People don’t understand how Valve controls its messaging and communications with fans. The holes are obvious with engaged communities like DotA 2, but Valve is meticulous in selectively applying open, casual conversation and shutting up when strategically useful. This was the main thread running through their mini-GDC: controlling and curating your community
see we can have it all 
in fairness – some articles are intended to just be a takedown. activism doesn’t have to acknowledge both sides of an argument at all times, that’s why it’s activism.
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Yeah, important context that’s too-easily overlooked:
Tim Colwill is a trade union officer by day, […]
He’s interested in mobilizing consumers and employees and he needs to use language like this to do so. I can support presenting a non-nuanced view in service of these goals.
Bundles like Humble Bundle have existed since 2006 in the Mac shareware scene. While Steam may be the direct inspiration for the Humble Bundle specifically, I think it’s dumb to presume that no one else would have come up with something equivalent, especially if they were at all tuned in to what was happening on the Mac.
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What’s the point? Steam fractured the market and made it possible for indy devs to exist.
I mean not to put too fine a point on it but this is video game distribution, not a steel mill. Or even Ubisoft.
Good point, I still think the ubiquity of the Humble Bundle should count for something, and the size of steam by comparison is a pretty big factor here.
No offense to you Milkman but I’m consistently surprised to see you regularly take the stance of brand loyalty in what is arguably a hive of skeptics (myself included).
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What are those?
I can only think of one consumer-friendly feature, and I’m pretty sure they only added refunds because the Australia took them to court about not having them.
Coming from a country with good consumer rights and having to deal with all the big American companies’ unregulated bullshit is a constant pain shopping online.
They still have the typical awful waivers, limitations on warrenty, etc.
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That’s a sincere question, not a challenge by the way. I get you know more about the dev side of Steam.
I like video games why else would I be here? Though I’m kinda confused by what you mean by brand loyalty? I’m saying Steam has done good. Steam has done bad. Let’s weigh both then talk about it. But I’d add you have over a thousand games on steam, so like, pretty sure you don’t hate 'em.
for instance:
Very True. It took them too long and the refund is a bit harsh to the consumer, but it exists now.
I’d point out that they have an amazing IM tied in to hook up with games that fully integrate to steam so you can invite people, including a kinda lame but present voice chat that has been around for years, there are alternatives but it’s there. But again, their curator system isn’t great, I’ve heard they’re overhauling it but m3h… and so on.
I really don’t get the bluster of saying hey, some good some bad, but if I really had a problem with Steam on some deeper level it would be weird since I use it nearly every day.
steam didn’t allow indie developers to exist, it put a stranglehold on an emerging market. it iphone-d indie games into an endless mass of 2-dollars-or-fuck-off sale fodder. humble bundle, kickstarter, gog, whatever else emerged as a way to keep these games alive. they didn’t need valve for anything.
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Valve should be eternally raked over the coals for profiting off spec work for the last decade, and for the recent massive slashes made to the already meagre payouts. They’re fucking gross, even though I think Steam is a mostly good service and I own like 10,000 games on it.
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I am wary of valve as much as I am of any corporation. Your brand loyalty manifests in you getting ornery anytime someone criticizes Thing™ without also complimenting it. It’s unnecessary to have all critiques be sugarcoated. You can just be critical in an editorial. That’s still professional.
Also I definitely am on here because I hate videogames. They kicked my dog twice and I play then out of spite.
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complement = not everything is terrible. Ok. Right sorry, forgot I was on SB, jeebus.
Good things about Steam:
- Market share ?
- Steam Workshop is a pretty cool thing to be standardised
- No glaring tax avoidance outside of recently-closed subsidiary in Luxembourg (idunno) ?
Bad:
- General devalueing of game making labour.
- They take 30%
- DRM
- Anti-consumer policies, to the point of illegailty in some (many?) countries
- They make way too much money
Young man u are in my house and we say “fuck capitalism” before dinner okay
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Bad:
- Let me use my native window theme ffs
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Other good thing: They were better than the alternatives when steam began. 30 percent was less than other distributors took, in the US it was impossible to return pc games period, drm was far more odious pre-steam.
Thats not to say that steam is good but even the bad qualities are less bad than what went on before. Like, my main issue with that article is how it talks so positively about ea origin and itd be ridiculous to believe that the game industry would be better off with origin instead of steam
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99.9 percent of nerds treat valve like a god I think the one guy writing an article critical of them doesn’t have to throw in some nice words to mitigate nerd backlash
it’s already irritating enough every kotaku review that has something critical of a game has to go about it in the most namby pamby way possible “we’re not saying it’s terrible, it’s just” etc cause nerds take every criticism of their media as a personal assault on their person, and this ain’t even a game it’s a store
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