Steam’s got a host of loyal players, and it seems that Valve has a program in mind to reward long-time users. Evidence of a loyalty reward system has cropped up among Steam dataminers, which would offer up reward items, badge levels, and – possibly – discounts on certain games. It also seems that we’re getting more ways to respond to Steam user reviews.
“Valve is working on loyalty awards/rewards,” SteamDB developer Pavel Djundik says on Twitter. “It has a point system, and a system to add reactions to user reviews. Also includes reward items, redeeming points for badge levels, and possibly game discounts.”
The new user review reactions would give us more nuanced things to say than ‘helpful’ or ‘funny’ – some of the potential options include ‘deep thoughts’, ‘heartwarming’, ‘hilarious’, ‘hot take’, and ‘poetry’. Steam user reviews often thread the needle between useful critique and maddeningly dumb joke, so more options to help us navigate those treacherous waters would certainly be appreciated.
It remains to be seen how – or if – any of these features wind up in Steam proper, but Valve’s shown a propensity for experimentation through things like Steam Labs.
These are possibly the reactions. pic.twitter.com/yEH0STES0v
— Pavel Djundik (@thexpaw) May 9, 2020
The Steam Summer Sale 2020 dates have also leaked, if you’re looking for more early news out of Valve’s platform. There are also plenty of free Steam games to check out if you want to boost your hour counts ahead of any incoming loyalty system.