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Steams "Competitors"
- Thread starter brokenswiftie
- Start date
- Status
Yeah, its awful making some money back to put towards other games
Sure, why wouldn't they be counted? Steam literally already has two features that address your problem, as they show the recent review rating first before the lifetime one. They also have a feature to inform you if a review bombing has happened.
Steam reviews have a method for pointing out review bombs: the historgram
The reviews don't go away, but you can very easily see if they came in bulk during a small period of time, and either filter to exclude review bombs out, or exclusively look at the review bomb period. And a developer can actually reply specifically to a review bomb period.
This is exactly what people mean when they say that people don't even know about the tools in place to combat these very things. Because they don't use steam very much in the first place.
Mostly just sell everything or craft badges for the chance at rare emoticons/backgrounds that are worth a lot. I made like $30 profit in 2 weeks last year only by crafting specific anime games packs, and selling those cards to craft more.
I mean, the Steam market has lots (though less than in the past) of opportunities to get free money by buying/selling the right stuff, but just collecting games and selling the cards will give you a sizeable amount. Even Valve gifts everyone like $5 each major sale with the cards the give out.
I wonder if any store will (or already does?) offer people the option to "sell" their used digital games.
I'll assume there exists a way to do that without giving me trading cards.
Steam idler client or something runs the game in the background and farms the cards for you to sell lol, then you just dump them on the marketplace
curators, discovery queue, all poorly implemented to me sorry
Its been my problem with reviews for a considerable long time n it isn't just steam.
Its nice that there is actually filters you can apply though that's decent.
I genuinely just feel overall my changes would create a better experience of reviews (not just for steam)
There may be other ways, but trading cards are a good way of doing it; it's extremely easy, anyway.
I've earned just below $100 so far. It's not really that much but I could buy quite a lot of games with that money. With Enhanced Steam and the recent update, you can easily sell cards with a single click. No more confirmation is needed like before.
Moreover, it has more purposes that just for earning money. Trading cards and crafting badge is a community driven activity. People can decorate their profile page with badges, background, and so on to show their character, their uniqueness. You can see from a glance, a user likes what kind of games from their profile page due to the background, badges, screenshots, and so on. I've made a lot of friends on Steam this way, and vice versa, the others have reached me due to my profile page too. It's okay if you don't like this kind of thing, but lots of people do and it's thanks to Steam for providing it.
Thanks for clarifying. I didn't really know all of that was compatible, that is very cool.
Steam reviews have a method for pointing out review bombs: the historgram
The reviews don't go away, but you can very easily see if they came in bulk during a small period of time, and either filter to exclude review bombs out, or exclusively look at the review bomb period. And a developer can actually reply specifically to a review bomb period.
This is exactly what people mean when they say that people don't even know about the tools in place to combat these very things. Because they don't use steam very much in the first place.
This isn't really a solution to review bombing and doesn't really give the viewer a real explanation as to why that game was review bombed but yeah the chart works
Steam reviews have a method for pointing out review bombs: the historgram
The reviews don't go away, but you can very easily see if they came in bulk during a small period of time, and either filter to exclude review bombs out, or exclusively look at the review bomb period. And a developer can actually reply specifically to a review bomb period.
This is exactly what people mean when they say that people don't even know about the tools in place to combat these very things. Because they don't use steam very much in the first place.
As i put i didnt know about the tools but im sorta looking at a overall thing and just think for a better review community this applies to everywhere with reviews not just steam.
Like the filters are nice but i don't think all the previous negative reviews on a said issue need to stick if a dev genuinely fixes shit. Just makes those reviews sitting there pointless at that point
That chart can be very misleading due to the lack of context. For starters let's take GOG. The entire appeal of it is that it is much more lite-weight the Steam and virtually every game on their is DRM free. Using GOG feels much more "snappier" than Steam does.
Not to mention many of these "features" are just dumb to include on the list. Who gives a shit about Trading Cards? Why in the ever living of fuck would I see DRM in my games as a positive? Of course GOG doesn't offer it, that's the entire point of its service!
Not to mention many of these "features" are just dumb to include on the list. Who gives a shit about Trading Cards? Why in the ever living of fuck would I see DRM in my games as a positive? Of course GOG doesn't offer it, that's the entire point of its service!
A grind is a grind and I respect it nonetheless, I just think it's hilarious that the trading card system is significant enough to be a boon in the client wars
OP
OP
The features in green are for devs not for players
Steam provides an inbuilt DRM that devs may choose to implement or not
GOG not including it is a plus for players but a negative for devs
*searches through thread*
I don't believe so?
LMAO.
Mate, are you blind?
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650312
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650335
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650362
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650365
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650439
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650512
https://www.resetera.com/threads/steams-competitors.85108/post-15650563
That's just the first page.
Did you really search? The short of it is: trading cards are basically money you can use to buy games.
I thought you were referring to GOG and DRM. Trading cards was only one sentence of my post, and the shortest too. That's why I was confused.
Does any other client let you make money for yourself? Making money is absolutely a huge +
It's not even a grind really you just let one of the idler programs run while you go do whatever.
If features for developers are part of this list, Open Revenue Sharing should be listed. Being able to set what percentage the store-front gets is a pretty big feature.
To be fair, bolding on these new themes is kind of shit and easily missable.
OP
OP
I think it's more hilarious that people choose to pick on and ridicule these "useless things" instead of recognizing that Steam does over lots of features that many other stores don't have. It's like they don't have anything to add to make Steam doesn't look that great but they insist in doing so.
Cool. I posted about Android support as well, but it probably got lost in the trading card discussions.
im not denying this
I have never, in my posts, denied steam's features that other stores don't have. because I don't have to
I still think the idea of idling for coins in a gaming client is silly, but hey money is money.
Steam's Multiple controller support
I used to play Titanfall with my Steam Controller because Steam's unique features work with everything. Titanfall, as you probably know, is an origin game.
I keep harping on it, but the Microsoft store blocks all this stuff. Games bought off the microsoft store can't be added to steam, nor can they take advantage of any of the features steam has as a client.
The easiest way to think of Steam is like a program like DS4Windows, or Discord. You know how if you have a game that only has Xbox controller support, but you want to use a playstation controller, you can run DS4windows and suddenly your PS4 controller works in that game? Or how, if the game has no voice chat, you can run Discord in the background, and suddenly you have group chat and all that?
Steam, the client, is just like that. If you add something as a non-steam game, then any feature which is a feature of the client itself, gets added to that game. And that feature set is actually enormous. I haven't listed all the features steam adds, but the client adds a lot. Lots of them are stuff that you can't find anywhere else. There are no real alternatives to the features of the steam client. And to maybe cobble something together that approaches what it adds to games, you'll find you'll need to run dozens of programs in the background of your computer, while steam, the client, does them all with great performance too.
Let's give an example of how the Steam Client can change a game. Let's say we want to play a game like Elite Dangerous, which is available on steam but I actually bought the non-steam version before the steam version was released. ED has a stand alone launcher for me. I can run Elite Dangerous without running steam at all. But doing so gives me a bare bones game, no friends list, no chat, just the bare game.
So if I add elite dangerous to steam as a non-steam game, instantly a bunch of new features pop up. When I press the guide button on my controller in elite dangerous, either on an xbox controller or the steam controller or whatever, a brand new overlay appears:
This is the Steam Overlay which gets added to non-steam games. You can see it has some options right from the get go. One, that I particularly like, is the force quit option at the bottom. "Exit Game" is an option you can select, from your controller, to basically Ctrl-alt-del a game that has crashed or hung up or otherwise won't respond. If your game is frozen or something, just pull up the steam overlay and select "exit game." It'll give you a warning, which you can select yes or no to, and selecting yes will force the operating system to exit the game.
There is also the on-screen keyboard, which can pop up over any game or program, just built directly into steam. There are two versions, here's one working in Kodi specifically for the steam controller:
and here is the radial keyboard for gamepads:
Again, these can pop up on any application. So, say you need to grab a keyboard real quick while playing from your couch but it's across the room, you can just open the on-screen keyboard from the steam overlay, or even assign it to a shortcut on your controller.
You'll see it also has a screenshot function. You can map a screenshot chord to your game controller to take screenshots in steam. When you take one, steam, the client, will manage them for you, let you crop and edit them, and even will host them online on steam's website even if they're not a steam game.
The Controller HUD function is one that'll make pressing buttons on your controller show a small prompt which will inform you what that input is mapped to. Which brings us to Steam's controller functions, which are astonishing. Steam has this thing called Steam Input, which is insanely deep, way deeper than you can possibly imagine, that let's you program controllers to work with specific games. Steam Input works with all controllers, Xbox Controllers, Switch controllers, WiiU controllers, Playstation controllers, random 3rd party chinese controllers, old sega genesis controllers hacked up through a serial port, etc. I actually use Steam Input to control my arcade machine:
My controllers on the cabinet are actually some obscure Build-your-own-arcade part called an IPAC:
That is the "heart" of my arcade machine's control panel, those buttons are wired up to that thing, which runs to the PC via USB. STEAM STILL WORKS WITH IT. T[/I]hat's how universal their compatibility is. No matter what you throw at Steam, Steam will understand the controller, then give you an insane amount of customization options. The way the steam controller config stuff works way deep under, is that in the end, everything is transformed into either a keyboard press, a mouse press, or an XInput (read: Xbox controller) press. So, if you plug in a controller that steam doesn't recognize, it'll ask you to define it in terms of an xbox controller:
You'll see the names for the buttons are generic, "primary action button," "secondary action button." There is a visual on the left side to show you where that button usually resides on an Xbox controller. So if, for example with the old Gravis Gamepad, the yellow button shows up as "Button 5," you'll need to tell Steam that "button 5" is the "primary action button" which is where the A button typically resides on an xbox controller.
Once you define the controller in terms of an Xbox controller, it'll work just like any other in steam. You'll have full mapping options just like you do with any other steam controller. What's really cool is you can upload your controller definition to Steam's cloud, too, so that if you, say, use a gravis gamepad and have to define it, then your friend down the road does the same thing, when he plugs it in, he can navigate to your definition and use it instead of having to define it himself. That's valve's method of crowd sourcing non-standard controller profiles for Steam. Even if the game is non-steam, you can upload your game controller programming to steam, and users can navigate and download other people's profiles.
So what exactly can this Steam Input do? It can do more than just map buttons on one gamepad to a virtual xbox controller. It can, for example, add new menus and options to existing games. Let's go back to our example of Elite Dangerous, that's a game designed to work on keyboard and mouse, or with a flight stick with like 20 buttons. It honestly isn't meant to work well with normal gamepads. With Steam Input, you can actually add on-screen buttons to change the game, like so:
See the radial menu on the left side with all those icons? That's being added to the game by steam. When I press a button on the controller, that overlay appears on screen, and I can use the gamepad to select any of those icons. Selecting those icons, just like any button on the controller, can be remapped in steam to other virtual buttons. You can do all sorts of honestly insane things with Steam Input, on ANY controller, in ANY game.
And this is just really touching the surface of what Steam, the client offers. There are also things like Steam Streaming, which lets you stream any application on your computer to, for example, a samsung tv, a steam link, another computer, or even things like android phones. Again, it works with any application. Or things like Steam Proton, which lets you run windows games in linux, even if they don't have a linux version.
I could keep going on and one about all these features, very in depth about each on. There are even more stuff too. But at this point I'm typing out thousands of words that I've already types dozens of times in the past, and it just doesn't get picked up by people. Shit, THIS TOPIC is supposed to be about this shit in the first place, and even in this topic people don't get it.
Steam, the client, literally makes PC games better. No other client does that. The others are just storefronts, nothing else. Some of those store fronts, like the microsoft store, even block the non-store features of the Steam Client. Steam, the client, has more features than even many full consoles. Were I never to spend a single dime on the Steam store ever again, and stick exclusively to Origin and Uplay as my PC gaming stores, I would still use steam daily because the features it has are second to none.
Doesn't GOG have a similar form of user curatorship? If by that I'm understanding it to be user-created lists of games (which is how Steam's curator feature appears to be from what I've seen). [update: appears to have been added]
Also GOG does have:
- Early access. It's called 'In Development' IIRC and functions the same way. [Edit: misread the column, was looking at one beside it, ignore this]
- Community Discussions per game. [update: appears to have been added]
- Customizable profile page. [update: appears to have been added]
Additionally GOG has a couple things that aren't represented in the spreadsheet:
- A bug tracker where you can submit and receive feedback from CDPR staff on issues and requests and also see progress on everyone else's tickets.
- Staff that reply to questions and bugs via email.
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Steam has some... weird android support. No android game support, but they do have a client for Android, and it does have some big boy steam features. The most notable being steam streaming. The Steam Controller also now works with android, but Steam Input currently is not on android.
People ITT who are here to ask about people downplaying steam's features, from the Epic thread just 2 minutes ago:
Yeah, Imran , this dude is totally informed about Steam's features.
Yeah, Imran , this dude is totally informed about Steam's features.
seriously, the constant 'no one who has problems with Steam/thinks Valve have a bunch of issues as a company EVEN PLAYS GAMES ON PC' posts are the worst thing about these threads
No, they aren't. The worst are the people who think correcting blatant misinformation is "ballwashing" because they "don't like valve" are what ruins this entire forum.
you gotta do some legends of the hidden temple shit to be a TRUE PC GAMER so you can voice your grievances
Probably coming once 32bit support is killed, early next year. I assume the same with the long-awaited Client redesign.
Great thread, btw. Will bookmark and use as my go-to for correcting the literally ignorant masses. :)
Let's take for example the complaint that someone doesn't like that steam, the store, doesn't have curation. Let's break this "complaint" down a bit. This complaint entirely revolves around the user interaction with the entity that directly sells you games, as in the entity that I, as a consumer, am going to give money to, based on the products they sell me.
Steam, the client, already includes a feature that lets people who do not like the way valve runs steam, the store, go their own way and find another entity to give money to, while still buying and using steam games. And steam games, in this instance, refers to games which use Steam API, as in steam as a development tool. Things like steam features that merely having the client installed does not provide, like achievements or matchmaking. Those kinds of things.
These are called Steam Keys. Developers, the people who make the product you want to buy, can generate steam keys infinitely and for free. This is an enormous difference from companies like Origin, which limit the number of keys a dev can generate. When one sells a key, it allows a user to install their game into steam, the client, take advantage of the Steam API and gain those features like matching services, without ever interacting with valve or giving valve the money.
So, where the fuck is the problem? If you don't like Steam, the store, go to literally any other pc game store, they all sell the same shit. Go buy your game on amazon, do they have better curation? How about gamestop? Walmart? There are dozens, and dozens of stores out there that are curated, so you don't need to sit and mope and cry about how Steam, the store, isn't curated. And guess what, using those steam API features becomes divorced from you needing to use Steam, the store, because of this. If Steam, the store, isn't curated to your liking, go to another store, and you still have Steam API features.
How is this not clear to people??????? Steam, the client and api, literally have a built in model that'll allow for competing store fronts. I buy tons, and tons of games that use the Steam API and client from places 100% outside of Steam. That's why Enhanced Steam even exists, to integrate sales of competing store fronts directly into the steam store itself.
Steam, the client, already includes a feature that lets people who do not like the way valve runs steam, the store, go their own way and find another entity to give money to, while still buying and using steam games. And steam games, in this instance, refers to games which use Steam API, as in steam as a development tool. Things like steam features that merely having the client installed does not provide, like achievements or matchmaking. Those kinds of things.
These are called Steam Keys. Developers, the people who make the product you want to buy, can generate steam keys infinitely and for free. This is an enormous difference from companies like Origin, which limit the number of keys a dev can generate. When one sells a key, it allows a user to install their game into steam, the client, take advantage of the Steam API and gain those features like matching services, without ever interacting with valve or giving valve the money.
So, where the fuck is the problem? If you don't like Steam, the store, go to literally any other pc game store, they all sell the same shit. Go buy your game on amazon, do they have better curation? How about gamestop? Walmart? There are dozens, and dozens of stores out there that are curated, so you don't need to sit and mope and cry about how Steam, the store, isn't curated. And guess what, using those steam API features becomes divorced from you needing to use Steam, the store, because of this. If Steam, the store, isn't curated to your liking, go to another store, and you still have Steam API features.
How is this not clear to people??????? Steam, the client and api, literally have a built in model that'll allow for competing store fronts. I buy tons, and tons of games that use the Steam API and client from places 100% outside of Steam. That's why Enhanced Steam even exists, to integrate sales of competing store fronts directly into the steam store itself.
People saying misinformation about something that they're ignorant of doesn't have anything to do with true PC gamers. The fact that they don't know what they're talking about means that they don't use the platform at all.
For example, stuff like this is often said in Steam threads: "Steam is shit because it's full of shitty and asset flip games, I couldn't find the good games anymore". You can simply visit the store homepage to prove that it isn't true. Shitty and asset flip games won't make it into the store homepage because people don't actually buy them. Only good reviewed and good selling games would be displayed there because people don't actually buy them. You need to actively search for them (or follow Jim Sterling) to find them.
brokenswiftie
At least you are not trying to be subtle with your steam bias. Your feature list is just what you could stretch out of steam and than apply to the others. Badges are nothing more than Achievements and should not be its own category, for example.
On features you glared over:
I have to check it when I'm back from work, but as far as I remember GOG has user curation. User created lists of games for themes/features they find important. e.g. Which games have polish language option or not.
If you already list developer features you should add Another line with the cut that each store front takes.
Also another line should be publisher openness depicting whether a publisher hides their own games from other stores. Ubisoft and GOG would be the only ones with green fields.
There should also be a game preservation or similar line honoring GOGs effort in getting old games republished. None of the others really does this. Least of all steam.
At least you are not trying to be subtle with your steam bias. Your feature list is just what you could stretch out of steam and than apply to the others. Badges are nothing more than Achievements and should not be its own category, for example.
On features you glared over:
I have to check it when I'm back from work, but as far as I remember GOG has user curation. User created lists of games for themes/features they find important. e.g. Which games have polish language option or not.
If you already list developer features you should add Another line with the cut that each store front takes.
Also another line should be publisher openness depicting whether a publisher hides their own games from other stores. Ubisoft and GOG would be the only ones with green fields.
There should also be a game preservation or similar line honoring GOGs effort in getting old games republished. None of the others really does this. Least of all steam.
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