Steam is actually among the less draconian DRMs out there. For the most part, the games run fine (been quite a while since i had problems actually), and you can download them as much as you want, whenever you want (if the servers aren't being dumbshits) and wherever you want (until SteamGuard popped up, which i disapprove of, but can sort of see the idea), as long as you're staying on the same account. Plus they provide easy access to many games and sales, which is pretty awesome. My biggest beef with it is that you can basically never get to LAN with ANYONE without buying two copies, even though that anyone is your own brother who is barely sitting two meters away from you in the same room. Although i buy games despite their sometimes tremendous 50 price tag (dammit developers i am a student not a millionaire), i very rarely love any game enough to pay for that twice. Exclusions are either much cheaper and/or incredibly awesome.
Wasn't it Spore that had that ridiculous "YOU CAN INSTALL THIS GAME 5 TIMES" DRM? Because that is horrible. Likewise was Assassins Creed 2 being horrid by requiring constant online connection to play an exclusively singleplayer game, which is a damn shame. At least it's getting SLIGHTLY better nowadays, probably because they've noticed how such ludicrous DRMs are actually promoting piracy (which often involves removing the DRM entirely) by hurting the legit customers (who have to deal with the DRM).