Appreciating Steam

So since it’s week six of my never-ending winter break, I decided now is as good a time as any to breathe some life back into SNSG. 

A quick glance down the Gaming section of Reddit evinces the power that Steam has had on the PC gaming industry.  Meme after meme of Valve’s benevolent overlord Gabe Newell grace the front page of my favorite news source on a daily basis.  Newell, the equivalent of a real-world Comic Book Guy has created a multibillion dollar (That’s billion with a “B”) computer game distribution empire. 

I think the genius of Steam lies in its simplicity.  Let me set the scene.  I’m sitting in my boxers on my throne, a tattered swivel chair.  Not a pretty sight.  After watching hours and hours of YouTube mixtapes of lackluster NBA players (who actually cares about Jorge Garbajosa?), I can maneuver to the Steam website, and after two deft clicks of the mouse, and one virtual swipe of the credit card, I’m all of a sudden playing Orcs Must Die 2.  I’m still in my boxers.  On my swivel chair.  Not bothering to clean up the ketchup stain on the desk that’s melding in with the woodwork.

Now that’s the beauty of this thing.  In an age where everyone wants to do as little as possible all the time, Steam more than fits the bill.  If I were to buy a game from Amazon, I would have to wait a few days, and then physically move myself from my swivel chair to the front door to retrieve the package.  Just thinking about installing a physical CD into a desktop computer gives me chills.  In the famous words of YouTube legend Sweet Brown, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

And then there are the magnificent Steam sales.  Not since the advent of fire has mankind been responsible for such a beautiful creation.  Publisher-specific bundles, daily deals, community-voted deals; these forces combine to wreak havoc on one’s wallet.  But no one seems to mind.  I still haven’t touched half the games I purchased last summer during the sale, and I’m sure many others are in the same boat.  Something about the aesthetic design of the website, the snappy game trailers…it’s just so easy to stockpile big name games!  And the fact that I’m not dropping $60 per game appeases my innate frugality.

But I still see room for improvement!

Achievement System:  When I first copped my Xbox 360, I was blown away by the sheer addictiveness of the achievement system.  Steam also implements an achievement system for individual games, but it would be better if there were some sort of aggregate number that tracked progress across all games. 

Hard Copy Support:  It would be nice if Steam had support for games that were purchased through retail.  Being able to play my hard copy of Sim City 4 via Steam would cut out the whole putting the CD in the disc drive thing.

Improved IM System:  Just find a way to make it better.

Now it’s time to go back to battling Albanian tweens in Age of Empires III online.  With both expansion packs installed of course. 

As always, let's try to get exceed expectations, and get a comment on this post.