|
|
Why does the internet worship valve/steam/gabe?
By Shichishito 2026-06-11 17:31:46
Quetzalcoatl.Xilkk said: »There are alot of people at Valve who love games. They make the games they would like to play. They aren't trying to force the market to comply with their board room goals.
This was not such a rare thing 2 decades ago, but today it is. Microsoft, Google, and Apple are all big enough to believe we should conform to them. They give you a low cost product to get lots of market share, then raise prices, remove features and charge extra to restore those features. They do alot of bait and switch.
Imho you're romanticising valve for things they maybe stood for in the past but haven't for quite a while.
Afaik The last game valve made that was a uncompromised passion project from people who like to play games themselves was portal 2, that was released in 2011.
Ever since valve doesn't make games, they chase trends and make platforms. Those platforms also follow the formula of a cheap or free initial pitch to sell you more stuff afterwards similar to the companies mentioned above.
Half Life Alex, the closest thing to a passion project after Portal 2, honestly was only made to sell more VR headsets.
Artifact was valves attempt to chase the trading card trend and to translate the trading card game formula to the virtual world. Some say the best card in the entire game is the credit card.
Their most popular games CS2, Dota2 and maybe TF2 were originally mods made by people that fit the description in the quoted post. Valve bought the intellectual property for undisclosed amounts.
For the most part they only deserve credit for graphic updates and enshittification in form of micro transactions for stuff like DLCs, cosmetics, items, armory pass and loot boxes, not for the core gameplay.
Their latest project, Deadlock, also chases the hero shooter and moba trend. I think it's save to assume it will get the same enshittification treatment once it gets released and proves it can keep the attention of a sizeable audience.
Necro Bump Detected!
[35 days between previous and next post]
By Shichishito 2026-07-23 06:13:27
Hi guys, made this video review of LTT's review on the steam machine, please like and subscribe for more content!
YouTube Video Placeholder While I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind most forms of engagement, be it positive or negative, for the few individuals who didn't get it and need to know - this is not actually me, don't harass him. Don't need to watch the video either.
This is imho the more entertaining and informative video to watch, kind of a TL;DR. of this thread excluding the game specific complaints:
YouTube Video Placeholder
Trolling aside, if anyone of you bought a steam controller this might be good to know: Apparently the docking puck can be a potential fire hazard when it comes in contact with metal surfaces and/or when not using the USB cable provided with the controller.
 Bismarck.Nickeny
Server: Bismarck
Game: FFXI
Posts: 2618
By Bismarck.Nickeny 2026-07-23 16:02:05
Yea... I saw that on Reddit...
Still a better controller than the PS5 and Xbox, but I don't like the D-pad for fighting games, but thats a you problem if you're using D-pads instead of fight sticks.
Thank god for billionaires - way better than millionaires who only complain.
 Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-23 16:10:05
Quote: Edit: About 10 hours later Steam has since reached out to me and the Hardware Team will be reaching out to me and will find out exactly how this happened and how dangerous it is. They will also get me a new puck ASAP.
Sounds like A+++ customer service to me.
All hail His High Excellency Gaben, Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men.
[+]
By Draylo 2026-07-23 16:13:03
My PS5 controller constantly has the R2 button break, I went thru 5 controllers already. Can't be random, and I know the game I am playing I obviously hit that button a lot, but it shouldnt break like that consistently.
By Shichishito 2026-07-23 18:12:34
Sounds like A+++ customer service to me. You wrote damage control incorrectly.
My PS5 controller constantly has the R2 button break, I went thru 5 controllers already. Can't be random, and I know the game I am playing I obviously hit that button a lot, but it shouldnt break like that consistently. Can't buy anything these days that doesn't come with built in planned obsolescence.
Hope you didn't throw them away, probably not that hard to fix them.
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-23 18:15:52
You wrote damage control incorrectly. Let play along with this stupid take; so its damage control. What would the A+++ customer service follow up action be, since "let us replace your damaged product asap, please inform us what happened so we can fix this issue going forward" is damage control?
 Garuda.Chanti
Server: Garuda
Game: FFXI
Posts: 12494
By Garuda.Chanti 2026-07-23 18:27:11
I obviously hit that button a lot, but it shouldnt break like that consistently. How hard do you hit it?
YouTube Video Placeholder
[+]
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 04:17:02
Let play along with this stupid take; so its damage control. What would the A+++ customer service follow up action be, since "let us replace your damaged product asap, please inform us what happened so we can fix this issue going forward" is damage control? I think it's easy to recognize that the response can be viewed as either, depending on if you're wearing pink tinted heart shaped glasses or not.
When ever I hear about Valve customer service it's usually bad. Searching "Valve customer service reputation" the AI summary is "Valve has a poor reputation for customer service, receiving an F rating...". Trustpilot rating, for what it's worth, is 1.4/5.
By Dodik 2026-07-24 05:14:13
Depends what you mean by "Valve customer service".
Steam? They have a no-questions-asked refund on games as long as your total playtime is under 2hrs.
I am not aware of any other online games store with such permissive refunds, which is basically try-it-for-2hrs and return if you don't like it.
I've taken advantage of that many times.
Valve customer service as in their hardware purchases? I bought the original steam controller way back, hardly ever used it. I didn't bother to return it, not worth going through the returns process for me.
Would they let you return it within the mandatory 2 weeks? Yes, that is a law. Will they make it super easy for you? Probably not.
Same as any other company.
Reputation is based on perceived performance. Negative reviews are far more likely to be given than positive ones.
Yet everyone that has gone through customer service has noted they were quick to respond, and didn't just ignore you or hang up on you like some companies do.
By Tarage 2026-07-24 05:19:53
Searching "Valve customer service reputation" the AI summary is See this is how I know you're a *** idiot. Just shut the *** up you vapid sack of ***.
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 07:12:24
See this is how I know you're a *** idiot. Just shut the *** up you vapid sack of ***. I didn't stop there because I don't trust AI's judgement much either and added trustpilot rating, which you conveniently glanced over, but thanks for the kind words.
I don't know other reputation services, hence why I only quoted that one. However I found a couple more:
" Better Business Bureau" rated Valve with 1.25/5 (or F According to AI, maybe old rating system referenced?).
" Comparably" depicted 3/5 stars, but the actual numbers were blurred so I wasn't sure if this is just a example cause they want to sell you a pro solution or if the 3/5 rating is representative.
" Complaints Board" rates Valve at 1.3/5 stars.
I am not aware of any other online games store with such permissive refunds, which is basically try-it-for-2hrs and return if you don't like it. Fun fact that also gets mentioned in the video above, Valve didn't offer refunds until June 2, 2015.
The first digital store who offered refunds apparently was EA on August 20, 2013.
 Bahamut.Negan
Server: Bahamut
Game: FFXI
Posts: 2476
By Bahamut.Negan 2026-07-24 07:18:04
See this is how I know you're a *** idiot. Just shut the *** up you vapid sack of ***. YouTube Video Placeholder
By Dodik 2026-07-24 07:32:47
Valve didn't offer refunds until June 2, 2015
A full 11 years before the EU implemented a law requiring all digital purchases to have clear refund buttons.
What's your point.
The EA store refunds you mention were at the time specific only to EA published games not third party publishers. This was changed following law changes. There are also still exclusions depending on purchase type.
Steam's was, even before law requiring it, for all games sold on their store not just Valve games.
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-24 08:40:14
Steam? They have a no-questions-asked refund on games as long as your total playtime is under 2hrs.
I am not aware of any other online games store with such permissive refunds, which is basically try-it-for-2hrs and return if you don't like it. But based digital only physical is dumb and a waste Sony's return policy is, and I quote:
But you know, Gaben bad, Sony getting rid of physical good.
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-24 08:42:25
Let play along with this stupid take; so its damage control. What would the A+++ customer service follow up action be, since "let us replace your damaged product asap, please inform us what happened so we can fix this issue going forward" is damage control? I think it's easy to recognize that the response can be viewed as either, depending on if you're wearing pink tinted heart shaped glasses or not.
When ever I hear about Valve customer service it's usually bad. Searching "Valve customer service reputation" the AI summary is "Valve has a poor reputation for customer service, receiving an F rating...". Trustpilot rating, for what it's worth, is 1.4/5. Instead of answering the very simple question of "what would an A+++ customer service follow up be to this", you instead went to AI to validate your belief that Steams customer service is terrible.
*** amazing
VIP
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 1290
By Fenrir.Niflheim 2026-07-24 08:57:03
excuse you! now i need to book a flight to canada :/
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 09:03:10
The point is Valve could have done so right from the start or at least, since they are largest competitor in the market, be the first to offer that service but chose not to and only started pivoting after competition did the first move.
A full 11 years before the EU implemented a law requiring all digital purchases to have clear refund buttons. But also 3-4 years after the EU made changes to consumers rights that granted EU wide right to refund within 14 days after purchase, with a few exceptions. At that point it was probably foreseeable that this would also get extended to digital goods at some point.
Why pretend Valve added refunds out of benevolence when the primary motivator clearly was catching up or one upping the competition and mandatory laws that were going to be added in the foreseeable future anyway?
instead went to AI to validate your belief that Steams customer service is terrible. I didn't stop there because I don't trust AI's judgement much either and added trustpilot rating, which you conveniently glanced over... And then added:
I don't know other reputation services, hence why I only quoted that one. However I found a couple more:
"Better Business Bureau" rated Valve with 1.25/5 (or F According to AI, maybe old rating system referenced?).
"Comparably" depicted 3/5 stars, but the actual numbers were blurred so I wasn't sure if this is just a example cause they want to sell you a pro solution or if the 3/5 rating is representative.
"Complaints Board" rates Valve at 1.3/5 stars.
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-24 09:03:18
I wasnt addressing him, I was mocking the speech of others
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-24 09:07:33
"Better Business Bureau" rated Valve with 1.25/5 (or F According to AI, maybe old rating system referenced?). Valve rated F by BBB due to:
"Failure to respond to 688 complaint(s) filed against business
Business has failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints
721 complaint(s) filed against business"
Epic games as a B- on the BBB despite
"5,042 complaint(s) filed against business
Length of time business has taken to respond to complaint(s)"
lol citing the BBB
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 09:31:26
As mentioned I've never heard of BBB nor the others I've added, I wouldn't have listed them in the first place if you guys wouldn't constantly selectively read over information to build strawman arguments.
The Number of complaints is imho not worth much if you can't see the positive/total amount of reviews to put it into perspective.
On trustpilot for instance Valve gets his 1.4 rating out of 354 reviews, epic gets it's 1.4 rating out of 7322 total reviews.
For reference GOG has a trustpilot rating of 4.5/5. so while it's true that most people write reviews when they aren't happy about something it isn't impossible to get a good rating on review sites.
Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 7904
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2026-07-24 09:41:46
On trustpilot for instance Valve gets his 1.4 rating out of 354 reviews, epic gets it's 1.4 rating out of 7322 total reviews.
...
most people write reviews when they aren't happy Lets put some dates on this.
Steam launched in 2003
Trustpilot launched in 2007
EGS launched in 2018
Remember, by your own words, "most people write reviews when they arent happy"
Epic averages 915.25 reviews per year for the last 8 years.
Valve, in 19 years, since it predates Trustpilot, has 1/3 of that.
These reviews are overwhemlingly negative, because again as you said, people write reviews when they arent happy. I didnt do a deep dive on the 7322 reviews Epic recieved, and its possible some of them predate EGS.
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 1752
By Fenrir.Richybear 2026-07-24 09:54:47
Will Gabriel's yacht get a yacht before Half Life 3 though?
[+]
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 10:07:15
Epic games afaik doesn't have a written reviews feature, for the most part they didn't even have a rating system so naturally people go elsewhere to vent. On steam people just go complain in the user reviews section of the individual product they have a problem with.
Meanwhile some steam controller asmr:
YouTube Video Placeholder
By Tarage 2026-07-24 10:20:47
I genuinely question how you manage to keep yourself alive given what a mental midget you are. Do you have helpers? Does the state keep you from sticking forks into wall sockets? Are the corners in your house rubber? Kinda hope they missed one so we can be rid of you eventually.
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 10:21:17
Will Gabriel's yacht get a yacht before Half Life 3 though? Saving the oceans one super yacht at a time.
The real question is will he have 3 super yachts before we have Half Life 3?
VIP
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 1290
By Fenrir.Niflheim 2026-07-24 10:26:21
Things I dislike hate or whatever I never bring up this much.
So why do you keep bumping this tired thread? what's the point, my assumption is to troll?
The alternative is that valve/steam/His High Excellency Gaben, Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men are simply living rent free in your head and any news about them reignites your rabies and you start foaming at the mouth with the need to type it all out for others to see.
By Shichishito 2026-07-24 10:29:15
See this is how I know you're a *** idiot. Just shut the *** up you vapid sack of ***. I genuinely question how you manage to keep yourself alive given what a mental midget you are. Do you have helpers? Does the state keep you from sticking forks into wall sockets? Are the corners in your house rubber? Kinda hope they missed one so we can be rid of you eventually. Sensing hard feelings, can you point out at the plushy where I've hurt you?
By Tarage 2026-07-24 10:30:36
See this is how I know you're a *** idiot. Just shut the *** up you vapid sack of ***. I genuinely question how you manage to keep yourself alive given what a mental midget you are. Do you have helpers? Does the state keep you from sticking forks into wall sockets? Are the corners in your house rubber? Kinda hope they missed one so we can be rid of you eventually. Sensing hard feelings, can you point out at the plushy where I've hurt you?
The day you choke on a teething ring will be a glorious day indeed.
[+]
Continuation from the discussion over in the random thoughts thread because pantafernando raised concerns that our 4 page long discussion could derail that 23k page long thread filled with random thoughts. It started on this page.
------------------------------
Again
Carbuncle.Nynja said: ยป
The games community worships Steam because its a reliable consumer friendly simple product. That's a statement. Now it'd be nice to follow up with some reasons why steam is a worship worthy degree more consumer friendly than their competition.
You ninja introduced gg.deals into this conversation after I made that post. Don't get it twisted. Initially I mentioned gog and humble bundle, both occasionally have better prices than steam. Then you Nynja narrowed it down to new games only and started cherry picking titles.
I followed you on those new arbitrary rules instead of calling you out on your bullshit. I proceeded to demonstrate, with your list of cherry picked titles, that steam doesn't have the price advantage by default. Instead of acknowledging that you're changing the rules again.
Remember, You guys chose to argue in favor of steam and gabe being your one and only lord and saviour. My side of the argument is perfectly in line with choosing a different store if their offer is better. And for the 3rd time:
So are gog, humble bundle and others without charging that premium. The bold part clearly indicates that the list isn't comprehensive, stop selectively reading over things that don't fit your narrative.
Regardless, I've already covered this one too:
They sell you a steam key. I dont know the process how they get their stock but my guess is theyre resellers who bought in bulk at discount. Fact is that they sell them cheaper than steam does.
I'm just repeating stuff I've already said now. I noticed, like a broken record, pretending those quotes debunk arguments while most of them only talk past valid points like the one above.
I hope we can stop with the quote fest from here on out and advance the discussion cause it's going to suck having to cross reference a different thread even more than it already did in the original thread.
|
|
