Steam Is Now A Shitty F2P MMO, Not a Game Client

[Correct_Carlo]

Anyone else annoyed by all this trading card, gamer level, badge crafting, bullshit that has consumed steam? Valve basically took the whole cosmetic hat market from TF2 and applied it to the steam client itself. They are trying to turn steam into some kind of awful facebook/mmo hybrid where they can charge people for cosmetic items just for the client. But rather than just outright charging for 5 dollars for a shitty wallpaper, they instead make it into a game where they can charge you an infinite number of times for cards which can be crafted in the hopes of maybe getting a shitty wallpaper (sure people can "make" a few cents from selling cards, but only in wallet money, and Valve takes a cut at every turn in the end. So it's all a case of the "company store").

I find it completely obnoxious. Yeah, you can choose not to participate, but it's still in your face at every turn. And the most depressing part is that there doesn't seem to be any pushback. If EA turned Origin into an awful Facebook Game, people would be in active revolt. Yet Valve does it and no one cares.

This is probably old news for most of you, and I'm probably pissing in the wind here, but it's really being exacerbated by how hard they are pushing the card bullshit in this current sale.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I find it completely obnoxious. Yeah, you can choose not to participate, but it's still in your face at every turn.

i literally haven't heard of this until i've read this thread.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

who gives a shit lol

 

[Infinitron]

The cards are easy to ignore. They were around for a few weeks before the sale and I wouldn't have noticed if not for all the CDS chat about them.

 

[Ulminati]

And the popup windows going "YOU HAVE NEW CARDS IN YOUR INVENTORY! WHY WON'T YOU BUY HATS ANYMORE!?!?!?!?! ;__;"

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Actually I don't mind that Valve added a collectible card game to Steam. They've done worse, like linking it to their achievement system that you should link your Facebook profile to your Steam profile for rewards. Fucking morons.

What I DO mind is how the playerbase is acting because of this. I mentioned how this was pointless metagaming on a TF2 server recently, and a votekick was made against me because of it (it failed). Judging by that and the obscenities, you'd think I was playing on a Valve server. I've also had a couple of trades cancelled because I was "just a lowly scrub" according to my Steam profile (I'm Level 6, one level for each year and nothing else).

In short, if you refuse to take part in the Steam metagame, you'll be ostracised by a large part of the Steam community. Nice message to send to your users, Valve.

 

[Zed]

dota 2 needs steam.

they could have gay porn pop-ups with loud sounds and I would still use it.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I don't really give a fuck about all these gimmicks. I just need to be able to play the stupid game thank you.

 

[DragoFireheart]

lolSteam

 

[felipepepe]

I'm level 13, after crafting 3 badges. Besides that, Steam shows I've sold 140 cards so far, averaging 0,25 cents. That's 37 dollars. Fucking 80 reais. If I had crafted those, I would be ~lv 30, rewarding me with... 2 retarded profile showcases.

And the surprising thing is that apparently most people prefer 2 showcases on their profiles than having almost 40 dollars around during steam summer sales....

 

[Konjad]

Yeah, this shit is so damn terrible! I mean I got some cards while playing games, put them on Steam Market and got money (in total about 25€ by now) to spend in Steam Store! Ze evil Gaben Hitler! Giving me games I want for practically nothing instead of taking a real money from me!

 

[Zed]

shit, I've made an euro. how do I get more cards, fast? civ gave fast cards. walking dead was a little slower.

 

[Dexter]

"Oh noes, I can make zeh money with it!" is a stupid argument in favor of it.

It is very easy to answer why (in the bigger picture) this kind of shit is wrong, when for instance you are buying games there is real value and a lot of man-hours/years behind them. On the other hand these “cards” and “collectibles” are basically worthless. Backgrounds? Nothing more than a Screenshot you see on any site at any other time.
Nonetheless they are abusing compulsively obsessed people to pay huge amounts of money just so they can “complete” the set, if this wasn’t the goal of their little “game” they wouldn’t have made it as exploitative as it is e.g. they could have reinstated a general drop rate and not have limited the “cards”, only allowed one “Level” instead of five or made them non-marketable.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/palmdesert
http://steamcommunity.com/id/CrystalTheory

As it stands right now it reminds of a similar albeit more exploitative “card gaming system” called kompu gacha that was banned/regulated in Japan by the government very recently because some people have spent thousands of US$ without getting anything in return: http://www.serkantoto.com/2012/05/09/kompu-gacha-dena-gree-history/

They are basically exploiting largely explored weaknesses in the human brain and they’ve even talked a lot in the past about how they employ experimental psychologists to that end, and linking the PC gaming industry with compulsive obsessive behavior and/or gambling as well as encouraging such behaviour, especially by the largest distributor of Digital games available for the sole purpose of profit/greed isn’t something that I think will benefit the entire industry in the end at all and will drive it closer into the "Social Gaming" divide.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/57308/valve-left-4-dead-half

Furthermore, Valve has hired an experimental psychologist to maximize the excitement of Steam sales and other marketing opportunities. According to Newell, one suggestion by the psychologist was to provide one free copy of a Valve game to every 25th buyer of Left 4 Dead.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/05/v...s-sweat-detection-and-eye-tracking-for-games/

Valve has unfortunately done this a lot lately and seems to be straying more and more into that specific path since Gabe Newell is a strong believer in “value” for basically worthless virtual objects that have near to no cost in making or replicating and seems to be willing to push the entire PC Gaming industry more into that direction.


"LOLZ, I can make zeh money so it's great!" is an incredibly short-sighted potato approach to it, especially if you like actual gaming instead of China-farming in the long-term.

 

[Multidirectional]

There are people actually idling games because of this nonsense. PC MASTER RACE

 

[DraQ]

Anyone else annoyed by all this trading card, gamer level, badge crafting, bullshit that has consumed steam?

No.

I'm keeping offline 99% of the time only resurfacing for updates. I'm not even aware of this shit, much less preoccupied by it.

 

[Pelvis Knot]

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it. If the people are willing to give their money, I say why not.
Why do you pity the fools. As long as you're not one of them, who gives a damn.

 

[Konjad]

Whatever, Dexter . I'm still happy because of free games ^,^ I don't need to link great ideas and philosophies to my dumb hobby.

shit, I've made an euro. how do I get more cards, fast? civ gave fast cards. walking dead was a little slower.

Download Steam Achievement Manager and click on some game in it to make Steam think you play it. Then do whatever you want leaving it in the background until you get all the drops. Afterwards click on another game with cards.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I have all these fucking trading cards but nobody wants to buy them. But...but Gabe told us they create value!

 

[Dexter]

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it. If the people are willing to give their money, I say why not.
Why do you pity the fools. As long as you're not one of them, who gives a damn.

Because I actually like PC gaming and these kinds of practices (DLC, Always-Online DRM, Pay2Win, BuyStarshipfor$1000, TradingCardsbyBuyingThem) while viewed as a single item might not sound that bad every time, but they pave ways for further such things by services and/or developers that are looking at Steam right now and going "Oh there's people paying hundreds of dollars for virtual cards and ships." and thinking of their very own ways to get some of that.
It's rather sad that Steam is pushing this stuff when they make more money than they apparently know what to do with and always have almost double YOY growth.

For instance when "DLC" became a thing at the start of the current console generation people also tried to find the positives and say that it "wasn't that bad" and look to what that led over time:

I'd still like to play some good games in the future instead of collecting metagames and compulsive behaviour simulators.
Look at the bigger picture.

 

[Ninjerk]

What is the deal with the hats in TF2 anyways? Soon as I saw them I uninstalled and yelled, "THEY FUCKED EVERYTHING" Was I right?

 

[Castanova]

I care very little about these cards. If I could disable the notification that I've received a new card then I'd care even less. Some alarmists in this thread.

 

[Galdred]

Whatever calls to the compulsive behavior of people in order to coerce them to spend money on non existing items should fall under the gambling regulation laws as they use similar mechanics. That said, the cards themselves are hardly a problem compared to freemium content and IAP.

 

[Renegen]

It's really terrible the business model of Dota2 and TF2. Some hats sell for hundreds of dollars, and those chest keys are pretty much the definition of gambling. One day gaming will be subject to these gambling regulations and all the F2P shit will be washed away into the gutter, but for now, let's just call it a personal growth opportunity.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Who cares. If you're not on the whole e-penis thing to begin with, all this means is eventually you get some free funds for your steam wallet.

OH BUT EVENTUALLY YOU'LL BE FORCED TO GET A HIGH LEVEL TO

No. Go wash your tinfoil hat, it smells like a gym toilet in here.

I find it completely obnoxious. Yeah, you can choose not to participate, but it's still in your face at every turn.

That's life for you. Ignore the shit you don't like, because the people who like it sure won't care about what you think if they're the majority. That's why we are discussing this here on the codex (where people are at best indifferent to the subject), instead of fighting the good fight with our voices on the IGN boards.

Look at the bigger picture.

What bigger picture? With DLC, it was obvious from the get-go that the "tiny extras nobody would miss" would eventually become chunks ripped from the main game, but the only "consequence" I can see for the trading card game is the same that happened with TF2 - people becoming seemingly more interested in the cards than in the games themselves. Which already happens with the "No Achievements, No Buy" retards.

 

[Black]

Very annoyed that while playing games I get free shit I can sell to dumbasses.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Buy DRM-free games instead of partaking in this nonsense.

 

[Pelvis Knot]

"LOLZ, I can make zeh money so it's great!" is an incredibly short-sighted potato approach to it, especially if you like actual gaming instead of China-farming in the long-term.

I agree with you on principle, but I've come to expect absolutely nothing from current or future AAA production. I am hopeful that the kickstarted RPGs will be ok, but that's it. That's why I wouldn't care Fallout 4 or some-such came with an additional 19.99$ exe file DLC.