Steam user since 2004: no badge, no rewards… just digital wrinkles?

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andponk 3 hours ago

Hi everyone,
I’m writing from that long-forgotten corner of time called April 2004, back when Steam had just come out of beta, updates required the sacrifice of a 56k modem, and Half-Life 2 wasn’t even on our hard drives yet.

It’s been over 20 years.
In the meantime:
• 18 versions of Counter-Strike have come and gone,
• 11 GPU generations have risen and fallen,
• and us old users are still here, clicking “Update” and buying games we’ll probably never play.

So here’s the question:
Is there really no recognition at all for those of us who’ve been around since before Steam was “cool”?

I’d settle for:
• a visible “2004 Veteran” badge,
• a nostalgic old-school Steam skin for our profile,
• a few bonus Steam Points during sales (which I’ll gladly waste anyway),
• or even just an achievement like “You survived Steam before Big Picture mode.”

I’m not asking for a Half-Life 3 key (we all know that’s not happening unless the UN intervenes),
but a little appreciation wouldn’t hurt, right?

Anyone else in the same steam-powered boat? 🚂
Share your Steam seniority and let’s make some noise — maybe Valve will notice we still exist.

andponk
Tired but loyal veteran

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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments

Thermal Lance 3 hours ago

Well you got the 21 years badge. So that's already something.

Myrth the Plague 3 hours ago

I am failing to see an issue here. Congratulations on 21 years of steam service! Is that what you want? You got a badge for your time, thats your consolation prize.

Hi Im Swat 3 hours ago

s there really no recognition at all for those of us who’ve been around since before Steam was “cool”?

You get a badge. That's good enough. Nobody deserves extra rewards just because they created an account and haven't deleted it.

Can't help but feel this account was purchased and the seller advertised made up rewards. Just odd you waited for 21 years to make this post and not 20 years or 10 years.

Last edited by Hi Im Swat; 3 hours ago

Yasahi 3 hours ago

Why would Valve do something specific for people who joined in 2004 when they didn't do anything really specific for those who joined at launch in 2003?

Also, you missed the Years of Service special badge that those who made their account during the first year of Steam had for a while. We got that in 2023. Sadly it was temporary, but it was there for a while.

Psymon² 3 hours ago

Originally posted by andponk:
Hi everyone,
I’m writing from that long-forgotten corner of time called April 2004, back when Steam had just come out of beta, updates required the sacrifice of a 56k modem, and Half-Life 2 wasn’t even on our hard drives yet.

It’s been over 20 years.
In the meantime:
• 18 versions of Counter-Strike have come and gone,
• 11 GPU generations have risen and fallen,
• and us old users are still here, clicking “Update” and buying games we’ll probably never play.

So here’s the question:
Is there really no recognition at all for those of us who’ve been around since before Steam was “cool”?

I’d settle for:
• a visible “2004 Veteran” badge,
• a nostalgic old-school Steam skin for our profile,
• a few bonus Steam Points during sales (which I’ll gladly waste anyway),
• or even just an achievement like “You survived Steam before Big Picture mode.”

I’m not asking for a Half-Life 3 key (we all know that’s not happening unless the UN intervenes),
but a little appreciation wouldn’t hurt, right?

Anyone else in the same steam-powered boat? 🚂
Share your Steam seniority and let’s make some noise — maybe Valve will notice we still exist.

andponk
Tired but loyal veteran

welcome to capitalism?
loyalty is one way.

so you were among the first to take the risk with steam.
where should the cut off be for recognition?
first thousand accounts?
any made within the first month of steam's release?
what should it say, "i invested in a platform before others and all I got was this stupid badge"?

Tito Shivan 2 hours ago

There's lots of freebies a 20 year old account can have grabbed over the years.

andponk 2 hours ago

Originally posted by Yasahi:
Why would Valve do something specific for people who joined in 2004 when they didn't do anything really specific for those who joined at launch in 2003?

Also, you missed the Years of Service special badge that those who made their account during the first year of Steam had for a while. We got that in 2023. Sadly it was temporary, but it was there for a while.

Just feeling old…

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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments

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Date Posted: 3 Aug @ 1:17pm

Posts: 7

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