No problem, yeah that's my main reason for wanting to be on Steam. I'm filling out the Steam paper work today so we'll see how it goes.
You actually can host a game now and have your friends join... BUT
you have to:
1. forward the 7778 port on your router to your host's pc's local ip
2. Know your external ip address (searching "whats my ip" on google with give you this) to give to your friends so they can join.
3. Host a "LAN" game
4. Have your friends enter your external ip address into the "join by ip" box
So that's why I want to be on Steam so you can just host, search servers, or join with the click of a button as opposed to all that nonsense lol