Steam Trading Cards

[Tiger]

What do I get when I craft a badge from my Trading Cards?
In addition to getting the Game Badge itself, you'll get:

a random emoticon item created for this game, that can use in chat or discussions;
a random profile background item created for this game, that can use on your Steam Community profile
a chance to get a discount coupon for a different game or DLC
100XP, which may increase your Steam Level

One way or another you are paying for this. Barring everything else, I just vehemently object to this virtual market that Steam has created. I don't even care how much money people ostensibly save, I just dislike it.

Once again, you don't have to pay to get them.

[Bridge]

Once again, you don't have to pay to get them.

So you really think Steam would knowingly deprive themselves of a profit? Even in the case of holiday sales the added traffic balances things out. There is absolutely no way you could ever get something absolutely free from Steam. Certainly not to this degree, where every single Steam user has a chance of getting game discounts.

Just look at their free to play model. What more proof do you need? If you were really getting this for free, why do you need to pay to get card drops just because the game is free? It's because they have thought this through and decided that it's balanced enough so they come out on top, even if people have owned the game for years.

EDIT: If this card trading thing is just a temporary thing only for this summer however then it's all different. I would be more willing to believe they would give away stuff for a limited time to get more people interested in Steam.

[Tiger]

Anyway, I just got 2 out of 9 trading cards by playing TF2 for 30 minutes. I'm not saying that there's a lot to win from this, but I think it's a neat thing.

No, it's not free, but I'm saving money when buying a game I'd probably buy either way.

[Your Computer]

Steam trading cards were introduced after the games in your library were released and purchased by you and therefore placed in your library. There's no reason to assume that people will buy a game for the sole reason of potentially obtaining a trading card. Why should we assume that they will, especially when there are obvious reasons to the contrary, therefore making the assumption illogical? At best this will get people to play games that they have in their library which they never touched or replay games that they already have in their library.

That being said, the chance for discounts is nice, but i'm not going to be actively trying to obtain more cards.

[Bridge]

Steam trading cards were introduced after the games in your library were released and purchased by you and therefore placed in your library. There's no reason to assume that people will buy a game for the sole reason of potentially obtaining a trading card. Why should we assume that they will, especially when there are obvious reasons to the contrary, therefore making the assumption illogical? At best this will get people to play games that they have in their library which they never touched or replay games that they already have in their library.

That being said, the chance for discounts is nice, but i'm not going to be actively trying to obtain more cards.

Yes, because spending time and money to give people an incentive to play the games they've already bought and giving everybody a chance to get cheaper deals is sensible marketing. Do you honestly believe Steam doesn't have an endgame here? Either they introduce a system where the really good cards cost money down the line (even if it's indirectly as in the free-to-play case) or they trick people into buying games they may not necessarily want because they feel they are "saving money" (and I don't mean to impugn Steam's marketing decisions, they do what they do very well and I wish only the best for them).

And I didn't mean to insinuate that reasonable people would buy $60 games just to get trading cards, but it is entirely possible that later on they will bundle special rare trading cards with games, perhaps a limited launch deal kind of thing - I don't know.

[Statyk]

I find the Steam Trading cards a nice little side to the dish you've been given. "Hey, I bought a steak, but got free mashed potatoes!" They're not telling you to get the game for the cards, but rather like YC said, it could make you replay games. I collected and sold a few on the market. I got nearly $5 worth selling cards on the steam community market from games I bought because I thought they were fun. Steam handed out cards, that I collected from the games they have participating, and sold those cards on the market. The added value from getting these free cards could get me a game off steam without my wallet coming out of my pocket to intentionally get them. How is this a bad thing?

I mean, I got all my cards from pre-spent money from Team Fortress 2 (mind you, my favorite game of all time atm). I spent a collective amount of money since I started playing it on items and tools I thought were cool and when steam cards came out, I got them without having to buy more items. Valve could've easily made it so in order to get the cards, you had to purchase things ONLY after they were released. But I got a set or two overtime and made 2 badges because it gave me a cool profile background, and when I got enough Steam EXP to have my profile be lvl 10, I got a "Showcase" table on my profile of my workshop items, which is really handy!

These cards are fun to collect and trade, and you can even have the chance to buy another game simply from selling the cards in the community market from the games you already bought.

Where's the cons? I mean, if they're making a profit from these, is it so bad? It's not FORCED, and if anything, they're a unique little "thank you" handed out to players.

[Oscar House]

If people are willing to buy the cards, then I'm certainly willing to collect and sell them. There's definitely no downside for me there, I'm just making money, albeit a tiny amount.

[Gharren]

Was damn lucky, got some foil cards dropped, sold them for about 7$.
And it's fun to collect these cards. I don't see any downsides here.

Steam = <3

[PutraenusAlivius]

Woohoo I got two cards

[Gharren]

They should definitely implement Amnesia Trading Cards.