I use STEAM because:

a) I have friends and I love playing and chatting with them -> fun times! :D
b) I like the way my games are in order and updated all by itself without me doing anything else.
c) I like the way I categorize my library and can find any game I want to play
d) Steam gives me access to game workshops so I can enhance my gaming experience
e)Backups!!! One of my hard disks went BOOOM.... and I had to re-download around 1TB of Data - so easy with STEAM and I haven't lost any of my saved games that were in the cloud :D
f) Without Steam Linux Gaming wouldn't exist!!!

I understand that is not good to have a monopoly in games but I dont understand why GOG is not giving a steam key as well with my purchase ... whats the big deal????
I dont buy all my games from Steam... I buy from humble or any other valid providers that can give me a steam key in a good price.

I don't use any DRMed services as a form of voting with my wallet. That's why I don't use Steam. Using GOG I support their efforts of moving DRM-free gaming forward. Those who use DRMed services unfortunately help proliferating this unethical practice.

Quoting: ShmerlI understand that is not good to have a monopoly in games but I dont understand why GOG is not giving a steam key as well with my purchase ... whats the big deal????

Why should GOG promote their own competitor? If you want Steam games, buy them on Steam. Humble is a different case since they are Steam reseller and are not really competing with Steam. GOG do.

I also see some issues with Steam exclusive titles, but usually it is done because of the developer's convenience and is not due to of some "evil" DRM scheme.
If Steam's competitors would get their act together and release a similarly useful platform both for users and developers, this would be much less of a problem.

What I would like to see though, is Valve opening up the Steam machines to other vendors. Sure there is probably nothing stopping a hardware vendor to install another online-shop besides Steam on the Steam machines, but it would be great if Valve would decouple the big-picture mode UI from the shop and/or allow a back-end for external sellers.

Last but not least, do we really need to worry so much about DRM in many games?
I see a big gulf in games today:

First the ones that get hundreds of hours play-time, mostly as online games. Here DRM can really hurt, but so does dependence on company owned servers and lack of available source-code. For those (few) games, being against DRM really isn't enough, and we should rather insist on an open development style and the right to set-up unofficial servers etc.

On the other hand, there are the majority of "play through once and enjoy the experience" type of games. These are really a bit more like movies of books, where badly done DRM can hurt the legal customer's experience a bit and the right to re-sell is limited (which is fine if a low initial price makes up for it).
Overall I would say though, that for these games "convenient" DRM (as in the case of Steam, i.e. it doesn't really get in your way as a legal customer, and prices are generally lower), is a fair compromise between the users and the developers.

So to sum it up: being against DRM really isn't enough for some games, but for the bulk of "play through once" games Steam is ok as it is.

Well you might need steam client to get the games, but you need a web browser to use gog. So both need internet connection and a program of some sort to download the games. Gog also have a client that will eventually be on linux aswell, and I will definitely use it to avoid manually updating/patching games.

The games on steam that are drm free, don't need steam even installed once you have them.

People worry/complain about some pretty silly stuff.

No, that's invalid comparison. Using the browser is needed to buy the game. That's not DRM. It's not needed to install it, restore it from backup, play it and so on. DRM is something that restricts your usage after you already bought it. And Steam does exactly that.

No the DRM free titles can be backed up and used with out steam once you have it. Steam is only needed to buy/download them in the first place. With gog you need a browser to buy/download them. So my comparison stands.
Any game that requires steam running to play is entirely the game developers choice. Steam doesn't force them too. So put your blame on the game devs where it belongs.

Quoting: SkullyNo the DRM free titles can be backed up and used with out steam once you have it. Steam is only needed to download them in the first place. Any game that requires steam running to play is entirely the game developers choice. Steam doesn't force them too.

Not according to the official Steam backup tool documentation. It claims Steam is required to restore your backup. Also, it's against the TOS to backup it manually (of course you can say "who cares about the TOS", but I don't have respect for services with such rules). Regardless, with Steam they don't warn you whether the game uses DRM or not before you buy it. So all this combined makes me view Steam DRMed as a whole.

Quoting: wolfyrionWithout Steam Linux Gaming wouldn't exist!!!

Makes me wonder what I was doing with my life before Fall 2012... oh wait, I was playing games on Linux. Take the hyperbole down a notch before trying to rewrite history.

Quoting: wolfyrionThe games on steam that are drm free, don't need steam even installed once you have them.

Most modern releases on Steam are DRM encumbered as it is one of the core features of the service. The fact that Valve sells and promotes its own DRM layer as part of its Steamworks API should tell you that:
https://partner.steamgames.com/documentation/api

Buying DRM free games on Steam is like buying candy from a crack dealer. The candy may be all well and good, but you are still propping up the guy who likes to deal in the harder stuff.

Quoting: JuliusOn the other hand, there are the majority of "play through once and enjoy the experience" type of games. These are really a bit more like movies of books

Do you really want to live in a world where art is considered to be disposable? Because I don't. But then, I almost never play through a game just once.

Quoting: SkullyAny game that requires steam running to play is entirely the game developers choice. Steam doesn't force them too. So put your blame on the game devs where it belongs.

There is such a thing as aiding and abetting. Valve provides and promotes its own DRM service to developers. They can hardly be absolved of blame by those of us who do not consider such actions to be blameless.