Steam starts it's own form of Alpha Funding!

I am not actually all that thrilled by this, to be honest. Desura's Alpha Funding program looked to be doing quite well for them recently, and Desura needs the attention a lot more than Valve does. Desura's program does still looks to be a lot more appealing to new or smaller developers than Valve's does though.

Not so great for those who prefer DRM-free games... :(

With this intermediate step between Greenlight and the Steam Store, an increase in the flux of greenlit games is to be expected. Thus, it's easy to imagine more and more small developers going the Steam way, rather than opting for other platforms like Desura.

While I prefer DRM free for obvious reasons, I'd put more money into Steam's implementation than Starforce and the like.

I buy on Desura if it's not on Steam, I buy on Steam if it's not on Desura. I buy HiB's when they come out, even if I own most of the games (like the past few have been) and I'll still activate the games on Steam (even if they don't have Steam Linux clients at the time).

Honestly, I just want to play games on Linux. If DRM is attached to that, then so be it.

Quoting: edgleyHonestly, I just want to play games on Linux. If DRM is attached to that, then so be it.

I don't share your point at all but I respect it. After all, I don't care about opensource (when talking about games, that is) the same way you don't care about DRM, so I'm aware that a hardcore free software advocate could regard my stance as either naive or outright harmful to the future of videogames.

Quoting: muntdefemsI don't share your point at all but I respect it. After all, I don't care about opensource (when talking about games, that is) the same way you don't care about DRM, so I'm aware that a hardcore free software advocate could regard my stance as either naive or outright harmful to the future of videogames.

Don't get me wrong, the more DRM free games the better -- I just think that if Linux is ever going to be a real gaming contender we need to bend the knee just a little.

Open source software is fantastic and I will be unlikely to ever pay for an application again, but I think games fall just outside that circle, so I treat it differently.

When I say DRM attached, I am talking about Steam style implementation -- if Starforce ever creeps onto Linux games I will be very, very annoyed :P

Everyone to their own of course.

Totally agree with edgley, I have paid almost all HiB since the first one, and I love the DRM free so much. But if some other good games are released not DRM free on steam, I'll buy it anyway. Since I use linux ( maybe 8 years ago ) I have never seen so many games released, thanks to HiB, unity3D, kickstarter, steam, unigine… and I want this to go even farer, so I'll just buy even if it's not DRM free

I would personally prefer Steam or Desura, DRM or not don't care (I have really come to appreciate the auto-update :p)
BUT I would need to insurance they would never close/ban my account and be around for-ever...
But we all know how much we can trust companies...

It'll be very interesting to see how this moves forward and how it competes with/supports Greenlight, and what kind of opportunities it exposes for developers. I do feel a bit like Desura's "Alpha Funding" programme isn't as polished as it could be, and it'll also be interesting to see if Desura react to this.

Steam's DRM is insidiously seductive - it comes alongside features and services that gamers embrace, and it can be very easy to overlook. Like all account based DRM/subscription systems, it can be very easy to lose access to your games, and it seems that many remain unaware of the potential pitfalls (which is never a good thing).

Personally, I prefer to buy DRM free and retail games over buying titles on Steam (I also prefer to buy directly from developers so that they get a bigger cut), though when I get Steam keys, I'll often play through that.

Quoting: CheesenessSteam's DRM is insidiously seductive - it comes alongside features and services that gamers embrace, and it can be very easy to overlook. Like all account based DRM/subscription systems, it can be very easy to lose access to your games, and it seems that many remain unaware of the potential pitfalls (which is never a good thing).

True but other than it being tied to an account, I don't seem any other serious issues -- I'm not 100% sure at what point a game is "activated" (whether it's at checkout or download initiation), but as soon as it's downloaded you can go offline and play forever and as Steam requires a restart to go in to "Online mode", you can't completely unknowingly loose access to your games from that.

However, account security is, as with anything, always the biggest flaw. But I rotate passwords at least once a month and Steam always has my most secure password + 2 step verification helps.

Quoting: CheesenessSteam's DRM is insidiously seductive - it comes alongside features and services that gamers embrace, and it can be very easy to overlook. Like all account based DRM/subscription systems, it can be very easy to lose access to your games, and it seems that many remain unaware of the potential pitfalls (which is never a good thing).

Personally what annoys me more is not users being seduced but developers. I would not have a big beef with Steamworks and the like if developers still put out non-Steam versions for those of us that find the "pitfalls" unacceptable.