If you’re a developer, we shouldn’t be choosing what content you’re allowed to create. If you’re a player, we shouldn’t be choosing for you what content you can or can’t buy. “So we ended up going back to one of the principles in the forefront of our minds when we started Steam, and more recently as we worked on Steam Direct to open up the Store to many more developers: Valve shouldn’t be the ones deciding this. Essentially they got rid of it! They will keep anything on their site unless they deem it illegal or “straight up trolling.” After a few weeks of controversy, Valve pulled the game Active Shooter from Steam (a school shooting game where the user could choose between being a SWAT member, civilian, or active shooter). In June 2018, Steam’s parent company Valve changed the policy for moderating and curating games on Steam.

A neat feature is the ability to “gift” games to friends who are also on the network, so you can play against each other.Īnything goes. Overall conduct seems “average.” There’s always going to be crude language, but Valve, Steam’s owner, patrols its site for negative behavior. Other large networks, like Sony’s PlayStation network or the Xbox network, for the most part only run their own games.

Steam is popular because it supports different devices and platforms and offers a large collection. Gamers Love It. Steam uses many popular gaming attributes, like assigning each player a Steam “handle,” which kids exchange in order to meet up online. What do parents need to know about Steam? Popular games have a cost, but most other features are free.ĪPP Store rating: 12+ (infrequent: simulated gambling, fantasy & realistic violence, mild sexual content and nudity, mature themes, profanity and crude humor, drug use). Description: according to Common Sense Media, “Steam is a place to buy, play, discuss, and learn about games on the internet.” After downloading the Steam “engine” to operate the games and a free account is created, gamers can play free games, chat with friends, play multiplayer, join forums, play demos and even use the site’s Workshop section to create new games.

Steam app