What is steam and why does it have to run for game to run?

I've just bought the game today and not too impressed that I have to install this steam thing too. I also noticed that my game is added to the steam folder and there was no data folder or fm.exe file until I installed the patch. What's the point of this steam anyway and does this automatically install patches for you? I remember there was another option instead of steam when installing. What's the difference?

Yes, Steam automatically patches FM09.

The other option was UniLoc. If you activated with that, you wouldn't have had to install anything else with the game like you had to with Steam. Its less hassle activating with UniLoc imo.

First off - there was an FM executable before you installed the patch. How else would the game launch before being patched?

You do not need to run Steam ever again (should you not wish to). I'm not sure if you can actually uninstall it and continue to launch FM (anyone know?) but either way it is not going to impact on your game experience. It can download patches and has taken away (for me as I use Steam) the hassle of locating and downloading things as they go live. I see a notification of patch release here and load Steam, launch FM and it'll downloads/applies the patch - job done. Hassle averted.

Steam was not compulsory to install. Only use that if you want automatic updates. Otherwise, choose to activate online with Uniloc, but you'll have to manually download patches. If you chose Steam, you can still play FM without running Steam. Go to your Steam folder in program files, then under \steamapps\common\FM2009\ you can create a shortcut of fm.exe for your desktop.