Steam as a strong Productivity Software Distributer

[Irene ❤]

Many years long ago I purchased a $50 video editing software from steam. Today I can just double click on it to re-download and use it immediately. Without steam I may have to find the CD, the license key, the product store page, or even to e-mail them for activation code. Steam rocks.

However the experience of using software through steam is a little bit strange. The app is shown as recent "game" played on profile, I have to search a bit harder to find the software in my library, When running it everyone knows that I'm using the app and ask questions like "what are you doing?". I feel that using work software should be kept private and a little bit of work could gain steam a strong market.

Then an idea hit me. Why not treat productivity software as a separate design. Overtime, this area can be more recognized and bring in huge profits.

- A 5th tab "Productivity' in addition to Store / library / community to browse work-related software with ease.
- A new profile showcase "Productivity software owned".
- New workshop for community to exchange templates and designs.
- A new "work" interface showing latest files and all software apps. One button to easily toggle view between "games" and "work".
- Guides can be officially approve by developers with a star icon.
- When using productivity software, nothing will be shown on steam (e.g. user is only shown as online and not in the 'game').
- New 'achievement' system where developers can design pop quiz on how to use the features of work software. The user can answer questions correct and showcase that they fully know how to run the work app.

[MonkehMaster]

use the game/ect.. privacy feature that was recently implemented.

that said, the suggestion looks to be good.

[Mailer]

I don't know if Blender also counts as a similar productivity software but it does irk me that using Blender through Steam can cause the whole application to shut down, in the event that Steam as a whole shuts down for some involuntary reason.

That's another behavior I would like software on Steam to not have at all, compared to games. Though, it could also be an outlier given how Blender is set up to integrate with Steam.

[76561199540158642]

blender is free you do not need steam to use blender or download it.

meshmixer is also pretty decent and is free

[Satoru]

Messaggio originale di Mailer:

I don't know if Blender also counts as a similar productivity software but it does irk me that using Blender through Steam can cause the whole application to shut down, in the event that Steam as a whole shuts down for some involuntary reason.

That's another behavior I would like software on Steam to not have at all, compared to games. Though, it could also be an outlier given how Blender is set up to integrate with Steam.

Nothing on Steam requires steam to be running for the program to run

The program must be written to require steam to be running. If you don't want an app to run without steam, tell the developers to stop using Steamworks that way. Steam doesn't force this behavior.

You can integrate almost every single feature on Steam and have it not require steam to be running.

In case you don't think this is the case, look at every single game Larian has ever made. They all

1) Launch on Steam
2) Integrate nearly every steamworks feature imaginable like steam cloud, achievements and even multiplayer matchmaking.
3) Runs fine without Steam. It does so without Steamwork features. You don't get achievements and multi-player features requiring Steam are disabled, but you can play multi-player via direct IP.

[Cray]

Tbh., while there are good ideas here, there's one hunkering problem:

steam no longer rocks. they did 15 years ago. now it's a free4all pile of a community + two million useless games they offer because they have zero quality control + a horrible app that does almost as many things wrong as it does right (just look at all the bugs posted in forums, year after year, that they never fix).

and the app itself is.. holy crap, what a horribly put together piece of software. jesus, what a bug crevice.

If they're going to treat software the same way they do games... it's gonna be a mess.

[Mad Scientist]

"Software" is already an accurate section in the Library, you can also make your own group and label it "Productivity" in your Library.
You can also since one of the recent updates, hide information regarding the use of specific apps you make private, so problem solved there. Else you can overall hide details if people bother you when launching any game/app, not answer, or answer whenever you feel like it, else use "Do Not Disturb" if sounds would interfere with recordings.