It's not that I trust Valve. It's that I distrust them the least when compared to the other giant companies out there. And I already have 90% of my games on Steam.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

I trust GOG the most, but Steam is solidly second-most. Guaranteed that if Epic had their way, the PC gaming landscape would be just as trash as the console one, if not moreso.

Valve could definitely go off the deep end after Gabe is gone, and that's why good third-party competition is still healthy. But for right now, they're one of the few large companies I've seen that aren't on the enshittification warpath.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

I too prefer GOG, but the fact that they still haven't made a native linux port of GOG Galaxy causes me to mostly use Steam. I usually use GOG for indie stuff and thingsI want without it being tied to a launcher or DRM.

Oh, and I recently bought Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 there, as I felt it was about time I gave Chris Sawyer some money for all the fun the pirated version I downloaded 25 years ago have provided.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Also quite a few games have worse or non-updated versions on GoG (this isn't GoG/CDPRojeckt's fault, but it's still a pain factor)

Similarly, sometimes the Linux or MacOS ports for a game don't make it to GoG while the Windows version does.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I hate how I get charged overseas transaction fees for every purchase.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah they ever get Linux support they will become my favorite.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you tried the Heroic Games Launcher? It's currently the most advanced launcher for GOG games on Linux, even implementing support for some of GOG Galaxy's online services. Additionally it's officially affiliated with GOG, so you can "donate" to the project by purchasing games through the client.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I have not. In fact, I'd never even heard of it until you mentioned it.
But I sure as hell will give it a go now that I am aware of its existence. Thanks for the tip!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I feel like I trust Steam as long as Gabe is calling the shots at Valve. I’m sure it helps that they’re a private company. Hopefully whoever takes over after him will have learned the lesson that you can make a nearly unimaginable amount of money in this industry without putting the screws to the consumer. If they were public or let the business “experts” in I’m sure there would be all sorts of moves to extract more money from customers that would end my trust, but I feel like overall I have a couple of decades of experience at this point that Valve isn’t actively trying to hurt me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Oh crap... you bring up a good point. How long do we think Gave has left? There is absolutely no way Steam won't get worse after that happens. Enjoy it while it lasts, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's also that they put out a product I actually find value from like Linux support, Steam Input, forums, workshop, etc. I enjoy using Steam because I find it to be a good experience.

It's like reasons people prefer Android or Apple even if they share the same apps. Really can't discount the experience simple things like navigation and social features do to add value. Those who dismiss it as unimportant probably share the same views as some MBA who only looks at the numbers and think they can just enter and corner a market through brute force spending.