Some things that Steam COULD bring to the table

[Cobra8472]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Yup, i know that you can turn off game updates and the client pauses downloads when you go full screen, but i still wouldn't like it being hit with a 300MB update between DF server sessions. Imagine the chaos when half the people auto-update, possibly even some servers, without the ability to roll back a patch: suddenly you can't join the server because you either disabled automatic updates and the server didn't, or vice versa, resulting in a different version being used.

Also, most flight sims usually feature large update packages over longer intervals and sometimes, due to the complexity of the product unwanted "features" can creep in.

Eventually everyone switches to the most recent version, but the way it was done in IL2 allowed everyone (from offliners to server admins) some time to actually test it and gradually make the switch to the new patch. For example, most DF servers don't upgrade to a new patch without the admins first announcing something on the respective forums, eg "the server will switch to 4.101 next monday at 16:00 GMT", which gives everyone ample time to prepare for the changes.

On the other hand Steam's system is fine if you have games with frequent but smaller patches.

In the end, this is what this whole steam debate is about. It's a good platform for certain kinds of games, but the lack of information makes many question if and how much it's properly geared towards the needs of a flight sim. I don't mind automatic updates just like i don't mind any other feature, as long as there is an option to turn it on/off.

Or, you know, we actually trust the developers for once that a patch is good?

Simply letting Steam patch your game is infinitely more useful than having to google for patches, getting the correct patch order, and finally installing the damn thing.
The patch actually being terrible and breaking the game is the fault of the developer, not the content distribution method.

..and there is no such game on Steam that requires 40-50mb patches between each round of gaming, or whatever some other poster was referring to.

Even the buggiest games do not get more than one patch per week, and that is for about a month after release, then it dies down.
Stop spewing redicilous accusations.

@Skoshi Tiger;
You simply aquire two seperate Steam accounts and buy it on both. Alternatively, you buy two copies on your main account, and then send one of them as a gift to the other account (Easy to do.)