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Steam just asked me if I'd share my computer stats for a survey, and i agreed. It then let me look at their results page, showing what percentage of users had what computer features, and what were the most common.

What really surprised me is that "simplified Chinese" is overwhelmingly the most common language for Steam users who participated in the survey. The top 5 were:

Simplified Chinese 63.93%
English 17.62%
Russian 5.50%
Spanish 2.18%
Brazilian Portuguese 1.60%

I naturally assumed that English would be the most common language, but apparently it only makes up 18% of users. "Traditional Chinese" was lower down at 0.63%.

No real story or point of discussion here, just wanted to share something that surprised me, though of course people are free to make of it what they will. The results seem public, so you can see them yourself if you want.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

EDIT

Apparently my vid card is so old that Steam didn't even list it. I may be the only one in the world using an Nvidia 7600 GT
Post edited March 23, 2018 by BlueMooner
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BlueMooner: Simplified Chinese 63.93%
English 17.62%
Russian 5.50%
Spanish 2.18%
Brazilian Portuguese 1.60%
Fairfox .01%
FTFY
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tinyE: FTFY
Is this simplified Fairfox?
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BlueMooner: Simplified Chinese 63.93%
English 17.62%
Russian 5.50%
Spanish 2.18%
Brazilian Portuguese 1.60%
Fairfox .01%
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tinyE: FTFY
Languages only count if at least two people speak it. Nobody understands Fairfox.
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BlueMooner: Steam just asked me if I'd share my computer stats for a survey, and i agreed. It then let me look at their results page, showing what percentage of users had what computer features, and what were the most common.

What really surprised me is that "simplified Chinese" is overwhelmingly the most common language for Steam users who participated in the survey. The top 5 were:

Simplified Chinese 63.93%
English 17.62%
Russian 5.50%
Spanish 2.18%
Brazilian Portuguese 1.60%

I naturally assumed that English would be the most common language, but apparently it only makes up 18% of users. "Traditional Chinese" was lower down at 0.63%.

No real story or point of discussion here, just wanted to share something that surprised me, though of course people are free to make of it what they will. The results seem public, so you can see them yourself if you want.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

EDIT

Apparently my vid card is so old that Steam didn't even list it. I may be the only one in the world using an Nvidia 7600 GT
Does Typo count as a language? I am well vursed in that.
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BlueMooner: I naturally assumed that English would be the most common language, but apparently it only makes up 18% of users. "Traditional Chinese" was lower down at 0.63%.
Don't see why. Afterall there's 2x-3x more Chinese people in China.

Although English i believe IS the most common language when doing computer programming, although Unicode comments are more available now than they used to be.
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tinyE: FTFY
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BlueMooner: Languages only count if at least two people speak it. Nobody understands Fairfox.
Does Fairfox even understand Fairfox?
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BlueMooner: Languages only count if at least two people speak it. Nobody understands Fairfox.
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robomagon: Does Fairfox even understand Fairfox?
Well, we could ask her, but we'd never be able to understand her answer.
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BlueMooner: I naturally assumed that English would be the most common language, but apparently it only makes up 18% of users. "Traditional Chinese" was lower down at 0.63%.
Nowadays, Simplified Chinese is used in China more than Traditional Chinese. Where the traditional is used more than the simplified one is in Taiwan.
Post edited March 23, 2018 by Sjuan
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Sjuan: Nowadays, Simplified Chinese is used in China more than Traditional Chinese. Where the traditional is used more than the simplified one is in Taiwan.
Hmmm... I recall something similar for Japanese.

Japanese is very artistic, usually incorporating 2-4 things together, making an entire word into a single letter. There's then the simplified Japanese which is the individual syllables/sounds. I'm told in order or those not trained in English they will have a list of the syllables which is gibberish for voice actors, but you can make out the rough English from it.

Course in the US we have shorthand, but few actually train/use it... Though it would be a nice simple way to write ciphers into a map or something for someone playing D&D to figure out if they looked into it :P
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BlueMooner: I naturally assumed that English would be the most common language, but apparently it only makes up 18% of users. "Traditional Chinese" was lower down at 0.63%.
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rtcvb32: Don't see why. Afterall there's 2x-3x more Chinese people in China.
I assumed Steam mostly served US/Canada, and only somewhat beyond that. I guess I also assumed there are foreign game companies/distributors that I don't know about, not speaking those languages. I've also heard, but not read up on, that China has somewhat strict rules on internet access and usage for their citizens, so I don't know what their views would be on a distributor that has games with sex, nudity and violence. I think I even recall reading a thread here by a Chinese user upset that they were blocked from downloading gog games they owned.
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BlueMooner: I assumed Steam mostly served US/Canada, and only somewhat beyond that. I guess I also assumed there are foreign game companies/distributors that I don't know about, not speaking those languages. I've also heard, but not read up on, that China has somewhat strict rules on internet access and usage for their citizens, so I don't know what their views would be on a distributor that has games with sex, nudity and violence. I think I even recall reading a thread here by a Chinese user upset that they were blocked from downloading gog games they owned.
Mhmmm.

Although remember only 10% of users on steam actually buy any games. That means 90% (or more) of the Chinese users are only playing free games, like LoL or MMOs, or weekend free trials of games and/or free games that are given away.

Though that doesn't mean they can't get the games via Humble Bundle and get keys... so... don't know.
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rtcvb32: Although remember only 10% of users on steam actually buy any games.
Source? The survey I referenced only looked at hardware, not user habits or purchases, so I don't know how many people just "hang out" on Steam forums, never buying anything. Seems silly to me. Every game forum I've ever visited regularly were ones where I'd played one or more of their games.
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BlueMooner: Source?
Been a few years, i remember seeing an article on it... I'll see if i can't find it.
That sounds like those warnings about the Yellow peril were justified...I guess non-Chinese Steam users will soon be forced to learn Mandarin and donate money to Chinese gamers, as tribute to the Middle Kingdom. Scary!
Post edited March 23, 2018 by morolf