Generally, adding game elements to non-game -- often real world -- applications.

In this case it was Steam making a game out of spending money.

Very simplified it means applying tactics games use to be fun, motivating and entertaining to stuff outside gaming.

For example a teacher could create a simple meta game surrounding the curriculum with experience points, tasks/quests/challenges and individual and group rewards. "Hand in your homework on time 5 weeks in a row and you get 10 XP, "reach umpteen XP and receive a free bonus point in your next test", "improve the class grade average by X and get one day without homework for everyone", etc.

All of that is aimed at making the unpopular task of learning (ewwww!) more fun and rewarding. And that's great because it makes kids want to learn more. Ideally kids actively look for more stuff to learn and don't even realize that they are in fact learning

But now imagine creating a meta game around spending money. Oh wait, you don't have to, because Steam already did and isn't it great how they make spending money fun for the whole family...

Grand Prix was a big disappointment. I miss the Flash sales from the past. Here are my purchases:

Army Men = $1.49
Army Men 2 = $1.49
Army Men RTS = $1.49
Army Men Toys in Space = $1.49
They are DRM free by the way and run without Steam.

Also got:
Echelon = $0.50
Echelon Wind Warriors = $0.50
They won't run on Win10, so i plan to play them on my Ubuntu system.

Overall, it was a disappointment. Steam sales are getting worse and worse.

I picked up Yakuza 0 and the Heretic/Hexen pack.

Steam summer sale.. I just mopped up a few DLC purchases I was missing for Games I like. Nothing fantastic about it or anything. No really great discounts on games or much of anything that piqued my interest.
EDIT: My biggest Steam summer sale purchase was Castlevania Anniversary collection through Humble. I was immediately disappointed by the lack of SotN. Still a lot of good games.

I'm sure that one day Konami will accidentally rerelease it!

Huh. Apparently my state doesn't charge tax at Humble.

I don't know.
They are nice trucks, but I'd really prefer one in black or white or maybe red, even if those ones aren't discounted.
TBH I didn't even know they came in that color.




Oh wait, I thought that said Green Hummer Sale.

Valve must have some geniuses over at PR, the summer sale seems to be more than cheap games for people. Almost like some kind of holiday. There are even songs about it.

Steam Summer Sale steamrolled my wallet

Indie Game Anthem (Thrift Shop) | Viva La Dirt League (VLDL)

GOG needs to up their game during sales and introduces some 'evil' gamification of sorts. Make it like an event for people to look forward to.

Every company on the planet tries to manipulate people to buy their product. I don't think the Steam Summer sale games are any more "naughty" than a coke commercial showing slo-mo shots of bubbles on ice.

I went all out and bought Insecticide Part 1 & I fell from Grace
for $1.38! Woohoo! Life in the fast lane! Whatta rush!

I wish I'd though to look for Barrow Hill during the sale but
I didn't. :/

I hope people will stop with the HL3 jokes now. Valve can't design a sale. That's a level of incompetence I'd thought impossible, and I teach intro to statistics to middle managers. I stayed the hell away like I always do and watched the fallout. It was hilarious.

At some point, Steam told me I had 75000 points to spend in 15000-point instalments, so that's what I did. I bought three pseudo-VNs (a typical indie, a cheapass one to be a yardstick for my mvp, and one wannabe AAA in-dev), the Rusty Lake series, and Small Radios Big Televisions - no idea what it is but I like the title.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Mine didn't charge tax on any digital purchases for the longest time then Amazon got taxed and then not long after that storefronts like Steam, Humble Store and some others followed suit.

It especially stings with Humble Store because the sales tax essentially nullifies any discount percentage gained from Humble Monthly subscriptions so now that they killed off earning store credit with purchases there, I'm lucky to pay base/asking prices as far as discounts are applied.

I pay tax on Steam, so even if Humble did get taxed, it wouldn't negate the discount because if both Steam and Humble tax you you're still getting 10%