• Major Steam glitch - Fixed - Nobody in here knows what monopoly means
    1,350 replies, posted
Digital games distribution is not a monopoly. However, it has tell-tale signs of a monopolistic competition, and it stiffles proper competition since all services are effectively too differentiated to properly compete in video game sales. It's not necessarily bad, but it often leaves you with few or no choices when it comes to buying specific games. This kind of a fuckup would also leave less of an impact in a perfect competition, buuut thankfully they didn't do critical damage. At least not outright. Hopefully a proper statement and countermeasures will come down the line.
Is it safe to buy things now?
The glitch itself was a minor one that happened to impact an otherwise major service. Its a glitch that can easily happen by accident and without even really being an issue of incompetence to basically any site, such as Facepunch. The real issue is the lack of communication. The response time getting things down is more than likely because of Christmas, with people dealing with their families and not paying attention to social media and shit not catching it quick enough. But there needs to be direct communication lines that are used regularly for just about any issue and are easily visible publicly. Even a Twitter account would be an improvement.
[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;49390639]Lucky I haven't updated my billing address in the past 3 years and I've moved 3 times V:v:V[/QUOTE] Ahaha same! I've only moved twice, though!
I tried to to contact the Steam community moderators about this [i]several[/i] hours ago (I was logged in as a Steam store page admin). None of them responded.
[QUOTE=CyberSnark;49390634]How would they steal your password?[/QUOTE] I'm just wondering how knowing a phone number would compromise 2-factor authentication. The password would've had to be obtained one way or another anyways.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;49390612]On the subject of Steam competitors: I stopped buying games from Steam a couple years ago. Do you know how often I find a AAA game (and quite often even indie games) that are Steam exclusive despite having no real reason (many don't actually make use of Steamworks or anything) to be exclusive? Nearly all the time. I end up passing on a solid 75-80% of all games I'm interested in anymore because they are exclusive to Steam which I no longer support. Offering a service that 100% requires the end user to use Steam is kinda Valve's fault. There's nothing at all that absolutely requires them to limit Steamworks to only Steam. If they bothered putting in the work they could disconnect Stamworks from Steam itself and let those games be sold on other services but Valve won't because that means they would make less money off of it.[/QUOTE]That's a necessity for it to function simply because Steamworks stuff its integration with Steam itself. So yes, it inherently does require Steam because that is the purpose of the system, to integrate with Steam. Getting to the Subway sandwich shop in a Walmart still requires you to actually enter the Walmart itself through its doors and be in the store alone is literally every case I've seen.
[QUOTE=GhostSonic;49390657]I'm just wondering how knowing a phone number would compromise 2-factor authentication. The password would've had to be obtained one way or another anyways.[/QUOTE] Because knowing the phone that the 2-factor auth happened to, you could use an exploit to gain control of said smartphone, or give alluring texts to it that would be more convincing on your recovery phone than the billing number.
[QUOTE=Map in a box;49390667]Because knowing the phone that the 2-factor auth happened to, you could use an exploit to gain control of said smartphone, or give alluring texts to it that would be more convincing on your recovery phone than the billing number.[/QUOTE] Fair enough, didn't consider that possibility.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;49390612]connect Stamworks from Steam itself and let those games be sold on other services but Valve won't because that means they would make less money off of it.[/QUOTE] Not really gonna blame a company for not offering its services for free.
[QUOTE=Map in a box;49390620]Oh didn't think about that. The recovery one isn't though, which would be the dangerous one.[/QUOTE] Yes you are right that in fact it is billing, and not recovery. I shall correct
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;49390662]That's a necessity for it to function simply because Steamworks stuff its integration with Steam itself. So yes, it inherently does require Steam because that is the purpose of the system, to integrate with Steam. Getting to the Subway sandwich shop in a Walmart still requires you to actually enter the Walmart itself through its doors and be in the store alone is literally every case I've seen.[/QUOTE] There's a lot of Steamworks stuff that doesn't have any real reason to force you to use Steam for it. Ie: The workshop. Tying a Steam account to a game for that should just be a bonus. Multiplayer: Unless you tie your Steam account to the game then you're unable to play multiplayer. There are many ways of handling this stuff that don't necessitate forcing the user to use Steam. [QUOTE=Rangergxi;49390680]Not really gonna blame a company for not offering its services for free.[/QUOTE] It happens all the time in the software world. Even companies like nVidia, Apple, and Microsoft provide services for free and all of them have had reputations for being greedy anti-consumer assholes.
[QUOTE=HueyFreeman;49390655]I tried to to contact the Steam community moderators about this [i]several[/i] hours ago (I was logged in as a Steam store page admin). None of them responded.[/QUOTE] Community moderators aren't Valve employees.
[QUOTE=Wii60;49390547]Valve PR People are as common as bigfoot even if it is or isnt christmas.[/QUOTE] I'm more likely to believe that Santa is real than Valve has a competent and well staffed support crew.
Now if valve would actually give an official statement that would be great, Ive had various people email me stating they saw my details...
Steamworks has a lot of helpful APIs that can't really be disclosed due to NDA but you can get the SDK for yourself.
[QUOTE=lordofdafood;49390723]Now if valve would actually give an official statement that would be great, Ive had various people email me stating they saw my details...[/QUOTE] It might take a while - they have to be fully sure of what caused the problem first, and that they've fixed it. After that, they will need to decide on a higher level what the course of action will be - are there going to be bans, compensations, etc. After that they will probably run it by PR to create an official statement, which then has to be approved and released. Also keep in mind it's also xmas and all the regular staff is with their families. The few people they have working have had to be called up on emergency duty. That's how most companies do it, anyway. Not sure how valve in perticular do it, but it's likely to be similar.
that title change
[media]https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/680532231132196864[/media] [media]https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/680533293972992000[/media]
yet not a single statement was given ninja'd
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;49390713]Community moderators aren't Valve employees.[/QUOTE] But they have direct lines to them.
I missed a lot of this all I know is I could get other people's gmail info. Whats happening now? Steam still down?
[QUOTE=Andre Gomes;49390772]yet not a single statement was given ninja'd[/QUOTE] They will though, even if not for us, then for the publishers that use their service.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';49390780]I missed a lot of this all I know is I could get other people's gmail info. Whats happening now? Steam still down?[/QUOTE] The caching problem stopped but I am still unable to buy things.
I really don't see why people should judge Valve for not giving a statement until after Christmas and after a bit of time has passed so they can verify what the issue is. I'd be mad at Valve if they gave an instant statement because it'd show little care for the issue and they just shot out a PR attempt without investigating the issue.
[QUOTE=Mister Sandman;49390466]I could compare Steam to Windows Movie Maker if I wanted. The thing is, no there isn't. Amazon Prime and GoG don't trouble Valve. They aren't a problem. Valve is not in danger of being run out of business because of GoG's popularity, not even close. GoG doesn't even offer a lot of the same items. GoG is not a serious competitor to Steam. Nothing you can name is. Steam doesn't have a serious competitor, period. Walmart is not troubled by a mom and pop store. Starbucks doesn't care about your local coffee shop. It does not bug them because it cannot seriously compete with them.[/QUOTE] This is well and good but lets be honest If something happened that caused people to want to GTFO of steam, there are literally opportunities everywhere to buy games digitally that are just as good as steam Steam has market dominance because they effectively became the world's first digital distribution platform that didn't suck complete balls. When steam started gaining traction, your options to get games digitally were plagued with "waiting in lines", needing to sign up for premium services, slow connections, needing to have your browser up and running the whole time, etc. This isn't the case anymore. Steam's competition is frankly just as good as steam is at getting games digitally while keeping them updated. People just don't use them that much because why bother when Steam exists, and has more features?
[QUOTE=dedo678;49390787]The caching problem stopped but I am still unable to buy things.[/QUOTE]Likely on purpose while they investigate further to make sure there aren't deeper issues.
[QUOTE=Map in a box;49390790]I really don't see why people should judge Valve for not giving a statement until after Christmas and after a bit of time has passed so they can verify what the issue is. I'd be mad at Valve if they gave an instant statement because it'd show little care for the issue and they just shot out a PR attempt without investigating the issue.[/QUOTE] cuz we customers give them billion dollars every quarter for one single job they can't handle?
[QUOTE=dedo678;49390787]The caching problem stopped but I am still unable to buy things.[/QUOTE] Weird, I was able to make purchases after the store was back up with no problem. Probably a bad choice to do since my info could still be at risk. :v:
[QUOTE=Andre Gomes;49390805]cuz we customers give them billion dollars every quarter for one single job they can't handle?[/QUOTE]You mean to provides games for you? I'd say given the millions of people they have, they typically do that job very well.
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