Where is the alternative:
"I like steam, and I see no reason for it to be made optional"
It comes with options such as "Online" and "Offline" modes
I play a lot of games that require steam and pretty much all of them are playable in "offline" mode
Only a few times I have accidently shut down my PC unknowing of a client update, it has required me to reconnect to the internet to complete the update!
Steam updates your games for you, you get EXCELLENT speeds when downloading (I usually download at around 1-1,5 mb/s). All steam-supported games are installable/un-installable from steam, and they remain in your library as "greyed out" to show that they are purchased games, but not installed. Games that aren't supported can still be added manually so that you can remove any eventual shortcuts from your desktop. Steam also provides a nice ingame chat/friends/community access feature, which allows you to single out players you enjoy socializing with and add them quickly to your friends list. Then you can choose to have steam alert you if your friend has started playing the same game as you, and you can simply click the "(FRIEND) is playing IL-2:Cliffs Of Dover" icon and select "join friend's game". At least that is the scope of steam.
And even if you are an offliner. Steam will simply be your "portal" to your games News, patches, updates, mods and servers if you should play online. Start steam in offline mode, and it lets you choose your game. Or better yet, have steam closed, click IL-2 CoD's desktop Icon, and it will start steam in offline mode first (takes a few secs) and then starts your game!
Steam is also a great thing to help you become aware of your gaming addiction. Such as checking stats:
"Empire: Total War - You have played it 90 hours in the past 3 weeks"
