Why Steam isn't for me (and shouldn't be for you either)

There are two things missing from digital downloads:

1. The physicality of it. The smell, the tactile sense of realness, of being something and not nothing.

2. The trust that we can still use our purchase in a year, two years, or even in 5 or 10!

The first one cannot be mitigated, I don't think. If you don't have something physical for your expense, then there is simply no way to replicate that. Its like reading a book from a PDF / web site / kindle, vs. having a book in your lap that has that book smell, that weighs actual pounds or ounces, that you touch. (we have more senses than just eyes and ears, and we have evolved a great deal of our brain/nervous system to connect to those senses, so when they're missing, we're missing a significant part of our connection to the thing).

The second one is all about retailers / distributors realizing that they're shooting themselves in the foot over imaginary losses. The fact of the matter is that most folks either have made a conscious choice to support those whose services and products they use, and those who are lacking either the wisdom, the experience, or the moral consciousness to make that choice and steal whatever they wish. Or perhaps they are simply unable to afford it for legitimate reasons - i.e. real poverty, reasons beyond their control that keep them from having the basic means to afford such things. However, those same people would not be paying for the product regardless of DRM anyway, so they aren't any more of an argument in favor of DRM than those who simply are thieves at heart.

Making it hard to use the things purchased, and punishing those who do the right thing by giving them a less reliable product that has a lousier experience for the customer is stupid in the extreme, and it will take time for our species to really groc that and then to publish in a way that adds value to the paying customer, instead of removing it.

Steam is amongst the worst offenders (although there are worse, D2D being an obvious example). Steam has many fans because it is easy to use, looks good, has an excellent breadth of content, and is centralized.

However, Steam is a form of DRM - requiring that it phone-home in order to authorize your use of those things you've 'purchased' through it whenever you wish to use it.

This, to me, is a deal-breaker. So long as I am able, I will always be willing to buy my software, games, and music, etc. But I will never buy DRM laden "pay for rent" type software, games, and music. I want to outright buy my own copy, just like I always have from a brick and mortar store, that is mine within fair-use law, until the day it is so old and incompatible that I cannot find anything that plays that type of media anymore (and that had better be a good long time).

DRM is as morally objectionable to me as is piracy to those who've labored and endeavored to create something creative and wonderful only to have someone steal it and abuse their sweat and tears. Its hard to make something as wonderful as a good game, a good piece of utility software, or an engaging album, and anyone with even a modicum of consciousness should be able to recognize that and be willing to pony up a reasonable amount of cash to pay for the thing they're so enjoying or getting use out of.

It takes a really low and mean individual to believe that they are offering me a reasonable exchange of goods when they "sell" me something that is entirely controlled by them, and includes a self-destruct code and built-in obsolescence (i.e. when the authorizing server goes defunct, so does my DRM laden product).

Its not an honest sale of something (even a virtual something) when DRM is involved. Its a dishonest cloaking of "for-rent" under the guise of "for sale"... and we all sense it at some level and we feel uncomfortable about "buying" that. This practice of selling DRM laden products is wrong. Just as wrong as stealing.