motoki

The other point I want to make is that people aren't passing on non Steam games because they worship Steam, they pass on them because Steam is a huge convenience and it's a hassle having a large collection of digital games without having them all consolidated to a few places as possible.

This is very much First World Problems for people who just keep buying and buying games on deals and end up with way too many.

My sister on the other hand maybe gets 4-6 PC games a year for her and the kids. She's not bothered about what the source is or having a client etc because she doesn't have to worry about keeping track of them all. They really only play one or two games at a time and then move on. On the other hand, awareness of indie games is pretty much outside of what she's exposed to.

I used to be like this in my boxed retail days but the convenience of digital downloads and all the insane deals plus the whole world of indie games that opened up (for me) with digital just completely shifted the way I buy. Many of us now who hang out on gaming deal sites joke about our backlogs because they're nuts (1500+ on Steam for me and probably another 100+ on Desura YIKES) but for it also gives more choices when I want to play and supports the indie (and sometimes no so indie) gaming industry so I don't see it as a bad thing.

There's just a comfort to me of going through your list of games in a client when you don't know what you are in the mood for and seeing them all there and picking one from there. If they aren't there for me it's out of sight out of mind. Then if I even remember the game at all I find myself going 'Wait, where did I get that from again? Does it need to be updated? Where do I go for that' etc.

Services like BMT Micro, which a lot of indie devs still use, where you just get a one time link to download that expires and no updates and no organization with the rest of your games is the past. It's like going to the store to rent a video and worrying about having to remember to take it back or you'll get a late fee etc once Netflix came out. Now that there's a much more convenient alternative, it's hard for me to go back to the old less convenient way.

I think there really needs to be an open source neutral territory client service that anyone can put their game on without being denied and submit their updates through and that isn't tied to any one particular company. Gabe Newell actually said something along those lines in recent interviews but who knows if/when he will do anything about it? Desura is sort of supposed to be like that but it's not promoted well at all and the client hasn't been updated in year even after they open sourced it.

TL;DR - It's not that people hate Indie developers who aren't on Steam, it's just the convenience issue and the fact that people may well lose track of games that aren't with the rest of their collection.

Personally I will buy a game if it has either a Steam key OR a Desura key, but I can't do (clientless) DRM free. I need a client. I have way too many games (and deals like IGS encourage me to BAI MOAR!) and the clientless ones tend to be forgotten. Also it's just too many of a pain to have to constantly run to a website looking for updates for a bunch of different games.

I will say you guys are really good about emailing when they are updates. Most of the others don't do that. I still need some sort of client though and a number of other people I know are the same way.

I've heard Desura is generally not so profitable for Indie Devs so some don't want to put their games there which I can understand, but on the other hand if they can't get into Steam but are going to put their games in bundles and promotions then for many of us Desura keys is the next best thing so I hope they understand that.

The GOG keys probably help some, particularly because the Reddit traffic IGS gets has a large Euro base who on the whole (yes I realize I'm generalizing here) tend to be pro GOG. Personally I'd prefer Desura to GOG because of the client aspect but if we can get both then more options is always a good thing.

On a somewhat related note, did you have any input on the decision NOT to issue Steam keys to existing owners of Wanderlust who bought it prior to the game going up on Steam?

I want to support indie games but I also like having my games all tied to the one account as much as I can. Other developers in the past have in fact issued out Steam keys to existing owners who bought their games prior. Refusing to do that makes me very reluctant to purchase any indie games outside of Steam. This can hurt indie developers in the end because sometimes they need that early funding to continue development and gain momentum to get the game on Steam in the first place.

I see this comment a lot from people and I'm kind of shocked how all the many other bundles are so much more low visibility than Humble for some people, but then again I run around various gaming deal sites so I routinely see pretty much every bundle mentioned.

As an aside to this, while the gamejams are a great idea for developers getting started or trying to get new ideas, I really don't love them in bundles and promotions and such. I feel like you just end up with a half baked, half finished game that nobody will ever play. Yes Catacomb Snatch I am looking at you.