Why I don't use Steam

Quick disclaimer, no this is not going to be one of those writeups against Steam saying its bad. This will be more about why I personally don't use Steam. Basically this writeup is less 'steam bad' and more 'peer pressure bad' as you will soon see.

So back when I did use Steam, I had a lot of fun with it and next to no issues with it. This was my experience in a nutshell in the early 2010s when I started using Steam for the first time. I was one of those people who joined Steam right around the time TF2 became free to play. However, I was never one of those people who played EVERYTHING on steam even back then. For instance, I played Quake Live before it became a paid steam game, then I played other games that arent even on steam. Most of the games I played during that time were forgettable to me, but I found out I was really into sandbox games. Garry's Mod is a solid steam game, but I was quite young at the time and ended up putting a lot more time into roblox. I think at the end of the day this is why I was never truly attached to Steam even when I liked it, plus I didn't have a huge backlog of games that add up in value like all the 'kool kidz' on Steam, so it was easier for me to quit Steam.

Some may still wonder why I even quit in the first place. Well, the reason for this actually has less to do with Steam itself and more with something pretty purist I did some time in 2020. I was being redpilled on things like the free software movement and the many things that people use under that umbrella, and unlike most people who very gradually switched over to such a paradigm, I pretty much did a purge of the mass majority of proprietary software and services that I use in just a few days. Windows, Google/YouTube, Steam, Discord, all gone within a matter of a few days. I had no regrets, and I was prepared for this since I had already been using linux a lot on my laptop at the time and got used to a FOSS collection of software. I realized, for me at least, there wasnt even that much for me to give up. If anything it felt liberating because I was escaping a world filled with peer pressure, brainrot, anticulture, spyware, and a number of other things that these services and their average userbases have deteriorated into over the years. I had fully embraced FOSS and retro gaming that dont require launchers to run as well as alternative protocols like irc, xmpp, mumble, etc. So basically the reason I don't use Steam is not necessarily because its bad, its because I don't need it. After all, Steam was probably the last thing in that list I deleted since imo, even now, it is the far lesser of evils and theres still a lot of good that can be said about Valve and what they have contributed to linux gaming. In the end however, despite even the good things they do in recent years, I'm still not interested in Steam. I just don't want my games to be under one umbrella I don't even own.

All that being said, many people would still disagree with my decision and think I should go back to Steam, they may even make recommendations like 'Oh well just use Steam in moderation, you don't have to be like those people who do everything and put everything in Steam'. No shit, that's what I would do if I went back, but the thing is Steam has so little to offer me specifically now that I don't see a reason to go back and use it. Thing is however, I've noticed a strange pattern in 2025 specifically. For whatever reason up until now, all those years I haven't been using Steam, little to nobody really cared and I could continue to just do my own thing without being pestered about a Steam specific game someone wants me to play. I figured it would stay that way since in the beginning, I was under the impression people in FOSS protocols were above this notion that if you don't have Steam, you're somehow a party pooper that doesn't like gaming at all. To be fair, most of the people who want me to use Steam don't get agressive or too pushy over me not using it, but unfortunately some do now. It seems that the rise of linux gaming under Steam has made the use of Steam rebound in FOSS circles, and its gotten to the point where it seems like even the more die hard FOSS purists I've met just so happen to also own a Steam account. THATS how ubiquitous Steam has become.

While its not as bad, I see people wanting me to install steam not too different from a zoomer wanting me to install Discord or some shitty fps game with kernel level anticheat, sure one may be more cringe than the other, but its this idea that if you dont play the games I play and dont like the things I like, therefore you're a heckin party pooper boring boomer lame brain and """WHY DO U HATE EVERYTHING THATS GOOD?! >:(""" soyjak-like mentality that I hate. What do you even call this anyways? Proprietary culture? Sadly this mentality also seems quite ubiquitous even on open protocols with different communities. That being said, thankfully most people are not THAT bad about this and just use Steam because for many people it's convenient and still decent compared to most of the bullshit currently going on in the video game industry. For me however, Steam just isn't my thing anymore, and unfortunately many people can't just seem to accept that anymore even though they could before for some reason. I guess it's just because of the linux gaming experience having improved on Steam over the years. That and for some of the people I've talked to personally about Steam, I've admitted there's a small chance of me going back to Steam since there are some steam only games I would actually enjoy playing, but I've also told them to never count on that. My reasoning for not using Steam boils down to this; I don't need it, I haven't for years now, and I quit it alongside many other proprietary systems and services that I simply don't need anymore. I'm not even much of a gamer to begin with, so for someone like me it actually seems silly to go back to a gaming service of all things when I can just stick with the few games I have installed that are not tied to Steam. I know some people may even barge in ignoring everything I just said and be like "Oh but you can just remove the DRM from the games to make them no longer dependent on Steam!". Games that fit this category can be found on GOG, and the mass majority of games that dont I'm not interested in anyways.

I could go on forever about this topic because sadly it seems like I'll be nagged about it forever at this point. This is something I thought I had escaped when embracing FOSS, but what do you know, its a small world and many of the same people who are into FOSS also use Steam, not too different from how many FOSS communities these days use Discord. I may have abandoned most proprietary software, but proprietary culture has come back to haunt me and nag at me, even with things I literally don't even need. It also doesn't help that theres also this weird cultural stigma going around where people will think you're a gay communist just for liking FOSS stuff. I understand in recent years theres been a lot of weird shit going on in the FOSS world with Red Hat, IBM, Google and what not introducing pseudostandards both on a technological level and a cultural level, and this kind of thing is well beyond the scope of this writeup, but unfortunately this too has fueled the pro steam crowd since people see steam users as epic chuds so therefore nothing is wrong with Steam guys! Its based and if you think it isnt then that must mean you're a gay commie furry tranny cuckold faggot! Thaaaaaaaats politics!

Never mind the fact that I don't care if you use Steam or not and I actually think there are benefits for most people using it. If you remember the disclaimer then you know this has more to do with why I PERSONALLY don't use Steam rather than why you shouldn't. Let people play the games they want to play. Don't be a nagger.