Valve has better ways to increase security

May 8, 2015 00:15 GMT  ·  By

Valve has recently announced that it was introducing a new set of policies for the Steam digital distribution service, which are designed to limit access to a range of features for all those who have not spent at least 5 dollars or Euro on the digital store or have not placed the same sum in the Wallet.

The company says that it has introduced the measure in order to try and make sure that as many players as possible are following the rules and do not simply create an account in order to try and profit from the activity of other users.

The company has laid out very clear rules about the access that limited accounts will have on Steam and the way gamers can move from one state to another.

Valve seems determined to keep this new policy in place in the long term, even if a number of gamers, especially those hailing from smaller markets, have been rallying against them because they basically create a class of second-hand citizens on the digital distribution services.

Increased security is important for Steam at the moment because soon it will no longer be used only on the PC.

This fall, Valve and its partners will introduce the new Steam Machines, and the company will also sell the Vive virtual reality device, created in partnership with HTC.

This universe expansion will mean that more users will use Steam, and the new spending requirement for a full account basically makes sure that they spend some money and they do not act outside of the rules.

Steam should focus more on new features

Valve has not talked about the impact that account-based fraud has had on the Steam service and will probably not deliver such data to the public in the coming months.

Most gamers are not affected by the new limits and will probably be uninterested in their impact, asking instead for more features that directly affect their user experience.

But the community might change its mind if Valve decides to raise the limit to 20 dollars or Euro in the coming months or years.

The problem is not that the company is imposing restrictions; after all, that's their prerogative. The issue here is that users have not been able to offer input and might be unhappy with the long-term impact of apparently sensible measures.

Valve can secure Steam in other ways

In the past few years, the Valve team in charge of digital distribution has been working hard to make it more social, encouraging users to interact with their friends via the new streaming options, by sharing accounts or by trading a lot of content.

Account verification could also be based on friends and interactions, either by simply gathering data or by actively asking someone to vouch for a user if they are suspected of being on the service only to profit from it.

Valve could simply observe if a profile engages in any kind of social activity and could track its market activity to find out if it is legitimate or not.

The company also has the option of using a more temporary quarantine move for those it suspects of acting outside its rules, rather than moving to restrict the features they have access to indefinitely if they do not cross a spending threshold.

Valve has managed to make Steam the leading solution when it comes to digital distribution on the PC because its service is very flexible and offers more and more options and features every year.

When it comes to limited accounts, the company is going against that trend, and that might hurt it in the long run, if competitors decide to advertise their lack of limits and manage to attract those who are dissatisfied.