I actually think that the concept is great but it's execution is not going to be.
Like GOG, Valve (to a lesser extent) has a nice business model.
If they are going to aim for a system like the Reputation system on GFWL, I'm all for it. About time good people got rewarded and bad people got screwed for a change.
Although I despise GFWL, that reputation bar is handy when playing with strangers.
I trust Valve on this one. Let's hope I'm not going to get disappointed =)
Wait what?
Never seen hate for GOG there. Quite the contrary.

Really? One of the two gog threads I saw was this one, in which SPUF users had a more reasonable reaction to the quote than gog users did.

The other one was talking about how they'd love it if Valve bought GOG.

The bashers:participants ratio in those threads is much better than in any thread regarding Valve on gog.

the impending fear that all of them will be disabled, including your main account? If you did 1 or 2 I could see it slide, if you go all out, I'm sure it would ring some alarms on Valve's HQ, and someone will check it out.

where?

I don't get it. This is a Protoss post, and we haven't mentioned the Nazis. There's even social engineering in there. What's happening today?

Ahh, i dont use steam all that much. I was imagining they might rely on things like social networking sites. But if its all bound to a steam account that makes more sense.

I really like this idea. Implementation is something that can be figured out and fine-tuned later but the core concept of nice people being rewarded for their niceness leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy...
Good things happening to good people - can you imagine that ? I say, they should call it "Steam Karma".

Sounds rather like an hidden "affiliates" system rather than anything else : spend a lot of times in our games, make the promotion for us and we will give you some free goodies.

Like most of the other "reputation" system I strongly suspect it won't be "nice" peoples who will get the free stuff but those who will have too much free time and who will be able to roam endlessly on the forums/game lobbies, whatever to increase their rep..

Stupid idea.
Hard to police.
Lots of people just want to play a game instead of playing 'nice' or 'positively' contribute to the community. Smells of politicking to me.

Oh, let me assure you - those who do not have enough time wouldn't be able to spend it on playing games anyway.

How the hell is being an ACTIVE (and nice - being an active asshole wouldn't help) member of a given community a bad thing ? That's EXACTLY what should be rewarded. People who sit on their asses and don't interact in any meaningful way aren't "bad" but it's hard to call them "nice" either. They're neutral. Possibly - lazy.
Also - I hate people who use the phrase "too much free time". It's borderline nonsense, considering we live in a world where having free time is one of the most (if not THE most) coveted positions to be in; how the hell can you have "too much" of it ? If it's supposed to signify that they spend it in wrong ways - who the hell made you the judge ?

If Alice in Wonderland ever taught me anything, it's precisely this. The laws of nature may crumble but politeness remains reliable.

It's usually pretty implicit, though, since this entire concept falls apart under scrutiny...

It is, though it sounds very appealing, IMO. There's plenty of punishing bad behavior in all of life, yet the very opposite - rewarding good actions - is hardly present.
Some may instinctively react in a very Kant-esque fashion and worry that as soon as there are rewards for good actions, there may be people who perform them not out of charity but for profit, which may mar the purity of intention... But I'd put it this way:
1) if "good" people remain acting is a given way out of kindness, I find rewarding them for selflessness right.
2) if "neutral" (think D&D) people act in the same way to reap the benefits - hey, at least their actions are constructive
3) if this doesn't change the way "evil" people act - no loss. If it actually encourages them to change behavior - epic win.

I'd rather this be implemented by statistical data within the game than from people putting in their 2 cents, or maybe a mix of both, where if you get a bunch of people talking smack about you and how you're a troll and the statistics in the game sessions don't add up, they shouldn't be marked for a higher price.

Then again, how do you measure these statistics? You can keep track of a player's assists, kills and progress within a game, but there's no way to keep track of him being a douche, without other people telling you he's a douche. Recording voice chats would be kind of detrimental and a whole new level of hassle for Valve to police or sort through.

I don't know. I like the idea in concept and what they aim to get with it, but I can't imagine it working as intended.

Nothing wrong with being "nice". Except that as soon as you start "measuring" and worse rewarding it with financial incentive there is a huge chance that you will reward a lot more, not those who are really "nice" and really tries to be helpful, but those who spend the most time farming their reputation by whatever means necessary.

It's not a new concept either, there are several F2P where being "nice" to newby (sending them gifts for example) gets you experience points or other bonus, usually it results in experienced players being "nice" only until they reach their daily XP/bonus quota and after they happily go back to ignoring or insulting beginners.

Or most likely that they have other/better things to do, finding time to play games is one thing, finding extra time to do some public relation work on top of it is another. It has nothing to do to with whenever they are "nice" or "bad".

Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.
As long as the actions you promote are right, the system shouldn't do harm while it is likely to do good...


At the very least - this results in a lot of (dishonest) possitive actions. Also - prolonged displays of such attitude might make one bipolar ;P.

I wanted to let it slide as implicit but - here you go...
Are you treating "being nice" as an inherent character trait ?
Imagine a knight. We say he is brave but he hasn't slayed any dragons yet. We assume that if there were dragons to be slain, he would slay one and - as such - call him brave merely because of potential. You MAY treat traits in such a way.
What I'd suggest is to only label the knights who've slain dragons as "brave", the knights who ran away from dragons as "cowards"... the ones that have yet to face one ? I'll rest my judgment until they've faced a trial (dragon).

Besides - this might as well be based on in-game stuff. Do you use voice-chat to guide your team, patiently calling their attention to objectives as well as generally being a pleasant individual ? I think that's "being nice".

A few months ago, i read an article where Gabe said that he wants to reward the players who add value to Steam games by just playing them. By having these players play the Steam games, it encourages new players to join and makes the overall gaming experience better for everyone, so Steam should not worry about trying to charge these good players $30 for a new game. Leave it to Gabe to come up with a new and innovative business model. I think he might be on to something.

I used to be an exclusive single player offline, but recently started playing online Steam games and really enjoy the interaction with other players. Having free to play Steam games is a great idea. I played Alien Swarm for 35 hours and really enjoyed it and made some new friends and it was FREE. Of course TF2 was great and FREE also :)

My current gaming obsession is Kiling Floor and its time to log-on...bye and maybe see you there.