General Video Game Deals Thread

[Dewar]

And now green team's in the lead by a HUGE margin already. I have no idea how the logic works here. I haven't been team-switched yet so I don't think they're doing any random shuffling. Maybe they are and I'm just "lucky", I don't know.

 

I imagine that one of the big Steam-pro type groups are coordinating and trading off days. As soon as the day ticks over they craft a ton of badges, which then gets them off to such a lead that others don't want to waste their cards.

 

I missed the first time my team was way ahead, but I sold my summer cards to buy a few cards in other sets and am ready to craft two non-summer badges. Next time we're ahead, I'll craft one and see if I'm one of the lucky 30.

[Twig]

It's definitely possible but I don't think the explanation is as simple as that. Granted, I don't have a complicated explanation, either.

It just strikes me as a really strange thing to bother being that coordinated about, given that only 30 people from each group (which undoubtedly have hundreds of thousands of people each, if not more) actually win, and they only win three games. What a bizarre system.

[JonCole]

I agree with Dewar, there are probably quite a small number (compared to the total population using Steam) that is controlling the early numbers and then the bigger leads over time generate organically as people realize that their team is/isn't winning the day. They would want to coordinate because assignment of teams is largely random and there's no benefit collectively to one team being the winners all the time, particularly with the small prize pool.

 

Regardless, I'm contributing exactly one point per day for maximum potential card gain and the largest chance at winning free games if Steam's RNG manages to favor both my team and me at the right time.

 

Still have managed to not buy anything in this sale. My wife seems to have seen me struggling and has bought me South Park at a discount, which was super generous and may have staved off my desire to get any of my wishlist games. Nonetheless, if anything gets ludicrously cheap I might partake. SRIV at sub-$10 would still tempt me, as would sub-$20 Dark Souls 2.

[Dewar]

It's definitely possible but I don't think the explanation is as simple as that. Granted, I don't have a complicated explanation, either.

It just strikes me as a really strange thing to bother being that coordinated about, given that only 30 people from each group (which undoubtedly have hundreds of thousands of people each, if not more) actually win, and they only win three games. What a bizarre system.

 

There are groups of people who try and manipulate these systems when there's nothing at stake, let alone when there are $30-$150 worth of games on the line.

 

Edit: I have been tempted several times this sale, but I have been able to limit myself to EuroTruck 2 and State of Decay, both of which I've already started playing, so that's good at least.

[Twig]

Yeah I suppose you're right. Occam's Razor and all that or whatever and shit you know.

I really want Dark Souls 2 to be in a flash or daily sale. I... Well, if I'm honest, I'll end up buying it regardless, but it'd be nice to get it a little cheaper.

[Tanukitsune]

Purple is ahead once AGAIN and has a three times more points than anybody else, one million points? This is ridiculous! XD

[SecretAsianMan]

I feel like the team thing is almost just a façade because of the huge margins that separate the winning team and what's actually happening is that teams are just being chosen at random to "win".  Then again, it could be that the people on the leading team craft a ton of badges, pull way ahead, then fall way behind next time because they used their entire card inventory to craft last time.  Either way I don't especially care except for the fact that the summer cards can be sold for considerably higher prices than regular game cards.  I sell them the moment I get them.

 

On the sale front, I've thus far managed to stick to my $10 limit rule.  I've only purchased one game and that was a gift for someone else.  I ended up not getting Bulletstorm because I tried the demo first and didn't like it.

 

One side thing I've discovered during this sale: you can vote on the community choice stuff in the mobile Steam app, which has let me keep tabs on prices while at work.  It actually works much better than I thought it would.

[Merus]

Here's something fun*: there are items that let you change teams, which naturally are available to buy because Steam turned their store into a free-to-play game without anyone noticing or caring.

 

*and by "fun" I do of course mean "gross, like Steam basically always is these days"

[Nappi]

Pink is ahead for the first time and has a three times more points than anybody else, one million points? This is ridiculous! XD

 

Fixed.

[feelthedarkness]

Here's something fun*: there are items that let you change teams, which naturally are available to buy because Steam turned their store into a free-to-play game without anyone noticing or caring.

 

*and by "fun" I do of course mean "gross, like Steam basically always is these days"

 

haha, holy crap!

 

why is everything so weird?! also, if i'm gaming this, i should probably reduce my want list to 3 items, right? or did they plan on that kind of nudnikery?

[SecretAsianMan]

I believe the fine print says the top 3 games on your list.  But if you really wanted to play it safe, you could reduce it to just 3.

[JonCole]

It's the top three and they're ordered numerically.

[Dewar]

Day 1 was fairly balanced (despite the way the bars are drawn, first to last place difference was only around 25%) day 2 skewed a little more (two top teams that were about 33% ahead of the rest) and then day 3 &4 went crazy imbalanced. That's what makes me think it's people learning the system and then breaking it rather than some sort of Valve-induced randomization.

[Twig]

*and by "fun" I do of course mean "gross, like Steam basically always is these days"

Interesting, I don't consider it gross. Just fascinating and weird, like Steam basically always is these days.

[Dewar]

Light blue off to a good start. My team is currently going backwards.

[Bjorn]

Here's something fun*: there are items that let you change teams, which naturally are available to buy because Steam turned their store into a free-to-play game without anyone noticing or caring.

 

*and by "fun" I do of course mean "gross, like Steam basically always is these days"

 

Ermahgawd, those tokens sell for $3.50-$5.00.  People r dum.

 

I'd somewhat argue against your statement that the store is a free-to-play game though, at least as far as we understand f2p games.  F2P games don't typically empower customers to make money, and the Steam design is such that plenty of people have made a net profit since cards were introduced.  If you are savvy and poor, Steam will let you pick up a few games a year at no cost.  That's fucking cool, and the opposite of gross.   It's closer to player friendly slot machine, though I think it could tip over the line into gross pretty easily. 

 

Even the sale basically lets people buy one game for "free", so long as you meet the minimum level threshold to get free cards.  At the average price (which is dropping over time), you can make $4-$6 just from selling the summer cards, which is easily enough to buy one of the big discounted games. 

 

Now the level threshold is creeping up every sale.  Last sale it was Level 5, now it's level 8.  At some point, if that keeps going up, it's going to push out the people who could most benefit from free cards and then I'd agree that we're pushing into gross territory.  I had to craft a couple of badges on my wife's account to get her above the threshold this sale, but the cost of doing that was low enough that the free cards more than cover it. 

[Twig]

The only thing that throws off the idea of people "gaming the system" is the way you can switch teams. In a logical world, everyone willing to commit to this weird thing who had the ability would switch to the winning team. And if those people switch to the winning team, that team would naturally consist of more people willing to commit the next day. So the team that won the first day should absolutely naturally snowball over time.

 

It makes it all extra weird.

[Griddlelol]

Yeah I don't benefit from free cards. I don't know or care about how to "level up my steam"

I just like cheap games.

[Dewar]

Ermahgawd, those tokens sell for $3.50-$5.00.  People r dum.

 

I'd somewhat argue against your statement that the store is a free-to-play game though, at least as far as we understand f2p games.  F2P games don't typically empower customers to make money, and the Steam design is such that plenty of people have made a net profit since cards were introduced.  If you are savvy and poor, Steam will let you pick up a few games a year at no cost.  That's fucking cool, and the opposite of gross.   It's closer to player friendly slot machine, though I think it could tip over the line into gross pretty easily. 

 

Even the sale basically lets people buy one game for "free", so long as you meet the minimum level threshold to get free cards.  At the average price (which is dropping over time), you can make $4-$6 just from selling the summer cards, which is easily enough to buy one of the big discounted games. 

 

Now the level threshold is creeping up every sale.  Last sale it was Level 5, now it's level 8.  At some point, if that keeps going up, it's going to push out the people who could most benefit from free cards and then I'd agree that we're pushing into gross territory.  I had to craft a couple of badges on my wife's account to get her above the threshold this sale, but the cost of doing that was low enough that the free cards more than cover it. 

 

Except it's all in-game currency

 

Edit: Wait, there's a minimum level threshold to get cards?

[JonCole]

Makes sense, if there was no minimum level people could make accounts just to farm free cards.

 

Also, it's worth noting that actually getting the cards to get those first few levels can really be as simple as seeing what games you own are cards enabled, running those games while you watch some TV, selling half of them and buying the rest of whatever sets you like. Granted you're actually buying games every now and then, most people should have at least a handful of games that are eligible. Also, Steam has built-in trade forums so you don't have to bother with Wallet currency if you have duplicates and don't mind pounding the forum pavement for some quick trades with random people.

[Bjorn]

As far as the gross factor on the Steam stuff goes, I'd also be super interested in how much money is going to small devs from card and item sales, whether it represents a worthwhile addition to their income or not. 

 

There are millions card sales per day going on during the Steam Sale (which I'm sure makes a massive bump in card sales).  Even at just one or two pennies per sale, that's hundreds of thousands in extra revenue for devs every day of the sale.  But as far as I know, no one has come out and discussed what joining in the card program has meant for them financially.  I've assumed that Valve doesn't let them disclose that data as part of the deal of being in the program, otherwise by now someone would have posted something about it. 

 

 

Except it's all in-game currency

 

Edit: Wait, there's a minimum level threshold to get cards?

 

Of course there are ways to extract that money, which goes down its own rabbit-hole.  And the minimum level only applies to getting free cards from voting every 8 hours, not for game drops or anything. 

[Twig]

In terms of flat numbers, yeah, it's a bit of an unknown, but the developer takes a 10% cut. (Where most cards go for less than 15 cents, AFAIK, so not a whole lot.) Valve takes a 1% cut. Both I think are a minimum of one cent, and fractions appear to be rounded down. So, with a 10 cent sale (probably a bit below average), both Valve and the developer gain one penny per transaction.

It probably wouldn't be too difficult to write some sort of tool to track and analyze sales of cards and see how much a new game with cards earns over a period of time. I think. All depends on how much Valve exposes to people, I guess.

[agorman]

Woo! Just got Dark Souls: Prepare to Die edition!  Ive heard this PC port isn't very good but am excited to play a Souls game for the first time.

[Twig]

Use this! http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix

[elmuerte]

And in this cycle, Blue will win.