Community MetaSteam | February 2019 - The Frontier of the Hyper-Toxic Pro-Consumer Computer Cowboy

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lashman

lashman

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It certainly is delicate, but given that journalists are simply not doing any research whatsoever, I think they will have to change tactics. Even the little message they put up on the Metro Exodus page showed how Epic is counting on them being silent, with Galyonkin even replying on twitter "Do you find a store owner attaching a note like this to a product made by people they disagree with a bit weird? ".

Now, I don't know how it would be the best way to react, is just that I really don't think the standard silence and "the market will take care of it" is the best response to all that Fortnite money. Doing nothing may lead to the "death by a thousand cuts" scenario.
yeah, you're absolutely right ... they HAVE TO say something, and fast!
 
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Ex-User (307)

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May be controversial, but I would take a game not being on pc over being forced to use Epic :coffee-blob:
I don’t really disagree, but that’s because I’m in a unique situation.

I often game on a laptop (a Mac with partitions no less :so-good-blob:) so unsurprisingly, higher end games don’t always have the best performance. If the choice is between being locked into Epic’s shitty launcher with a digital copy or a retail copy on console, I might as well get a console version that’s going to (probably) have better compatibility and optimized performance for my specific console.

Plus, hilariously, if they’re so worried about dev cuts, they’ll get even less from me buying a retail copy of their game. Less from the initial sale, and they’ll miss out on me putting the game on used game markets :coffee-blob:
 
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Yeah, it sucks that we may end up missing a few games.

But then, I look at my Steam library, and I see I haven't even played Mutant Year Zero. Or Phantom Doctrine. Or Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Or Life is Strange 2. Or Vampyr. Or the new Prey. Or Deux Ex: Mankind Divided. Or Sunset Overdrive. Or a few hundreds more.

Yeah, how will I live without an Epic Games Store account. :cool:
 

Hektor

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Nov 1, 2018
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The thing about valves reaction is, that there are many ways valve could react, but only a few ways i'd want them to.
It's an easy thing for valve to start moneyhatting games of their own, but the moment they do it, it'll seal its fate as a standard business practice going forward. Valve due to their influence is ultimately the one who sets the precedent here, not epic or Discord. The latter already gave up that strategy seemingly.

That said, if i were valve, i'd do the following.

Lower the cut 5% across the board.
That way valve won't really change a lot, but they'll immediately make devs feel like they got a win out of all this.

Start a steam developer fund.
Take another 5% of your cut and reinvest it therein, It'll be a fund developers can apply to with their prototypes and early access games, who gets money and how much will be 100% up to valve, not the community to prevent abuse like it happened during Greenlight. Developers who get funded will have obligation to launch on steam (duh) but are still allowed to make development and publishing decisions by themselfs, including being able to sell it on competing stores and launchers too. But devs will have to pay valve a cut for all copies sold, not just copies sold on steam. Let's say 10% for all nonsteam copies.

Produce a Steamdirect show.
Hire some semi-famous youtuber or tv moderator and create a monthly indiehighlight reel that will be viewable on the frontpage of steam, as well as youtube and others. Similar process to the steam fund, developers will be able to apply for it, but appearences will be chosen by valve. Cost of application will be that all your games sold during the month of promotion will be sold at a 35% cut for valve. That way it would hopefully discourage devs of games like Hollow Knight or Dead Cells to apply for it because those don't need it and would just steal the spotlight.

In regards to steam reviews,
Give developers a report button that is treated seperately from the normal report button us common users get.
The developers button would have a VIP flag in valves ticket system that would push it in front of all others.
Then publish clear guidelines as to what constitutes an abusive review and what does not.

Abusive =
Kill yourself
Developer is SJW trash
Swastikas/Nazism and other illegal content
etc.

Not abusive =
"Game sux"
"Game does not support my favorite input method"
"Modding is getting DMCA'd even though the game sold itself on that idea for the last 5 years"
 
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lashman

lashman

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The thing about valves reaction is, that there are many ways valve could react, but only a few ways i'd want them to.
ehh, dunno about the Steamdirect ... i mean - it's an awesome idea ... but then you'd get devs complaining about not being chosen (and that they have to give volvo more if they are) ... i 100% guarantee you it would happen

not sure about the review thing either ... i mean - it IS a good idea ... but i can already see some devs complaining it takes days for volvo to react, or something similar ... and, of course, a few devs would probably abuse the shit out of that system and just report all bad reviews (which would only slow down volvo's react time to real tickets even more)

the first two are really good, though ... i would only change one small thing in the second one: the fund is "repayable" ... as in: they have to have the game on steam, of course ... but they only pay volvo the 10% until they "repay" the money they got from volvo ... after that - it's the usual, but the game still has to be on steam (and wherever else the devs decide to sell it)
 

QFNS

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Hektor I think the cut changes would be a good start. Sadly a lot of the other moves would require Valve to work like an organization with a vision and a strong leader which they are not and do not have. The flat management style at Valve sort of prevents them from unilaterally making big moves like this unless it is Gabe Newell directly doing something. Otherwise every effort has to be small because there are usually only a few people creating it.

I especially like your idea about giving the developers a perceived win. I think that's a lot of what this is about. Epic's platform is giving them a perceived win, and this would be a good way to hit back. I think the Steamdirect show would be a fabulous idea in general, but that sort of thing seems like something that would take an entire department to do, and we all know Valve doesn't do a great job at that sort timed release stuff (weekly or monthly even you know it would 100% be late).

All great ideas but I doubt any of them happen.
 

Tizoc

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That rumored 4A news got a sensible chuckle out of me
:wd_smile:
exactly ... 100% this
There's just way too many good games as is. There are just as many older good games on Steam, indie or otherwise, that it becomes difficult to remember ALL of them.
Shatter is one of the best puzzle/block breaking games you can get on Steam, but you'd need to remind those interested in the genre that it is on Steam for them to grab it alongside, if not over, another great puzzle game that'd interest them.
 

Derrick01

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Are the humble monthly games ok to play solo? I played a little of verminitide 2 last month on gamepass for the ms rewards challenge but not enough to really take in anything or know what I was doing. I'm more interested in cultist simulator than the other two admittedly.
 
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Big_Al

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Are the humble monthly games ok to play solo? I played a little of verminitide 2 last month on gamepass for the ms rewards challenge but not enough to really take in anything or know what I was doing. I'm more interested in cultist simulator than the other two admittedly.
You can no problem with EDF at least. I find EDF to be a blast regardless if it's 1, 2 or 4 players. With EDF just make sure you play in the single player mode as playing in multiplayer the difficulty is much tougher and doesn't scale so much, I think that's right.
 

Derrick01

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You can no problem with EDF at least. I find EDF to be a blast regardless if it's 1, 2 or 4 players. With EDF just make sure you play in the single player mode as playing in multiplayer the difficulty is much tougher and doesn't scale so much, I think that's right.
Thanks I'll keep that in mind. Think I'll pull the trigger on this bundle.
 
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Ascheroth

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Nov 12, 2018
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Finished The Messenger (~11 hours)

Jesus, that was goddamn awesome. The game just relentlessy gets cooler and more awesome as it goes on until the very end.
Graphics are great, soundtrack is amazing, controls are tight, gameplay is super smooth and addictive, difficulty is challenging but never unfair, level design is ace and the story is interesting. Good chance this would have been on my GOTY list if I played it last year, welp.
 

Firewithin

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i am stuck in obra dinn. i cant seem to find any new chapters/people to progress through.

im at the part where
i did the bodies that got attacked in the row boats by the mermaids or whatever
 
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Madventure

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Nov 17, 2018
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Nice, I'll wait until that moment then.

The only good thing coming out of this Epic disaster is that I'm getting more time to work on my backlog

Or maybe not, it keeps increasing in size :(
Yeah Hades is just in early Access on Epic at the moment then when it's done basically they're going to release it everywhere, that's what they've said at least. So basically we don't have to put up with beta testing for once.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Hey cool, killing thounsands of giant spiders might be more fun in multi. We should create a meta force.
 
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Ex-User (307)

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Finished The Messenger (~11 hours)

Jesus, that was goddamn awesome. The game just relentlessy gets cooler and more awesome as it goes on until the very end.
Graphics are great, soundtrack is amazing, controls are tight, gameplay is super smooth and addictive, difficulty is challenging but never unfair, level design is ace and the story is interesting. Good chance this would have been on my GOTY list if I played it last year, welp.
I'm probably never going to play this since I'm complete butt at this type of game. But goodness that OST is hype.
 

Tizoc

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Looks like i am sticking with mt gtx 970m and 6th gen i7 for at least another year.
The wait foe Rtx 30 mobile gfx cards begins.
*waiting spongebob.gif*
 
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Rhaknar

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just put like 4 hours into Cultist Simulator, kinda loving it, learning how to play it and the rules is quite an experience. It just dawned on me that it's basically a card / board game (the fact you LITERALLY play on a board with cards should have clued me in lol), to the point I can totally see myself play a physical version of this. It's very confusing at first and there are zero tutorials, but the game also opens with a screen saying "experiment, explore, the more you play the more youll master it" or something, so I guess it's intended. My runs are lasting longer and longer thats for sure.

so between this, Verm 2 which ive been wanting for some coop goodness, and EDF which is always fun, Monthly already paid for itself for me this month, which is always nice.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
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So next up I think I'm gonig to alternate between Star Ocean 4 (I'm on Roak atm) and murdering tons of giant insects in EDF! EDF! EDF!


Does that The Messenger game play as a platformer, or is there more to it?
It's an action-platformer metroidvania.
I'm probably never going to play this since I'm complete butt at this type of game. But goodness that OST is hype.
And the soundtrack is 60 songs big! :wd_cat:
 
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