What's the point of steam cards and why should I care?

[Strikker]

I've been a member of steam for longer than even this account states (I lost my original steam account so I had to create this one a few years back) I just buy and play the games though never really give much thought about the "other stuff" that goes on with steam. So I discovered these steam trading cards......

Plainly stated --- What are trading cards for and why should I even care about them? In other words are they just some geeky mini-steam community game "oh look I'll trade cards with this person" thing or is there a REAL benefit to them -- as in discounts on steam games, etc.?

(PS. I realize TRADING cards probably have to do with trading them....so serious replies only please)

[Zukabazuka]

Cosmetic stuff for your account really. But you can sell them and when you have 40 or more the money you can get gets around 5$ or more.

[Jade]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=145245037

[TGC> The Games Collector]

It's basically a gimmick to get people active in the Steam Market and trading.

If you get a full card set, you can craft it into a badge, and you get an emoticon and a profile background of the game/event the badge is from.

In some cases you also get discount coupons, so yeah, in a way it can have some benefit to them apart from having a prettier profile and playing with .

[Strikker]

Thank you all for replying I appreciate it. If I can get games for cheap(er) that's cool....I don't really care at all about backgrounds, emoticons or if I have an acheivement in my profile or not though. So meh...they are building up and if I somehow get a set I'll look into the badge thing.