55 replies to this topic

[Laurensvo]

Which is better for gaming: Mac App Store or Steam, as I can't make a decision and need advise here?

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Well, if you are Windows gaming or use wrappers, Steam gives you more value. The prices are also way cheaper, with good sales, and you can buy Windows versions really cheap and later get the full priced Mac version for free. They also have more interesting games, but also way more junk.

Their client is god damn awful though, and Gabe is swimming in money but still doesn't want to give us Half-Life 3. They appear to have reached a stage where they just want the continuous free piles of money for being the leader, without improving the client at all, or do any kind of weeding out popsnizzle games.


So if you have no moral ethics and just want more games than you could ever play in your entire lifetime, then I would go for Steam. If you do have that, I would do like me, and go for MacGameStore and GOG.

[DirtyHarry50]

Why the need for a decision? You ought to install Steam, GOG Galaxy and the MacGameStore clients. Then you can see for yourself which you like the best as well as have easy access to each major store's sales, etc. I used them all for Mac games personally.

For anything multiplayer if that is important to you, certain titles on Steam would be the way to go with a much larger pool of online players when the game works for both Mac and Windows online play. Never assume this though. Always, always read everything in detail on any store page and make yourself aware of how any return policy works in detail when this applies as it does on Steam and GOG that I know of. This is a plus also where you can be sure a game works properly on your system and does not obviously suck right out of the box.

So, I'd install the other three clients and do a little window shopping and see how they work, what the rules for each store are regarding returns, etc.

[ipickert55]

I have every client, GOG, Steam, Origin, and Battle.Net, and I use them in that order. I usually only buy new things on GOG nowadays but I still use the other clients for games, I just think GOG is better in terms of quality and ethics, so I'm voting with my wallet.

[Thain Esh Kelch]

In order, I buy from: MGS - GOG - MAS - Steam.

GOG has the best client, but I support the small guys.

[mindnoise]

Between App Store and Steam - Steam!!! Steam does not remove the things you purchased from your account - NEVER! - unlike Apple.

But if the game is also on GOG, then I prefer it over Steam any time.

[jeannot]

I'd rather use Steam mostly because of steam play. But I don't like the client app at all.

[Spike]

I buy anywhere but steam, except for rare games that are no where else that I have to have. MAS is my preferred store, even though the app has a lot of problems.

[Cougar]

Steam's app is popsnizzle, but Mac/PC versions are a must and it's the place where I have the most games/friends, so I buy from Steam first, and GOG if it's not on Steam. Never MAS.

Here's to hoping the incoming new UI is more than lipstick on a pig. (Valve has to rewrite it anyway in the next year because 32-Bit support will slowly be going away.)

mindnoise, on 25 October 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

Between App Store and Steam - Steam!!! Steam does not remove the things you purchased from your account - NEVER! - unlike Apple.

When has that happened?

[Camper-Hunter]

Thain Esh Kelch, on 25 October 2017 - 07:22 AM, said:

Well, if you are Windows gaming or use wrappers, Steam gives you more value. The prices are also way cheaper, with good sales, and you can buy Windows versions really cheap and later get the full priced Mac version for free. They also have more interesting games, but also way more junk.

Their client is god damn awful though

Hmm, it is the MAS you're talking about, right? Right? Now this is a god awful piece of software!
I don't get the Steam hate, but to each his own I guess.

I also don't get the Origin and Uplay hate, though I hardly use them since the catalog is much smaller than Steam's. (Steam excepted, I've only used the Windows versions, though.)

I like Steam for achievements, reviews, forums, customization, constant sales, library management (which could be better but is still much better than the others, when you have hundreds of games it's a plus). I'm not into cards and badges so I don't care about that. No other client does so many things besides game purchase. I dislike the fact you can't play different games from the same library on two computers simultaneously, though.

[ipickert55]

Camper-Hunter, on 25 October 2017 - 04:16 PM, said:

Hmm, it is the MAS you're talking about, right? Right? Now this is a god awful piece of software!
I don't get the Steam hate, but to each his own I guess.

I also don't get the Origin and Uplay hate, though I hardly use them since the catalog is much smaller than Steam's. (Steam excepted, I've only used the Windows versions, though.)

I like Steam for achievements, reviews, forums, customization, constant sales, library management (which could be better but is still much better than the others, when you have hundreds of games it's a plus). I'm not into cards and badges so I don't care about that. No other client does so many things besides game purchase. I dislike the fact you can't play different games from the same library on two computers simultaneously, though.

I hate steam because the app is garbage, they let garbage onto their store, and they just don't seem to care. It's a coin flip as to whether valve shows any concern for your problem, especially if it only concerns a small amount of people. I see no reason to give people like that my money.

Origin's app actually isn't terrible anymore, but it's also EA so I refuse to give any more money to that either. Uplay is so unnecessary. Same with battle.net.

Thats the running theme for all of the clients that exist solely for one publisher (or started out that way at least). It's just an unnecessary inconvenience on my part so they didn't have to pay a 10% cut to valve (and they still would have made literal frak tons of money).

All the things that you like about steam are present on GOG, so if you haven't given that a shot I would recommend it. It's also a great option if you have libraries on two computers because of the DRM free aspect of it.

Also, just noticed you're from Europe? Doesn't GOG offer compensation for regional pricing that steam doesn't offer? Seems like a sweet deal if you don't live in the states.

[the Battle Cat]

Steam, and about 3 or 5 Origin and Uplay titles.  They all work through the Steam client.  So basically I'm all Steam.  I mainly use Steam to play games on my Mac and PC, it gives me freedom of platform and I only have to pay for one platform so that's nice.  For years I've only used Steam to launch and buy games, and only in the last few months have I ventured into the other parts of the app, but like any good cat I live a solitary life.  I have a number of friends but belong to no groups or any community content.  My experience with Steam has been without complaint, I don't have experience in what else is out there but I don't really care because all my gaming needs are addressed by Steam.  So... I like Steam.  Never had so many games!

[Laurensvo]

Does anyone use Mac AppStore (MAS)? Does anyone recommend it?

[jeannot]

Have you read the replies to your first post?

[Camper-Hunter]

Quote

All the things that you like about steam are present on GOG, so if you haven't given that a shot I would recommend it.

I know Gog, I even have more than a hundred games there thanks to Gog Connect mainly and a few freebies.But I find it inferior to Steam, except for the DRM freeness. True, there's lots of junk on Steam, some games should never have been greenlit, but the catalog is larger and many good games aren't available on Gog.

Quote

It's also a great option if you have libraries on two computers because of the DRM free aspect of it.

That'd be great, if the games I'd like to access simultaneously existed on Gog. For instance, Humongous children games so my son can play his games while I play mine (in hindsight, I should have created a separate account!).

Quote

Also, just noticed you're from Europe? Doesn't GOG offer compensation for regional pricing that steam doesn't offer? Seems like a sweet deal if you don't live in the states.

Steam is still less expensive overall, especially with all those bundles which is my primary way of buying games.

[Laurensvo]

jeannot, on 26 October 2017 - 01:43 PM, said:

Have you read the replies to your first post?

Of course, but haven't heard a lot of people using MAS.

[Cougar]

Camper-Hunter, on 26 October 2017 - 01:50 PM, said:

That'd be great, if the games I'd like to access simultaneously existed on Gog. For instance, Humongous children games so my son can play his games while I play mine (in hindsight, I should have created a separate account!).

Are you sure they have Steam DRM? Many games (especially old ones) can be run outside the client.

Man, I have fond memories of Pajama Sam. It blew my mind when I later learned Ron Gilbert was behind Humongous, but it made perfect sense.

[Spike]

Laurensvo, on 26 October 2017 - 12:15 PM, said:

Does anyone use Mac AppStore (MAS)? Does anyone recommend it?

I use MAS as my main store and I recommend it. MAS has some stupid problems such as:
- trying to pause large downloads (such as tens of GB) and try to resume later
- MAS will not update applications that are on external drive (so I boot up on the external drive to update them)

Steam has things I cant stand such as:
- Not able to move games to where I want them such as small or frequent games on internal SSD AND large or rare games on external hard drive
- Intrusive tracking. Steam tracks which games you run and how much time and frankly that is none of steams business what game I run
- Annoying DRM of having to log in just to play a game (going to offline mode also has annoyances)

[Cougar]

Spike, on 26 October 2017 - 03:46 PM, said:

Steam has things I cant stand such as:
- Not able to move games to where I want them such as small or frequent games on internal SSD AND large or rare games on external hard drive

I don't know if there's a quick way to *move* games, but it's easy to set up multiple libraries, one on an SSD and one on an external. When you install a game you can choose where it goes via a popup.

[DirtyHarry50]

It's easy to move an existing Steam library or any part thereof wherever you want. You just go into Settings->Downloads->STEAM LIBRARY-FOLDERS->ADD LIBRARY FOLDER in the Steam client and create a new library wherever you please. While there, you can change which library is the default for new game installations too if desired.

After you've done the above you can exit Steam. Navigate to your existing library and drill down to the common folder where the installed games all live. Move whatever you wish from the existing library to the exact same place in the new steam library, namely the common folder. Having done this, restart Steam and find these titles in your library. They will appear to not be installed. Run the installer for each game you moved and Steam will notice it already exists in the new library so it will simply add anything needed for the first run setup, etc. which is quick since the game itself does not need to be downloaded.

That's it. I did this myself recently since I setup multiple operating systems on my notebook PC and wanted to be able to access my Steam library regardless of which environment I was in. This is a Linux setup in my case but that doesn't matter. I just wanted to mention how it is I knew the steps to do this. I only wanted one shared Steam library so that works for me although I left the existing original one in place which is now empty. This is very flexible and you can have multiple libraries wherever suits you.

In my opinion, there is nothing particularly evil about Steam. The client while ugly and bloated does still offer a great feature set so I have always focused on that. The fact that the store is a mess never mattered much to me. I set the default on opening the client to display my Library of games so I am not treated to whatever junk is being hawked every time I log in. I don't see any of that unless I deliberately choose to and when that's happened it was because I wanted to do a specific search and add to wish list or purchase then and there. I have never let store fronts sell me stuff. I know what I am after when I go shopping personally. That's just me but if that mess is irritating why even look at it or see it when you login to play your games? Just use the good stuff, the games, the forums at times, the workshop and multiplayer functionality and skip the rest. Last but not least of course is the even better option of a desktop icon or menu item to fire up a game directly and set Steam to exit when you quit the game. I think there is an option for that but I forget now.

Laurensvo, on 26 October 2017 - 02:48 PM, said:

Of course, but haven't heard a lot of people using MAS.

33% of respondents reported using MAS. Did you have some further, specific question regarding the MAS that hasn't been addressed?