New Steam Update Lets Players Trade Hats For Games

A beta refurbish for Steam lets gamers traffic practical things for new digital copies of games. Released Tuesday, the ascent to Valve's digital-distribution stage could co-opt a flourishing black marketplace in that players barter neglected games for treasured in-game extras.

Valve introduced hats - newness pieces of headwear for diversion characters - to its cartoon-styled multiplayer first-person shooter in 2009. These hats, along with upgraded weapons, could be warranted by simply personification the diversion or by purchasing them with actual money. In 2010, received an refurbish that authorised players to traffic hats and guns with any other.

Now you can traffic the hats and other practical products for other players' new games.

"Any diversion you've purchased from the store as a gift, or received as an Extra Copy , may be traded to other users," explains the Steam trade FAQ . "They may be used to traffic for other gifts, or for things in . We've updated a new checkout choice to the Store when purchasing a present so you can save it for trade or sending later, to encouragement users who wish to save games for traffic fodder."

What this means is you can't traffic divided an old, unplayed duplicate of something similar to for a glossy new Teddy Roosebelt . Instead you have to purchase the diversion again, this time as a giftable version.

Exchanging a practical gun or shawl for a entirely playable diversion isn't a new idea. Users of Steam, Valve's digital-distribution stage that is home to hundreds of downloadable games inclusive , have been carrying out it ever given the trade network was introduced a year ago. Until now, the use was never official.

"This is immorality genius," mentioned Dubious Quality researcher Bill Harris in an e-mail to Wired.com. "Valve is co-opting a lesser marketplace quite for their own earn because they've deftly incited games purchased from Steam in to banking and their cut of any contract is significant ."

Wired.com reached out to Valve for criticism but didn't obtain a reply by press time.

We saw something similar to this not long ago with the headlines that Blizzard Entertainment's arriving dungeon-crawler RPG will enable players to sell in-game rob for actual money . Like Blizzard, Valve is perplexing to manage an manage to buy that has until not long ago been entirely beneath the manage of fan-run websites and forums.

But shopping visionary swords and panzer division with actual money is ample not similar than exchanging a purchased diversion for a digital shawl that you will frequency ever see. The long knife can help you total the diversion faster but the shawl is entirely cosmetic - there's small practical value.

On the other hand, products are usually as profitable as what you pay for them. If you pay $35 for that Legendary Sword of +1 Badassitude, then that long knife is value $35.

If we pay $50 for a diversion and then traffic it for a new hat, is the shawl value $50?

If this examination succeeds, then the answer will be yes. And Valve will have combined an rare practical manage to buy where a duplicate of is just as profitable as a Respectless Rubber Glove .