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Valve banning games that allow exchanging cryptocurrencies or NFTs

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It seems Valve aren't a big fan of cryptocurrencies or NFTs as they've updated their onboarding guide with a new point about disallowing games that allow you to exchange them.

Under the Rules and Guidelines heading where it mentions "What you shouldn’t publish on Steam" there's a new line that states "Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs".

One game that has already been hit by this is Age of Rust, with the Steam store page no longer appearing in the search. If you manage to get to the store page, Valve has put up a notice that reads "Notice: At the request of the publisher, Age of Rust is no longer available for sale on Steam.". Age of Rust clearly states how it lets players gain various NFTs, plus it also used NFTs from other games using the Enjin Platform.

Speaking on Twitter the developer put up a short thread where they explained they've been upfront and had good communication with Valve but ultimately they lost the battle. In it they said "[…] Steam's point of view is that items have value and they don't allow items that can have real-world value on their platform. […]"

Other games that include NFTs include the popular MIR4 which is still online and the upcoming Mist which still also has the store page live but it's not actually released on Steam yet.

What do you think about this news? Let us know in the comments.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc, Steam
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Purple Library Guy Oct 15, 2021
I must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.
CatKiller Oct 16, 2021
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyI must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.
Non-fungible token.
Nezchan Oct 16, 2021
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.

Essentially it's a unique link pointing at a copy of some kind of artwork or other JPG, which is sold and traded among the suck...investors. They, and often the seller, do not have rights to the art itself, what they're selling is just the link to it.

It's as foolish as it sounds. And why they derisively (and hilariously) call people not into the scam "right clickers", because they can just save the jpgs and have just as much right to them.

NFT "games", or more realistically life support for the NFT storefront, basically involve the player getting in-game items by buying corresponding NFTs, which undoubtedly ends up costing more than the worst mobile games could even dream of. It's pay-to-win on steroids, and those steroids are on steroids.
ridge Oct 16, 2021
Oh, that's wonderful news!
eldaking Oct 16, 2021
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.

It stands for "Non-Fungible Token". It's like a bitcoin, except it is unique, and it is a certificate of ownership for something (usually some art). Just a "certificate" with a hyperlink, not even a real file, and even that is already so large it costs a ton of electricity and computing power to "mint" it. Since it is in the blockchain you can't just create a copy but you can transfer it to someone else - so it is actually like a decentralized notebook where you write down who owns the moon and the purchase history for it.

Imagine the bullshit of rich art collectors and the bullshit of cryptocurrencies. People are spending a ton of money in NFTs because of the promise of selling their "unique pieces of art".
Purple Library Guy Oct 16, 2021
Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.
Non-fungible token.
Thanks!
Quoting: NezchanEssentially it's a unique link pointing at a copy of some kind of artwork or other JPG, which is sold and traded among the suck...investors. They, and often the seller, do not have rights to the art itself, what they're selling is just the link to it.

It's as foolish as it sounds. And why they derisively (and hilariously) call people not into the scam "right clickers", because they can just save the jpgs and have just as much right to them.
Thanks! That's . . . um . . . amazing.
Quoting: eldakingImagine the bullshit of rich art collectors and the bullshit of cryptocurrencies. People are spending a ton of money in NFTs because of the promise of selling their "unique pieces of art".
Thanks! I'm trying to figure out whether this counts as something new (if ridiculous) under the sun, or only counts as one more manifestation of the very old concept "There's a sucker born every minute".


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 16 October 2021 at 4:44 am UTC
Koopacabras Oct 16, 2021
obviously this is because of money laundering probably. Cashing out items outside of steam is not that easy and maybe not cost effective for money laundering, but cryptos and NFT probably are.
TheRiddick Oct 16, 2021
I see people all over the web comparing NFTs directly to cosmetic shops. Its quite frustrating how many people have no idea what NFTs are or how they work.
elmapul Oct 16, 2021
first blood!
Termy Oct 16, 2021
NFTs sole purpose is to have another thing to speculate - in other words "to hope to leech money from someone else without a service in return".
So i'm all for removing this cancer whereever possible.
(And yes, if i could decide i also would ban speculation with ressources, stocks and so on)
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