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STEAM Announcements & Updates 2014 - To Next-Gen and Beyond!

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G

Grief.exe

Member
CheesecakeRecipe said:
Is a little bit more than "what amounts to nothing". Bombarding them with more keys or asking how you can prove your ownership via the payment method option as listed in the alert could work, but Steam Support is usually rather unhelpful so I can understand his frustration here.
Click to expand...

Winternet said:
dude, i can't use the market, i can't trade, i can't talk with friends (people can't see i'm online), i can't even edit my profile.
Click to expand...

So it is a little bit worse then, I understand the frustration.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Nanomachines, son!

Metal Gear Rising update pushed through the Steam database, lets see what it is...

sxYwxxo.png
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Winternet said:
I just wish steam support had a phone number.
For a multi-million dollar company thats really pathetic.
Click to expand...

This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
 
M

mrgone

Member
You know, I'd be pretty fucking pissed if some dude on the other end of a significant tech issue was asking me to write shit with a pen on game packaging I'd held onto for 10+ years as the chosen method to verify my account. That whole sequence of events seems like total lunacy.
 
M

MMBosstones86

Member
I think I need to take a break from Rising. Whoever thought it was a smart idea to have Sam fight
Blade Wolf
in the sewers is a bad person.

Nope.gif
 
J

JakeD

Member
nobody would even care about the lack of phone number if their email support was helpful. luckily i've never had to deal with them, but reading the back-and-forths people post is infuriating
 
R

Radio

Member
jshackles said:
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
Click to expand...

I'm now imagining Gaben vacuuming Valve HQ after everyone's left for the weekend.
 
B

Brainsaw

Neo Member
jshackles said:
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
Click to expand...

I've read about their structure many times and every time I wonder how they handle stuff like customer support. Seems like nobody really likes doing it on a regular basis (in general).

However, given the fact that they have a customer with a lot of proof of ownership should be able to get his account back in working order instead of being forced to supply a 10 year old key. Heck, I wouldn't really care to keep my keys that long, especially not after I activated it on Steam. It also makes one wonder how they'll handle accounts that only have digital games on them (and thus don't have a physical key printed somewhere), especially if they consider your e-mail address compromised (likely the only place to have a copy of the key).
 
T

Thorgal

Member
jshackles said:
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
Click to expand...

While true . there has to be a better way to prove that you are the owner of your account then asking for xx year old steam keys .
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
jshackles said:
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
Click to expand...

They don't usually impose their corporate philosophies on other companies they work with, correct?

Set up a satellite company specifically for customer service or find one that is already available, and acquire it.

Valve doesn't really operate like this, but it is certainly an alternative to a real problem.

MMBosstones86 said:
I think I need to take a break from Rising. Whoever thought it was a smart idea to have Sam fight
Blade Wolf
in the sewers is a bad person.

Nope.gif
Click to expand...

I booted that up on Hard and it was too difficult for me. Try playing through on Normal.

Sam's dodge is significantly better than Raiden's, while his parry window is worse.

Dodge his attacks to get closer, perfect parry his charge attacks to get a lot of damage.
 
B

Brainsaw

Neo Member
mrgone said:
You know, I'd be pretty fucking pissed if some dude on the other end of a significant tech issue was asking me to write shit with a pen on game packaging I'd held onto for 10+ years as the chosen method to verify my account. That whole sequence of events seems like total lunacy.
Click to expand...

So I'm not the only one who re-read that sentence a few times just to make sure I was reading it right? I was like "wait, what? They're asking to permanently write down some stupid number next to my CD key on the case? With a frigging permanent marker no less?"

Imagine how your carefully preserved case would look after a few support tickets oO
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
Finally got around to playing Dishonored and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed so far.

The game seems to encourage stealth but then gives you barebones options to achieve it. Like limiting sleep darts and having absolutely zero in combat, non-lethal moves except sleep darts. Not even like a dual takedown like in deus ex for when two guards are near each other.

All the while the combat side is pretty fun but the game is clearly trying to discourage it due to its story emphasizing power corrupts.

I'm on the second level, mission or whatever and I'm not sure I have any interest left since I hate playing the bad guy in games so I don't want to actually kill people. Does it get any better on a stealth run??
 
F

FiveElementNinja

Member
not books.

ModBot said:
I am giving away 7 Steam keys. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below that corresponds to the key you want (if you include more than one game, you will be blocked from entering).

Rules for this Giveaway:
- If you won a game from ModBot in the last day, you are not eligible for this giveaway.
- This giveaway has a manual blocklist. The giver has identified members who abuse giveaways and restricted them from participating.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Data Jammers: FastForward -- MB-F0EC85C00A92358D - Taken by NotSelf
Ion Assault -- MB-2E41027E92EF6DEE - Taken by alr1ght
Planets Under Attack -- MB-C4E29CD7386B0B0F - Taken by arts&crafts
Project Freedom -- MB-90E330EDB587019F - Taken by maneil99
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space -- MB-621F86AB7E46D7F1 - Taken by Soule
Sword of the Stars II Enhanced Edition -- MB-26933928A632857A - Taken by Turfster
SpaceChem Plus 63 Corvi DLC -- MB-40CCFA80A88580D8
Click to expand...
 
maneil99

maneil99

Member
Enjoy, from the EVGA post I just made : http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=755756 There are two more games you can get.

ModBot said:
Instructions for maneil99:
Press the quote button to the left of this PM, select the quoted text, copy, and paste in the thread. You can remove these lines from the version you paste.

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway is a LIGHTNING raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 15 minutes after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:


Rise of the Triad -- MB-A7A20C6762B5E2F6 - Taken by fspm. 14 entrants total.


t1390348247z1.png
Click to expand...
 
C

Caerith

Member
jshackles said:
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear people say about Valve. Yes, they're a multi-million dollar (actually billion-dollar) company, but they're also pretty small compared to their user base. Their corporate culture (flat, with no bosses) means that every employee is given the freedom to work on the projects they feel will be the biggest contribution to the company.

The problem of course is that, given unlimited freedom to pursue you're own projects means that nobody (or almost nobody) WANTS to do customer support. It's like the scene on Office Space where they ask the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?". And the other guy says "That question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars."

Sadly the only way to improve this would be to outsource a call center (which they don't want to do and have stated several times that they won't) or hire a dedicated staff of support technicians whose job it was to answer the phones and provide customer support (which goes against their "flat" corporate structure).
Click to expand...
The problem with Valve's corporate structure is it isn't flexible. Flat works for creative types, sure-- nevermind that they take forever actually creating stuff-- but, like you said, nobody's going to clean shit up if they don't have to. This is the reason their sales always have pricing errors, their news feed either doesn't update or updates a week at a time and spoils the next week's dailies, and their customer service is practically nonexistent. Why would anyone want to do clerical work if they could make hats? (The fact that Valve has come out and said that the best way to get hired is to make hats indicates that this isn't going to change anytime soon.)

I don't think outsourcing CS is the solution, but what they need to do is change their structure from "flat, no bosses" to "flat, no bosses except in the CS/QA department, which has a management hierarchy so shit gets done." Or split Valve and Steam-- Valve-the-developer can stay flat and makes hats, and Steam-the-business can actually be managed.
 
C

Copons

Member
Radio said:
I'm now imagining Gaben vacuuming Valve HQ after everyone's left for the weekend.
Click to expand...

Annnd actually this example is quite spot on.

I mean, of course they're outsourcing the janitoring of their workplace, so in the same way they can outsource customer care, like any other motherfucking large company on earth (or at least in Italy, but I seriously doubt in US large companies keep customer care in house).
And of course outsourced customer care usually sucks, but it's still better than the nothing we have right now...


But now that I think of it, the only one time I needed their support (for something not working on L4D2 when they first released Steam on Mac), it was kinda nice to be answered by an actual programmer of the game.
Oh well, they could still keep tech support in house and outsourcing just the accounts related stuff.
 
M

mrgone

Member
Brainsaw said:
So I'm not the only one who re-read that sentence a few times just to make sure I was reading it right? I was like "wait, what? They're asking to permanently write down some stupid number next to my CD key on the case? With a frigging permanent marker no less?"

Imagine how your carefully preserved case would look after a few support tickets oO
Click to expand...

Blows my mind that that is the solution they came up with. They even have those example images of how to do it.
 
P

PoweredBySoy

Banned
I think the Steam servers just took a giant shit (NA)

As it was dying it had also asked me to verify my computer, which always makes me suspicious.
 
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