up to 5 members
game sharing
parental controls
- allow access to appropriate games
- restrict access to the Steam Store, Community or Friends Chat
- set playtime limits (hourly/daily)
- view playtime reports
- approve or deny requests from child accounts for additional playtime or feature access (temporary or permanent)
- recover a child's account if they lost their password
child purchase requests

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee 158 points 8 months ago (84 children)

Its shit like this why I want to smack the "B-BUT STEAMS MONOPOLY" types who claim Steam does nothing with its 30%. Steam is one of the only companies out their in our late stage capitalist society that actually does things for its customer base without being forced to. We have digital refunds, completely remappable controllers, a linux operating system and portable computer that functions as a console when you dont want to use it as a computer, the only DRM in the world that doesnt actively suck, built in mod database/support, VR, official early access marketplace support (I know it has its issues), user game reviews with multiple sorting options, and thats everything I can currently think of. Steam is not only the only company I dont actively hate (Ok, I kind of like Costco too), vut I actually quite like Steam as a company.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (11 children)

A monopoly is a monopoly is a monopoly.

The vast majority of games you pay for on Steam can be taken from you in a couple of clicks from a Valve employee. The second there's a chance in management everything can go out the window very quickly because their position is ripe for abuse.

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

1: Steam is NOT a monopoly, competition exists for it, its just that most of it is garbage, and the few that arent, GoG and Itch, Steam outcompetes

2: This is a problem of Steams competition being bad, not with Steam itself

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

A company can be considered a monopoly without having 100% of the market. Microsoft is considered a monopoly, so is Google.

As for the rest, I don't know how their competitors being bad changes the fact that you don't really own the games you purchase on Steam.

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm sorry bud, but Monopoly doesnt mean "Really large company" Steam has competition, it doesnt do anything to hamper competition, and its easy enough for new competition to arise. It is not a monopoly in any sense of the word. It is the top player as a digital videogame marketplace because it is leaps and bounds better than all of its competition. You dont like the risks of digital ownership? Understandable, GoG exists to fill that niche.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you have the power to sway the market in the direction that you want, you're the only one with that power and you're the default option for your product then yeah, you very much are a monopoly and that's the position Steam has in its market.

It's currently in court for adopting anti competitive policies regarding pricing.

Valve is a multi billion dollars company, it doesn't need you to defend it bud.

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee -1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It definitely doesnt need me to. I'm just calling bulshit on arguements that are bulshit. And it being in court for that doesnt mean its going to lose, I'd be surprised if someone wasnt attempting to sue them if it meant they could get more money, welcome to capitalism. And Steam has the position it has and is the "default" game store entirely because it is an amazing storefront and its competition sucks. You have to go out of your way to install Steam, the same amount of steps as any other digital storefront. Anyways idealists like you who dont even have a toe in the real world exhaust me, so I'm going to block you now

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 months ago

https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/monopolization-defined

Microsoft was found to have a monopoly over operating systems software for IBM-compatible personal computers.

You: "But other OS exist! So it's not a monopoly! People could just install another browser if they weren't happy!"

load more comments (9 replies)

load more comments (81 replies)