Steam/Suggestions

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January 2024

This page contains suggestions for the Steam client.

Community Flag Abandoned/Unsupported Software

There are a number of titles across the Steam Storefront (particularly the EA section) that have been abandoned or are no longer supported by the original developer. As a user, I should be able to provide feedback on the title indicating this, which may aid future buyers in their decision. From a UI perspective, add a badge/banner to the title akin to "The community has suggested this title may be abandoned".

As a Developer, this would notify me that the community has flagged a title, and provide me with the ability to respond- e.g. "We're still alive/working on it", "It's feature complete, but still supported", Confirm that it's been abandoned, etc. From a UI perspective, this would clear the badge/banner and prevent from re-appearing for _n_ period. Upon confirmation of abandonment (or lack of response), update banner/badge to something indicating more authority- e.g. "This title appears to be abandoned".

Hanzov69 (talk)

Steam friend game invite to unowned game

It's kinda annoying to see the invite to a game, which I don't own on Steam. I think there should be an option to automatically inform the user, which sends invite to the game that the friend doesn't own the game, to which he's inviting. That would reduce that annoyance. IE: Steam user named "A" has friend with name "B". "A" owns CS:S, "B" owns Dota 2. "B" is in the middle of Dota 2 session while "A" invites him to play CS:S while "B" doesn't own the game on his account. If the suggestion is accepted, "A" will see the message that "B" doesn't own the game so the invite notification will be not displayed on the "B"'s screen.

--Titanic4 (talk) 11:20, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

Centralised Settings for Multiple Games

As a person who uses non-standard key definitions, I find it really irritating that I have to redefine the keys for each new key, there's a similar problem with video and audio settings (though I still have a problem with how many games fail to read the system resolution).

As a lot of these games already use the Steam API for storing save files and achievements, is it possible to add an extra method to read standard settings, e.g. the game initialises and then requests "controls.keyboard.KEY_LEFT", "video.resolution.XSIZE" etc.

This would add a lot to users who have to change common settings all the time (e.g. everybody who doesn't use a QWERTY keyboard, old style game players who like cursors etc.).

--Tautology (talk) 18:07, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

FIDO Universal 2 Factor Support

Currently steam allows the user to enter a second factor that is sent to them via email on login. I suggest that the steam client support the new standard proposed by the Fido Alliance Fido Alliance in addition to the current implementation of second factor for steam. Further information for developers/code samples of Google's FIDO implementation can found Here

--Sregister (talk) 04:18, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

Mumble URL support

Add Mumble URL recognition and support. For example, with the text "mumble://[email protected]" in chat, Steam recognizes example.org and creates a link like this: "mumble://user@example.org". Even without the user, it turns "mumble://example.org" into "mumble://example.org". Windows (and Linux with a little configuration) handles these URLs correctly, so if the client passes it like a normal URL it should work.

caboose684 (talk) 19:33, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Game Descriptions in Game Library

I have collected over 150 games on steam through various purchases through Steam sales, Humble Bundles, etc. It would be nice if the game descriptions or a link to the store page was available on each game page in the library. It s quite annoying to have to switch tabs to decide what game to play. Many times the news feed talks about new DLCs there is no good synopsis of the game or game play to allow users to easily select games to download.

--crazywill32 44:53, 12 December 2014

Feature More Than One Of A Given Showcase In Profile

Currently a user's profile can feature only one of any given showcase (e.g., achievements), despite any free showcase slots it may have. IMO, if a user has three showcase slots and wants to use all three to showcase achievements (or whatever they prefer), they should be able to do so.

--Arrenfrank (talk) 01:47, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

"Playlist" For Game Library

There can be a feature which allows to create a Playlist in a library. It will allow users to list their games one after another and play the game which is next. It can be different than Game Library interface. Which can show statistics, play time, achievements and completion percentage etc. It would be helpful especially when you have lots of games and can't navigate them easily.

It's not like putting games into folders. It's just a playlist and much more simplier than folder system. Because in folder system, there can be lots of folders and navigating them could be hard also. "Put in Playlist" "Remove From Playlist" commands are enough.

--Perkendes 11:46, 23 October 2014

New Filter "Already Owned"

Due to the abundance of Game vendors and purchasing options (GOG, Humble Bundle, etc.) It's possible to already own a title which steam is recommending to you or, alternatively the new recommendation system is not as accurate as it could be because Steam is unaware that you own a title somewhere other than Steam. For these reasons having a button "Already Owned" as an alternative to "Not interested" would be helpful.

--Sonevar 08:34, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Let "Password Changes" activate no trading and selling much like "Password Resets"

This would lessen the hijackers and scammers considerably since they rely on trading and selling ill gotten items from the victim. This would also enable the victim to contact steam support and get his/her account back before trading and selling by the hijacker can even occur. This may even lessen work load for the staff in steam support. Never mind the complaints when this applies, its better to have a safe community than to let it be filled with hackers

--khurtrogz

Add an option to 'shut down or Stand By when downloads completed'

Some games takes many hours to download and for several times I wanted to leave my computer on overnight to finish off the downloads, but reluctant to do so because if the DL takes approximately 2 hours to complete and I leave my computer on for 8 hours, that's 6 hours of wasted power. This should be a very straight forward function to add on by adding an additional menu item. If it's selected and no downloads in progress, and standby or shut down request will send to the OS. Very useful function with minimum efforts and save a lot of energy.

--RighteousRuler

Rename "Steam Music" to "Calliope" or "Steam Calliope".

Pretty simple, pretty sleek/steampunk name.

--CanadianBill

Add lists of songs as well as artists and albums

In the music tab of steam you can see Albums, Artists, and Playlists. Valve should add a songs tab to show a list of all songs alphabetized.

--Vandol22

Add an option to 'pause download' in the steam tray icon menu

If I just want to pause a download in steam right now, I have to right click on a game to access manage downloads and then pause. There isn't even a button to manage downloads in the top menu bar. This can be very annoying as a user who often needs to stop downloading while streaming.

--Yapper

Add a ! Next to games in the Library Page to indicate news/Changes

I have a few early access games that I play. I usually play them for a few hours and then shelve them until their next patch comes out. The problem is that steam does not really have a way to tell me that the game has auto-updated itself. It would be nice if, after auto-updating, the game had an Exclamation Point next to it that I could click on to see news stuff for the game. This could be used for updates, patch notes, tournament info, etc.

--MobileNow

Countdown on Library Page for Pre-Orders

I think this would be a nice little feature for the Library. Display a countdown timer in the Library for Pre-Ordered/Pre-Loaded games, instead of having to navigate to the store page.

--Quake

Display of Platform

I propose that Steam shows either a Windows logo, an Apple logo and (soon to be) a Tux penguin next to each friend's name in the friends list. This would be a simple cool little feature

--DrG56

I agree this would be an excellent feature. Considering it is possible to be signed into Steam in multiple places at once in special circumstances (e.g. I can be signed in on a PC, an Android phone, and a PS3 simultaneously), an icon should be displayed for each platform that the user is currently signed into. Of course, to address privacy concerns, a user should be able to disable this information being shown about them.

--Skiesbleed 15:19, 17 November 2012 (MST)

Ingame Overlay Tools

Tools for use ingame. Calculator\Stopwatch\Timer\etc. i found myself looking for those while ingame (speedruns\calcs in gmod\etc.)

--n1ck

Gift Unwrapping

Receiving gifts would be infinitely more exciting if instead of clicking "open my gift!" when you receive said gift, you have to use your mouse on the image (Flash, java? HTML 5?) and rip the present open bit by bit to reveal your prize!

--Xbob42

That would be SOOO cool! --Otto555

X-Box Live Gamertag Integration

Somehow using the XNA framework, it would be nice if game achievements were mirrored either to or from the Steam and XBL Networks. Login to XBL networks could be accomplished by some sort of 'Butt' Tab in the Steam Settings menu.

--Cosmas

Server Pledging

As here on reddit.com: "Wouldn't it be nice if you could "pledge" to join a server once 5-10 people have pledged to join the server? For example, I click on the reddit.au server, click "pledge to join" and start pubbing. Depending on the settings the server admin has set, it will autojoin everyone who has that server window open and pledging once all conditions are met."

--Emilevictor

SDK In-Game Status

When some starts up the SDK, it sends out an notice that the user is "User is now playing SDK" and it reads "In-Game" for status. Can that be changed to something a bit more like "User is now working in SDK", with the user status reading "Working"?

--Mic

In-game status for Source mods

It seems that, when running a Source mod, a "Source SDK Base" caption appears as in-game status. It should be nice if could appear the name of the mod instead.

Enable user to select Game Content Server manually

Although Steam™ already automatically select game content server for the user, it is not foolproof. Sometimes it select a very slow game content server for the user, and requiring the user to delete the ClientRegistry.blob file to let Steam™ to reselect server.

Therefore to overcome this, there should be an extra option to let user select Game Content Server manually on top of the automatic server selection by Steam™.

In the selection list, please format the content server as <Country> : <Server name> : <Latency> : <Server Load> . This would let user to easily identify which server to select.

--Oon

Enable customization for Non-Steam games

Non-Steam games that have been added by user should be customizable for this categories:-

• Developer Information
• Game Icon (without the Shortcut arrow)
• Right-click interaction menu (such as adding "View update news" or "View Game Manual")

--Oon

Video playback enhancement

Videos that are streamed from the store shows a trackbar. However, the trackbar only shows information related to time and offers a play/pause button. A simple enhancement to the videoplayer, would be something like a trackbar where the user can go back and forth in the timeline to rewatch something in a video, without watching the video from the start. Downloaded videos also lack this feature. --K4emic

With the new Steam, this is now enabled...--founderio

Better management for files outside of GCFs

Some files (e.g. EXEs and DLLs) need to be extracted from the GCFs to work. This is currently done by extracting the specific files into SteamApps/<account>/<gamedir>. And that's quite inefficient as it's done for every game and every account even if it's a file like hl2/media/valve.avi, which is the same for all Source games. This process consumes time (when first starting a game) and disk space (as long as the game is installed).
In my opinion there should be a directory like SteamApps/shared that contains files which are needed by multiple games and/or accounts. This maybe even a good place to store custom content (e.g. maps) so that multiple accounts can use already downloaded maps. --Koraktor

• Seconded. Duplicated files are a waste of disk space. Especially if the files are big. Also, games that use same engine (such as Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life: Source) can use the same files (game exe, and some materials). -- Oon
  • Double seconded. Please excuse me while I try to imagine how much space on my SSD this would free up

NCF for media files

Red Orchestra uses a new system called NCF. This enables Steam to manage RO's files, which are now saved outside of the usual GCFs. This should also be used for Steam's media, because in the moment disk space is absolutely wasted by extracting the videos from the GCFs and saving them in SteamApps/media.
At least that's the most obvious way, but maybe there's even a way to enable Windows Media Player to use the Steam API. --Koraktor

Universal Game Saves

Have steam track and upload the most recent game save to the steam servers so that in the future when you decide to start playing a game again, or play a game on a different computer, you are able to pick up where you last left off in the game.--bugmenot

Seeing as steam is used by nearly 1.15 million users, theese savegames could quickly consume a lot of harddisk space. Especially by people why doesn't care about how many savegames they have. Restricting the amount of space available for each account could solve this issue and limit the costs to a few small harddisks. --K4emic

Well, an alternative is to put all the game saves in a single localized folder, categorized by game (\gamesaves\hl2, portal, etc.). You can integrate a import/export game save button onto Steam. Don't forget to include the user metadata so people don't share save data...

On another note, doesn't L4D2 synchronize game saves/sprays/etc., with the steam butt? It shouldn't be too difficult to implement that for game saves then... --Thezino 03:34, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

All games that support Steam Butt can do this already. Recently all HL2 games were updated and support this too now.--founderio

I agree with the OP that a save game backup for all games purchased on Steam should be implemented. For obvious reasons this would be a huge advantage for Steam Users but also Steam could benefit:

- this would yet be a unique feature that no competitor offers and would add a valuable point to the range of criterias why someone should join and play via Steam --> attracts new and existing Steam users

- Steam could make savegame space purchasable and upgradable, i.e. via recurring Premium-User fee

- Maybe savegames could be made tradeable on the marketplace, allowing users to easily share and play a certain part/progress of a game --> Steam benefits from each trade

I know that there are a few technical problems and obviously it would require Steam to make huge efforts to implement restrictions for uploaded files, get everything virus-proof, avoid misuse for auto-unlocking achievements (although who cares?), include metadata info for suitable game version, and stuff like that.

As the location for savegames varies for each and every game and every platform and its version (Windows XP / 7 / 8) I doubt that it would be profitable to develop an auto-upload or a 1-click backup for savegames and to deal with all the complaints in case the uploaded savegame files are corrupted; but I believe it would still create sufficient revenue for Steam if users were allowed to manually upload and download their savegame files at own risk. --FlyingTaxi 05:38, 02 January 2015 (GMT)

Steam for Linux and Mac

Current Steam games are already cross-platform compatible:

• Half-Life and Source Engine Server (Windows, Linux)
• Darwinia (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
• Red Orchestra (based on Unreal Engine Technology which is available for Windows, Linux, Macintosh)
• Jagged Alliance 2 (Windows, Linux)
• X2: The Threat (Windows, Linux, Mac)

so people [1] including myself, think the Steam platform should follow. -- Matthias 09:57, 3 Aug 2006 (PDT)

Linux might just be on the way. :-) --TomEdwards 10:15, 3 Aug 2006 (PDT)

I guess, everybody knows about it... Steam is on the Mac now. I hope there will be a Linux version as well, there isn't that much dirrefence.--founderio

Steam "E-Mail"

I actually use the Steam client as one of my primary methods of communication with friends, as of course do my friends. It is inconvenient when a friend is logged out, as there is no way to leave them a message. I suggest that you add an offline message queue, or a "Steam-mail" apparatus in which to send long-term messages. You could even set up an integrated email server, giving people something like [email protected] which would send directly to their Steam client.

Companies to Assimilate

These companies would make excellent content for the Steam platform:

• Blizzard Entertainment (Starcraft, Warcraft, WoW, etc.)
• EA Games (Battlefield Series, Command and Conquer Series, and more.. This would involve convincing them to abandon EA Link, their inferior platform for digital distribution.)

EA now currently publishes many games on Steam.--TheByrus 03:17, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I would re-buy games I already own from both of these companies just to have them on Steam, and I know this to be true for many others.

Minor UI Change

When you use items in the properties menu for a game, for example "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" (in order to fix the bug where 0% Updating is displayed), the properties window remains open in the background. I propose that a simple change be made in which when an option in this menu is clicked, the properties menu is automatically closed. This way when a number of games display this glitch, the user is not forced to close so many properties windows. Alternatively, you could fix the glitch, but it doesn't seem likely as this has been present since the dawn of Steam.

One other feature I would like to see is the ability to verify the integrity of the game cache for ALL games, in sequence. Even though a simple batch file could do this, some of us do not have all of our games installed, and the batch file, if made improperly, could trigger one of these titles to download when we don't want it to.

Major UI change

make the interface of the steam modular. for example,in the "my games" window i would be able to not see the "extra copies" section and so on this can also be made on the "my media" and "my tools" section

API

An API so developers could make third party chat programs.

What I mean. So, I wanted to talk to a friend on steam, but i wasn't at a computer, I could start up a chat program on my phone and talk to them. I could also see what game they were playing, if they were.

Also, it would be cool to have API calls to steam's website to get info about a user. Such at total time played in a game or if they are online. --Somken

A community made SteamCommunity API is already available, although I would prefer to use something officially supported. --Mehcore 18:09, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Download throttle

A setting to throttle download speed for games/updates. This would help those of us with touchy DSL connections, where we may be downloading for a while and blasting it at full speed chokes our connection.

--tkmachine

Hmm, I like that idea. I have a pretty fast (~20mbps) connection, but even when I'm playing TF2, the game is slowed significantly. Good suggestion... --Thezino 03:27, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

I've been hoping for an option like this for a while. We have multiple people on our home LAN with Steam, and online games are unplayable whilst other machines are downloading updates.

--molesmoke

Friend List Sorter

Create a method for users to sort and arrange their friends list based on clans, scrim teams, servers they play on, etc. Allow the users to pick subcategories and name them according to what relationship they have to the friends in the particular group. It would make finding which friends were online easier based upon your relation to them. I picture something similar to Window's Live Messenger's friend categorization or AIM's friend list where you can name the catergory, click the friend, and drag/drop them into a group. With many Steam users having several hundred friends, it would make the Steam Friends platform considerably more user-friendly.

Thanks! --Slazenger

A piggy-back on that idea, and perhaps a bit more simple - allow us to sort/filter the friends list by which friends own which games. This could be implemented using a "Game Group" (i.e. L4D Group) - a group which contains all the friends on your buddy list who own that game, and automatically updates itself when changes occur. This would make finding a group of friends to play a game much easier than spamming messages to everyone on your buddy list.

--USNavyFish

I shouldn't have to be logged in to Steam in order for Hammer to compile maps

I'd like to keep playing Left 4 Dead on my one machine while my other machine works on compiling maps I'm working on but I can't do that right now without Steam logging out on my other machine and the map compile no longer responding.

--pixelminer

A work around for this could be creating a secondary account, applying either the nVidia or ATI offer to add a source game to the account and use that for compiling on your secondary machine. --Mehcore 18:12, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

If i recall correctly, neither of those add the Source SDK to your account, so that's not a solution. You could try using batch compiler though, that might work. Solokiller 18:22, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Custom Shortcuts for Tools Area

Currently I have Microsoft Visual C++ Express as a custom shortcut in my games menu but obviously it'd be more sensible to add this to the tools menu. There are also other tools that could have handy shortcuts right in Steam such as whatever 3D modeler someone has installed or maybe tools shortcuts for games other then Source/Valve-made ones. ie; Unreal Tournament 3 currently asks if you want to run the game or the map editor on startup when the simplified solution would be to add a shortcut to Unreal 3 with the map editor switch enabled in the Tools area.

--TheByrus 14:39, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Local Time in Steam Overlay

It would be more convenient if there was the local time somewhere in the overlay. This way I would not need to rummage around to find a clock and get blown to bits by a demo man :). --Bigg_Dave March '09

It's there now.--Henke37 13:04, 7 August 2011 (PDT)

Categories in games list

I now have quite a lot of Steam games and the "Favourite", "Installed", "Not installed" categories just arn't enough to sort them all. It would be great if we could create custom ones or just some way to manage all of the names.

--Bigg_Dave March '09

This sounds like a good idea. Maybe the ability to group by publisher, genre, or how often someone plays a game could be a way to do this?

--TheByrus 03:14, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

How about user-defined titles? Like "FPSs", "zombies", "mods", etc... It shouldn't be that hard to implement too, just click a button, and a dialog appears, asking the user to set the value of the title string. The category function already exists. To remove a category, create a function that when you roll over the category, three buttons to the right appear: promote, demote, and delete. Honestly, if I could get my hands on the code, I might be able to write a little plugin myself... --Thezino 03:10, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

New Steam supports this...--founderio

Mixing content from different Valve games legally

I understand it is not considered legal to make a mod that mixes content from several Valve games; for instance, using CounterStrike or Day of Defeat models in a HL2 Ep2 map. This is because it violates intellectual property rights -- there is no way to confirm that the person playing the mod has actually purchased and by purchasing gained the right to use the content from the other game(s). I wonder if someone at Valve could address this difficulty by making an entity for a map/mod that would automatically check to see which games are present on the computer of the person playing the map and refuse to continue if the games in question were not there? For instance, if CounterStrike content was used, this entity would check to see if CounterStrike was installed, and so on for the other games. This seems a way to get around this difficulty while preserving property rights, and it would not be very inconvenient, since many if not most players have all the common Valve games.

--sagesource 06:18, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Already implemented. See Mounting_content.--Fitzroy doll 07:13, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

True tear-off menus in Hammer

I like to work with dual monitors. Can Valve modify Hammer so that I can tear off the texture picker, the toolbar, and so on and position them outside the main window on a second monitor? That's what I do with Photoshop, for instance, and it's a much easier way to work. It would also enable some lists that tend to get rather long, such as visgroups, to be made larger so that more of their content could be seen.

Another nice thing would be a programmable button bar for positioning on a second monitor. I'd like to be able to select the main types of entity and perhaps a range of often used textures with a single click, instead of scrolling around.

--sagesource 06:18, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Multiple Steam Apps Directories

Allow looking for Steam games in directories other than Steamapps (ie other hard drives). Some users might have a hard drive full of Steam games, especially SSD users.

--Unisyst 01:01, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Appear Offline

it would be nice to make it so you appear offline, but without actually being offline, yet get all the advantages of online people EG, can still talk to people, can play games without switching back online etc. Kizzycocoa 23:14, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I hope you know this has been around for ages --Sbrown 01:26, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

not messaging friends. that isn't there. Kizzycocoa 10:41, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Shutdown

I'd like a way to shut my computer down once it has finished downloading a game of big file sizes.its like a tickbox on the download with 'create desktop shortcut' and 'create quick launch' where you can shutdown computer upon completion of all downloads. --Robotnorris 00:23, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Connect by ip

On the servers tab, have a Connect by ip button, so I don't have to fave it, then remove it just to join.

--Mrhouse991 19:09, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Enable selection of multiple games

This will make adding games to categories much easier, as I don't need to do it individually for each one. Flarn2006 03:16, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Beta status for the SDK

The updates to the SDK should be in beta for a few weeks before being applied, in situations where the SDK or an SDK program breaks because of an update, being able to opt out of the beta to continue to use the regular SDK would be a great help. Solokiller 10:55, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Adding non-Steam games to wish lists

Giving users the ability to add non-Steam games to their wish list could is something that would benefit the community, Valve, and game developers. This feature could be integrated with the existing wish list, or a separate one all together (a "new game request" list). There would also need to be some sort of official list of non-Steam games, so the information would be accurate. Otherwise, there would be 20 different names for one game spelled (or misspelled) a variety of ways. For end users, this would a way to have their voice heard on what games should be on Steam. The data could be used by Valve and game developers to see how much of a demand there is for a game, even before it's on Steam. If the demand for these games is high enough, it might encourage more companies to put their games on Steam. Knowing how many people have requested the game would be useful as well. Some users might even wait for a game to come to Steam instead of buying it elsewhere, especially if they know many other people have already requested it.--Hawkeye2042 21:25, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Notifications and twitter integration.

I would like to suggest two things.

1. Announcements from friends and groups on a nice and easy link that pops up like your friend bar that could also be placed like it. It could just be a nice looking feed that just allows users of groups and friends to find out whats happening a little easier.
2. Make twitter or facebook be able to be integrated into groups or profiles. It could boost sales and visits from both companies if you can get some sort of partnership there. I for one would like to be able to automatically get my twitter posts from twitter straight to my steam announcements which would be very handy for future group projects of mine. You could even start up some steam contest that if a user gets enough people from titter or facebook to sign up they get 5 free games, Could get interesting.

Meter1060 12:47, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

List of other owned games

As people often purchase games for others on Steam, it would be helpful if a person could upload a list of games that they own manually, to prevent people from purchasing a game for someone that they already have.

Currently, a person has to check with the owner of the Steam Account to see if they already have the game, or risk purchasing a game that they already have. Either way, gifts that you purchase for another have a big chance of being "ruined" in one way or another. This would actually allow true "gifts" to be bought for people.

Perhaps making it viewed through the wishlist? Or some similar option?

Yleron 17:54, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

There is a simpler option, get more games listed in your steam profile properly. This is partly getting deals where you own the game on steam if you get it elsewhere and partly working on the non steam game entry system. Steam automatically recognizing stuff and adding it for you would be very useful.--Henke37 13:09, 7 August 2011 (PDT)

List of gaming gear

So now Steam already collects what hardware one has in his PC, but it would also be nice to know what kind of other accessoires someone has. Like surround sound systems, headsets, keyboards, mice, that kinda stuff.

NavadeHi 02:09, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Open Game Directory

It would be nice to have a simple option within the Local Files tab of a game's properties to open the games directory

Zaemz 01:08, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Steam bucks: In Gift Card Form!

Steam bucks, in my opinion, are a huge success. But maybe you could release them... In the form a gift card! You know, like a physical object. Also, could you guys allow gifting steam bucks? Thanks for your time.

Otto555 19:38, May 2011 (UTC)

It's been added!

thelolotov 10:34, June 2012 (EST)

Font size

It could be nice to have an option to modify (increase or decrease) the size of the font on the Steam client, Friends chat, Games list, etc..

M0zArT 17:22, July 2011 (UTC)

This is already there, in a way. You can also find a theme that supports larger or smaller text.

Catterson 18:29 July 2012 Central Time

E-mail notifications for Wishlist games on sale

It's in the title, it could just be me being lazy, but I would like having the option of getting an notification when a game on my wishlist comes on sale. I check for sales nearly every day, but sometimes i simply forget, and if I miss a sale of a game i want, well, it just sucks.

Blob303 21:33, July 2011 (UTC)

Steam Chat Chatlogs and Small File Transfer

Since my team and I are using mostly steamchat to communicate, some way of automatically keeping chatlogs would be great, and having the possibility to transfer small files, like images, or small zip archives would be even more great. I mean msn and xfire do it already, why not steam chat ? --psycommando 20:32, 26 July 2011 (PDT)

Ability to create a personal journal about someone who is NOT, and most likely never will be, a friend

Currently, whenever you become a friend with someone you have a means of writing to or about them, keeping a persistent log, via their steam ID page. You can talk about games won or lost and the reasons behind it, or any other random business. Being able to recall this information on a later date, in a way, allows players to know more about that person. As far as I can tell, there's no way to do something similar for someone who is not a friend.

In Left 4 Dead (1 and 2 - VS, specifically) quite often all it takes is 1 person to destroy an entire game. For instance, one mic-less player deliberately runs off and gets killed, and then the team that player was on is forced to take on a huge disadvantage. Against a skilled opponent team, more often than not, the team slowly starts falling apart and people rage out. When that team's down to one last player, the opposing team loses interest and then starts leaving. In short, when just one guy gets out of line, and doesn't play the game using teamwork, this ruins the game for almost everyone. This is an extreme example, but I've seen effectively the same thing happen many, many times.

I want a way to write about that player using the steam interface, so to keep a personal log of what he/she did to ruin the game for me, or other players. Something for my own records. For instance, once I've ran into someone like this in a game I would do this: Press Shift+tab, and then under the friend section, click display players. Under the 'previous game' or 'current game' tabs that player that messed the game up will appear. Right-clicking on that player's name would bring up the standard drop-down menu now with a new option, 'arsehole'. Clicking on that option would bring me to a special template page with a couple options to indicate how that player messed up the game for me and my teammates, and then have an empty journal of sorts for me to detail exactly how. (When you submit an entry into the journal, it could probably be auto-dated with the current local time.) One of the toggle-able options on this page would be 'Alert me when I see this person in lobby/game', to have the steam client send you an alert when you join the same lobby or game as this person or vice versa. The pop-up/alert would be like the friend alert, but instead in the upper-right corner. Clicking on it before it fades away would bring you straight to the 'arsehole' page you created for that person.

Since people can change their names any time they want, it's especially hard to remember how someone messed up a game for someone. Even if they didn't though, it's a waste of time for me, the player, to try and recollect on my own what someone did to ruin a game. I'd like to note that, of course, whether someone did something wrong or not is completely a matter of opinion. What one person thinks is wrong, another may think is right. For this reason, this 'arsehole' option and all the information that may apply therein should only be viewable locally, and perhaps also by Valve.

Note: This same menu option could serve other purposes, namely, it could be used as a way to track someone who's really good and for whom you should watch out for. In this case, the menu option would probably need to be changed to 'frenemy' or something with less negative connotation.

I've been reading Portal 2 - the Final Hours lately and theres a video there in which Gabe Newel (Valve CEO, if you didn't know) explains how they want to do exactly that, only a bit more effective. He described how "bad" people would have to pay more, for example, and be featured ads, while "good" people whom other people enjoy playing with would get discounts so that more people could enjoy their company... I'm not sure how this will be, but if they get such technology working we will soon see. The worst that can happen is that Valve will notice it's ineffective or unfair, and remove it. --Mr. P. Kiwi 10:36, 15 August 2011 (PDT)

Remember backup settings

When backing up game files, Steam should remember the values used for "Backup destination" (directory path) and "File size" (CD/DVD/Custom), so it can default to those values on the next backup. (They should be remembered at least until Steam exits; recording them on disk for future Steam sessions would be even better.)

Alternatively, the Settings dialog could allow users to specify defaults for those items.

Submitted by CChittleborough 06:53, 17 April 2012 (PDT)

Block Steam Group Invites from non-friends

It would be really nice if we could have a way to select who can send us group invites, like the privacy settings for our profile/steam inventory, i.e. "Private", "Friends Only" etc. I get a lot of unsolicited group invites from people I do not know, mostly foreigners, and it is incredibly irritating. Submitted by thelolotov 10:30, 25 June 2012 (EST)

Enable Or Provide A Toggle For Large Address Aware For All 32-bit Games

It would really be nice if we could get OFFICIAL LAA support for moddable 32-bit games, and memory intensive games in general as the 2GB RAM limitation of non-LAA 32-bit games causes a lot of instability and crashes during normal operation, often rendering some things unplayable. The Purchasers of these products should not be forced to use a LAA process-injector program such as the Fallout New Vegas 4GB launcher on Nexus JUST to get a Stable, working /BASE/ game, not even including more memory intensive modifications.

Wishlist for Packs

It will be nice to have a wishlist for Packs.
You only can add them to cart, but it very nice if you can add them to wish list to review them later.
I think it very simple and it will please many users.

Non-Steam Game Overlay Customization

I've noticed that some steam games are set to have the notification bot appear from different corners. Well I added a non-steam game and the notification box covers an important part of the screen when it pops up. I'd love to be able to set which corner (or maybe more specific than a corner), the notifications pop up in. Maybe create a pull down menu for the position inside the non-steam game's properties window.

JetBlack2k 23:23, 9 August 2012 (PDT)

Open Source Games

It will be nice if it will added an open source free games to free sections, especially if they have a network option to play with friend. so it will be nice if they will have option to play with steam friends. and save your saves on my butts. it will be wonderful and bring more people to download steam :)

Video Recording Through Steam

Steam currently allows for screenshots to easily be taken in-game, managed in Steam, and uploaded to the user's Steam profile. Steam's community pages also allow for videos to be added by connecting a YouTube profile. However, this integration requires the use of a third-party video recording program and a secondary account system. If Steam included built-in video recording capabilities and a way to manage which are uploaded, even if it's still done through YouTube, it would go a long way to opening up the videos that the community can create and share through the platform, making the community hubs much richer.

--Skiesbleed 15:24, 17 November 2012 (MST)

Open Big Picture With Gamepad Center Button

When Steam is running in an open window or just in the taskbar, and an XInput compatible controller is detected, Big Picture mode can be launched by pressing the center button (Xbox button on the Xbox 360 Gamepad).

Ruffenman 23:05, 10 December 2012 (PST)

'Local VS' as a Game Description/Feature for the Steam Store

The feature 'Local Co-op' is often seen on many game store pages on the Steam store. It only makes sense to add another feature called 'Local VS' or something similar. The feature called 'Multi-player' does not clearly suggest that the game has head to head or versus multi-player on a single PC (Not Online). This would definitely help with confusion when purchasing a game, as its very annoying to find out the feature is not there. With the release of Big Picture and announcement of the Steam Box, this would serve as a great help to gamer's out there who like to play with friends and play in the living room.

Tontonronton 22:20, 11 January 2013 (GMT)

Allow downloading while playing single player games

Currently if you want to play one game while waiting for another to download, the download is paused. While this is entirely appropriate for multiplayer games, it would be nice if single player only games would not pause downloads.

--Shiny.Magnum

Allow Redeeming Steam Keys as Gifts

I have noticed on the various trading groups that around %50 of games up for trade as as keys, not gifts. Since you are more likely to get scammed if trading keys, I think it would be useful to allow redeeming of Steam keys as gifts, as to allow use of the Steam trading mechanism to trade these games.

--tryme1029

Update Game Info to include small description of game

When you have a ton of games in your library, sometimes a quick reminder of the style of game and its unique features can jog the memory of what you have in your library.

--Tony556

Yes, you can run this game!

At the bottom of a store page with the required setup, it says either "You can run this game perfectly" | "You can run this game at minimal settings" | "You cannot run this for shit". Joking on the last one, but still.

Sort by any platform

I use Linux normally. I want to see windows only games so that I can see which ones I need to install there to play.

--kodak_stl

Slim down the bezels of the client window

I noticed that where it has the selection tabs on the top (Store, Library, Community, Steam Name) there is a half inch of unused space; also at the bottom there is unused space. I think it would look a lot better with the top and bottom borders of the window not taking up as much space and would allow users to view more content per scroll. (This might just be a resolution issue but if there is fix, many would appreciate it.) My screen resolution: 1366 x 768

--JESSERUIS123

Additional block communication stuff

As it stands now if you block someone all it does is make them unable to communicate with you. Let's take it a step further. When you block someone their profile no longer becomes viewable/searchable to you, while your profile would no longer be viewable/searchable to them. It could also have a time limit so people can't block/unblock willy nilly. Say, 3 days after you block someone you could then unblock them. Or the timer could be applied to re-blocking a person after unblocking them.

--User 4856

Official Steam Inventory Category

It would be an excellent idea to add an official Steam Inventory category tag to games supporting the Steam Inventory API. The category tags I'm talking about are the ones that are under the metacritic score and supported languages and what not. It would be grouped with the other tags such as Single-player, Co-op, Steam Achievements, Steam Clound, Steam Workshop, etc. This would also make finding such games supporting steam inventory easier with the filter.

I've already started tagging games with the tag "Steam Inventory" in the new beta User Tagging system. Hopefully it's a tag that will catch on.

--BAM5 11:04, 2 March 2014 (PST)

Support of Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte

As of 2014 there are plans of supporting more currencies on the Steam store, like Mexican Pesos, however in Venezuela it's becoming increasingly hard to get USD, so it would be greatly beneficial for those of us who like to support our favorite games to be able to pay in VEF, and it would balance things out since it is stronger than the Russian Ruble.

--Walter10h

Log In to Multiple Steam Accounts Simultaneously in SteamOS/Big Picture

The last gen and current generation of consoles allows for multiple XBL & PSN users to sign in simultaneously on the same console locally if multiple controllers are present.

The benefit of having multiple users simultaneously logged in to their own accounts via the same console is not only player 1 but players 2, 3 and 4 could sync their account and in-game progression to the cloud. This feature allowed all the local players to earn their own achievements, save players 2, 3 & 4's progress, unlocks and settings, broadcast everyones game status (so friends know lots of us are playing), customizing avatars, and even offline character progression could be attached via the cloud.

Its a nice seamless experience being linked to your own controller when going from game to game or home to a friends house.

Multiple local users keeps the gamer more in touch with their profile when they go to a friends house and play on their pc/steam machine, it adds much more accessibility and a bit of friendly competition with your own circle of mates.

This idea could also integrate with family library sharing, meaning if multiple users are logged in to the same steam client, their steam libraries would combine as long as they are logged in simultaneously.

--Tontonronton 16:20, 7 May 2014 (GMT)

Show both Hard Drive Space Required, and Download Size on Install

Thanks to your compression, the download size of games is generally smaller than the hard drive space required for said game, but the difference in the two varies. In addition to showing the hard drive space required, also show the size of the download for users who may be conscious of it because of broadband data caps.

--Webjr

I second this request, as some people have such a slow/limited connection that they can still be downloading a large game after the two week return window; meaning they've no chance to return the game if incompatible. And I ask that the download and required-space sizes also be available for DLCs (either on their individual Store Pages, or in the DLC installation box for each game in the Library). With the presence of many mobile devices on Steam, and many smaller games, even a few hundred Megabytes here and there are something many users must consider.

--₸ʌʟwıcĸ (talk) 00:56, 24 March 2017 (UTC)

Allow In-Home Streaming Servers to Sleep

I think that this would be fairly simply to implement, especially in SteamOS, but it shouldn't be too bad on other platforms (although it will require a little configuration by the user). It would work like this: if the Steam client is running and is activated as an In-Home Streaming server while the computer is going to sleep, it would send an update back to the main Steam server that it's still available, but going to sleep. When the user opens up the client on a different computer, they would see that the server is available, but asleep. Selecting that computer to stream would send a WOL packet to the other computer so that it could wake up and start streaming. This would allow users to create a dedicated and on-demand In-Home Streaming server.

--Nullpersonexception

Allow Friend Requested Users To Be Tagged Along With Being Nicknamed

I like to cast TF2 games, and I use steam to keep in contact with players. Because I have so many, I tag them with their team names like so. I can add a nickname to a player I send a friend request to, but I cannot tag them until they have confirmed the friend request. If I can tag them before they request me, it could help me remember who they are exactly.

--Nullpersonexception

Make it possible to enable a extra layer of protection with codes send to your phone.

If a phisher steals all your passwords, cookies etc it's not hard for them to steal all your items. Make it possible to enable extra protection that makes it impossible to access your account and/or complete a trade without a extra code input. This code is send with a sms to choosen phone. This force phishers to have access to choosen phones' sms messages, which it's most unlikely they will have. Also send a newsletter to all new and old users in which you suggest to enable this extra protection.

You should alse start sending newsletter every month about new (steam)threats and how to protect yourself from them.(Or else most people will just forget about that they should think about their safety.) Maybe even add a few links about computer safety in general, because most people suck at it and people really needs to be better at this. Always make a newsletter for new users which explains all the security measures available and why they should use them. (If you don't already do that that is; I can't remeber since it was a while since I was a new user.)

--Jonatannossrep 18:46, 03 Dec 2014 (GMT+1)

Efficient Trading section

Make trading easier where you can add items up for trade or for sale in your profile of which others can view and ask to trade instead of having to browse your inventory. This would also stop the unwanted friend requests and other random invites to trade that you do not want to accept.

--SpannerV2

Item key generation

Make it possible to generate a key that can be activated through Steam that gives an item already owned by another user.

--Unknown

Trade Lock for Inventory Items

Users select certain items from their inventory that can be locked from trade offers. Essentially this would apply to items that are not wanting to be traded by the owner and high-value items. This would also reduce the possibility of being tricked/scammed into trading a high-value item. Security could be taken further by adding an optional item lock password to items when locking/unlocking. A small lock icon displayed in a corner of the item thumbnail would signify its locked condition.

--Jmaster227 14:26, 22 April 2015 (EST)

Hide Friendslist

Add an option in Profile Privacy settings to hide Friendslist. To stop possible harrassment and stalking, among other things.

Option to disable "now playing" feature

make displaying "now playing" optional. -helmet648 22:44, 17 June 2015 (PST)

Integration of Third Party Features

It would be cool to see a way to choose what game to play with something like steam roulette. And other things like Steamleft, SteamGuage, Wasted on Steam and SteamDB. It would we a good feature to enhance your steam experience by seeing your stats. -British Bacon

Allowe to run srcds and csgo at same time

Allow to run srcds server and csgo at same time. ATM we can't run csgo server and game normally at same time. We have to use programs like sandboxie which is kinda shit.

Add IN LIBRARY filter for Store

Sometimes I like to use the Store's tags and filters to find a game to play (that I already own). An additional filter to only display "IN LIBRARY" would be helpful instead of flipping through pages of store results looking for the ones that are flagged as such. --User:Mallen 13:46, 08 Dec 2015

Add STORE PAGE link from owned games in Big Picture

If you are in Big Picture, and browse one of your Library games, there is no link to the game's Store Page (like there is with the normal Library/Non-Big Picture view) The Big Picture version of a game's library entry needs a "Store Page" link as well as displaying game information such as "single player, co-op, local-coop" etc. --User:Mallen 17:10, 26 Jan 2016

Redirecting after Steam Family Code OAuth

If Steam Family is enabled and after connection to external website, you enter your Steam Family code, however this page redirect to steamcommunity index, and not your requested page. --User:MisterTakaashi 17:10, 26 Jan 2016

abilty to unsubscribe from all workshop items for a game

under certain circumstances, a complete wipe of a game including workshop items is required, so it would be helpful to be able to unsubscribe to all addons for a fresh install, for example: someone has 139 pages of gmod addons, and alot of them are taking up unessary space and/or conflicting with other addons and/or causing game breaking glitches, it would take forever to unsub from all 139 pages of addons --User:Shadowbolt Bloodmane 13:08, 6 may 2016

Ability to Hide certain Games

Dear Steam, No one needs to know that I have games for tiny female humans on my account. It is really annoying when a friend on steam in my raid group decides to start to read my game list aloud and the entire corps mocks me for the next thirty minutes of the group despite my protests that I have small children. It is even more annoying when they do it every day, once per week, for the past six months. It is an issue that I've taken up on my end...but still. I realized that no one, not even my friends, should have to see games that I don't want them to see- and with so many of my other friends utilizing my game list to organize time with me (organize time...adulthood sucks) - changing my profile to private doesn't work for me. Just think about it. --User;Fenrir001 18:57, 26 may 2017

Be online without broadcasting games

P.S. If my daughter can play a co-op game with her friend without broadcasting what she is playing to everyone on my friend's list or having to shadow play a game by linking another exe, which quite frankly I do not have time for, that would be great. --User;Fenrir001 19:00, 26 may 2017

More Options for sorting wishlist

Frankly, considering how I usually consider purchasing games, the ability to sort my wishlist by the percentage a game has been discounted would be helpful. The ability to sort games in reverse order for the "Date Added" option, also seems like it could be helpful in the long-run, same goes for checking the games in order from most to least expensive and maybe Z-A alphabetical and from bottom rank to top. Mainly, I'd just like an ability to sort by the percentage a game has been discounted though. --Prof Icepick (talk) 22:25, 23 June 2017 (UTC)

Add a button or hotkey to change the Steam Controller's desktop configuration in Steam's Desktop mode

Please add a button next to the big picture button or somewhere convenient to bring up the Steam Controller's Desktop Configurator menu, just like the one in desktop mode when u right click on a game in library and edit your games steam controller config in a window. This will allow us to change it much quicker for games that don't support the steam overlay without having to go into big picture mode and exit back to desktop mode, this will also enable us quickly toggle back to a normal windows or media player config, when we finish playing a game or need to alt-tab.

Alternatively you could make a Steam Controller binding shortcut (Guide Button Chord) to bring up the Steam Controller Desktop Configurator menu in a window while in desktop mode. Maybe something like Holding the Guide (Steam) button and clicking in the left trackpad. Why not have both?

--Tontonronton 23:10, 11 Jan 2019 (GMT)

Allow gifting across regions where there is a price difference

I understand that sometimes there is a price difference between regions on a game, which is fine, however the current system blocks gifting friends when they are in a region with a different price on the product. If the price difference is significant there should be the option to pay that regions pricing instead of just blocking the ability to gift the product.

Allow Multiple Games To Be Downloaded At Once

Add a button for when your updating a game to where you can update all games / a select few of games simultaneously (like how you can download a select few of games on PS4 at once) just to just get all of the games that need updating updated automatically so you wouldn't need to stay at the downloads page longer than you have too, this could further increase flow for gaming and could also just get it out of the way and spend time playing the games you already updated, and with good internet and checking the "Allow downloads during gameplay" you could update and even download multiple games at once, although there is some issues. (such as networking issues, and even a potential bandwidth limit put in place just to make sure Steam doesn't go crazy)

If this becomes an issue, a backup plan would be just to limit the games you download at once, or even just by adding a queue of what games you want automatically downloaded in a specific order one-at-a-time.

--Cxncer 10:35 PM, 13 August 2020 (EST)

Create Dynamic Lists based on Store User Review Ratings

Create the ability to categorize games in my games library based on user reviews, both current version and overall. Personally, I rely heavily on my community to show me what games I own are the best to play. If that category could also sort by most votes or highest percentage of votes, it would also be great.

--Mr.deef 10:36 AM, 23 August 2020 (EST)

Include GeForce Now Among Platforms

GeForce Now has a growing number of users from two large demographics: mac users wanting to play Windows exclusives and PC users on older hardware wanting to play new releases. Including GeForce Now among platforms would allow users that rely on this service to filter the store and find games more easily.

--kinimodvolvap 11:20 AM, 4 May 2021 (CEST)

Global rules for game updates and general issues with updates

Problems

• All games on steam automatically try to update themselves by default. This causes issues for people with low capacity internet connections or who simply don't want certain games to update.
• To prevent games from automatically updating requires changing the update rules per game in the client. Doing this manually for each installed game is tedious and you have to check each game's to make sure what update settings they have.
• Any game update on steam results in the game being unable to be launched until updated. Sometimes I just want to play a singleplayer game immediately as the updates are irrevant to me, or perhaps the download time cuts into what free time I have.

Solutions

• Could there be a global setting that would only update games when launched?
• Could games be allowed to be played without updating?

--"Technae" 11:59 PM, 28 November 2021 (GMT)

"Suspend" feature for games

Certain games on Steam do not allow for a simple save and quit. I propose a "suspend" feature that freezes the game in its current state, allowing it to remain open in the background using minimal - if any - resources. This will also freeze playtime, stop card drops, and allow for other computers to be logged in on your account.

--"ModdedInstall2" 1:04 PM, 22 December 2023 (PST)

Token authentication to allow automated/headless game downloads without disabling Steam Guard

Using SteamCMD to download softwares such as dedicated servers and the like often requires authenticating to Steam with an account that owns the relevant licenses. This implies going through the Steam Guard process if enabled, and severely impers automated deployments of game servers (i.e. as part of a CD pipeline).

The only solution I would be aware of to entirely automate game downloads is to disable Steam Guard on the licensed account (which is far from optimal).

For that reason I would suggest implementing a Token-based (or similar) authentication method that wouldn't necessitate going through the Steam Guard process, but could also be scoped to specific actions such as game downloads, API access and whatnot (much like GitHub/Gitlab allow nowadays through their Access Tokens) but couldn't be used to login as the licensed user using the Steam client.

That'd make users able to keep their accounts secured using Steam Guard, while also allowing automation.

--Alt (talk) 04:53, 27 December 2023 (PST)

Add as MANDATORY information if the game features key rebinding for Keyboard as well as for Controller

There is a clear problem with modern video games that don't let you rebind controls. Most of them are hardcoded for QWERTY keyboards and leaves people with other keyboard dispotion with broken gameplay, botched experience. Add to that that it's a major accessibility problem. The possibility to remap controls exists as far as I know at least since the 90's in video games. And there is no excuse it's not done correctly in modern games.

Please add a mandatory field specifying if controls can be rebind (in different fields) • For keyboard AND • for controller

--Katoru (Katoru) 21:05, 21 January 2023 (PST)

Settings option to display Friend List User's birthdays from non-private Profiles + Wishlist Integration

Currently I use Nicknames to add Friend List Users's birthdays manually. I believe an agreeable function integrating recorded Profile birthdays would not only make for a more social environment but potentially be financially beneficial to Valve with an "Open their Wishlist" link as part of a Birthday reminder setting option.

Having the option to display Birthdays alongside Nicknames in the Friends list would then also allow for manual addition / amendment to dates by the user.

The Settings for this would be optional and require opting in to using it, and allow customisation of notifications and timing (from on the day to a week before for eg.) as well as if you'd like to see the User's Wishlist on notification (to not feel pushy!).

--HuggyDeathBunny (HuggyDeathBunny) 10:02, 15 March 2024 (GMT+2)