Well i am not sure if this is the rite place for this post or not but i figured i would give it a go. I must say that at first i too was very put off at having to use steam to play a game that i have purchased. Although my anger has subsided after using it with no real issues yet, My biggest problem with this is not that steam does not work but that i have purchased a piece of software but still don't actually own the whole piece of software. What i mean by this is it still bothers me that the program is not installed on my computer and there seems to be no option to do this. I would much rather have the game that i paid for installed completely on my computer and be able to take my computer any where i go and be able to play the game i purchased without needing to connect to the internet to do so. Keep in mind I an not a huge multiplayer of games although i do dabble, but for me this is not why i buy the game. I have owned IL2 for 3 years now and play it constantly and have not once used the multiplayer. But that's just me i really enjoy the flight sim as a stand alone. I know these days it is not such a big deal as most of the places that one might travel on business or pleasure have internet access but it bothers me that only a piece of what i have purchased is actually in my possession. I guess i think of it like if i bought a car that i had always wanted and i was so excited to use it everyday and all day when ever i wanted to and when i got to the dealer i noticed a cord hanging out of the trunk that connected me to the dealer and they told me that even though i was purchasing the car for cash i could only use it while it was plugged into one of there dealers and that if i ever wanted to take it somewhere where the cord didn't reach one of there dealers it would not work i would feel just the same about it. i would still buy the car i think but would feel like i still didn't really own it and it wasn't really mine so why am i paying the same price as someone that can buy the exact same type of thing with no cord attached? i know bad analogy but i hope the principle makes sense lol. This said i recently bought dawn of war II from direct to drive and had to go through steam to install and use it. it has been working fine and i have been able to play my game every time that i have wanted to so far, but again it just gives me a funky feeling paying for something that i don't really own and when it comes rite down to it, even if it happens just once that i cant (internet problems, moving no service, bad hotel internet connection, or any other reason then i will probably be a bit angry about it again
Hope no one takes this as a flame just my personal feeling on this subject.