I was around before HL1 existed, I didn't miss anything.

I wasn't trying to imply they were released on literally the same day, of course steam was out before HL2, but HL2 is what drove its popularity because people were forced to install steam to get access to HL2.

And most people resented them for it. At that time, store purchases was still the common way to get at PC games.

I'm in this crowd. I initially resented them but now love Steam and HL2 was what got me to install it. I have a 7-digit steam ID but my account is still 20 years old (it might be 19, I'm not sure).

Steam came out with the CSS beta, and for a week or two it worked fine, after the proper release of Steam... It went to the doghouse for a few months.

I resent them now for the same reason but on another game: Civ 5. I even bought that one in a box from a store.

and still had to install steam? ouch, yeah, that would irritate the crap out of me too.

Yes. DVD was pointless. Online steam was required. Worse still it happened to be down that day. The worst possible first impression.

Ultima Online launch day had a similar feel. Servers melted under the load of 1500 (maybe 2,000). After a weekend of reading the booklet and studying the map, I was able to login. Only to find that cave on the map I wanted to explore was between me and a dozen Ogres and Ratmen. Good times.

Steam was the first “online required” for offline play I think. Others like EA and Ubisoft followed shortly after but didn’t have their own stores until many many years later.