← Back to context

Comment by eggsome

2 days ago

Ads can be disabled in the settings.

Not an excuse.

It is not okay to abuse someone just because they can ask you to stop.

  • Not a fair comparison. I CHOSE to download and use steam when there are many alternatives. I enjoy their store page. Everything is consensual here.

    They don’t force themselves onto your machines mate.

  • Describing those 'ads' as "abusive" is quite a stretch. It's like going to the store page itself and complaining they're telling you about products they sell.

    Particularly when you can easily disable them. No other game client I know of offers that.

    • Advertising in general is absolutely abusive. I like to think of advertising as mind rape: it forcibly inserts brands and trademarks into your mind while you're trying to read or watch something.

      On the other hand, I don't classify what Steam is doing as advertising. When I open the Steam store, it's because I want to see the games it has on sale. It's not advertising, it's the exact information I asked for. It would have been advertising had it kept spamming me with game deals while I'm watching a film or something.

  • They are ads for games in a store that sells games, right?

    I'm very anti-ad, but if there's one situation where I don't have a beef with it, it's the Steam app.

    • They are also surprisingly effective because they often show things that I might actually buy (especially when it's on sale, which is precisely when they show ads for it).

    • No, that's not an excuse because Steam is also a launcher to play your games. If the store was completely separate then sure it would be OK to promote games being sold in the store there.

      1 reply →