1 Like Hats are cosmetic items, they don't give you overpowered stats that will make you a cookie cutter throughout the game. Comparing this to Diablo 3's RMAH is just silly. And yes, one can never have enough hats.
Valve launches Steam Market
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
New market for buying and selling items enters beta, only available for Team Fortress 2; 15 percent transaction fee, game-specific surcharge attached to all sales.
Valve today launched the Steam Community Market, currently in beta and compatible only with Team Fortress 2. The virtual market allows users to buy and sell in-game items using their Steam Wallet funds. Support for other titles will be introduced in 2013.
The launch of the Steam Community Market was a result of Steam trading popularity. Valve software engineer Tony Paloma said over 500,000 trades are made every week and that "giving players a way to turn gameplay into funds for new items and games is a key component for moving that success forward."
A transaction fee of 15 percent paid by the buyer and collected by Steam will be applied to every sale. Valve said this fee is used to protect against fraud incidents as well as the cost of development and future Steam economy features. The fee may also be increased in the future, Valve said.
Additionally, a "Team Fortress 2 Fee" is applied to all transactions. It is a game-specific surcharge that is determined and collected by the publisher, which in this case is Valve.
The Steam Community Market supports numerous currencies. Purchases made with non-Steam Wallet currency will pay an exchange rate calculated by Valve on a daily basis.
A full list of details regarding the Steam Community Market is available at Valve's Valve's website.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
103 comments
1 Like 
1 Like Everybody here is fucking paranoid. These items do not have 'stats' that are needed to succeed in the game just like Diablo 3. This is NOWHERE near as bad as what Blizzard is doing. Mind what you're saying.
4 Like Absolutely not feeling hot for this. This is, as most people have said, going into the alley Blizzard took.
Valve, you're great, but don't push it. It's not healthy.
Is Valve expecting a Blizzard to come through with this new Steam Community Market then?
4 Like They should have this except it should be for games themselves, not for the items in them.
1 Like I absolutely agree. My main problem with Steam is that their DRM does not allow you to resale, trade or even give away a retail disc version of a Steam game. If I could re-sell Steam games (on disc) once I'm finished with them, I would buy more of them. However, I suppose that this would be against Valve's purpose of killing off the used game market.
3 Like this just adds to my disbelief that people are willing to go this far for "hats."
I know it's more than just hats now and to each their own, but man, when you think about it... this all really came from TF2 players becoming obsessed with hats. It's kind of like some surrealist practical joke.
2 Like Will we ever be back to the days where a player is better then another cause he tried harder /traded better/ explored more/ Played Better ?
I bought diablo 3 with money and by money my gaming was ruined. And i never spent a cent on rmah.
2 Like 15% surcharge? Looks like they just copy and pasted the Diablo RMAH and called it Steam Market.
WOW! 15 percent?!!?
Please tell me thts going to drop, cuz when this is fully integrated an XBL subscription will be PENNIES!
>.<
Hate all this buy dlc stuff!!!
MS obviously make their $ in many ventures but XBL has been one that has been quite profitable consistantly. 60 a year isnt the worst, especially compared to PSO (the only other console service out there....) performance. (I've seen my share of negative comments towards MS's handling of XBL)
Anyways...
When you think 15% off every transaction in a few years thats a lot of $ for items that are simply rare/limited unlock codes from first party Valve games. Nevermind the other ventures theyll be taking. XBL/Steam line is GOING blur.
Clearly, you have no qualms buying an unlock code or selling some dinky virtual item for $. SO I guess I'm just pretty old fashioned and just like buying a finished product. I enjoy an in game economy like GW2 has, but I thought a Steam Wallet was real $.
TLDR: Looks like Valve will just take advantage of kids wallet raping their parents. But theyll make good $.
12 Like Sadly, Valve will be praised for this while Blizzard will continue to be criticized for the rmah in D3. I think Valve is one of the best developers out there, but is annoying to see them getting free passes or even being praised for doing things that other companies are heavily criticized for.
2 Like @Link3301 Well speaking what your avatar is, it is pretty easy to see how skewed your view is.
As Tripwolf mentioned to put it simply, you are way off base and have no clue what you are talking about.
This comment has been deleted
@Tripwolf The store wasn't what forced you to be online, it was so-called "copy protection."
@Link3301 @dominoodle @Tripwolf
Objection!
Most of the gear in TF2 is only cosmetic and in no way actually helps the player win. Even the special weapons are variations of the default ones rather than simply superior versions. A simple example is a rocket launcher that has more damage and shot speed, but with drastically reduced splash range. Such variations reward situational strategies instead of just plainly being a more powerful weapon. Quite different from a legendary this-or-that sword with holy power which is obviously better than a common broad sword.
@dominoodle @Tripwolf So when valve has a way to buy gear it is not pay to win, but when blizzard does it is?
5 Like I just want to be able to gift any game in my library to a friend. For example I had already bought GTA 4, on steam, then bought the full GTA bundle. SO technically I have two copies of GTA 4 now, but only one shows up, I should be able to gift that second copy anytime I want to a friend. Right? Or am I wrong? I have aquired 2 copies of the same game this way on different occasions but steam only registers I have 1 copy.
@jedediahpelland This is only possible with Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2. All other duplicate games from packs are not giftable.
3 Like I can picture Gaben right now...sitting on his throne of pizza boxes and ice cream cartons...wearing his Burger King crown...laughing as he counts his moolah... tapping his crowbar-esque scepter...sipping a glass of gravy...
Hopefully this doesn't wind up getting abused, but knowing human nature, it will be.
Smart move.
Some selling of in-game items was already going on behind the scenes (*cough* PayPal *cough*). It wasn't illegal, but it was needlessly complicated.
Streamline the process, charge a little for the effort, and everybody wins.
1 Like @collinmul the problem with the market is that your money is bound to your steam wallet and there is no way to transfer it out...
1 Like Valve takes a 10% cut on all transactions, geez Gabe is swimming in pizza sauce right now!
Wow, I just made $1. I read the article, put up some items for sale. And already sold some. Been less than 10 min or so.
1 Like So what's the news on the tax front for these things? If there's any way an in-game item can be turned into cash, then you in-game rewards suddenly turn into "winnings" and might well be subject to a tax.
Which items are eligible to be bought and sold on the Community Market?
For the initial launch, the Market will be limited Team Fortress 2 consumables and tools, including paints, keys, and crates. Your eligible items are marked as ?Marketable? in your Steam Inventory. After the beta, we may expand to include additional items from Team Fortress 2 as well as items from other games.
Why are some of my items not eligible?
Items purchased from the TF2 Store may take up to three days before they are eligible for trading or sale in the Community Market. Depending on how recently you began making purchases, these items may not initially appear eligible.
Who is eligible to participate in the Community Market?
Any Steam user who has a successful purchase on their account between 30 days and one year ago, and has Steam Guard enabled for 15 days can list items on the Community Market. If you have had your password reset by Steam Support you will need to wait another 15 days with Steam Guard enabled before you can list items on the Community Market.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6088-UDXM-7214
Doesn't seem bad. But some greedy mofos will probably ruin suh a feature.
As far as online co-op and such, I'm much more of a L4D, Unreal Tournament and Dungeon Defenders person.
1 Like @xdrmonkeyfishx obviously you never played TF2 in the first place. You could always do microtransactions thru steam. This is set up so that players can sell stuff easier instead of waiting for a long time to trade.
2 Like @soccerpzn @xdrmonkeyfishx You couldn't "always" do micro-transactions. Those are a recent addition to TF2.
And this is the reason of why I (and a lot of others) quit playing Team Fortress 2. The micro transactions and the hat trading took away from the core gaming element. I want TF2 not Barbie Dress Up.
1 Like @WolfGrey @frunklindoodle The TF2 items DO affect gameplay though. Well not the hats, but the other stuff does.
1 Like @DarkSaber2k @frunklindoodle All TF2 items are sidegrades and hardly effect gameplay enough to be an issue.
Vanilla weapons are still used by most of the pros rather than the other items.
Either way it has no real effect other than visual and some slight change in strategy, if anything the new weapons enriched the game.
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