I think it’s more than fair that if you look at my content, or to the side where you’ll see my current distractions you’ll notice that I really like Steam. Steam is a really great platform for buying and playing games, and they’ve done a brilliant job making their platform accessible to people outside of Windows on the Mac and Linux platforms. As a result has helped bring more gaming attention to Linux which is great overall. They make really great hardware, such as the Steam Controller. Big Picture? It’s a wonderful convenience for those of us who want to play on a big TV and want the console experience but the freedom to mod and play the way we want to. Does this make me a fanboy? Not really, because unlike fanboys I can point out flaws, and Steam has a lot of flaws.
Is Steam’s focus on movies a flaw? Not really, considering their focus has been on things like Big Picture, SteamOS, their controller, you name it. They want to bring Steam into the living room for those who want the option, so releasing movies would make sense. And why not? They already sell software and graphic novels, why not movies? It isn’t something that I would buy, but why deny others of having the option? That to me is not a flaw.
Now, if you said that their browser sucks? I’m all on board in agreement. And I’ll even admit that Big Picture has it’s issues. For example, sometimes when I look at my friend activity there will be a 50/50 chance that it’ll either fail to come up, or it’ll appear fine, and then there’s a 25% chance that it won’t display correctly. Like, you’ll scroll over a friend to see what they said, or what picture they took, and it won’t come up at all. Then you have their support service, which we all can universally agree sucks.
And then there’s the Steam Mobile Authenticator. Want to trade with someone on the market? You need a smartphone, or to wait three days for the trade to go through. That sounds somewhat reasonable, note the emphasis on the somewhat. It gets ridiculous when you want to sell something on their community market. I went to sell some cards I accumulated in a game, and found that I had to wait 15 days… wtf? Again, you need a smartphone.
I don’t want a smartphone. I literally have no reason to purchase or use a smartphone, nor do I have the desire to purchase one. I rarely make phone calls and when I do it’s over a landline. Everything else is done via email. When I point this out people seem shocked for some strange reason. Then they ask me why I wouldn’t want “the most convenient device ever made”? Why? I’m a practical person. If I bought a smartphone it would literally be just to use the trade system and market on Steam, that’s not a good reason to buy a smartphone. Also, I’m not the type that checks social media every few minutes. There are times when I just want to disconnect completely from technology and go about my business. That might change someday, but for the time being I don’t want a smartphone, especially for something like Steam.
I’m not against the idea completely, but why do they fixate on having a smartphone? Why can’t you use a secondary email address, or a landline? I would think the landline would be safer since it’s tied to your fucking house.
I love you Steam, but you’re drunk… Get back to your roots dammit.