I was a casual gamer before Steam came along. In fact, I'd kind of given up after buying some expensive crap games at gamestop. Actually, GameStop was making me hate gaming. The way they rip people off on trade-ins is just ridiculous.
Now, with Humble Bundle and other bundle sites, if I get a couple stinkers in the bundle, it doesn't hurt ($$$) quite as bad. add to that that when you buy from Humble Bundle a portion goes to charity.....That's a win/win in my book.
So, gaming has become something else for me. I'm really into all the great ideas and artwork that goes into some of these games. I'm amazed at all the gameplay possibilties and how smart developers infuse new and creative ideas for old school style games .....expanding the possibilities in ways I woudl have never thought of. It really is an artistic expression in some of these games. Neverending Nighmares comes to mind right away as an expression of human experience ....unlike anything you'd expect from "video games".
I've found humor, horror, brand new ways of doing platform games, totally insane games like Dino D-day and Goat Simulator ....all because of Steam.
I'm pretty old now. But, I still think gaming is amazing. I go way back to pinball and air hockey, then there were home systems with very basic sprite pixel characters, it kept evolving....and now....or very soon...Occulus Rift is coming. I've watched electronic entertainment being born and evolving to where it is now.
I think the consoles are way behind on the greatness and coolness of indie games and ha ving the opportunity given to gamers to get in on a game AS IT DEVELOPES. That's quite a thing.
SZo, yeah. I'm an OG when it comes to gaming. But, I still suck at most games I play. So, there's that. I play Pinball Arcade to get my pride restored. I guess I just wanted to thank whomever is behind Steam for really bringing gaming to a new level....a mixed bag for sure. But, amazing none-the-less