A banner/badge for folks who buy game(s) directly from Steam instead from resellers

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details

Schrute_Farms_B&B 21 Jul @ 3:32pm

I’m probably not the first person to suggest something like this, but I couldn’t find any reference to it using the search function.

We all love games, and none of this would be possible without the developers behind our favorite titles. They make it happen, and just like in many things in life, it’s a give-and-take relationship. They need us, and we need them.

So here’s an idea: how about adding a small badge, icon, or banner next to users' names on the forums, something like the little hand symbol you see on some game communities, to show whether someone actually owns the game? That way, we can better distinguish between trolls, hypocrites, and people who genuinely care and contribute to the conversation.

It’s a win for Valve, too. They’d encourage more purchases through their platform instead of losing out to shady resellers profiting off stolen or grey market keys. And it would also give a shoutout to those of us who want to support the devs directly and help them get their fair share, which they absolutely deserve. I’m talking about sites like G2A or Eneba here, not legit partners like Humble Bundle.

So why not a small badge on our forum profiles? It’d be a cool way to show some pride, and maybe keep an eye out for the freeloaders too. You know what Im saying. ^^

Last edited by Schrute_Farms_B&B; 21 Jul @ 3:33pm

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Originally posted by William Shakesman:

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
Originally posted by Nx Machina:

You do not own games you licence them hence the EULA you agree to, to be able to download, install and play a game.

No, it is about control by wanting to silence those who activated via a key and invalidate their opinion, hence your wanting to distinguish trolls and hypocrisy based on personal criteria, while ironically and hypocritically you activated Scorn via a key while in your opening post, you failed to reveal that.

You even continually ignore my points about CoH3, a Steam direct purchase and Ready or Not.

So yes you made it blatantly obvious in your thread title and opening post what your intention is: Separation.

As Crazy Tiger out it:

How others spend their money is of no concern to any other but the person whose money it is.

You know exactly what I meant by "ownership," but I guess we’re grasping for straws again.
No problemo, I’ve got the whole evening to dance.
Keep repeating the same old shtick, I honestly don’t care.

You keep framing this thread as some kind of crusade to “silence” people or devalue their opinions, when in reality it’s a suggestion to provide context, not control. That’s a huge difference, and it’s telling that you keep ignoring that distinction no matter how many times it’s clarified.

Also, repeating the “you activated Scorn via a key” point for the fifth or sixth time out of desperation doesn’t suddenly make it relevant. It’s a tired deflection that has nothing to do with the broader idea, which is transparency in user engagement—not invalidation of anyone’s right to speak.

You accuse me of hypocrisy while deliberately omitting every single nuance and clarification I’ve posted since the beginning. You’re not quoting to understand, you’re quoting to twist.

And regarding EULA semantics: we all understand that we “license” games, not “own” them. That’s not some big reveal, and it’s irrelevant to the point being discussed. :D

At this point, your refusal to engage with the actual intent behind the thread makes your posts feel more like an attempt to derail than to discuss. But bring it on, friendo.
Im just waiting for you to bring something new or relevant to the table but I guess this isn't going to happen? :D

You will have to wait until they find a youtube video that teaches them a phrase other than "You don't own your games." Otherwise they do not even have the language to engage with topics such as this.

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Showing 1-15 of 91 comments

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 21 Jul @ 3:41pm

Their reviews are marked similarly.

Schrute_Farms_B&B 21 Jul @ 3:51pm

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
Their reviews are marked similarly.

:nkCool:

Are reviews from people who bought the game on Steam marked differently from those who didnt? I knew that there is a banner for getting the key for free but not something like that.....

Where can I look that up? I can only see the user name and the amount of hours theyve spent on the game before writing the review.

edit: Oh you mean that little star on the right side. Yeah right, something like that but for the forum. That would be awesome.

Last edited by Schrute_Farms_B&B; 21 Jul @ 4:01pm

JPMcMillen 22 Jul @ 1:36am

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
I’m probably not the first person to suggest something like this, but I couldn’t find any reference to it using the search function.

We all love games, and none of this would be possible without the developers behind our favorite titles. They make it happen, and just like in many things in life, it’s a give-and-take relationship. They need us, and we need them.

So here’s an idea: how about adding a small badge, icon, or banner next to users' names on the forums, something like the little hand symbol you see on some game communities, to show whether someone actually owns the game? That way, we can better distinguish between trolls, hypocrites, and people who genuinely care and contribute to the conversation.

It’s a win for Valve, too. They’d encourage more purchases through their platform instead of losing out to shady resellers profiting off stolen or grey market keys. And it would also give a shoutout to those of us who want to support the devs directly and help them get their fair share, which they absolutely deserve. I’m talking about sites like G2A or Eneba here, not legit partners like Humble Bundle.

So why not a small badge on our forum profiles? It’d be a cool way to show some pride, and maybe keep an eye out for the freeloaders too. You know what Im saying. ^^

Except that would leave out those that helped make the game possible if the game had been crowdfunded. Without them, the game might not have ever gotten made.

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 2:31am

@JP
So we need crowdfunding banners as well.
Noted! :D

Crazy Tiger 22 Jul @ 2:35am

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:

edit: Oh you mean that little star on the right side. Yeah right, something like that but for the forum. That would be awesome.

You mean like the little mouse icon that shows up when people own the game on Steam?

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 2:44am

The mouse icon only indicates whether someone owns the game. What I'm talking about is something that shows whether people in a specific game forum have purchased the game directly through Steam or not. And yes, it's a mouse icon, not a hand icon like I mentioned in the original post.

Crazy Tiger 22 Jul @ 2:50am

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
The mouse icon only indicates whether someone owns the game. What I'm talking about is something that shows whether people in a specific game forum have purchased the game directly through Steam or not. And yes, it's a mouse icon, not a hand icon like I mentioned in the original post.

Except in the OP you say you want an icon to distinguish between "genuine debaters" and "trolls". Not that you can in that way, but that's a different talk.

The mouse icon exactly does that.

Piston Smashed™ 22 Jul @ 3:45am

How do you distinguish the difference between a game that was bought on Humble or Fanatical etc from one that was bought off G2A etc?

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 3:47am

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
The mouse icon only indicates whether someone owns the game. What I'm talking about is something that shows whether people in a specific game forum have purchased the game directly through Steam or not. And yes, it's a mouse icon, not a hand icon like I mentioned in the original post.
Except in the OP you say you want an icon to distinguish between "genuine debaters" and "trolls". Not that you can in that way, but that's a different talk.

The mouse icon exactly does that.

No, that’s not what I said — that’s just how you interpreted it.
The distinction I made was specifically about the icon, which already exists.

It seems like you’re the only one who didn’t catch that.
Would you like me to clarify anything else for you, or are we good?"

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 3:48am

Originally posted by Piston Smashed™:
How do you distinguish the difference between a game that was bought on Humble or Fanatical etc from one that was bought off G2A etc?

Thats a tricky one. Since Humble is an official partner, maybe a separate Partner badge, or something that indicates the key was at least purchased through an official retailer?

#10

Piston Smashed™ 22 Jul @ 3:53am

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
Originally posted by Piston Smashed™:
How do you distinguish the difference between a game that was bought on Humble or Fanatical etc from one that was bought off G2A etc?

Thats a tricky one. Since Humble is an official partner, maybe a separate Partner badge, or something that indicates the key was at least purchased through an official retailer?

But resellers trade or buy codes from people who bought them from bundles such as Humble Choice and do not require them. Those game codes are then put on those not so legit sites and sold.

#11

Crazy Tiger 22 Jul @ 3:57am

Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:
Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
Except in the OP you say you want an icon to distinguish between "genuine debaters" and "trolls". Not that you can in that way, but that's a different talk.

The mouse icon exactly does that.

No, that’s not what I said — that’s just how you interpreted it.
The distinction I made was specifically about the icon, which already exists.

It seems like you’re the only one who didn’t catch that.
Would you like me to clarify anything else for you, or are we good?"

No, that's the jist of it. You added fluff, sure, but it boils down to wanting to segregate people so their opinions can be dismissed on arbitrary reasons.

#12

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 4:04am

Originally posted by Piston Smashed™:
Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:

Thats a tricky one. Since Humble is an official partner, maybe a separate Partner badge, or something that indicates the key was at least purchased through an official retailer?

But resellers trade or buy codes from people who bought them from bundles such as Humble Choice and do not require them. Those game codes are then put on those not so legit sites and sold.

Oh snap... that’s a genuinely interesting and critical point.
Imagine someone buys a game from Humble Bundle and then resells the key on a site like G2A. The person who redeems it sees it listed as a Humble purchase, not from G2A… that’s wild.

So how do we address that?
Maybe the most straightforward solution is to show a simple icon indicating whether the game was purchased directly through Steam or not.
Let’s be honest the majority of people buying from sites like Humble aren’t necessarily thinking about supporting the developers. They’re just looking to collect as many keys as possible for the lowest price.

Last edited by Schrute_Farms_B&B; 22 Jul @ 4:06am

#13

Rainbow Dash 22 Jul @ 4:07am

"i want to virtue signal and be seen as a saint for buying on steam and display those who don't buy on steam as pure evil, also everyone buying directly on steam makes good discussions, while everyone who doesn't buy directly on steam are trolls and hypocrites who don't care and who don't contribute to conversations"

nice fallacy package you have there op, and insulting hundreds of millions of people at the same time. btw there is no game to buy here since it's the suggestions/ideas forum, so how we'd know you're not one of those trolls and hypocrites and people who don't genuinely care and don't contribute to the conversation like you said ?

#14

Schrute_Farms_B&B 22 Jul @ 4:08am

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
Originally posted by Schrute_Farms_B&B:

No, that’s not what I said — that’s just how you interpreted it.
The distinction I made was specifically about the icon, which already exists.

It seems like you’re the only one who didn’t catch that.
Would you like me to clarify anything else for you, or are we good?"
No, that's the jist of it. You added fluff, sure, but it boils down to wanting to segregate people so their opinions can be dismissed on arbitrary reasons.

Its just a way to filter out trolls and people who are only interested in derailing threads and spreading misinformation.
I know it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s still better than the current state of things.
These days, it’s almost impossible to find a forum that isn’t flooded with trolls who are just there to mess around instead of contributing anything meaningful to the discussion

#15

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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details

Date Posted: 21 Jul @ 3:32pm

Posts: 91

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