam, and boycott any pc game having steam, so only
those who do exactly what I tell them can be TRUE pc gamers who
buy pc games without steam or any alike technology that might be released
including operating systems that prevent piracy like Microsoft has mentioned
in the future and only pay for pc games which are available in your local
retail store, in a physical packaged box either cd-rom or dvd-rom with no
need for extra humiliating authentications "ask" for permission" to use
and no ability to download online so the retailer makes as much or more
than the developer with every copy they sell

- notes

numbers included in the extra costs are only guidelines and not precise
but 1 to 5 is roughly 39 cents US, which is like 2 Euro or 50 billion yen
cause not even a currency i specify, basically its only to give an idea
that i don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I just hate steam, no matter
what kind of extra costs are we dealing with

- other documents by the same author

. "guidelines for good buying habits in pc games"
. "what steam takes from you"
. "the top 5 false myths about pc games"
. "against steam graphic expression compilation"
. "the 3 unnegotiable requirements"
. "top 10 things to know before buying half-life 2 and accepting steam"
. "the truth about gaming cost"
. "if its doomed we have us to blame"
. "threat of a steam "malicious" version"
. "we want steam out of retail channel"
. "wow box proves valve fault"
. "the only admissible costs in pc games"

- how to get this and other documents by the same author

. read usenet newsgroup comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
get them quick or they will expire off your server
they are not important enough for me to archive them on google
if you've read this far, you've wasted quite a bit of time that a TRUE pc gamer
would have been using to admire a pretty box or dust his colletion

- contact and feedback

please email to sayNO2steam@yahoo.com
website: http://sayno2lithium.50webs.com/

- thanks

to every single pc gamer that has fought against steam for the last four
months and haven't give up or betrayed by saying that in a free country
vavle has a right to try steam, bought a console game, console port or
pointed out that i'm a lying hypocrite with absolutely no integrity at all

- version

1.2 first updated 29 march 2005
originally posted to the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* newsgroups hierarchy

- copyright

this document and all its text is copyright myself and cannot be used or
published in any means or way without my permission

- authenticity

due to various tries to "imitate" and even "impersonate" my person in
the usenet i advise everyone to get this document only from reliable
sources cause of possible risk of adulteration

[authentic] digital signature to prevent unauthorised duplication or alteration

<end of document>

Lies. That's where I bought mine. Unless you're referring to future
pretend-ware games.

Lies. I pay nothing for a credit card (or direct debit card which I mainly
use).

In fact credit cards can give you free credit (Ok... free debt!) for a
month.

You already did that one...

... and here it is again.

Do you have to pay more than $20 for a network card (Broadband) or a dial-up
Modem?

B*ll*cks. These are all free.

AVG or Avast (Ideal for you me hearty). Spybot or Adaware. Zone alarm.

A lot of new games take up Gigabytes of space. However if HL2 is
significantly bigger because of Steam, I defer.

Debatable since you reckon that Valve will go bust and you won't be able to
play the backup anyway.

I have the game on DVD so it's not needed.

If that is true (and that would be a radical departure from the rest of your
post) then you could make duplicate copies and redo it every couple of
years. DVDs are very cheap.

You probably mean decrease. No DVD checks.

I already have one of the newer electric-computers so that doesn't make any
difference to me.

Lies. If you're talking about downloading dodgy pirated software - that's
not the fault of Steam.

Not relevant in an intelligent discussion. I might as well assert that games
will come down in price because of Steam (maybe they will, but I'm not
stupid enough to use it as an argument).

John Lewis won't buy HL2 - and I respect him for it.

Just do the same.

You are good.   I predict that you will find a future in politics or
something like an analyst where you need to juggle the numbers to make
things seem worse/better than they truely are.   Say analyst in banking,
stock market, ....   ;-)