Steam Trading Cards

[Walrus]

Due to some recent confusion on what the new Steam Trading Cards are all about and how they affect you, i decided to take some time to explain just what they are. I'm going to use Skyrim as an example for this as we can all relate to it.

 

This might be long, *deep breath*

 

Steam has always had Achievements. Beat certain challenges in games and get a little picture to prove you did it. However Steam has never given you points towards a profile level, unlike other gaming networks like Xbox live, Playstaion Plus or even  Kongregate.

 

Now Steam has added in a profile level, but attached it to badges, not achievements. For 98% of these badges you craft them with Trading Cards. To collect Cards, all you have to do id play the game. With every game you buy that supports Cards, you get a certain number of cards drops. About 1/2 of the total number of cards to collect.

 

What can we do with these cards?

 

You use the cards to craft badges which give you random prizes and always give exp. You might get a new emoticon for chat or a discount on a different game. It's random.

 

So here's how it works so far:

 

You buy Skyrim --> You get 4 card drops ---> While playing you get cards

 

Now we need 8 cards to craft the Skyrim badge. We get 4 through playing. This is where Valve made a genius decision. To get the other 4 we have 3 options:

 

1. Trade with friends. You can trade your cards back and forth between friends.

2. Wait. By playing the game every week you enter to win a draw for more card drops.

3. BUY THEM. Yes, you can buy and sell your cards on the market.

 

So lets say I take my card and sell it for 0.25$ to a another person. Valve gets 3 cents. At 2$ Valve gets 25 cents. Valve gets a cut off every single purchase. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

 

That's what these cards are all about. Money. Valve say a way to get thousands if not hundreds of thousands of its users to spend money on something that could do nothing. 

 

So. Why should you spend your money? Let's find out. Through my purchases during the Summer Sale, I have got enough cards to craft a badge. let's see what I get for crafting it.

 

I received: 100xp, A background, An emoticon and another trading card. I also got an extra 5 friend slots.

 

Whats even better, is the the background and emoticon are sellable. So Valve can make even more money off this. And I got another card, so that i would incentive to craft the second level of the badge.

 

I salute you Valve. you have came up with another idea as big as hats. 

 

EDIT: Apon farther looking. It appears that valve splits the money with the makers of the game as well.

 

tl;dr version: Ignore them, they are mostly about money.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Walrus

[donnato]

wow...Thanks Walrus ... I`m not interested in all of that but I`m sure lots of people will. Although...why would I sell a card, unless I had a duplicate which, I don`tsee happening?

[ResolveThatChord]

Let's be clear on this though: You buy them from other players, not Valve. I would say that the main thing valve gets out of this isn't short term profits, it's customer loyalty: They build a meta-game around their service, and anyone invested in the meta-game will only use their service.

An what do we get out of it? A few things; obviously we get to fill up bars and gain levels. But there are more tangible things too; it seems designed to make consumers more active in the community, and to grant a user more self-expression through their steam account, and more investment in their own gaming hobby. That kind of thing is good for all gamers.

 

Ultimately all that is controlled by Valve though, and will always be circumscribed by their rules, unlike the kind of thing we have here at TESA. That seems to me like the only way they can have it though. 

[_echo]

More useless crap to clutter things up with. I miss the days when games were stand-alone. In every sense of the term.

[Walrus]

If they wanted to give you a way to express yourself they could have added all this into the achievements.

[_echo]

They could have, but now they get money for it!

[Celan]

More useless crap to clutter things up with. I miss the days when games were stand-alone. In every sense of the term.

That's how I feel about it.  I was playing Bioshock Infinite lately and kept getting these annoying notifications about cards.  Now I look at games advertising them and cringe.  Wish there was a way to opt out or disable them.

[WillieSea]

I agree with _echo. And...

I do not think anyone has any right to know what games I am playing, when I am playing them and for how long, or how badly I play them.

Its an intrusion on my privacy. And then to add more annoying pop-ups on my game experience is irritating.

The only reason I even 'start' steam is to play the games that require it to play. Otherwise it is not even started.

[Jac]

That's why I run Steam in offline mode, Willie, unless I'm updating a game or playing with someone other than my wife (we use the LAN to play). I got two cards yesterday for playing Borderlands 2 and thought "wtf am I supposed to do with these?" I may sell them because I have no use for them.