I know there were a couple of you interested in Terraria, so in case you stopped following it or didn't notice, Terraria will be available on steam on the 16th of May, and will cost 9.99$ (at least for the first week).

I'm not sure if I'll get it because:
1) It's on Steam.
2) I've seen almost all of the game content on PBat's + the developers' LP on Youtube :X

Too much moisture is bad for electronics.

Oh noooo, sooo scarryyyy; we actually have to sometimes pay for things we want.

Prices are standard retail, except during Steam sales which are very often. Doesn't feel clunky; subjective. I've never had any problems with buggy ownership. All content is tied to my account, not the hardware.

Steam is great

My experience with steam matches Karadoc's. The larger Australian ISP have access to Australian steam servers that we generally don't have to pay for the downloads associated with it.

When you live in the EU and they decide that 1 euro = 1 usd and you end up paying $99 for a game that costs $70 usd everywhere else, (giving a 30% markup). I would be raged and refuse to use steam too.

This:

Especially one that relies on the good fortune of someone else's servers and their temperaments, one that can force you to update your game even if you don't want to, one that installs your games wherever it wants.
Feel free to come up with more ways that Steam knows how to annoy you.

This is also damn annoying. Luckily they apparently charge USD, but MMOs for example (been a long while since I played one of those) usually pull that shit off.

I'd probably cave in and get it anyway, but I'll do it begrudgingly

Steam is a program, it goes in Program Files. (C:\Program Files\)
Terraria is a game, it goes in Games. (D:\Games\)

For me Steam is a gaming platform, so it goes in D:\Juegos (games in Spanish) . But I agree that having the option to install to a custom folder woudl be nice.

I've never come across a game that does that (and I have 50+ games in Steam). Even Eve Online, which doesn't use Steam for anything (not even for DRM, and you can launch it without needing to launch Steam) installs inside Steam.

I believe Steam does have the second best DRM I have ever seen. Telltale's model I like better though. Main issue I have with Steam is you can get in a catch 22 with the off-line mode. Happened to me at least once.

You don't just upload a game to Steam. VALVe is basically a publisher with Steam. You have to make an agreement with VALVe.

I said it was a consideration against purchasing the game, and it is.
You know what works better IMO? The way the humble indie bundle is distributed. (and I don't mean the pay what you want thing)

Also, game is available: http://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/

Yep, won't be getting it.

DRM does not lower the rate of piracy. In fact, having DRM, makes it more likely that your game WILL be pirated -- sometimes by would-be buyers who just don't want to put up with it.

DRM isn't intended to prevent piracy. It's intended to prevent first-day piracy because apparently most sales are first day. That is, if you can't pirate it first day, but really want to play it ASAP, then you just might buy it instead of pirating it.

The effectiveness or ineffectiveness is nearly impossible to truly measure. You can't compare indie game success with major game publishers. There are a lot of variables that can affect the sales. For example, big publishers are viewed as big, bad, rich corporations (i.e., your lost sale "won't hurt them") and indie shops are seen as the guy next door that is struggling to survive (i.e., needs every sale). The big publishers are also spending a LOT more on games than indie shops can likely afford (hundreds of millions), which means they need to recover much more money.

In any case, Steam's form of DRM is pretty painless most of the time. Some people will always get stung, but it's a pretty good compromise.