What is the steam client program. What is Steam? Installation and use

The service replaced the earlier WON system, which was a more highly specialized service and was not a data distribution system over the Internet (digital distribution). The history of Steam began in 1999 with success Team Fortress Classic and Counter strike. Even before the release of the final versions, these games have become one of the most popular multiplayer games. At that time, the popularity of games reached a maximum of 2-3 thousand active players. Number of players TFC and CS after a couple of years, it has increased several times. As a result, Valve began to rethink the traditional methods of organizing online games. It was necessary to solve problems in the light of the further influx of players. This mainly concerned automatic updates, improvement of the anti-cheat system. When the developers were working on this system, they came up with the idea to use this platform to sell games. The implementation of this idea seemed too expensive, so Valve was looking for cooperation with various companies such as Amazon, Yahoo and Cisco, offering this approach, but all limited to promises. Since the system was so necessary for Valve, the company decided that it would implement this idea itself.

The Steam interface of the first version.

Steam was first introduced at the Game Developers Conference on March 22, 2002. Version Steam 1.0 became available during beta testing Counter-Strike 1.4. Steam installation was required for beta testers CS 1.4, but was only an additional component for the final version.

Further development

AT Steam 2.0 the user interface has been slightly changed and an instant messaging system with friends has been integrated. In late 2003, Valve announced their plans to shut down WON and make Steam mandatory for Valve's online games. This caused the ire of many players who then created WON2 as a replacement. On July 26, 2004, the World Opponent Network was shut down and replaced by Steam.

Steam interface version 2.5

In September 2004, it became known about the court Vivendi Games with Valve. The first company claimed that distributing Half-Life 2 through Steam violated a publishing contract. Vivendi lost the case and was banned from continuing to license Valve's games for Internet cafes. The contract between the two companies was later terminated and Electronic Arts was chosen as the new retail publisher by Valve.

The standard Steam interface of the third version.

In November 2004, Valve released Half-Life 2, the first single-player game to require a Steam client without fail. At the end of 2005, third-party games first appeared on Steam: Rag Doll Kung Fu(12 October) and Darwinia(December 14).

The Steam Game Library of the fourth version in a compact form.

At the end of 2009, the design of the official website was slightly changed - instead of dark yellow, blue tones appeared, and it also became possible to purchase games online through the Steam website without using the Steam program. At the same time, Valve began development of the fourth Steam versions with a completely new look. The beta version was released at the end of February 2010, in which all interface menus were significantly redesigned. At the same time, the design of the official website was greatly changed for beta users. The design of the Steam shell, as well as the in-game overlay, has been almost completely redesigned. In particular, instead of the three standard lists "Games", "Trailers" and "Tools", a new menu "Library" appeared, in which, in addition to these 3 subsections, a new one was added - "Downloads". At the same time, 3 options for displaying games became available - a list with detailed information and a background, a large list with updated icons, and a grid with large icons. The compact view is no longer supported. In addition, many bugs were fixed, the built-in browser began to use the WebKit engine instead of Trident, available only for Windows, which significantly increased performance and security, and also made it possible to port to other platforms. The format of skins for the fourth version has also undergone changes, which made the skins of the third version non-working. The stable version was released by Valve on April 28, 2010. The design of the Steam Community and the main Steam web page for all users has also been updated. In the release version, the ability to collapse the Library menu to a compact view was restored, while the old low-format icons were replaced with new colorful three-dimensional style. This update was the largest since the launch of Steam in 2003.

This version of Steam caused mixed reviews from the community. On the one hand, the interface has become more intuitive, logical, modern and colorful. On the other hand, there were many flaws, imperfections, and there were also problems with performance on weak machines. This has been fixed in subsequent updates.

In March 2010, information about the future appeared on Valve's official websites. Steam Transfer and all Source games on Mac OS X. On May 12, 2010, the final version of Steam on Mac was released. For some time, performance problems were observed on Mac OS X, on August 18, Valve announced that performance-improving updates had become available. .

On September 10, a Steam wallet was announced and launched into beta testing, with which users could transfer certain amounts of money to it to use them later. It finally appeared on Steam on September 30, along with an update to the Team Fortress 2 game.

On March 3, 2011, Valve announced and launched into beta test the Steam Guard service, which was supposed to provide additional security for user accounts. When this service was enabled, access to the Steam account became possible only from the current computer; to enter the recording from another computer, it was necessary to enter an additional code, which was sent to e-mail. Steam Guard was also shown at CeBit 2011 by Gabe Newell, who posted the password to his account there and stated that no one could steal it. The service became publicly available on March 16 .

On January 26, 2012, a beta version of the Steam client was announced for operating systems iOS and Android.

Name

Also, the distribution of Steam has affected digital distribution in general. Immediately after the release of Half-Life 2 (requiring the mandatory installation of Steam), this service attracted the attention of many players. Steam was the first successful project in this area (about 25% of copies of Half-Life 2 were sold through Steam). Shortly thereafter, several major companies such as Sega, EA Games, and 3D Realms announced their similar services. Smaller companies such as Stream Theory and Virgin Games also announced their projects.

However, some of them did not bring their own projects to completion. Sega began selling its games on Steam, and Game xStream's Triton service that distributed 3D Realms games was closed (3D Realms games also moved to Steam). Electronic Arts also distributes some of its games through Steam, despite having its own trading platform Origin (in addition to digital distribution, this service is also intended for online sales of games on physical media).

At the end of November 2008, Brad Wardell (eng. Brad Wardell), CEO of Stardock, which owns digital distribution service Impulse, said he believes "the undisputed leader in the digital distribution market game content for PC is Steam - it has about 70% of the market. Our Impulse service comes in second with around 10%. Everyone else shares the remaining 20%." He also added that in 2009 publishers receive about 25% of the total income from sales of games through such services.

Opportunities

Multilingualism

Steam is currently available in the following languages: English, Dutch, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Korean, German, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Finnish, Turkish, French, Swedish, Czech, and Japanese .

Steam implemented regional protection due to the fact that in different regions, boxed editions of Steam games have different prices. That is, games purchased in Russia (in a boxed version) will not work outside the CIS (such protection was implemented by the release of Half-Life 2: Episode One in 2006). At the same time, this approach allows publishers to make available any official voice acting, since publishers do not have to worry about re-exporting games. Most of the games purchased on Steam are multi-regional and unrestricted as they are sold at the same price in all regions.

Online games

It is the responsibility of the part of Steam that is responsible for playing games over the Internet to obtain a list of servers, check the versions of the client and server to ensure they are compatible, as well as provide the server with information about the Steam account and block accounts found to be cheating by the Valve Anti-Cheat service from access to all online Steam games that support VAC technology. Steam also blocks access to users who do not have a Steam account (No-Steam versions of games) or on whose account there is no purchased game, which is another component of DRM protection. This component cannot be bypassed by hacked versions of Steam, as it requires hacking or bypassing Valve's authentication servers.

Match Making

This feature appeared with the release of Left 4 Dead. Its essence lies in the fact that players do not immediately connect to the server, but first to the lobby created by one of the players. The lobby leader can choose game parameters (map, difficulty level, etc.), “kick out” someone who has joined, make access to the lobby only for friends or by invitation. After the required composition of players is recruited, the lobby leader starts a server search. Steam selects the most suitable empty server on which it sets the required settings and connects players from the lobby to it.

Steam Cloud

This feature allows you to save game data (such as personal configurations, keyboard and mouse settings, logo sprays for multiplayer games, save files) on Valve's servers. This feature is useful for those who use their Steam games on multiple computers. Steam Cloud currently support next games: Half-Life 2 , Half-Life 2: Episode One , Half-Life 2: Episode Two , Portal , Portal 2 , Left 4 Dead 2 , Team Fortress 2 , Alien Swarm , Sid Meier's Civilization V , Plants vs. Zombies , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 , Dota 2 , Call of Duty: Black Ops , Fallout: New Vegas, Braid , Worms: Reloaded, Metro 2033 and others.

Steam Community

In 2011, the inventory was redesigned again, and it became possible to view and exchange in-game items directly through the Steam website. In addition, Gifts, Guest Invitations, and Discount Coupons have also become associated as inventory items under the Steam category, and can also be traded. Also included in the Steam category are special items (for example, coal) dedicated to special promotions and giving the opportunity to win prizes or exchange them for cheap game. By default, items from the Steam category are visible only to the owner of the account, while items from games may be visible to other players, depending on the privacy of the profile.

The inventory feature is currently used by Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, Dota 2 and a number of indie games.

Steam Workshop

The Steam Workshop is an item gallery made by Valve, which is designed for the creation and review of items created for various games users. At the moment, you can upload items to the workshop for Team Fortress 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Portal 2 and Dota 2.

Steam Greenlight

Achievement system

Some games have progress- optional game tasks, each of which saves information in the game. At the same time, if Steam is launched in online mode, the achievement is also saved on the Steam account, which allows you to restore previously obtained achievements when you reinstall the game. The first games to use this system were the games orange box. All games from this set, except for Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (for the PC versions of these games, achievements appeared only on May 26), offered players a random set of achievements, the completion of which carried absolutely nothing but information in the statistics Steam. However, after some time, the accomplishment of achievements was displayed on gameplay online team shooter Team Fortress 2, for which extensive updates are currently being released, expanding the weapons of each playable class. Along with each such update, the developers supplement the list of achievements with a set specifically for the improved class. Completing achievements can unlock new weapons, and quests can force you to change your tactics. At the moment Team Fortress 2 is the only game that makes full use of the achievements. Another Valve online shooter, , after switching to the updated game engine, he also received a set of achievements, but their completion does not affect the gameplay.

The system was later added to the Steamworks Developer Kit, allowing achievements to be added to any Steam game. The first non-Valve game to support the system was audiosurf.

In games whose engine is heavily integrated with Steam, achievements can only work when the Steam client is running online (mainly Valve games). In most third-party games, they can work without Steam, but they are not saved on the Steam account. For example, in Unreal Tournament 3, achievements are tied primarily to the game account and only when the Steam client is launched online are also saved on Steam servers. At the same time, if achievements are deleted from Steam, they will be saved in the game itself.

There is a program to unlock/lock Steam achievements on game account-Steam Achievement Manager. With its help, users can add achievements to themselves without the need to earn them in the game "fairly" or remove them. And this applies even to games for which achievements have not been released and are in the testing phase. The program has spread primarily among Team Fortress 2 players, since unlocking new weapons directly depends on the number of achievements received.

For the convenience of creating a backup, Steam provides for splitting the archive into files of 640 MB, 4.7 GB, or as directed by the user. Then the archives are written to disks by any program. There is no built-in optical disc burning feature on Steam. However, backups can also be done manually by burning the contents of the SteamApps folder to disk.

Features under development

The developers periodically announce what features they are going to implement on Steam. Such declared but not yet implemented functions are:

The possibility of choosing an alternative browser for the Steam client was also promised (only Internet Explorer was used), but with the release new version client on April 26, 2010, which uses its own WebKit-based wrapper, the need to find an alternative browser is no longer necessary.

Promotions

passes (English) Guest Passes)

From time to time, players who own any multiplayer game will be given a guest invitation, which can be sent to anyone via Steam itself or email. The one who received the invitation, in turn, can activate it and play for several days. full version games.

Weekend discount Weekend Deal)

Every weekend there is a discount on one or more games. As a rule, it is 50 - 75%. Thus, you can buy games much cheaper than usual.

Occasionally, Steam hosts major game sales, usually around the New Year's Eve period. Such promotions took place in late 2009/early 2010 and late 2010/early 2011. Most games during the promotion period are sold at prices reduced by 33 - 75%, as a rule, with the exception of recently released ones. In addition, super discounts of up to 90% are set on certain games every day and a timer is activated, after which the list of games with super discounts changes.

Sometimes the discount goes to the game of the developer, who does not allow the purchase of games from Russia. You can't buy this game. However, if this game bought as a gift by a user living in a country where purchase restrictions do not apply, the game can be linked to an account and played.

Mid-week promotion

Every Wednesday, Steam offers a substantial discount on one or more games. As a rule, the discount is 50 - 75%.

Deal of the day

Every day, a game is selected for which a discount is provided. At the same time, in addition to this promotion, there is also a mid-week promotion on Wednesday.

Publisher's Week

From time to time, Steam provides significant discounts for a whole week on games from one specific publisher (Ubisoft, EA, etc.).

free weekend

In December 2006, Valve confirmed the implementation of advertising in Counter strike website CS-Nation and announced the imminent release of the beta version of the game with ads. On March 5, 2007, an update was released for Counter-Strike that added ads. On January 9, 2008, advertising was added to Counter-Strike: Condition Zero .

In an interview with the site GamesIndustry.biz Gabe Newell stated that advertising in CS- just an experiment to implement in-game advertising as a feature of Steam. This function can be used, for example, in free games paid off by advertising.

Account operations

Create an account

The user can create an unlimited number of accounts. The first time you open Steam, the account creation button is displayed automatically. The user must provide an account name and password, an email address that can be used to reset the password, and a secret question and answer in case the user forgets the password. An account can be created both through the Steam program and through the store website, however, a restore request can only be sent through the Steam client. The account name can contain Latin letters, numbers and underscores _ . In this case, the account name should not be already registered, and should not contain the word valve and steam- this is done to prevent the possibility of impersonating Valve employees and administrators in order to steal the password.

Activation

However, this system has a number of serious drawbacks:

1. To install the game requires an internet connection and a mandatory update to 100%. Otherwise, the game cannot be installed. Thus, users who have a low-speed modem or expensive (if paid by traffic) Internet connection cannot download updates and start playing, even if they have a boxed version of a Steam game.
2. Inability to activate the game or download updates for it when the Steam servers are loaded.

It is precisely because of these shortcomings that pirated No-Steam versions have become widespread, since such versions do not have Steam. Such games can be launched immediately, without connecting to the Internet and running Steam. Pirates also created hacked versions of Steam for users with an Internet connection, allowing you to download games and play them without paying. However, these versions become outdated rather quickly, and it becomes impossible to download new games or updates for some existing games. Through such hacked Steam clients, it is also impossible to play on licensed servers controlled by Valve under accounts Steam.

However, it was the activation that caused the most complaints from Steam users. Being the bottleneck in Valve's game distribution system, servers Steam activations were overloaded on the day of release Half Life 2, despite all the efforts and assurances of Valve (in particular, the pre-loading of the non-boxed version announced by Valve long before the release of the game), and many buyers were forced to wait for many hours, waiting for a stable connection with the servers and decryption of the game files.

Buying games

Instead of buying game boxes, discs, CD keys, a Steam user gets the opportunity to download purchased games from Steam servers from anywhere where the Steam client can be used. Games can be purchased individually (with some exceptions) or as part of "packages" of several games (if any) that cost less than the total price of the games individually, sometimes even several times. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the volume of such “packages” can be tens of gigabytes, which must be downloaded via the Internet, which, in turn, requires a high-speed cheap connection.

All purchases are made from the desktop of the Steam client or on the store website through any browser, and the data is transmitted over an encrypted connection. To ensure greater security, payment information is not saved, so it must be entered again each time. Purchases are made through a virtual shopping cart. Steam has a wallet to which users can transfer money and keep them in it. Payment for purchases is possible either through this wallet or by transferring money. The following payment methods and wallet replenishment are supported:

Popular in Europe, Maestro debit cards are not directly supported, but can be used when paying with PayPal. For a long time, payment methods were limited to only credit cards and bank payment systems using accounts linked to credit cards. This was the reason for criticism of Steam, mainly in countries where strict criteria are set for obtaining credit cards (for example, age) and non-banking Internet payment systems (for example, WebMoney) are predominantly developed. For the Russian Federation and the CIS, the situation changed on November 2, 2010, when Steam allowed payment for games via WebMoney for these countries.

Price

Prices for games and downloadable content on Steam vary somewhat. Now the lowest price for the game is $0.99USD ( Fortix), downloadable content $0.99USD ( Just Cause 2: Monster Truck), Downloadable Manuals $1.99USD ( Portal 2: The Final Hours), or $2.99USD ( Ctulhu Saves the World& Breath of Death VII Double Pack) and the highest price for the game $59.99USD ( Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3), downloadable content $39.99USD ( The Sims 3: Late Night), Downloadable Manuals $19.99USD ( Homefront: Prima Official Strategy Guide) or $49.99USD ( Valve Complete Pack).

In different regions, the price may differ from the standard or be different for different titles of the same game. For example, the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. costs $9.99USD, but the same game costs $19.99USD in America, as it is called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Thus, you can buy two identical games. First days after release Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had a huge range of prices: $49.99 USD in Russia and America, $69.99 USD in France and $88.50 USD in Australia. Also, for example, All Point Bulletin sold for $49.99 USD in America and $28.99 USD in Europe.

Retail Keys

A CD key is a kind of code for activating a game on the Steam service, which is a set of 13 characters ( old Retail version of Half-Life), 18 characters ( Prey), 25 characters ( SiN Episodes: Emergence) and 26 characters ( The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings), which in turn consist of Latin letters and numbers. Usually the CD key is printed on a sticker under the disc or on the disc itself (Retail version), on the back of the booklet (DVD version) or on a separate sheet ( Collector's Edition). The key also confirms your purchase of the game, when you enter it in the window product activation the game will immediately connect to your Steam account. In addition to Valve Corporation products, keys can activate third-party games. Some games that can be activated with keys:

Account blocking

STEAM displays such a window if Account blocked.

Valve reserves the right to block user accounts at its sole discretion. The main types of violations are:

Credit Card Fraud Any credit card fraud when paying for Steam products, including using someone else's carded credit cards, as well as making chargebacks (regardless of when the transaction was made ). Registration on the account of gifts purchased by carding. Until 2010, if a payment was refused, the gift was revoked, but the recipient's account was not blocked. However, in December 2009, Valve changed their policy and began a massive wave of bans. Valve themselves recommend not accepting gifts from unknown persons; Piracy and hacking This includes using a hacked Steam client program to access the Steam network, trying to register counterfeit or found CD-keys on the Internet. Theft, sharing or trading of other people's accounts Any actions with other people's accounts without the permission of their owners: stealing and changing the password, using the account to log in, any account operations, disclosure of account data, etc. But sharing is possible in turn. Phishing attacks and deliberate deception of users This includes communicating with Steam users under misleading names and e-mail addresses, purporting to be employees of Steam or Valve (for example: "Steam Admin" or " [email protected]”), in order to extort the password and other confidential information about the account. Buying and Selling Steam Accounts It is the original user's responsibility to use and secure a Steam account - all accounts that are bought or sold may be banned if Valve finds out that the sale has taken place. Any other violation of the "Steam Subscriber Agreement" or the "Steam Online Code of Conduct"

Also, sometimes an account can be temporarily blocked if, for example, the account was stolen and Valve blocks it until the real owner is established.

After blocking the account, the user loses the ability to download and play all previously purchased games linked to Steam, including boxed versions. Money in case of account blocking is not returned.

Collection of statistics

Sales statistics

The Steam platform provides publishers with product sales statistics (including for retailers if the game requires mandatory registration). As a result, the developer receives real-time information about game sales, which can be used to evaluate the success of the game, as well as the effectiveness of promotions.

Hardware and software

Steam collects certain information from users' computers.

Game process

• Information about the ways of passing the game, the places of the game that caused the greatest difficulties / mortality. This data, for example, can be used by developers to make decisions about balance changes.
• If the game uses an achievement system tied to the Steam system, then the game statistics page displays the percentage of players who have completed this or that achievement. Some of these statistics are available to users on the official website.
• Information about the popularity of mods: the number of servers for the mod, the number of players at the moment, as well as the total number of minutes per month spent playing the modification by all players.

Technical features

System requirements

System requirements required to use Steam:

• , Vista , Windows 7 or ". On Mac OS X, game files are stored in the "/Users/name/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/" directory. There are two formats: a modification with a change in characteristics right inside the game. Also, the use of GCF files requires unpacking library (DLL) and application (EXE) files, as well as media files, which reduces free space on the hard disk. The GCF format is based on the use of modifications when saving original game, which simplifies its recovery, but does not allow you to change the base game files.

  Steam game files that do not contain a cache (NCF)

  NCF (No-Cache File) files do not contain a game cache, unlike the GCF format. All game files are in the folder steamapps/common/game name, and inside the NCF file contains only a list of these files and information about their checksum. These files are located in the folder SteamApps together with GCF files and are needed to be able to run and update games through Steam, but are not integral part games. Updates and searching for corrupted files are more difficult and longer for such games than for GCF files. NCF files can also be opened with GCFScape .

  Installation of modifications

  PlayStation 3

  Problems with localized versions of Steam

  The Steam interface has been translated into many languages, but this also causes certain problems.

", - experienced gamers say goodbye to each other. And to any avid lover computer games it is clear what is at stake. About a place where each of them is a superhero. About where you want to return again and again. About the virtual "home" where the games dear to the heart live.

Steam is...

You probably already guessed what Steam is. it gaming platform, a service designed to buy and launch computer games, communicate between players, create gaming communities and much more related to gaming.

Being the brainchild of Valve, in the early 2000s Steam was used only to distribute and activate the products of this developer. Today it is a complete social network with many features, like Facebook or VK, which supports more than 10,000 games and applications from different manufacturers: Sega, Epik Games, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, etc., many of which are free.

The Steam platform exists in a web version, accessible through a browser, and as an application for all major stationary and mobile operating systems - Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, Android, iOS, as well as Samsung Smatr TV Tizen OS (with restrictions) . Installation and use of the service is completely free, payment is charged only for the content.

Features, pros and cons of the platform

In recent years, the functionality of Steam has grown to such a scale that even a developer will probably not be able to say which of its functions is the main one. Its users are provided the following possibilities:

• play on any supported device;
• buy promotional content with a 50-75% discount and play paid games free of charge, and such promotions take place almost constantly;
• install game updates in a priority order - the platform does this automatically;
• do not think about the safety of game data - Steam also takes care of it;
• create and save backup copies of game distributions;
• activate supported games purchased in boxed versions;
• buy games as a gift to other users;
• return the money spent if you didn’t like the game (the opportunity lasts up to 14 days after the purchase, provided that the toy was launched no longer than 2 hours);
• create personal pages and groups, join communities;
• find like-minded people and friends;
• exchange messages and communicate in the built-in voice chat;
• share achievements;
• exchange, buy and sell game items- inventory, cards, etc.;
• take screenshots and shoot videos, post videos on YouTune;
• record and broadcast streams without third-party programs;
• receive the latest news about events game world;
• listen to music stored on the device instead of game soundtracks;
• give other users access to your library of games (family sharing);
• customize the design of your personal page to your liking;
• use services technical support developer.

And since Steam is the official game content store, the products that are distributed through it are 100% legal and safe.

Among the shortcomings service users attributed:

• The inability to use the means of obtaining illegal privileges over other players (cheats).
• The inability to run pirated content.
• There is a high risk of losing the account, and with it the funds that are stored on the balance sheet. Steam user accounts are very attractive to attackers and are often attacked. To prevent attacks, the platform has a built-in Steam Guard, but it does not guarantee complete security.

Someone thinks that buying content through Steam is too expensive and for this reason does not use the platform. However, it makes it possible not only to spend, but also to earn real money. One of the ways to earn money mentioned above is the sale of game equipment. Also, some users manage to unofficially sell previously purchased games, and experienced gamers earn money by promoting and selling upgraded accounts.

How to register on Steam

To register on the Steam service, launch a pre-installed application or open the store.steampowered.com website, go to the "Login" section and click the "Create an account" button.

Enter email address, its confirmation and verification code. Accept Terms of use and confirm the registration by clicking on the link that will come in the email.

After confirmation, return to the registration section, come up with a unique name for yourself that will be displayed to other users, and a password. Click Finish Registration.

How to link a payment instrument to your Steam account and replenish your account in the system

To link a bank card to your Steam profile, go to the "About account" menu. In the Store Operations section, click Add a payment method to this account.

Select a payment system from the list and enter the card details — number, expiration date, CVV/CVC code.

In the "Account Information" section, enter your real name, surname, postal code, residential address and phone number. In the fields "Settlement address" and "Settlement address 2" enter the street, house/building and apartment number.

Once a card has been linked, Steam Store purchases will be debited from the card's balance.

In addition to linked bank cards, you can use money on your personal Steam account to pay for content.

To replenish your account balance, do the following:

• Click the "+Top up balance" button in the "Store Operations" section. Choose one of the proposed amounts (minimum 150 rubles).

• Choose a convenient payment method. In the CIS countries, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express cards are available for this; payment systems PayPal, Yandex.Money and Webmoney; check mobile phone and cryptocurrency Bitcoin. After making your selection, click Continue.

• Further actions depend on the specific payment method. Complete the payment by following the instructions on the screen.

How to download games

Selection, purchase and installation of games are made through the "Shop" section of the main menu. The distribution of content by genre and other categories (new releases, top sellers, etc.) is in the column on the left.

Clicking on the banner of the game will take you to the purchase page. More than detailed information about the offer: trailers, gameplay screenshots, description, system requirements, as well as the game distributions themselves and additional paid content. This page contains information about discounts and promotions.

To buy something from the offer, click the "Add to Cart" button next to the product and, following the instructions, make the payment. The purchased game and additional content will be downloaded to your Library.

How to add friends

To add Steam users as friends, go to the main menu section named after you and select "Friends". Enter your username in the Find Friends field. After it is found, click "Add to friends".

In addition, the "Add to friends" button is present on the personal pages of Steam users:

And on the personal page of your profile in the "Your friends" section there is a user search string by login and game name (the system shows who you played with):

The add friend function becomes available after replenishing the account balance or purchases in the amount of $5 or more.

In general, the Steam platform is quite simple to understand and master, just wander through the sections - and everything becomes clear without explanation. Moreover, it is fully translated into Russian, and in addition to it, it supports 25 more languages ​​of the world.

You can often hear the question, what is Steam and how to use it. Steam is the best online service for purchasing PC games today. Here you can find hundreds different games for Windows and MacOS operating systems. In this post, we will analyze the main features that Steam provides to users.

What is STEAM made of?

The Steam service has four main parts: Store, Library, News and Community. Now we will analyze each of these parts in more detail.

Shop

This is a catalog of games where you can choose and buy the game you like. After the game is purchased, it moves to the Library section and starts downloading, after the download is completed, you can play.

Library

This is the catalog of games you have purchased. Having bought a game once, it remains in your Library forever, and you can always download it at any time. Steam Help and start playing. Thus, all your toys are concentrated and cataloged in one place.

News

Not a very cool section. Here you will find news about the Steam system, new games and updates.

Community

Key STEAM Features

Purchase of games. If you don't know what Steam is, it's best to start by buying games. There are a large number of games available in the Steam catalog. And most of these games can be bought from anywhere in the world. All you need is internet access to fund your Steam account and download the game after purchase. Having bought at least one game, you will quickly figure out all the features of this game. You can top up your Steam account using Webmoney, MasterCard, American Express, Visa, PayPal, and other payment services. Replenishment is carried out quickly and without problems.

Free toys. Steam users are granted access to a large number free games.

Convenient client. You can also work with Steam using a browser. For a quick introduction to what Steam is all about, go to store.steampowered.com. But, in order to get access to all the features of Steam, you need to download the client. The client is an application with which you can replenish your account, buy toys, chat with other players and much more.

If the game you purchased from the physical store is also sold on Steam, you can add it to your Game Library. To do this, just enter the key to the game. After that, this game will become available in your Steam account, and you can download it at any time when you need it.

Saving the settings of the toy in the Steam Cloud online storage. By saving the settings online, you can not worry about their safety.

Create offline game backups. If yours is slow and it is difficult for you to download toys, you can create a backup copy of the toys you bought on Steam and burn it to a disc or other .

Video about the pros and cons of Steam

I registered my first Steam account in 2014. Before that, I didn’t even go to their site and thought that there were only paid games. The first game I bought was CS:GO. I got on some cool discount and it turned out that I bought a pack of games for about 150 rubles. This pack includes CS:GO, CSS and previous versions of Contra. And now the last contra is generally available for free, but CSS is for sale.

Gradually, as a rule, when there is a sale, I acquired some games. Basically, these are those that can be played over the network via the Internet. Moreover, the Tangle project was closed. In Soulstorm, for example, they switched to play from Tangle to Steam. But there was some kind of trouble with the support of this game, people will gather, but before the start of the game, someone often flew out. It happened that they gathered for half an hour, or even an hour.

I bought an offline game in Steam, or rather the key for Steam on Plati.ru - Fallout 3. And what do you think, I had to tinker a lot before I could launch it. There may also be problems with Russification, you will have to google information and download / replace installed files. And I downloaded the same game from R-u-t-o-r-a, so it started right away, completely in Russian, take it and play right away.

I think you should pay for a quality product. But if this product is official, then it should be no worse than what is distributed on the above site. Why should I pay money, and then arrange dances with a tambourine to Russify the game.

A long time ago, when computers were big, and the games for them were very small, no one could have imagined what heights the industry of this kind of entertainment would reach. After all, then no one was seriously engaged in the development of systems that prevent the unlicensed use of games.

In addition, there were practically no network games, since the possibilities of the Internet at that time were very stunted. The maximum that was available to gamers was to stretch a coaxial cable between their computers.

As time went on, it developed at an increasingly rapid pace. It is not surprising that before the developers in full height both of these problems arose. Simply put, they were faced with the need to provide players with a stable and reliable service for online battles, as well as protect their creations from illegal copying.

One of the most successful developments was the Steam service from Valve. By the way, what is Steam? What is it for at all?

Brief historical background

Steam was created relatively recently, only in 2002. However, then he was known under the name Grid or Gazelle. Its revolutionary nature was that fans of Valve's creations could buy a digital version of the game without bothering to go shopping.

At the time, Half-Life-2 was in active development, so the company wanted to receive funds from the royalties of the creators. This project was 100% successful.

The first version of Steam was sent for testing just in time for the release of CS 1.4. At that time, the service allowed the following:

• a person could independently search for servers of interest to him;
• of course, it was possible to use registered games;
• buy (!) a digital copy of the program (once again, this was a real breakthrough at that time);
• "cut yourself" into a simple client of chess or checkers.

Further development of the service

A major event in the industry has been half-life release 2. No less excitement was caused by Counter-Strike: Source, which was released at the same time. Here are just buyers of games on a physical medium (that is, on a disk) faced a lot of inconvenience:

• the Internet was required to activate the product;
• the game had to be not only installed, but also updated via the same Internet;
• the size of updates and patches was considerable even by modern standards;
• activation often failed;
• In a word, everything was not very good.

The author of this article once bought the famous Orange Box. Expecting to play his favorite Half-Life 2, he inserted the disc into the drive... and spent the next two days waiting for all the additions and updates to be downloaded via a stunted GPRS channel.

Main innovations of the next years

The main innovation was a seriously redesigned and improved store. All legacy servers have been permanently disabled.

At the same time, Valve began to attract third-party developers, offering them to sell games through their service. The release of the first part of HL2 was marked by the appearance of regional protection. The release of the Orange Box delighted all fans with the Steam Community service, which soon turned into a real social network for gamers.

When the famous Left 4 Dead appeared, the service developed matchmaking (search for suitable opponents in online games). However, a much more important innovation was the Steam Cloud, which finally made it possible to fully synchronize settings between user accounts. Since then, the need for physical media for games (that is, the purchase of a disc) has almost completely disappeared.

Around the same time, iMac users became aware of what Steam was. To date, this platform has considerable weight in the community. Finally, last year there was a truly epoch-making event: Steam was released for Linux systems, and Steam OS was also announced.

Where to get it?

So we learned what Steam is. It's time to turn to its direct use. There are two installation methods: if you bought a game (on physical media) that can be linked to your Steam account, then the operation will be performed automatically.

If you plan to purchase programs in the Valve branded store, then visit their official website and download the client installation package. The program "weighs" several tens of megabytes, which is simply ridiculous at the present time.

Note! We have already talked about the large size of patches and updates that will be downloaded after installation. If you do not have a more or less sane Internet (at least 1 Mb / sec), then you should not contact Steam at all. Spend a lot of time and nerves.

By the way, what is a Steam key? This is a game permission that supports activation and assistance through this service. This possibility will be reported on the package with the disc or on the manufacturer's website.

How to install it?

Everything is simple here. Right-click on the installation file, select "Run as administrator". The installation dialog will open.

Very important! In no case do not install "Steam" on the "C" drive, as all your games will be installed there. Given that the same Left 4 Dead 2 or Force Unleashed"weighs" more than 10 GB, your system disk will soon be packed to capacity.

Following the prompts of the "installation wizard", thoughtfully click on the "Next" buttons. After it finishes working, the client will automatically start, update itself, after which you can start buying games. However, you will not always need to purchase: Valve constantly arranges chic sales, or even gives away some programs. In a word, just keep up!

By the way, about sales. The fact is that for the purchase you will need not only a credit card, the data of which can be linked to Steam. What is it that will come in handy to confirm your order? This is your own home address and may receive bills or written notices. As a rule, filling in this field can be neglected. In this case, some obligations are removed from the company.

Some problems

We note right away that personally the author of the article for the entire time of working with the official Steam client no problem (except for bad internet) did not notice. However, if you download "broken" versions of No Steam Edition games from then you will definitely see them. In particular, you will immediately know what a Steam dll is.

The fact is that when you try to launch a "broken" game, a window often pops up with a message about its absence. How to fix the situation? The easiest way is to simply buy licensed content. If for some reason you don’t have such an opportunity, you can try to launch the game not through its shortcut on the “Desktop”, but by double-clicking on the .exe file, which you will find along the path D: (or another disk) \ Steam \ bin.

Viruses

It must be recognized that sometimes even owners of perfectly legal content that was bought with their hard-earned money encounter problems during launch. So, you may well see a message about the same missing DLL in the case when a normal file was modified by some kind of virus.

In a word, if the problems started from scratch, immediately install a normal anti-virus package.

Developer Opportunities

Do you know what the Steam api is? This is a unique service that allows players to try themselves in the field of creating entertainment. Speaking in Russian, this is a special tool that makes it possible to receive data both about the game and modify its code.

So, the Steam Web API mechanism is used in those games that have the corresponding icon in the store. This means that you can not only participate in online battles, but also produce your own content. Of course, in most cases this is limited only to drawing the famous hats in Team Fortress, but sometimes users create mods that are incredibly functional and beautiful.

The creator of Minerva MOD for Half-Life 2 became especially famous for this. He was so good that he was almost immediately added to the official store, and his developer was invited to work at Valve. In a word, thanks to this tool, the corporation finds its new promising employees, and gives ordinary users a unique chance for self-expression.

Identifier

By the way, and the presence of which is sometimes required to connect to some internal servers? This is your unique network name, assigned depending on the hardware characteristics of your computer. Simply put, if you log into your account from a computer and then from a laptop, in both cases you will be assigned a separate identifier.

What is a Steam ID? This is the second name of the same identifier, which we talked about just above.

To find out, in the game (which supports this feature), press the ESC key, and then enter the Status command in the console that appears. A long list of recipients will open. Among them, find the one that starts with your own game nickname. Near it will be an index of the form "STEAM_1: 0: 12345678". This is the same identifier.

Here's what Steam is and what it's for!

Steam is a service that is primarily useful to people who are fond of computer games. What gives us Steam? With it, you can activate your new toy, download its components via the Internet, download updates and news about the game.

Steam is the brainchild of Valve. Accordingly, Steam works with Valve products and products of those developers who have signed a contract with Valve.

In addition, through Steam, without leaving your home and not being distracted from your computer, you can buy new games from Valve and other developers.

Who works with the Steam service?

• Activision;
• codemasters;
• Eidos Interactive;
• EA Games;
• Epic Games;
• GSC Game World;
• id Software;
• Sega;
• Atari;
• Rockstar Games;
• Ubisoft;
• N.C.Soft;
• and many others.

According to statistics for October 2010, up to 3,000 products are sold through Steam, and the number of registered users reaches 30 million. The main products of Steam are computer games, trailers and mods for games.

The very word Steam in English means "steam".

It is impossible to overestimate the impact of the appeared service on the modern market of computer games. Developers of independent games found the most serious development. Previously, large publishing houses were very wary of new non-standard games, since it was not known in advance how profitable these developments would be. Now the situation has changed. Indie games are distributed through Steam, which gives an aspiring team of programmers a chance to get involved serious business in the field of computer entertainment.

Steam is a new word in the sales of computer games over the Internet. The method by which Steam operates is called digital distribution. If the publisher uses this method, then he significantly reduces his costs on a number of items. No need to spend money on the production of discs, packaging, printing covers and their transportation. Now everything is possible through the Internet. Accordingly, the financial risk of independent games is reduced by several times. In addition, if independent game will find particular popularity among Steam users, then the developers will have the opportunity to get a contract with a major publisher.

There is no doubt that digital distribution is a step into the future. These technologies are used not only in the field of computer games, but also in the music business. There comes a time not of material values, but a time of ideas that bring material profit.

"You can break a sword, you can't destroy an idea." (Victor Hugo)