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What is the steam app for? We use steam. How to get free games on Steam

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 were 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 site 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 version of Steam with a completely new design. 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 transfer of Steam and all Source games to Mac OS X appeared on Valve's official websites. 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 for the iOS and Android operating systems was announced.

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 Origin marketplace (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), the head of Stardock, which owns digital distribution service Impulse, said that, in his opinion, “Steam is the undisputed leader in the digital distribution of PC gaming content, with 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.

Capabilities

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 responsible for playing games over the Internet to obtain a list of servers, check client and server versions to ensure they are compatible, as well as provide the server with Steam account information and block accounts found to be cheating by Valve Anti-Cheat 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. The following games are currently supported on Steam Cloud: 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 a 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 that is designed to create and review items created for various games by 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 achievements- 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 the gameplay of the network 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 for unlocking/locking Steam achievements on a 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 of a new version of the client on April 26, 2010, which uses its own WebKit-based shell, the need to search for an alternative browser disappeared.

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 the full version of the game for several days.

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 is bought as a gift by a user who lives 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. And this function can be used, for example, in free games that pay off through 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 through Steam accounts.

However, it was the activation that caused the most complaints from Steam users. Being a bottleneck in Valve's game distribution system, Steam activation servers 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 cost 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. Typically, 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

This window STEAM issues if the account is 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 action 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 the original game, which makes it easier to restore it, but does not make it possible 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 Steam Apps together with GCF files and are needed to be able to run and update games through Steam, but are not an integral part of the game. 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 any avid lover of computer games understands 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. This is a gaming platform, a service designed for buying and launching computer games, communication between players, creating 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 full-fledged 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 for free, and such promotions are held 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 the events of the 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 the developer's technical support services.

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 your email address, its confirmation and verification code. Accept the user agreement 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; mobile phone account and bitcoin cryptocurrency. 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. Here you can find more 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.

Steam is a service that is designed to distribute digital computer games and other programs that belong to a fairly well-known game development company - Valve. Steam is an activation service, and also performs the functions of downloading via the Internet, automatic updates and news of games both by the company itself and by other developers who have signed agreements with the founders of Steam. For example: Epik Games, 2K Games, Rockstar Games, Sega and many more.

In short, with the help of this service, you can purchase and install exclusively licensed and high-quality computer games via the Internet, regularly receive bonuses during pre-orders, receive the latest news from the world of computer games you love, and also receive updates without your participation, in automatic mode, find friends with whom you have much in common.

The Steam program and its benefits

  • You open just one program and a world of interactive entertainment opens up before you. One database that stores games. Having your own account and being a client in this service, you will again and again be able to install, download and delete the entertainment you have purchased;
  • The owner of Steam no longer needs to worry about the performance of the purchased interactive products, search for and install patches and fulfill the requirements of the developers for the correct display of the game. This service independently, without your participation, downloads and installs updates on your computer, and experienced programmers fix problems that arise after the update with the help of special patches;
  • Another, no less important advantage of the service is that the entire gameplay is stored in a special Steam Cloud storage. You should not worry, the entire path traveled in the game, as well as achievements, will be saved;
  • On the Steam service, you can often buy a quality game at a significant discount, usually 15-75% cheaper;
  • Making in-game purchases on Steam is very easy. To do this, just use one of the existing seven methods: WebMoney, Visa, American Express, ClickandBay, Master Card, Qiwi wallet and Yandex money.

Steam: how to use?

  • Registration in the service

There is nothing terrible or surprising in this section. Like other services where purchases are made, they require personal identification. By filling out a simple questionnaire, you create your personal page by which you will be identified and with its help you will pay for purchased products.

To register in the Steam program, you should go to the official website of the service and click on the button - "Create an Account". Further, in the window that opens, you will need to answer the questions (e-mail address, full name). If for some reason you do not want to answer these questions, then you will not be able to register on the service.

That's all, registration of your account on the service is successfully completed!

The next point should also not cause you any difficulties. Immediately after activating your personal profile, you should download and install the application on your personal computer, for this you need, without leaving the official service, find the button in the top header of the site - "Install Steam" and click on it.

After you click on this button, you will automatically go to another page to download the program, in a new window you should again click on a similar button - "Instal Steam New".

Immediately after the program has loaded, you need to click on the file called "SteamInstall. msi" and install the program. To launch the application, you will need to click several times on the Steam icon that appears on your desktop.

In the program window that appears, the owner needs to enter their registration data for the profile that was created at the very beginning. After entering the information, we check its correctness and press the button - "Login", then You will need to read the user agreement Steam program, having read the text, you must click on the button - "Agree".

After completing all the above steps correctly, you will see the program interface. It is worth noting that your profile data after registration can be changed. If there are problems in the correct operation of the program, then you should update the Steam Client Bootstrapper program. The update can be found on the official website of the service. For this need to use detailed instructions given in the program. You can remove the application from your PC at any time and then install it, for example, on another computer. Information on how to remove a program from a computer can be found on the Internet.

Good luck using the program!

Steam is a digital service for sale computer games, programs and other similar content, developed by Valve. A distinctive feature of Steam is that in it for sale exclusively licensed content, so that users can not be afraid to catch a computer virus, trojan or other malicious software on their PC.

Why you need Steam

First of all, Steam will be required for purchases and launch the vast majority of computer games. Without this service, you you can't officially play a number of games, because they are distributed exclusively with the help of shop Steam.

The app also gives you access to multiplayer features such as multiplayer, various user communities, reviews of various applications and much more.

It is hard to imagine the modern game development industry without Steam, because the service has completely occupied its niche among the players, surpassing such services as Origin, Battle.Net, GOG.COM, Windows Store and other digital goods stores in popularity.

Advantages and disadvantages

Like any existing product, Steam has a number of characteristic benefits and cons. Despite the constant development, the service is still very far from ideal.

Advantages steam:

  • Access to a huge amount of the most diverse content, which would be incredibly difficult or even impossible to obtain in other ways;
  • high stability system operation;
  • Quite democratic prices to content for sale, such as computer games or software;
  • Availability of various promotions and discounts, as a result of which prices can become even lower (in some cases, the discount on any game reached 99 percent);
  • Access to quality multiplayer thanks to servers provided by Valve;
  • Possibility take advantage purchased content on any PC that has Steam installed and logged into an account;
  • Opportunity to get acquainted with reviews for absolutely any product sold in a digital store;
  • Availability program versions not only for Windows, but also for Linux and MacOS.

Flaws steam:

  • To install and run absolutely any game or application, you need high speed access to the Internet (without it, all the content you bought will not be available);
  • Terrible job technical support, in case of problems, Steam technical support workers can respond for weeks;
  • Some games or programs unavailable on Steam (for example, all parts of the multiplayer shooter Battlefield);
  • The program is constantly in RAM and loads system resources, which is why weak Steam PCs can force to brake or hang up;
  • In case of loss or theft of the account, access to all games, programs and other purchased content will be lost. And given the terrible quality of technical support, it will not be possible to quickly restore everything.

Steam client is an entertaining online gaming platform, which is recommended for all gamers to download and use, even if they are not ready to spend money on video games.

Steam is the largest online service (game client) for the legal distribution of digital content, which you can download for free and use it until you have a desire to purchase some kind of entertainment.

It serves as a technical tool for protecting copyrights, the gaming platform and the gaming community.

It also makes it easy to download games, install updates for them and follow the latest digital entertainment.

This brainchild was created by Valve to distribute their own products - online games Counter strike and Team Fortess, when the simultaneous number of players grew every month.

Steam became the tool that solved this problem, and at the same time was used to sell games.

Installation

You can download the Steam client on many resources, but it is best to download applications from their official sites.

The app installer is available at https://store.steampowered.com/about , including versions for Linux and MacOS.

After downloading the online installer, you must run it and follow all the steps of the instructions.

  • In the first window, we get acquainted with the features of the gaming software.
  • Select the preferred language for the program interface.
  • We choose the path for placing the application files (not the games that you plan to purchase and download).

After installing Steam, you can launch and start searching for the necessary games if the program does not find updates.

In this case, you will have to wait until they are loaded.

Registration

If you do not have an account in the application, you need to get one. This is done in two ways: through the client interface or through its web version.

Through the program

The registration process is nothing complicated and looks like in any similar application. Consider the case when you do not have an account.

  • Launch Steam and select "Create a new account".
  • We read (if there is time and desire) the rules for operating the service, then we agree with everything that is said in them.
  • Get acquainted with the privacy policy.
  • Set your nickname(username under which other members of the community and the system as a whole will see you). It must be unique, not the same as other nicknames in the system. To make it unique, you can use the underscore and numbers.
  • We enter a strong password, visually assessing its complexity.

If there is a selected name, Steam will prompt you to enter another or change this, and some options will be generated based on the entered data.

  • Sending your email address. It is necessary to confirm that you are not a robot and to recover your password if you forget or lose it. In general, to restore access to the account.
  • We save or print what is displayed in the next window: login, password, mail, which was entered to register an account.
  • Close the window with the Done button.

On the official website

You can also get an account on the official page of the Steam client without downloading and installing it.

  • Let's move on link.
  • Fill in all fields as before.

Is there a button for checking the availability of the entered username, as well as the need to enter a captcha so as not to load the server with requests from bots.

  • Check the box below to accept the terms of the license.
  • An email will be sent with a link, which you need to go to in order to register an account. To do this, open the mail and click on the link received.

You may not find letters in your inbox, in which case check the Spam directory. Often such letters end up in this folder.

How to use

Beginners often have the question “How to use Steam?”, However, they themselves do not understand what they want to do without even trying to enter the application.

Its dummies-friendly interface does not contain unnecessary elements, each of them is perfectly visible in combination with others, and therefore the execution of virtually any action is clear and virtually intuitive.

Consider the most common situations in which users do not know what to do.

How to change the interface language

If for some reason a client with an English-language interface is launched or the program language needs to be changed for another reason, this is done in the settings menu - “Settings”.

Open it and select the desired item from the drop-down list.

Adding Friends

The software allows not only to play and purchase games, but also to make new acquaintances, communicate with like-minded people - basic social functions are integrated into it.

One of them is adding community users to your friends list.

After finding the required user, simply click "Add to friends" to the right of his nickname and profile description.

To make such a button appear, you can install one of the free partner games. To do this, go to "Games" - "Free".

After selection and installation, entertainment must be launched.

Now you can make friends. You can also add them without purchasing games, if a friend sends you a request - you just need to confirm it.

We withdraw money

Officially, Steam does not support this feature, but it is quite possible to do this through intermediaries. An intermediary site will help with this.

The whole process consists in buying things from an intermediary for the amount you want to withdraw.

After that, receive the specified amount to your account (QIWI, etc.).

The commission for this is sometimes taken not small - about 30%, so sometimes it takes a long time to look for normal conditions.