Octopus Overlords

hitbyambulance wrote:need #2, #6 and #8 for level 3 badge, if anyone has them (and if i don't have a trade block on my account...)

Happy to send you an #8 - what's your Steam ID?

Still have a couple of ## 1, 5, 8 and 9 to offer.

Would be interested in ## 3, 5 and 7 for a second level batch

Thanks!

How do you trade or gift cards?

Go to your inventory for a button for trade offers. Make a new trade offer and pick who it will be with. If you want to gift cards, just put in items from your inventory without putting in items from the other person's inventory. Then when you hit ready to trade, you will have to confirm it in the mobile app.

ChuckB wrote:

hitbyambulance wrote:need #2, #6 and #8 for level 3 badge, if anyone has them (and if i don't have a trade block on my account...)

Happy to send you an #8 - what's your Steam ID?

i have an 8 now.. missing 6 and 2. steam id is battlefinch

King Arthur's Gold added.

Just wanted to post one in memory of back when I could sort of keep track.

You Must Build a Boat added

You know you have a slow-ass internet connection when you unlock cards while waiting for the game client to update via download.

Maybe someday I'll get to play ESO...

From last month's Humble subscription, Husk has now been added. Reviews are not great but I haven't even looked at the game yet.

Smoove_B wrote:You know you have a slow-ass internet connection when you unlock cards while waiting for the game client to update via download.

Maybe someday I'll get to play ESO...

We can download games, burn them and mail them to you. I generally get about 1-2GB/minute.

JetFred wrote:Only 6 months this time. Approaching $900 net on cards.

Crap, I overlooked that I hit 6K last week. Another 6 months, another 1000 games I'll never play. Card mining has slowed down...still at ~$950 net gain in wallet credit.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record has been added.

Posted for posterity - changes to the Trading Card program, via the Steam Blog and Blues:

After the release of Trading Cards, the number of players interested in them grew significantly, until it reached the point where the demand for cards became significant enough that there was an economic opportunity worth taking advantage of. And that's when our group of bad actors arrived, aiming to make money by releasing 'fake' games on Steam.

These fake developers take advantage of a feature we provide to all developers on Steam, which is the ability to generate Steam keys for their games. They generate many thousands of these keys and hand them out to bots running Steam accounts, which then idle away in their games to collect Trading Cards. Even if no real players ever see or buy one of these fake games, their developers make money by farming cards.

...

Instead of starting to drop Trading Cards the moment they arrive on Steam, we're going to move to a system where games don't start to drop cards until the game has reached a confidence metric that makes it clear it's actually being bought and played by genuine users. Once a game reaches that metric, cards will drop to all users, including all the users who've played the game prior to that point. So going forward, even if you play a game before it has Trading Cards, you'll receive cards for your playtime when the developer adds cards and reaches the confidence metric.

I'm not sure what games they're referring to that were causing problems, but maybe someone here with 6K+ games could comment?

Regardless, the fact that they're going to just give you drops for games you've already played but have since added cards? That's awesome.

I assume letting a game sit idle will no longer drop cards then? Thanks....Clinton? :p

No, I don't think that's right. They're saying until they (Valve) are under the impression that until the game is "real" and that people are playing it (not just developers farming out cards for $), it won't drop cards. I wish they had examples of games they were using to justify these changes, but it sounds like maybe some of them aren't even in the store (but the cards are). I'm guessing it will mainly be indie games and games you're picking up from key bundles. I doubt it will impact most people regardless as you all seem content to hoard cards instead of selling them.

Okay, a few things here...

I can't be sure that I have what Steam is referring to as fake games, but I wouldn't be surprised. I was trying to find a publisher that I remember being accused of something like this, but I can't, not because they're gone, but because I can't remember what they were called.

A few things have snowballed to create this problem.

1) Bundles - your game does not have to be good or on anyone's wish list to sell thousands of copies if you can shove it into a bundle. I buy tons of these. Indie Gala is probably the worst about bundling games that no one would ever want, and I've got to stop giving them money.

2) Tools - when even Humble is selling bargain bundles of game tools like GameGuru, RPGMaker, and Axis Game Factory Pro, and there are engines out there like Unity, anyone can generate a game that can go on Steam. That leads to the next problem.

3) Assets - Steam simply cannot catch games stealing art assets from other games. You can put up your completely plagiarized game and get the revenue from cards. Combine that with the packaged assets with the engines I mentioned above, and you can even do this legally.

4) "Retro" gaming - pixel graphics and simplified gameplay under the term "retro" have made even the crappiest art and game design look legitimate.

Now I have no doubt that I own hundreds of games that are largely supported by card revenue, but that's not exactly the same thing. I'm really glad to see this policy, and it sounds like legitimate games (with some sort of confidence established) will still drop cards as you play. Anyway, the best examples I can give are not really fake games, but companies using the card revenue model and retro game design to churn out new titles:

New Reality Games - This publisher sold their otherwise $70+ studio bundle for pennies on a bundle site, and it not only gave the purchaser all of their games, but EVERY FUTURE RELEASE. I've already gotten at least 10 more titles since I bought it. The only problem with this example is that the games don't all suck.

Dagestan Technology - I really listed this one because Bloodbath Kavkaz is an unbeatable example of how you can steal the art and gameplay style from a hit title (Hotline Miami in this case) and still get legitimate distribution and positive user reviews.

That's my take. Good for Steam.

Day of Infamy added. Fun game. Needs more updates.

Today I found 3 cards in my inventory from a game I had played previously.

Yeah, I just came to post I had 5 cards from Day of Infamy sitting in my account. Haven't played it since January. I like this change.

For the past month or so, I have been seeing random card drops in my inventory...I thought it was someone on here just gifting me cards they didn't want, but wouldn't you get some kind of alert for that?

Weird...

No Time to Explain Remastered added. I don't even remember ever getting this game, but sure enough, it's in my library. I think I've reached Jetfredian levels.

Company of Heroes added.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition added.

(finally a good motivator to go back and play it again)

The Long Dark has been added

Another 6 months, another 1K. I have to stop at some point. Over $1,000 net gain on trading cards.

I am a bit jealous of that title.

Ha! That title IS awesome.

I noted they added cards to Machinarium recently as well. Tempted to replay that game (with 6YO) since it was so awesome.

To coincide with it's released, Divinity: Original Sin 2 now has trading cards.

The Bards Tale (2005) now has cards - I think associated with the "Remastered and Resnarkled Edition" that was just released today.

Tried playing it again since I never got past the initial area the first time around. Nope. Again. Filing under “archived” in my Steam list.

Yeah, I felt the same.

For those that have been waiting, the Winter 2017 trading cards are now dropping with badge crafting.

Other fun random annoyances: I just opened 21 booster packs and got 1 foil, and Toybox Turbos apparently shuts down automatically every 15 minutes so you can't idle.

I don't know why the front page says you can get 2 free cards a day. It said that last time, too, even though you can get 4 a day for voting and viewing your queue 3 times. I advise crafting the badge (if you plan to) ASAP and then selling everything else as you get it. The cards slowly drop in price as they saturate the community as the sale goes on.

Words of wisdom from the king! Absolutely. 4 free cards a day - at least until the voting ends.

Not sure if we are trading Steam cards this year but if so:

Still looking for #4

Can offer 2, 3, 6, 7, 11 and 12

i need a #6. #8 and #11

If anyone needs one of mine, please feel free to initiate a trade. I’ll make any 1:1 trade.

i'm looking to trade cards to complete sets for:
Nuclear Throne
Binding of Isaac
any of the Serious Sam titles
Crimsonland (thanks Kasey Chang)