alexandros
Banned
If he can spend that kind of money and he enjoys it, good for him. In a way guys like him are subsidizing games for the rest of us, as they buy our cards and we buy games with that money.
You increase your steam level by crafting badges from those cards, which makes you more likely to get more cards as booster packs I believe. You also get a larger friends list capacity, which is probably attractive to the hard core TF2/DOTA/LFD2 players.
During these sales you also get snow globe cards which give you a minuscule shot at getting a worthwhile F2P item in Dota 2 or Path of Exile.
EDIT: Some of it is just the same Epeen stuff that goes on with achievements/trophies.
If he can spend that kind of money and he enjoys it, good for him. In a way guys like him are subsidizing games for the rest of us, as they buy our cards and we buy games with that money.
Between spending $10,000 for the next im@s mobile ultra rare + and spending $1500 for a level 1000 steam foil snow globe, the latter is probably the cheaper way to get loads of internet cred. People do as people pleases, don't go calling people mentally ill just because their definition of a fun time isn't the same as yours.
Argument being that Valve is exploiting various people's addictions and personality issues to gain money.
The maximum level should be significantly lower to stifle this kind of response.
Food keeps you alive, these have no tangible benefit.
Though both expenses will produce some endorphins.
They're encouraging people to exchange money for amusement and/or goods. I'm not seeing the exploitation. We don't limit chocolate bars, alcohol, or hell even tobacco. What are the tangible benefits there?
So other than a few characters on you screen saying you are LEVEL 1000, what else did this guy achieve by doing this?
Argument being that Valve is exploiting various people's addictions and personality issues to gain money.
The maximum level should be significantly lower to stifle this kind of response.
Come on, I thought we were supposed to be proving that Micro Transactions are a failed thing and here this guy spends over 3000 dollars on them proving us wrong
As someone who has spent stupid amounts on F2P games and products I could live without, we should work from the position that adults can make their own decisions and if they have a problem can seek help. The kink is making sure that help is accessible to everyone, but that's a separate issue.
It's not private companies' or the government's job to babysit adults who overindulge and restrict those who don't in the process. It would be like banning large soft drinks, then the overindulgent customer just orders five medium soft drinks instead; someone with destructive spending habits will spend somewhere else so you're just shifting things around. What's important is public awareness and getting them the help they need, but currently we can't force retailers to put up billboards and helpline numbers for this particular problem.
They're never going away as a concept, and neither are whales. As long as the option exists, some fraction of people will spend crazy amounts of money on them.
It's very unlikely that people who are at this level of the Steam metagame have spent their own cash on their items.
Note his TF2 inventory - it's huge. It's very likely that he buys a lot of this stuff via selling TF2 items and keys. Steam money cannot directly be converted into real cash so most people end up spending it on games and/or items like this guy. There's a whole bunch of dudes on Steam who basically exist to play the Steam metagame and nothing else and they generally don't spend that much money on things.
on the sideActually, it is quite common to see people convert their items or wallet into cash.
People trade their Wallet for various items that aren't currently marketable, then you sell those items to people for real money.
Can you gift cards to people? If so, I have about 20 useless cards from voting on the community sales. If you want them then just PM.
If non giftable then no dice I guess.
I wonder how many original winter sales badges Valve actually prepared.
I wonder if they'll ever have physical cards. I mean how extremely relevant is that?
I wonder who makes the cards. The developer or Valve?
Lazy bastards, recycling in a nutshell.
Money doesn't buy you happiness, but steam badges do.
Special? No, they're just kind of there. Use it as a means to express your fandom for certain games, collect them, just sell the cards, they don't have much of an impact either way. Gaining levels increases your friend list capacity and at each 10 level interval you gain another showcase for your profile (to show off game items, achievements, trade offers, info boxes, screenshots, etc), and an increased chance to randomly get a booster, which only serves to give you more cards to craft or sell.Why do people give a shit about these card and badge things?
Do they do anything special?
I just sell them or give them away all the time
You also get a larger friends list capacity, which is probably attractive to the hard core TF2/DOTA/LFD2 players.
1000? This guy has a Level 1700 Snow Globe badge: http://steamcommunity.com/id/bUm805/gamecards/267420