A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
@stoodspoon: Go chat with someone and read what it says at the top of the chatbox; follow that and you will be fine. I have aabout 600 dollars worth of games on steam.
the only way you can get in trouble is if you are caught cheating in multiplayer games, or if you give out your info to a scammer in the chat. steam support never contacts you via chat.
You don't have to tie a credit card to the account; you can have it not save the credit card and just manually enter it each time you buy something, if you're concerned about that.
It's secure, so long as you follow the simple rules of Internet don't-do-dumbassery, meaning you should know the basics by rote. You know - don't give out credit card numbers to anyone who asks, only the website itself; never open suspicious emails from them that don't simply say Steam; never, ever give out account information of any sort - they can access that shit on their side. And if you don't know those rules, honestly, don't go near a computer.
@MysteriousBob: Mind you, I have eight anti-virus programs. Can you imagine what the virus-infested Steam application would to to my pure and virgin-like computer?
There are none. Dude, Steam is the safest thing you can download ever. Your account can only be hacked if you fucking give some douche bag your username and password.
Don't worry. Steam DOES NOT give you viruses. Anyone who says it does are just messing with you. I've had steam since the early days, and I've probably spent over 200-300 dollars on games from them. Completely safe.
Make sure your password isn't something dopey or easy to crack, like "abc123", or "steam", or your user name, or your birthday, or anything obvious like that. And if anyone asks to share accounts so they can play the games you've bought, and you can play theirs... don't do that.
Yeah Steam is as safe as you make your password. So make it something like gu1n3@p1g or thr33_h2mbu^g3rz something random with numbers and things but also something you can remember.
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