With the recent launch of Steam Community, users of the increasingly awesome Steam service have gained the ability to connect online and compare e-peen via the system’s rating of their skill and time played. Users can also join groups and talk trash before getting beaten sorely by their favorite video game website staff. To what am I referring? Why, the GamerNode Steam Community group of course. Be sure to add me too, and look on my shame of a Steam Rating.
Steam has really begun to come into its own recently. What began as something of an annoyance with Counterstrike 1.4 has blossomed into a full-blown distribution system for games online, providing developers with an entirely alternate route to get their games out there, avoiding the massive bar for entry into the traditional publisher system. Without putting physical boxes on store shelves, small developers such as Introversion Software, makers of Darwinia and Defcon, have begun to make their mark in the video game world without the massive budgets of larger companies. That being said, many larger developers make use of the system as well, with iD recently releasing a spate of their older games via Steam, as well.
Steam Community just makes the service even more powerful. You can sign up for the service at https:/steamcommunity.com, or alternatively, activate Steam Community Beta in your account settings within the Steam client.
