Steam doesn't collect info about you without specifically asking for it. For sure it does not collect keystrokes. Steam also doesn't stay in background anymore than it needs to run the programs it controls unless you configure it to run at startup.


Steam has the ability to scan through your files and other programs in memory because of the "Valve Anti Cheat". Steam only does that while you are playing a multiplayer server that is VAC protected though so it's your choice from going there. Technically, it doesn't do anything different than an anti virus would though. And it's not any different than other anti cheat technologies. If you don't agree with the terms, then I'll be happy to not have you playing the same multiplayers games than me

Steam doesn't install stealthily alongside other programs. You might consider that the fact you need to install Steam alongside a game isn't correctly written on the game box, but there's nothing stealthy about the installation process itself. And besides, it's easy enough to uninstall it, not like typical spyware that tries to hide as much as possible.

I don't have Steam on my system. I had it, maybe for a day but uninstalled it. Third party software isnt a neccessity for gaming, unless your a multiplayer gamer which, at least for now, I am not.

After looking over the Steam privacy policy, which isnt as long as I thought it would be, your right it says user consent is required for third party info distribution. Since I dont have Steam I dont know how often they ask for consent, but if they do thats a good thing.

Steam/Valve Terms of Use Privacy Policy and Legal disclaimer are definitely not as invasive as I thought. However, I am still not going to use it anytime in the future nor do I want to encourage game publishers restricting games to a single market i.e. Skyrim soley on Steam or Mass Effect sold only on Origin. I just dont think that is a positve direction to go in.

Sure, you can uninstall Steam. But that also means that you can not play Skyrim anymore.
Some Spyware (with a slight virus influence) has the same behaviour: if you remove it, then suddenly you can not open a normal application anymore.
But, is Steam really spyware? No, not in that sense. Also because you install Steam and you know you install it. And with spyware you don't know it. But on the other hand: spyware is forced upon you and so is Steam: no Steam, no Skyrim.
It does spam "free games" games though in your Games folder.

Using those definitions your internet browser (especially Chrome) and Google etc. are all spyware.

It takes time to produce and send out the dvd, you continue to test while waiting, the new bugs are fixed in a zero day patch.
Now as you have to go to steam to register it will also update the game.

Indeed but last minute bug fixes usually don't warrant big patches which is more a case of missing assets or packaging mistakes.

Yeah, pretty much and thats how I view everything tainted with google- youtube-gmail... they keep your data indefinitely and they profit off selling your data/search habits customized advertisemants. Google isnt free because there nice people its free because they recieve and sell free marketing info about you, to data companies. Its really creepy that gmail keeps all of your email indefinitely even when you delete it.

good alternatives to Google and Gmail

Duckduckgo-search engine
Lavabit- webmail

Steam DRM is Heaven if you compare it to Ubisoft DRM or the upcoming online/single player Diablo 3

being "best of the worst" doesn't mean it's very good though

But you have the ability to opt out of all there tests and stuff.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/01/thought-do-we-own-our-steam-games/

One of the replies to the above article (linked):


That sounds about right. You must wonder why Steam hasn't instituted such a policy, eh?

Also:


And:


So, you know what? I don't like Steam. I'd be crazy to.

Well, after just finding out I've lost my Crysis disk after looking for the damn thing for 10 minutes, digital distribution seems the way to go for me...

I will make one and one only contribution to this thread:

DRM (Digital Restriction Management, to be more accurate) is one of the things I hate the most in this world, and I can be a pretty hateful guy.
As such, as long as Bethesda keep pissing all over their own games by using it.... I won't be buying them.
My contempt for those that buy into the pointless "Ohnoez piracy!!1!" scare is limitless.

p.s. http://www.DefectiveByDesign.org ... The campaign to stop DRM.

Steam is more than just DRM though. It's like a tame rabbit compared to EA/Activision's DRM methods.

Except for all of the problems that come with Giant Company + Digital Distribution, explained in my link(s) above.

SotiCoto, Skyrim is the one and only game I've ever bought from Steam (well, not from Steam -- I bought it from somewhere else... ), and it will remain that way. I didn't know until I loaded Skyrim that I had to deal with forced updates, etc. If all my Steam-locked game involved was me having to punch in a key online somewhere, I would have been okay with that. (An exception I'd make for TES games only, but still.) I am not okay with how Bethesda handled the consumer-distributor-producer relationship for Skyrim...

I've really started to think that Bethesda's move to Steam is less of an anti-piracy ploy and more of an attempt to carve out a market in the modifying community.

Don't be surprised if you have to pay for your CK next time.

Because, lets be honest here, thats what Steam is effectively. It has squat to do with piracy, and DRM's make piracy infinitely easier just by distributing digital copies... even with these encryptions and such they can be reverse engineered easily. Steam is about creating a console type Hub for gaming, and in doing so monopolizing the PC market.

For all the people that hate consoles, I find it awfully ironic that they would be so supportive of Steam.

I'll tell the cryptography community that all their work is easily reverse engineered by the computer pirates. Do not dismiss the skills of pirates that want to copy video games! Thank god they don't go after stuff like online banking or military encrypted communication channels.

Steam is an anti piracy system by giving the majority of users some VERY convenient features you cannot really get for free. Sure, a small minority of users do not want those features, the majority wants. Bethesda and Valve goal isn't to stop the piracy because they know it's too much of an hassle and probably impossible. On the other hand, they pack in many features that MANY want in their game, features that require some kind of online integration. As a result, the pirated copies lose value by getting cut from such features. Steam Workshop is an example. The reason Bethesda does that is also along those lines : nothing prevents pirates from using Skyrim Nexus but they won't be able to use the Steam Workshop.


But you can still see they don't go completely out of their way to prevent piracy. They could have tied in the CK completely to Steam Workshop yet they didn't. This is because the anti piracy measure is not one which main tool is to "prevent the pirates from pirating", but to "give bonuses the legitimate users".

I no longer believe that they give a flip about piracy anymore--the focus is on stopping second hand sales, and on taking control of our games away from us. We used to own our games, drm these days seems to be focusing on "you don't own the game, you are just using it at our pleasure". I stopped believing in the sincerity of drm schemes during the Securom fiasco.

I can understand the frustration in not having the choice of playing with or without Steam, I for example refuse to use Origin but actually like the services that Steam provides.

But all these conspiracy theories and accusations of Valve being out to farm your data and sell them and lock you out of their games and monopolize the PC market just make me laugh... They're like the only big game company left that isn't managed by corporate suits that have not the slightest understanding of gaming, and as long as Gabe & co remain in charge of Valve I personally know there's no reason to be concerned. I agree that Steam has the potential to become something diabolical, though.

A lot to think about here.

On the one hand, I very much like the convenience of digital purchase and download. On that point, I love Steam.

On the other hand, I can see the inherent problem of Steam deciding for whatever reason to cut off my access to games I had purchased.

I am under no illusion that I actually own those games. In fact, I've been aware for several years now that despite what most people think, you don't actually own ANY of the software you (think you) buy. You own a license to use that software in accordance with the terms of the license. This is not something new with cloud-based distribution. It's been around since at least the early 80s, and MS DOS.

However, cloud-based distribution adds a new twist- without that, the software distributor couldn't simply confiscate your physical media, not even for blatently violating license agreement. They had to initiate legal proceedings in order to stop you. With something like Steam, they have the power (maybe not the authority, but that has yet to be decided in a court room) to actually do just that- confiscate your "copy" of the software without so much as a "by your leave". In other words, they can take from you, without any kind of due process, something for which you have paid an agreed upon sum, and without refunding said payment. I am not a lawyer, but I'm guessing that when that one does finally get around to being tested in court, they will lose that ability. They will probably still be able to cut off your access to the software, but likely they will be forced to provide at least a partial refund, if they choose to do so. They will of course still have the same legal recourses that they already do- suing you, or pressing charges for violation of copyright laws, or both.

So, I like having the ability to keep all of my games online, where I can install or unistall them at will without having tons of old boxes and cd cases laying around, not to mention being able to buy and beging playing a game within a couple of hours without having to get in car and deal with the crowds at Walmart or Game Stop. However, until I can find a cloud distibution system that I feel guarantees never to lose access to my games, I will continue to try to get access to a physical copy (or an image that I keep on my own system, same thing).

If you consider Steam spyware I have an attic full of tinfoil hats I've love to sell you.

Spyware is malicious. Steam is not. Spyware does not provide a service. Steam does. Spyware is supposed to run invisibly. Steam clearly does not. Spyware is installed inadvertently onto your system. Steam is not.

Steam is no more spyware than Google Apps or Amazon.com is. To the people threatened by the idea of companies having your data to provide advertisemants relevant (at least somewhat) to your interests, I have news for you: Steam is most likely the most cuddly form of data mining out there. This is the age of data, and unless you go to extreme lengths so that people do not know that you own Half-Life: Blue Shift and use IE9, your credit card information is already in more databases than you care to know. Search for your name, age, and address on Google.

There are ways to be responsible with your data. But data regarding Steam purchases and programs running on your PC's should really be the least of your worries, especially when they're doing so to provide a better user experience.

I was going to go into a long schpiel about insults and thorazine, but whatever.

I'll leave the insults to the trolls, and the spyware to Steam.

Try and block or alter Steam software in any function, bad things happen.

Sounds a lot like malware to me.

Is there a new category into which we could place largely harmless but still pernicious and open-to-abuse systems that are forced on users, which the users have little to no ability to control short of removing such systems?

For examples see Apple and Steam.

Only if you have no concept of what malware is.

Yes, it's ridiculous when you buy a retail game and you have to use Steam to play it, take it up with Bethesda because it was entirely their decision. However, the Steam service itself is not the problem here, and it is certainly not malware.