Originally Posted by
directhex
the client was a bit iffy to start with, but it's come along somewhat from its early days, and has helped shake off a lot of its bad image. as it stands, it can be used to play one free game (codename gordon, a side-scrolling flash version of hl2), some older games (half life 1 and assorted officially endorsed mods such as day of defeat and opposing force) and forthcoming games (half life 2, day of defeat source, etc). said games can be bought online via steam with a credit card, or you can enter a physical world cd key - however, with cd keys, there is a chance somebody has already thieved your key, e.g. guessed it or copied it in the shop, whereas steam purchases are guaranteed thief free