We can still hot-rod today, but the backyard mechanic part is pretty hard.

Some of us computer owners are computer-hotrodders.  Allowing unnecessary programs that slow things down (we can argue how much steam does and if it's enough to be a problem, but not that it does), and that may/probably interact with the myriad of other necessary programs, is undesirable.

There's also the privacy thing.  Letting steam or impulse connect once in a while to grab a game or update is one thing, having one of them running just to play a SBDISPGPO crosses the line for me.

Ok:

The Half Life 2 mod Zombie Master/Zombie Panic Source is available on Steam, along with Left 4 Dead.

Fortress Forever is available on Steam, along with TF2. 

If you type "Garrys mod" in the search you will see that paid version for $10USD - you'll also see the free mod for HL2. 

I really don't know how the mods will be handled for Civ5, it might be just as limited as MW2, but keep in mind it was known before MW2 was released that it was not going to be PC friendly.  Civ5 is being touted for it's mod-ability and the community features, so judging CIV5 off of MW2 is pretty misguided. 

Edit:

Nick - you're not doing your intensive hotrodding work while you're playing a game, you could always completely exit Steam when you're done gaming and go back to your efficient CPU/RAM usage for your work.  I compose music, I generally leave Steam running, and I'm fine running Cubase and RAM/CPU intensive VSTis.  I could even record multiple tracks (very CPU/RAM intensive) without Steam making a significant difference.  But that's not the point - it's your computer, I have no argument against a user just not wanting it on their system.  

BTW, nice dog!  We have 2 huskies ourselves.   

Acti I do boycott outright, they're pretty much 1 of the 2 publishers I boycott (Sega is the other, though that will end when the new Virtua Fighter is announced for console)

I don't think anyone is calling for a boycott of anything, except Civ 5 here.  In my case, I don't want to buy for a mix of DRM and Steam issues. 

I'm not calling for a boycott of Steam.  I'll use Steam for cheap games.  I just don't trust Steam with anything expensive the way I would Impulse or GG.

Are yours Siberians too, or malamutes or...?  Do they bark?  Got any pics (pm if you don't want to do it here)?

Ours are Siberians, one's a wolly (long fur) the other is a standard.  Your dog sounds like an angel!  Our male (the wolly) is about 7 and doesn't pretend to be an alpha male, he gave that up and lets our female be the boss...as long as he gets his food, a cool place to sleep, and a belly rub every once in a while he's fine.  He's very mellow.

Our female is a terror!  She's almost 4, she escapes, barks at people walking their dog, wants to play 24/7, thinks everything is hers and she has a right to get inside (trash, the cats food, our food, etc).  When she's inside and we're occupied watching a movie, she tends to do things like - waiting till we're distracted, then walking quietly into the kitchen and jumping up to look at the counters to see if we left anything out.  I got on to her plans only after I noticed her trying to sneak upstairs with the whole bag of bread...she's too smart for her own good. 

They bark, but they mainly sing and howl.  They do the wolfs howl quite a bit together. 

Here's what she started as: 

And 3.5 years later (along with our wolly, plus a stray we're trying to find a home for):

Are those combat pets or just vanity?

Hahaha! 

I think the Pitmix said he's not gonna get Civ5...

Those are beautiful creatures (yes I'm biased but still they're gorgeous)! 

Guess I'm lucky mine's quiet and well-behaved, and I like her independence/spirit (even when it's problematic), but I do miss her not doing the 'wolf howl'.

Is the wooliness of the male from some malamute or something mixed in, or is that part of a siberean's normal variation?  How much do they weigh?

@Aractain We haven't had a chance to find out if she's a 'combat pet' (hopefully won't) but I do walk her anytime from midnight to 4am here in phoenix (relatively safe/quiet neighborhood) without concern for our safety.  She's big enough and has enough of an 'appearance' to dissuade most hooliganism.  Kick, I think your pair would keep folks on their best behavior.

Well, if they're going to be hosting an "official mod hub" and distributing mods through it, that's pretty reasonable. Companies get sued for distributing copyright infringing material, and offering your customers downloads that will trash their computer is generally bad for business (unless you're Mcafee).

Since you can download mods the old fashioned way still as well, there's no problem. I actually like the idea of having some assurance that a mod was checked for malicious activity. (Mind you I'd like it even more if they used a format that prevented mods from doing bad things in the first place, but they didn't and we're stuck with C++ mods now.)

I spoke to some classmates on our way to CeBit about DRM. All of us agreed that registering online is something all of us were perfectly fine with.

I spoke to my friends and family about the same thing, we are not okay with it.

This doesn't affect my desire for Civ V in any way.  Of course I'll get it.  Who cares if you have to use steam?  That's like complaining that a game is only available on DVD and not 3.5" floppys.  This is a non-issue.  This is no different than having to use Impulse. 

For like the umpteenth-billion time in this thread alone, there is a difference between games using Impulse and those using Steamworks. The difference is to play my game out-of-the-box I never need to use Impulse even one time. No online authentication, just cd-key and you're playing. You must authenticate online using Steamworks. Impulse also doesn't require a constant online connection and/or setup of offline mode to play games at all. Steamworks does. Impulse also doesn't require you to update to the latest version of a game before playing. Unimaginably, the new Steamwork does.

Note: I say Steamworks instead of Steam because games bought that use Steamworks vs bought using Steam w/out Steamworks operate differently.

You're getting sidetracked by DRM.  DRM and registering the game online isn't the issue with people against Steam in this thread.  While we all would like that not to be a requirement it is for most games even those from Stardock (if you want updates/patches).  I don't have a problem with having to do this.

The problem that I and most people have is this requirement to have Steam/Steamworks running all the time to play a *SINGLE PLAYER* game, even in "offline mode" it is still running.

Again, no problem with Steam needing to be running if you want to go online and get patches, play multiplayer or whatever.  The problem is it running in a primarily single player game.

And then there are mods.  There has been no confirmation weather mods will work outside the Steamworks system (in other words downloading them from Civ Fanatics or something).  If mods have to be approved by Steam that leads to whole other issues.  And what about 10 yrs from now?  Will Valve still have staff to approve mods?  The thing about Civ games is they are played forever.  Civ 3 still has an active mod community let alone Civ 4.  Heck, there are still people that play Civ 2 to this day.  So will Valve still be around 10 yrs from now to not only approve mods but to keep the game alive with Steamworks so heavily embedded in it?  This isn't your FPS game that gets tossed in the trash heap 6 months after it comes out.  Civ is *different*.

And another thing about mods, many people have several different patch versions of Civ installed to run various different mods, some of witch may not work with later patches.  No way you'll be able to run multiple versions of Civ 5 with Steam.  Just not possible.

And sure you can set Civ 5 to not auto update, but my understanding (and it could be wrong) if you go online with Steam for another reason, say to play another Steam game, it will detect there is an update to Civ 5 anyway and will force you to update it before you can play again.  There is back and forth on this one on other forums so maybe it's not an issue, maybe it's not. 

But it's certainly possible technically which is another reason why we don't want Steam required for a *SINGLE PLAYER* game.  Sure, if you want to play multiplayer it's good to have everyone on the same version.  Fantastic, no problem with that.  But again, for a single player game there is no need.

I could go on but why bother, those that are Steam lovers just can't see it from the other side.  Steam is great for many games, especially all these shooters.  But for a primarily *SINGLE PLAYER* game it's uneeded and frustrating. 

Jesus Christ, are you still in here spreading false information? Valve is not the publisher for Civ5. They will not have to approve mods. 2k/Firaxis will be the ones doing that.

You need to do research before spouting off.

Torchlight uses Steamworks and lets you drop mods into a mod directory.
http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/torchlightmods/

HL2 uses Steamworks (obviously) and has tons and tons of mods, none of which need to be approved and can be downloaded from external websites. The mods you see on Steam are simply being promoted/hosted by Valve. Some mods even become official and can be sold as games (Counterstrike).
http://www.fpsbanana.com/mods/9

TF2 allows tons of custom maps, character skins, modded servers, modded gametypes, etc.
http://www.fpsbanana.com/mods/297

Need I go on? Of course not. You're going to ignore reality and live in your own little dream world anyway.

You're also wrong about the update issue. Every game has its own keep this game up to date setting. For someone who doesn't use Steam, you seem to think you know a lot about it.