IMO another big reason is elimination of second hand sales.

Second-hand sales of PC games have been in a comatose state of near-death for years, but Steamworks rips the feeding tube out for good, I suppose.

I never was going to buy it.............play it yes, buy it no.

I'd say that's the biggest reason, more so than the piracy one.  They want to turn games into a service which you don't own and therefore you can't resell.  Same old greedy anti-consumer terms of service.

It's all good in my books.  I have over 130 games currently on my STEAM account.  I buy, I download, I play, when finished I move on to the next one.  Like I said in my previous post.  Some of us approach gaming as a "consumer-sport" (to me it's like eating a cookie.....I consume it....and then I reach into the bowl for another one...hehe).   No problems with the STEAM model.  Rinse and Repeat! 

If cookie-eating is a sport, sign me up for the professional draft.

...Wait, so if Steam is like eating cookies (which is apparently a sport), is that why Gabe Newell developed it? Is he seeking to legitimize his cookie-devouring ways?

In that case: STFU and GTFO !!!

...and there you go......dipshits like you lending legitimacy to the pro-DRM argument from DEVS/PUBLISHERS......sigh

I do see a difference and that's why I said that I can understand being concerned about technical issues like Steam being down or not being able to access the internet. I just don't think it's reasonable to be concerned that Steam will suddenly decide to hold all of your games hostage. I could imagine them deciding to for example charge for premium call of duty MP server access or something like that. But everyone would just buy from someone else if they started adding a fee to play all of your games after you bought them. I mean by the same logic you should be afraid to put your money in a bank....afterall your giving up even more control of something even more important and they have much power to screw you over compared to Steam.

Worrying that they will go out of business is more reasonable, but that's where the physical copy matters. Worrying that they will go out of business and say "haha nobody in the world can ever play civilzation again because we aren't unlocking your games" is less reasonable however.

As I said even without a physical copy though I tend to prefer digital copies to physical, because I think it's a much greater risk that I will lose, damage or just throw away a game I want to play later then that the company will go out of business. If your better organized then me though then that might be different! Something like Civ 5 however where you get both the digital copy and the stored electronic copy is the best of all worlds for me.

Stored electronic copy? Are you referring to the physical copy? Either way, this copy is still 100% Steam-dependent, so it offers none of the security of a traditional physical backup copy.

[Civ 5 Customers] minus [Pre-existing Steam Customers] = [New Valve Customers].

This is the problem I have with the situation.  Turning all PC Gamers into Valve customers gives Valve a very powerful position, and considering the history of very powerful Computer Based companies (Microsoft, Activision, EA, etc.) I can't say I'm thrilled.

Is Valve a publicly traded company? Any takers?

If yes, then its legally bound to screw us for profits. If no, then it doesn't have such legal obligations.

Its private company (AFAIK 100% owned by Gabe Newell)

If it was public company I would already bought some stock

No. Valve was founded and funded with Gabe Newell's Microsoft money, so they have always been under private ownership (they have not always been independent developers, however). Companies typically look to VCs, and later, public investment, in order to generate capital. Valve never needed the money, so the company could afford to remain private.

I realized that was a little unclear while I was writing it. I meant the copy that's kept on Steam that I can download at any point later in addition to the physical copy. In terms of security it means you have a physical copy of the game so that if Steam goes out of business and you get a new computer you won't lose the game like white elk described happening to his purely digital music.