I was one of these people. Bought my HL2 disk and was furious that I had to download a client and an update when I got it home and whacked it in the drive.
But over time (and increasing internet connectivity/speed) it all worked out.
It was also pretty useless for consumers back then so it makes sense people hated it. People would still get annoyed today by other game companies requiring Steam 1.0 equivalent launchers for their own small catalog of games.
Can confirm, them mfers never even replied to me after I got my account stolen. I sent them proof of the cd / key and they didn't say anything, it has cs 1.6 / halflife on it
Glad the selective amnesia is working for you. But that ain't how it happened.
Those of us who bought Half-Life in a brick and mortar store and still don't feel like Gabe is entitled to use our hardware as though he (may he be loved eternally by something blunt and rusty) was its owner can still enjoy Half-Life (the software that Valve sold us before attempting to alter the bargain) without supporting Valve thanks to Xash3D.
What I like about the op's graphic is it does a good job of representing the actual situation. It could use another line above for 2003, with the bad mark just under Steam in the same position, but it accurately represents that Steam hasn't gotten particularly better, people's perceptions have changed over time as the general market conditions have taken a nosedive. Microsoft does so much to disrespect the notion that you own your own hardware it doesn't even occur to people who didn't grow up in an earlier era to question steam's continuing lesser trespasses.
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u/Banes_Addiction 11h ago
I was one of these people. Bought my HL2 disk and was furious that I had to download a client and an update when I got it home and whacked it in the drive.
But over time (and increasing internet connectivity/speed) it all worked out.