The intent of this poll is to see how many of us are not likely to buy TES V if it requires Steam. The goal here being, not to try to get Bethesda to not distribute with Steam at all, but to convince them of the possible merits of distributing by Steam as one option, including for example, the Bethesda online store as well.

The intent of this poll is not to show Bethesda how many TES fans _will_ buy Skyrim if it is Steam exclusive, I don't think anyone will dispute that there will be plenty of sales. I am also not encouraging anyone to engage in a boycott of Skyrim if it is steam exclusive, nor is this a petition to Bethesda. Each of us, makes her/his own consumer choices.

The intent of the thread is also not to pose as representative sample of the TES market. If Beth stands on a clear empirical case that they are likely to make plenty of profit by virtue of the advantages of Steam exclusive distribution, and irrespective of losing some of their customers and fans, then I will concede that they should do what is best for their business. I am guessing that they do not really have those data. This poll is intended to pique their interest in actually thinking it through, and considering both the short-term and long-term costs of alienating some fans by virtue of making Skyrim Steam Exclusive.

In the interest of transparency, I will acknowledge my own bias in this respect. I have no desire to be involved in Steam and will not buy the game if it is Steam exclusive. I already refused to buy Civ5 and New Vegas for those reasons, so I have no fear of my ability to 'resist the temptations.' Rather, I am thinking that there is a trend where more of the best games are becoming Steam exclusive. I would hate to see that happen, and I guess if it does, I'll just stop gaming or only play those games that do not require it.

Having said all of that, I would ask all of you to please be civil. I would be nice to see this thread not get locked so that we can have dialogue to go with the poll results.

I would point out that, if Steam is exclusive, we "Steamophobes" who are resolved not to particpate in Steam, simply don't get to play the game(s), whereas you "Steamophiles" lose nothing.

If Steam is one option for distribution (similar to Mount&Blade Warband which is available by Steam and also through the Gamersgate online store) then we Steamophobes have the opportunity to enjoy the game, and continue to be engaged members of the fan community, and again, you Steamophiles lose nothing. IMO, Steam exclusivity must be weighed against the intrinsic costs of alienating part of the fanbase. Steam exclusivity may offer benefits to Bethesda about which I can only speculate, but I would really like to encourage them to consider the tradeoffs carefully, and that is what this poll is intended to promote.

I don't intend this thread to be about whether Steam is so good that it should be the only means of distribution as some people seem to think, nor about whether Steam is so bad that it should be scourged from the planet. It is simply about what proportion of us would prefer to have the option to buy the game by other means besides Steam. Our reasons for this are probably legitimate topics for discussion in this thread, but there is no need to turn this into an Us vs. Them battle among us fans. Whether we prefer Steam or not, we all share the love of the games, it is just that some of us don't care to participate in a particular distributor.

The results of this poll will not be able to tell Bethesda about the actual numbers of sales they might lose, because for one reason, we forumites are not likely representative of the total market, particular the total market that is networked to Steam. But what it can show is, if there is a non-trivial fraction of us who have either reservations about, or prefernces against Steam, if not a true commitment not to participate in Steam.

IMO as a social scientist, Bethesda should take an interest in a poll like this one. If 10 or 15% of the respondents to this poll say that they "will not buy" the game because it is Steam exclusive, another 10 or 15% say they are in the middle and the remaining 70 to 80% say they will buy no matter what, then that suggests a potentially important marketing mistake from going with Steam exlusive distribution. While the proportion of Steam users who will buy the game might be increased by it being exclusive, the loss in long-term fans, and others could add up to losses that exceed the gains achieved by Steam exclusivity.

These are numbers I do not pretend to foretell, and which this poll cannot reveal. What this poll might do is suggest the possibility that such risks are real and provoke Bethesda to acquire good data to examine the issue.

ADDIT: when I started this poll, I was not aware of this other similar poll http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1155984-skyrim-steam-and-you/.This poll is a lot less detailed than SteveDog's, which covers additional topics. But now that this poll has over three-hundred responses it is interesting to compare patterns of responses on a couple of the questions.

I'd realize steam makes no difference for me, or most people, and just play.

As far as Steam Exclusive goes, it's not that I won't, it's that I can't. Some of us have no way of buying something online.

I'd rather not have it on steam, even though I use steam for all my PC multiplayer games and enjoy steam. I just don't want the requirements and strings that come with steam works. Like when I buy Skyrim at midnight and race home to install it I don't want to have to wait 2 hours to download the rest of the game.

I want a physical copy of the game. If I don't get a DVD I don't buy the game, it's that simple. Luckily for me I don't think it would ever be digital only

I'll buy a regular copy, thanks.

But I really hope that it doesn't require Steam. I'm not a huge fan of online software purchasing, even through Steam, a service I respect to a point. But as far as their DRM goes, I'm not very fond of it. I'd prefer it be released like Morrowind and Oblivion, completely independent of all this stupid DRM crap. Though that's not very likely... Fallout 3 was GFWL and New Vegas was Steam-only. I'd prefer Steam if I had to choose between it and GFWL, but I'd still prefer the option to just go out, but the game at a store, and actually use the disk, rather than using it once and finding it useless after I've registered the game to my account.

As long as I can get a physical copy I'd be fine with activating it through Steam. Steam is great.

I'll buy it no matter what, but I'd prefer not to use Steam.

Well then at least the super special deal would not expire the day before it releases on steam then. Thanks EA.

I just hope to hell they go back to using GFWL, the lesser of the two evils. A release mirroring FO3 would be perfect.

I sincerely hope you are joking.

The options are not simply: (a) Skyrim available only on Steam or (B ) Skyrim available only by distributions except Steam. Distribution by Steam as well as other channels (such as the Bethesda online store) would also seem to be possible, based on the example of Mount&Blade Warband (and other games too) which are available both through Steam and other channels.

The intent is NOT to argue that Skyrim should not be available through Steam; but to suggest that it should be available through multiple different channels, in addition to Steam, which it would seem is highly likely given FONV and the general trends in the industry.

I'm pretty sure you will be able to purchase the PC version of Skyrim at traditional retail stores.

My guess is that it will be similar to New Vegas, in other words you would be able to purchase the game from various channels, but it would require you to activate it once online with the Steam DRM. After that you can play in offline mode.

I'd prefer it if it's just a simple disk you put into your PC and install, then you double click on the desktop icon and the game opens, regardless of there being a disk in the drive.

Of course it's much more likely they'll want some form of security. The most I'd like to see is a simple CD-Key, but if it comes down to it being on steam I wont complain.

I don't care, I'll buy it regardless.

Doesn't matter to me if its exclusive but I would prefer to have it on Steam, I don't dislike any requirements that Steam may have for games and have never had a problem with them.

From what I understand, and according to my way of thinking, the FONV case counts as "Steam exclusive" at least in contrast to M&B Warband.

I bought Warband via Gamersgate, and have played many many hours and have not had a Steam account since about 2003. Others bought the Steam version, and had to activate via Steam as is typical for games purchased via that distibutor.

According to my way of thinking "Steam optional" means: it is possible for someone to buy a license to the game (whether it is a disk, or digial distribution), install, activate and validate that copy and play it, withotu ever having had any involvement at all in Steam.

"Steam exclusive" means: any copy of the game, no matter if it was physical or digital, and no matter the distributor, requires an online activation via Steam to activate or validate the game. Whether it is then possible to permamently play it in "offline mode" and never again login to Steam to me is a risk I'd rather not have to take, thus in my view, any involvement in Steam may bring the problems I fear from it.

I will buy Skyrim if it requires Steam or not.

All the recent games have been if they have anything to do with steam they are bound by it. I just don't want to have to wait after I buy Skyrim from Gamestop. When I pop it into my computer I expect it to be installed and then I can play not that it's installed then I have to download the last 1 gig of information for the game. So annoying when that happens. It's been okay with my FPSs but for Skyrim, I don't want to have to wait any more than I have to.

Im going to buy skyrim for xbox 360, steam do not needed.

I have actually avoided certain purchases because they weren't yet available on Steam.

I was tempted to pre-order DA2 before Jan 11 in order to get the free DLC, but I didn't buy it because it was only available via EAStore and not available on Steam. I have purchased games from EAStore online using the EA Download Manager in the past, but I prefer the Steam library management.

And I prefer to have all my games in one place in order to restore easily if I get a new computer - can you imagine if you had to deal with a "Bethesda Download Manager," "EA Download Manager," "2K Download Mgr" etc? it would be like dealing with each movie studio website individually instead of just watching everything on Netflix.

Hopefully, there will be some non-Steam DRM option for anyone who doesn't want it, but I suspect it will be the same as New Vegas.

Its likely to be the same as Fallout New Vegas, whether you buy retail or online it will require steam.

To be honest i don't mind at all i've had steam since 2005 and personally i think its great.

This. I don't want to have to pay my ISP to get the rest of the game (other than patch updates). Activation, okay, but I don't want to have to make an account that I most likely won't use just to activate the software.

I'd buy it whether it required Steam or not, but I wouldn't be very happy if it did.

If Steam is mandatory for the retail disc It'd be a "no sale" just like New Vegas was.