I totally agree, for exemple the only way for us in our country to buy games and software legally (since Steam has some creative soft available) is to use the Steam gift card, which can be bought through some computer parts retailers here.
Scawen started it already by making variable price according to geographical position, and it’s great as I don't see any other games that are doing the same thing without their respective stores, but he can't change the fact about currency convertibility, and that's our main problem here.
I don't like steam monopoly, I’d hope for other stores to make some competition with improved flexibility and less constraints for indy developers, maybe then Scavier will be convinced, but that doesn't mean LFS cannot improve its popularity without steam, it's just that I can't think of another efficient way for LFS marketing.