Digital Distribution

[lannaheim]

Teenager wants to get on to this site so he can buy games. Is it a safe site or is it BAD?
Thx,
La

[fussnfeathers]

Motherboards.org? As safe as any is going to be. We do have a Buy/Barter/Sell forum, but it's not the main purpose of the site. We're a tech support and recommendation site, not Craigslist or eBay.

List of rules in the Buy/Barter/Sell forum

Note the highlighted warning that the site is not responsible for anything bought or sold, that section is there for the convenience of members.

[lannaheim]

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION -- STEAMPOWER.COM

Sorry I forgot that. I KNOW MB.0rg is perfectly safe -- I have been a member for over 7 years! Yeah, that's my bad.

So, any thoughts on this "I-Tunes for gamers" site?

[fussnfeathers]

Steam? Sure, it's fine. They're just a distribution site for the major game houses. I've gotten a few games through them, there's really no way you can be cheated, same as iTunes or any other distribution site. It's generally cheaper than buying the full game in a box, since there's no physical media involved. The drawback is the games require an internet connection, at least to register the game and set you up for playing (single player games, for the most part, can be played offline, multiplayer requires an internet connection.) And there's the bit of nasty where you can't back the game up, so if you have to reformat, you'll be right back where you were downloading for days to reinstall.

The only drawback is the servers are generally overloaded, so you can't plan on sitting down to play Guild Wars, getting in right away, and playing your brains out. It took me two days to download Portal, and about the same for Half Life 2, simply because I kept getting kicked off due to server lag. You can read some dedicated game forums about that problem. Been there since the beginning, and they've never fixed it. If he's interested in MMORPG's like Guild Wars, Star Wars Galaxies, games of that nature, you can usually buy them direct from the publisher at the same price, without the server hassles.

The plus it has is older games that are impossible to find in stores are generally there, if they've used Steam in the past. They've got a good FAQ on the site (it's steampowered.com, steampower.com is a steam engine site )

[lannaheim]

Thanks! Yes, I wrote it down as "steampowered.com" and just mistyped. Man, I am making a lot of mistakes! Thanks -- that is pretty much what my teenage client said, but his mother is understandably concerned since his last F-up cost them about $700 for reformatting etc.

I did tell him that whatever he downloads, he needs to do "custom" which I hope is an option. I said, "NO toolbars!" Of course they have broadband access. I think I no longer have one single client left with dial-up.

Many thanks again.

[hunter1801]

Didn't see that you made 2 threads for the same thing, but I posted in your other one. Basically reiterating that it's safe.

[Roach412]

*sigh*

same.

-Roach

[fussnfeathers]

don'tcha hate that?

[lannaheim]

yes, I am sorry; i didn't mean to post two threads but I will try not to do it again. A few times I have done it on purpose because I don't know where (under which category) the post should go; this time it was just a mistake.

[fussnfeathers]

Don't get too stressed about where you put things. Evasive will move it if there's a glaring problem (like putting a BIOS question in the Water Cooler). We'll find it. Putting it in twice pretty much guarantee none of us will see the first post (or second) and answer without knowing somebody else answered you elsewhere.