Digital Swap Shop: Steam Trading
A few weeks ago, Valve started beta testing its Steam Trading feature and people have
swapped over a million items since then. Were the majority of them hats? I don’t have those figures, but the
entrails in this animal say “yes”. The trading feature is now officially live and you can trade all sorts of
gubbins with one another. Clarification: “all sorts of gubbins†means Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Spiral
Knights items so not a great deal has actually changed. Perhaps more interesting than item swapping is the ability to
trade unredeemed games, although do note the qualifier ‘unredeemed’. Steam is not letting you swap grubby
used goods. There’s a FAQ here.
The fact that every public profile now comes with an inventory means that Steam is officially an RPG in which buying
cheap games is the grind. The plan is to bring more developers on board in the coming months, so one day you may be able
to trade the Incas for a pair of cowboy boots. Truly, we live in exciting times.