NewNews - Cards, Levels, and Prizes on Steam!

Official Site: http://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards/

The Steam platform is going to get a bunch of updates soon, and those who participate in the beta can check it out now.  What started out as a method of distributing the games for Valve turned into a very effective and favorable program and service distributing everyone's favorite PC games and indie games (now with application software).  I didn't like the Steam platform for the longest time because of how buggy, slow, and resource heavy it was just to run it.  Even when my friend bought me Team Fortress 2 and I was finally force to use Steam to play the game, it was slow, buggy and full of problems.  But sometime in 2010, there was a huge change to the platform that caused it to run more smoothly, quicker, and with less errors.  Then the occasional sales became seasonal, which became weekly, and now daily sales exist.  This not only changed my mind about the Steam platform, but also my perspective on digitally distributed games.  I'm still against digital download games on consoles, but I've become a bit more open minded about them now.

For the main topic at hand, Valve is working on some more updates for Steam to enhance the already social aspects for the users.

Trading Cards
While playing games like Don't Starve, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Half-Life 2, the player can get random drops of trading cards for that game similar to getting items in Team Fortress 2 and DotA 2.  These cards can be collected and crafted into badges which also leads to other goodies available.

Badges
By crafting badges, you can show it off on your profile and earn prizes or privileges such as emoticons to use in chat, profile backgrounds, and coupons for other games or DLCs.

Steam Levels
I've always wondered what the "Steam Rating" was, and it's just gauge on the amount of hours of gameplay put into the past 2 weeks.  Well it seems Valve wants to give us something more persistent with "Steam Levels".  I suppose crafting badges and playing games will increase one's steam level and will grant them access to profile showcases, extra friends list slots, and more.  I don't know how I feel about having "Extra friends list slots".  That shouldn't be something limited.

Profile Showcase
As a player's steam level rises, they'll have more access to their profile showcase and show off their favorite games, items up for trade, workshop mods, Greenlight submissions, or favorite screenshots.  Vanity is a huge social element in gaming, and this favors that aspect.

Profile Update
It's no surprise that the profile page will look different with the ability of Profile Showcase.  Aside from that, hovering over a friend's avatar will tell you their steam level and such at a glance.

Recent Games Page
This is getting an update too.  Aside from the time and achievements, media such as workshop mods, videos, screenshots, and guides for the game will show up along with a badge.


This is a lot of interesting ideas.  The only thing I don't feel very good about is having a limited amount of friend list slots.  Why in the world would you limit that when it's one of the aspects that bring more users into using the platform?  If you're interested in testing out all these neat updates and features, you can participate in the beta by clicking on the top link, scroll to the bottom, and click "Steam Trading Card Group".

Source:
-Joystiq - Steam Trading Cards enter beta