Steam Fortress

4 Replies

I’ve finally realised what Valve’s Greenlight is.

Yes, it’s a near useless corner of the Internet where games go to never be on Steam for the vast majority of developers. It’s also the place with one of the most embarrassing gatekeeper fees I could possibly name. It’s those things but also something more, something vastly more interesting.

“Looks like a Flash game”, “Looks like a cellphone game”, “Browser crap”, “I always downvote cellphone games”, “Looks like a Unity game”, “This game doesn’t belong on Steam”

“This game doesn’t belong on Steam”

“This game doesn’t belong on Steam”

The question Valve believe they’re asking their users, the expectation of developers paying the fee and going in to Greenlight is that people are being asked “would you buy this game on Steam?” And for many people, that’s the question they answer.

But Greenlight is something else to many. Greenlight is the last stand of the I AM THE HARDCORE. Greenlight is the final battleground of the NO CASUAL SHALL PASS. Greenlight is the last ditch attempt at fighting change with its trusty friend Mr Kickstarter Nostalgia Project in tow to defend its honour.

The question they’re answering isn’t just SHOULD THIS GAME BE ON STEAM (YES/NO/ASK ME LATER), it’s IS THIS GAME AN ABOMINATION IN THE EYES OF THE ELDER GODS OF VIDEOGAMES (1992-2002) AND CAN WE EXORCISE THIS FILTH FROM THE WORLD IN ONE CLICK AND A COMMENT? PS – LOL.

Greenlight is their only defence now. It is Steam Fortress and they’ll hold the barbarians from the gate if it kills them.

The housewife won. We won. The majority of people who play videogames won. The hidden object players, the match 3′ers, the bite size gaming chunksers won. Those who like small arty experiments and those who like nothing more than a Bruckheimer movie made game won. Variety won. There’s more winning to do but there’s always more winning to do.

And all that’s left now for those who covet the videogame from the people is a tiny service on the largest PC digital distributor and a NO vote, their fingers raw from downvoting browser games and cellphone games on site.

It’s not a NO button, it’s a GET OFF MY LAWN button.

Bless.

  • http://twitter.com/danielcassidy Daniel Cassidy

    Valve have spent an awful lot of time and money building a system that appeals to the lowest common denominator of adolescent boys while systematically alienating just about everyone else. Everything about Steam, from its name and logo, its flagship games, and its intentionally ugly, dark, grey, gritty and mechanistic interface, reflect this goal.

    Valve are always going on about how Steam is about giving gamers what they want. It’d be nice to think that by “gamers” they mean “people who play games”, which these days would be just about everyone. But just look at Steam. LOOK at it. They are clearly referring to a demographic that is a lot more exclusive than that.

    So, it’s hardly surprising that posts on Greenlight and other “community” features on Steam overwhelmingly reflect the views of the loudest and most stupid section of a demographic hardly known for its insightful commentary. I’ve some sympathy for these people – Valve has told them, through its actions and its design choices, that Steam is exclusively for them, and they’re doing exactly what Valve is telling them to do.

    • Nige

      What you say is true, however it’s really a reflection of where PC gaming has come from. Steam has always been slow to react and improve (presumably because all the cool kids at Valve would rather work on other things) but hopefully the rumoured move to a browser-based client will be the beginnings of a transition from its hardcore origins to something more accessible.

    • Cuvis

      I’m sorry, but this is among the dumbest things I’ve read on the
      internet. The idea that Steam caters exclusively to the HARDCORE
      BROGAMER crowd is ridiculous on its face. Steam frequently features independent games on the front page of its store, which is unique among pretty much every download service not named Desura. They regularly include indie games and developers in their promotions, like the Santa’s Sack promotion for the 2011 holiday sale and the Potato Sack bundle/ARG for Portal 2. And when I buy a Humble Bundle, I sure as hell don’t see options for Origin or XBLA keys.

      I’ll grant you that there are some Steam users who are the adolescent boys who are afraid of all that is not manly as you claim, but to say that Valve specifically caters to them and exclusively to them is either a troll or a statement of profound ignorance.

  • http://twitter.com/ootsby Damian Sinclair

    For who hath known the mind of Valve?

    The literal question asked is “Would you buy this game if it were available on Steam?”. Of course people who only play “War-Bastard: Flying Innards” are going to click “No”. Exactly how Valve treats the voting isn’t clear but the FAQ suggests they only look at up-votes and relative interest. It wouldn’t really make sense to look at the “No” votes as anything but data on segmentation as they can’t negatively buy a product if it is listed.

    Are people down-voting and commenting “this doesn’t belong here” on things like Depression Quest? Sure, but I’m not convinced that Valve as the retailer is particularly swayed by the arguments as far as judging the value of the game themes/genres. From Gabe’s voiced positions the bit they’re concerned about is where “I don’t like this stuff” becomes an issue for discoverability and usability of Steam.