And point #4 - Completely eliminate the smurfing problem 

I think the devs will be surprised at what they get from integration with steam.... the playerbase is going to be great!

The "smurfy" comment wasn't directed at anyone in particular.  Anyone who has been around SINS MP long enough knows who the smurfs and their "alts" are; I was simply saying "who cares if some of the old guard smurfy smurfs get pissed........they are (contrary to their beliefs maybe) not "the community".

This is part of the problem though.  These days a new game is only as good/fresh/engaging/captivating as it's MP component.  As much as us older gamers maybe fondly remember our 'epic' SP-only games of old; this is the new video-game landscape and a new game's longevity (for better or for worse) is absolutely defined by how well it's MP component does what I've already stated. 

The proverbial writing with regard to this has been on the wall for some time now, there is no escaping it.  MP makes the gaming world go around and digital distributors holding the reigns to the distribution, connectivity and stat-tracking all under one roof is the way it's all going to be.  The only one's who (in my opinion) still oppose same are those [few] who still hang onto the old idea of slow, story-driven SP gaming (believe me I was one of those too at one time.......I've just agreed to evolve! ) and those who look to circumvent buying multiple copies of games because their favourite kind of gaming is at LAN-parties and well........let's face it.........who ponies up for 10 copies of game just to "play with some buds drinkin some buds!" ? 

I think there will always be a place for single player focused games.

Well, Steam does that every time I log in with their news/update panel thing. But anyways, nothing that a second of moving the mouse and clicking the x can't cure.

But yeah, I used to hate Steam way back in the day, I subscribed to all the horror stories of how Valve would eventually control your computer, force you to do the Calypso and then make shrimp fingered hands bust out of your monitor and throw you to the ground. I held out as long as possible, but after Impulse was sold it was time to give Steam another try... after all they couldn't possibly be as bad as Ubisoft or Gamestop... right? And it's not. Never had a single problem, although I only have ~15 games... I still find GamersGate has better deals. I don't think I've paid less than 75% for any games except for a few new AAA titles. Offline mode works great, I log in once a week and get all the updates, glance at the stuff on sale and then go back to offline mode. 

Steam may have been the bad juju pit of despair a few years ago, but the alternatives now are far worse.

Just like it was totally unfair when developers started making games CD only, leaving their Loyal Fans™ (with floppy drives) in the cold!

And then they did it again some time after DVDs came out! Game sales effectively came to a halt as the direct result of it! Or wait... did they?

In my case, i have begin use Steam because of Impulse... each time that i have wish to buy a game on impulse, it end up with a "US only" thing... First game that Impulse have push me to buy on Steam was Dragon age origins... discover it on impulse but it was again US only...

So, first positive point with Stardock using Steam is that it is a worldwide service... don't need to use a US proxy and fake billing address like with Impulse when you wish yo use a title...

A other problem with the original release of sins was the delay of a few month for the European release... with Steam, it is possible to have localization release world wide at the same time, to have a good update support too... Kalypso have never made any localized update... European have end up with a mixed game with local language and english for voice...

A other positive side is that Steam work on linux... Impulse have never work... Sins/ent/dip work better on linux that on windows... by example more fps if you bios have a "discrete MTRR allocation" option and that you have more that 4gb ram...well, these bios option is not well know because it work with ALL operating system EXCEPT windows !!! A other example is the famous 2gb lmit for sins... well, it become 4gb on linux with a unmodified exe... making the exe large address aware, i was able to push the game to use over 11gb... well, now i can have steam+sins on linux, no more new update on windows and copy all the files...

So, a short summary... Steam is beneficial for worldwide release ( bye bye 'us only' and month waiting a local release ), support localization ( bye bye Kalypso ), and work on linux ( like stardock central was working on linux too )...

Now, i am not a big fan of Steam... i have my share of problem... by example, plenty of BSOD at boot time due to conflict between OS, Steam and my hardware raid system... but once boot is a success, it is stable ( problem don't exist with linux, so i bet that it is more a OS problem that a steam one )...

A other problem is that they sometime add crap to a patch... by example, around christmas, there was a patch for shogun 2... add snowman, geisha with star in hair, etc... was so crap that on some castle battle, capture point for tower was outside the castle... in some case, section of castle was missing... need to wait until after the holiday period for the game to have a new patch and become playable again...

A recent problem, last Sunday, with Medieval II Total war... connection was lost and i was unable to start the game... result was something like "Steam error : application unavailable. Try at a later time"... offline mode is great only if you start steam in offline mode... if you start online and that communication drop with their server, you can only wait until their server are not so busy or up again... by the way, i have the original disc of total war medieval II and these don't need steam... my actual version of medieval was buy on Steam when they have make a huge package with all total war game with all DLC for a very small price ( have discover Rome TW, a old one but the best of all )...

In conclusion, steam have some advantage and some disadvantage... well, nothing is perfect... and since there is no real alternative... i am not happy with the move of Rebellion to steam, i was hoping a Stardock central version who will continue to work if someday Steam dissappear ( history show that no empire have ever last forever )...

[ Jafo, don't read the following, you will thing again that i promote piracy ]

Personally, i will buy Rebellion when released ( cannot pre-order because it don't accept paypal ) ... will use it with steam... and if it become a problem to play with it due to Steam down or other Steam related reason, i will simply download a crack ( when something is protected, soon of later, there is a crack ) who allow me to fully enjoy ( single player ) the game that i have pay for...

The question is: would those people have paid for the game if they had to?

I would bet (if only I were a betting man) that most of the people you refer to would not have bought Sins...if they couldn't have obtained it for free, they probably wouldn't have gotten it at all...that in no way makes their actions any more justified, but at least Stardock isn't "missing out" on some possible profit (or at least not very much)...

On the flip side, what positive benefits come from having no DRM?  I, like you, can only base this off of my own personal experience (which is likely more limited than yours)...

I was the first person in my group of friends to own this game....of course, despite my positive review of the game, none of them were willing to invest 40 dollars into getting the game and the expansions...so I let 6 (maybe 7, not sure) of my friends use my account on their computer to play this game at their leisure and see if they liked it...as of today, 3 of those 6 people decided they really liked this game and chose to buy Trinity...2 of those people still play with me and are likely to buy rebellion (one I think pre-ordered but he may cancel when he finds out it's on steam)...

Stardock's policy regarding DRM may have allowed 6 of my friends to play this game for free, but in doing so 3 of them became convinced to buy the game for themselves...I can tell you with a moral certainty that none of those people (who were all on low college-age budgets) would have ever been willing to risk $40 dollars without extensive exposure to the game...

Ultimately, a lack of DRM allowed one account to facilitate the sale of 3 Trinity versions...that's $120 Stardock would never have seen had Sins been implemented with a strict DRM.  Is this experience unique or commonplace?  I don't know...but if Sins had originally been released on Steam I know for a fact that I nor none of my friends would have ever even touched it...

EDIT:  Boshimi beat me to it with stories about even more people, so I know now I'm not alone in this! 

Now more on topic....

Sins right now is not predominately an online multiplayer game, but given the nature of the game I think it should be...though I know rebellion will change this, Sins gameplay is more conducive to human vs. human strategy showdowns than to an immersive single-player experience...as such, I think a focus on improving multiplayer is a good one....

Clearly Stardock will lose sales by this decision (as can be seen by all the people choosing to cancel their pre-order), but I think they will gain far more by improving the MP experience and making the game more accessible to that type of player...to be perfectly honest, Sin's SP is much weaker than its MP...compared to a game like Gal Civ II or Civ 5, Sins is severely lacking in the single player depth...this game (it seems at least) was meant to be a MP game and so I laud Stardock for doing everything they can to provide that audience with a fantastic MP experience....

Personally though, I'm pretty bummed about this steam deal...I was really looking forward to uninstalling impulse and getting to use Stardock Central again...and I just hope future titles that are more SP than MP (Gal Civ III, fingers crossed) don't become steam exclusive....I might have to curl up into the fetal position and cry a river or two if that occurs...

My only worry with services is broadband caps.  It's quite likely that by this time next year, my only choice for an ISP that isn't heavily capped will be dial-up.

Monk, do be mindful that I do not host LAN parties, have cracks of any game, or feel that Sins will lose money on this move. I believe they will be successful. I just wish not to be part of it. Right or wrong is not my concern. I can only speak for my interests as I see them.

You'd be surprised, especially if you watch the occasional TV show or sporting event over the internet.

The same thing applies for me which is why I have posted the things I have.

Some of my fondest memories of gaming past took place at LAN parties.  I even helped organise/host some larger LANs (ie. several hundred people) which were by all accounts a great success.  Of course the ability to share games around as easily as we can these days has (in my opinion) caused many developers to disable LAN connectivity (or at least try to limit it by also requiring internet connectivity at the same time for authentication etc.) and therefore the number of current games one can effectively play at LAN parties (at least without too much "hacking around" trouble) has dwindled.

I guess I just wish if the potiental (which absolutely does exist) that STEAMWORKS integration might break these easily-slapped-together-LAN-events is an individual's reason for disliking STEAM in general; more of those individuals should come forward with that argument as opposed to some (whom I suspect feel that way but) who don't state that as a reason and simply jump on the "STEAM is evil and we hate it" bandwagon.  I know a few have made that reason known in other threads but if it's meant to be taken seriously the discussion needs to be entered into with the DEVS from the perspective of testing/trying to find a solution rather than immediate threat of boycott etc.

Just my thoughts.....