4 ms·

That their games aren't filled with Pay To Win microtransactions and Day 1 DLC is yet another reason to love Valve. If someone wants to spend a few bucks to bu

That their games aren't filled with Pay To Win microtransactions and Day 1 DLC is yet another reason to love Valve. If someone wants to spend a few bucks to buy a hat in TF2, that's fine by me.

lapetitejort 3y ago
Conversely, CSGO and DOTA 2 has facilitated real money gambling among the youth on third party sites for years. Valve has attempted to crack down on gambling sites, however it's still possible for a fourteen year old to insert credit card details and lose real money gambling for virtual skins.
- ysavir 3y ago
  And Artifact has card packs that are effectively loot boxes, and a whole marketplace to facilitate selling/buying them. I don't know how much/if they made any cut from the marketplace, but it's certainly a form of "play to win".
- waveBidder 3y ago
  this is nothing compared to Roblox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ
  - gabereiser 3y ago
    Man complaining about a monetization platform by making a video on a monetization platform.
- dietr1ch 3y ago
  Which could easily be fixed if Valve decided to put a hard-cap by selling skins for a fixed price, even if they were only for sale a couple weeks a year. They'd also pocket all that money, but I guess they don't want people who spent more than said cap to get their skins. But people who are spending 100+ on skins should know they are playing the NFT game.
babypuncher 3y ago
They should kill their RNG skin distribution and open a normal cash shop like everyone else. I find this cosmetic market where people pay hundreds or even thousands for items they want skeevy as hell. It's a big black mark on Valve's otherwise exceptional reputation.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  Why do people spend this much? Are they being tricked or something?
  - skyyler 3y ago
    When it was TF2 and not CSGO, there was a lot of money laundering. Not sure if that's still happening.
  - enragedcacti 3y ago
    1) People really like skins 2) Unlike basically every other game with paid skins, Valve games let you sell them to other players on an open market for Steam credit. Valve takes 5% of each market transaction and many skins hold their value quite well so using a $200 knife for years and years could only end up costing $10 (+ opportunity cost) or so assuming the market stays flat and you will eventually buy $200 of games in the future. The real losers in the system are the people with gambling addictions opening cases and hoping to get something really good for less than market price. Cases are free drops but cost $2.50 to open and the average market value of what you win is usually less than (value of the case)+$2.50. Because the cases can be sold there's no limit to the amount of gambling one person can do. https://csroi.com/ https://csroi.com/
    - skeaker 3y ago
      >Valve takes 5% of each market transaction ... on their own community market platform. Valve supports third party stores that don't have a Valve cut, and they freely provide the ability for users to trade items for items with no fees to allow third party stores to work. These systems kick off a whole third angle of businesses being propped up around the exchange of these items and of people doing speculative trades on certain items.

That their games aren't filled with Pay To Win microtransactions and Day 1 DLC is yet another reason to love Valve. If someone wants to spend a few bucks to buy a hat in TF2, that's fine by me.

lapetitejort 3y ago

Conversely, CSGO and DOTA 2 has facilitated real money gambling among the youth on third party sites for years. Valve has attempted to crack down on gambling sites, however it's still possible for a fourteen year old to insert credit card details and lose real money gambling for virtual skins.

ysavir 3y ago
And Artifact has card packs that are effectively loot boxes, and a whole marketplace to facilitate selling/buying them. I don't know how much/if they made any cut from the marketplace, but it's certainly a form of "play to win".
waveBidder 3y ago
this is nothing compared to Roblox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ
- gabereiser 3y ago
  Man complaining about a monetization platform by making a video on a monetization platform.
dietr1ch 3y ago
Which could easily be fixed if Valve decided to put a hard-cap by selling skins for a fixed price, even if they were only for sale a couple weeks a year. They'd also pocket all that money, but I guess they don't want people who spent more than said cap to get their skins. But people who are spending 100+ on skins should know they are playing the NFT game.

babypuncher 3y ago

They should kill their RNG skin distribution and open a normal cash shop like everyone else. I find this cosmetic market where people pay hundreds or even thousands for items they want skeevy as hell. It's a big black mark on Valve's otherwise exceptional reputation.

robertlagrant 3y ago
Why do people spend this much? Are they being tricked or something?
- skyyler 3y ago
  When it was TF2 and not CSGO, there was a lot of money laundering. Not sure if that's still happening.
- enragedcacti 3y ago
  1) People really like skins 2) Unlike basically every other game with paid skins, Valve games let you sell them to other players on an open market for Steam credit. Valve takes 5% of each market transaction and many skins hold their value quite well so using a $200 knife for years and years could only end up costing $10 (+ opportunity cost) or so assuming the market stays flat and you will eventually buy $200 of games in the future. The real losers in the system are the people with gambling addictions opening cases and hoping to get something really good for less than market price. Cases are free drops but cost $2.50 to open and the average market value of what you win is usually less than (value of the case)+$2.50. Because the cases can be sold there's no limit to the amount of gambling one person can do. https://csroi.com/ https://csroi.com/
  - skeaker 3y ago
    >Valve takes 5% of each market transaction ... on their own community market platform. Valve supports third party stores that don't have a Valve cut, and they freely provide the ability for users to trade items for items with no fees to allow third party stores to work. These systems kick off a whole third angle of businesses being propped up around the exchange of these items and of people doing speculative trades on certain items.