Why aren't steam points available for sale.

[ape and ill]

Look, I absolutely understand it: it's cool to have points that people can award to something they genuinely like or respect.

But... People are selling(I don't encourage that, because it is contrary to TOS, but just stating the fact) Steam Accounts for a long time. What's the point of this ceiling? Now the black-market for the points is getting bigger... I don't get it.

The good thing is that we can trade some game items, this is a very progressive approach that I liked a lot in Valve's strategy, why won't Valve just sell these Points or even Accounts nowadays? It's just a waste of potential: imagine how much could Valve and average gamers make if there was an official Steam Account auction? Or these points at least, Looks like a good thing for all.

Thanks for your answers!

[J4MESOX4D]

Points are available for Steam Store purchases and that's it. It would be utterly disgusting if they were to monetise them separately and it would cause conflict with the market.

Valve rewards users who use their store with points which they can then buy profile features. That is where it ends. We don't want auctions or any other avenue that leads to abuse.

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Points are available for in-game purchases and that's it. It would be utterly disgusting if they were to monetise them separately and it would cause conflict with the market.

Valve rewards users who use their store with points which they can then buy profile features. That is where it ends. We don't want auctions or any other avenue that leads to abuse.

Well, there were coupons, that allowed you to get some points for 5$. The way to buy them is also pretty straight-forward: you just buy more games. I just don't see why there is no clear market for them.

Like: if I want to get points -> I go to the general market, not wasting time buying stuff for games.

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Points are available for Steam Store purchases and that's it. It would be utterly disgusting if they were to monetise them separately and it would cause conflict with the market.

Valve rewards users who use their store with points which they can then buy profile features. That is where it ends. We don't want auctions or any other avenue that leads to abuse.

Also, you said "We". Are you a community manager? Just asking, cause I though, that there would be some kind of a badge :thinkingFace:

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Points are available for in-game purchases and that's it. It would be utterly disgusting if they were to monetise them separately and it would cause conflict with the market.

Valve rewards users who use their store with points which they can then buy profile features. That is where it ends. We don't want auctions or any other avenue that leads to abuse.

Well, there were coupons, that allowed you to get some points for 5$. The way to buy them is also pretty straight-forward: you just buy more games. I just don't see why there is no clear market for them.

If you could buy coupons with Steam points, that would literally render Steam awards pointless as users would instead hold onto their points rather than award others.

Steam points are tied to he points shop only as intended and that's how it will stay.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Points are available for Steam Store purchases and that's it. It would be utterly disgusting if they were to monetise them separately and it would cause conflict with the market.

Valve rewards users who use their store with points which they can then buy profile features. That is where it ends. We don't want auctions or any other avenue that leads to abuse.

Also, you said "We". Are you a community manager? Just asking, cause I though, that there would be some kind of a badge :thinkingFace:

Community manager? This is a user forum. There are no community managers on this platform.

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Also, you said "We". Are you a community manager? Just asking, cause I though, that there would be some kind of a badge :thinkingFace:

Community manager? This is a user forum. There are no community managers on this platform.

I just don't understand why you are talking as if you are the one deciding how it'll work in the future, if you are a regular user. No offense, I just don't get it. :thinkingFace:

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Well, there were coupons, that allowed you to get some points for 5$. The way to buy them is also pretty straight-forward: you just buy more games. I just don't see why there is no clear market for them.

If you could buy coupons with Steam points, that would literally render Steam awards pointless as users would instead hold onto their points rather than award others.

Steam points are tied to he points shop only as intended and that's how it will stay.

Oh, sorry, seems like I've just messed something up in my head with these "coupons". They truly do not exist, I've just translated the reddit reply in the wrong way, excuse me for misinformation...

Though, my point is: there is a clear exchange between money and points: you buy stuff - you get points. Why don't just allow people who want to get more points make it easier, not messing with internal game store?

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Community manager? This is a user forum. There are no community managers on this platform.

I just don't understand why you are talking as if you are the one deciding how it'll work in the future, if you are a regular user. No offense, I just don't get it. :thinkingFace:

Because this has already been discussed to death from the moment the points shop was introduced. The wider community have pretty much given their feedback and Valve have kept the points shop as by initial design and this is how it would likely stay.

Buying games and getting points is conceptually more appealing than buying virtual points for virtual crap. Also this way developers get an increase of sales on the platform rather than Valve taking the lion share of everything through points sales only. All developers would see is users obtaining virtual stuff from a restricted platform shop which they get nothing from which includes bypassing the market.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Look, I absolutely understand it: it's cool to have points that people can award to something they genuinely like or respect.

But... People are selling(I don't encourage that, because it is contrary to TOS, but just stating the fact) Steam Accounts for a long time. What's the point of this ceiling? Now the black-market for the points is getting bigger... I don't get it.

The good thing is that we can trade some game items, this is a very progressive approach that I liked a lot in Valve's strategy, why won't Valve just sell these Points or even Accounts nowadays? It's just a waste of potential: imagine how much could Valve and average gamers make if there was an official Steam Account auction? Or these points at least, Looks like a good thing for all.

Thanks for your answers!

Accounts will never be able to be sold, the same way you can't sell ANY of your online accounts. Licenses are not transferable, its not unique to gaming and is standard across all software.

Otherwise it would kill publisher's and developers as people would buy a game and infinitely re-sell it. No reason to ever buy a new game as you'd just buy a used one for cheaper since there are no downsides unlike physical media.

[reg1s7]

https://youtu.be/igjcGvKOVw4
This video is somewhat related to your question. In short, it is not about money, it is about trust in Valve and Steam.

[my new friend]

Make decent user generated content and get points from awards.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Look, I absolutely understand it: it's cool to have points that people can award to something they genuinely like or respect.

But... People are selling(I don't encourage that, because it is contrary to TOS, but just stating the fact) Steam Accounts for a long time. What's the point of this ceiling? Now the black-market for the points is getting bigger... I don't get it.

The good thing is that we can trade some game items, this is a very progressive approach that I liked a lot in Valve's strategy, why won't Valve just sell these Points or even Accounts nowadays? It's just a waste of potential: imagine how much could Valve and average gamers make if there was an official Steam Account auction? Or these points at least, Looks like a good thing for all.

Thanks for your answers!

Accounts will never be able to be sold, the same way you can't sell ANY of your online accounts. Licenses are not transferable, its not unique to gaming and is standard across all software.

Otherwise it would kill publisher's and developers as people would buy a game and infinitely re-sell it. No reason to ever buy a new game as you'd just buy a used one for cheaper since there are no downsides unlike physical media.

Yep and also all market items have a default value of zero. Imagine the uproar if Valve started selling banned accounts for profit that likely stemmed from fraud and/or scam victims. That would probably be one of the most despicable practices imaginable.

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Look, I absolutely understand it: it's cool to have points that people can award to something they genuinely like or respect.

But... People are selling(I don't encourage that, because it is contrary to TOS, but just stating the fact) Steam Accounts for a long time. What's the point of this ceiling? Now the black-market for the points is getting bigger... I don't get it.

The good thing is that we can trade some game items, this is a very progressive approach that I liked a lot in Valve's strategy, why won't Valve just sell these Points or even Accounts nowadays? It's just a waste of potential: imagine how much could Valve and average gamers make if there was an official Steam Account auction? Or these points at least, Looks like a good thing for all.

Thanks for your answers!

Accounts will never be able to be sold, the same way you can't sell ANY of your online accounts. Licenses are not transferable, its not unique to gaming and is standard across all software.

Otherwise it would kill publisher's and developers as people would buy a game and infinitely re-sell it. No reason to ever buy a new game as you'd just buy a used one for cheaper since there are no downsides unlike physical media.

This is not true. A system can transfer part of the value from the sold account to the game publisher whose game was sold on an auction!

[ape and ill]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Make decent user generated content and get points from awards.

I don't really care for the points. My point is to make system more clear and agile. I think, that if some other game company will introduce such a feature, Valve will lose from that, that's it.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by investment gaming:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Community manager? This is a user forum. There are no community managers on this platform.

I just don't understand why you are talking as if you are the one deciding how it'll work in the future, if you are a regular user. No offense, I just don't get it. :thinkingFace:

Wtf were you expecting? This is a user forum. There is not going to be a Valve employee in here responding.