Top 10 Things Users Hate About Steam

This year, we finally celebrated Steam's 20th anniversary, which means that in less than 365 days, not only will our favourite client finally be able to drink in the US (wooo!), but it's also older than a lot of its user base. Over the last 20 years, Valve has spent their time honing and improving this launcher from the original mess it was into the refined tool we use today and install first (or second, right after our browser of choice) whenever we get a new PC.

After numerous great updates, various hardware releases (like the ever-famous Steam Deck), and nearly two dozen years of expertise, we gather here today to talk about one thing and one thing only: Steam's downfalls. Because screw positives!

In a very inventive thread on the r/Steam subreddit, user u/Heygavinnorris asks the question that no one else dares to: what don't you like about Steam? This simple post has garnered hundreds of replies from users that, quite frankly, did not hold back and shared their thoughts on the client and what they hate. So, we browsed through them and gathered a list of top 10 most hated Steam things for your perusal!

#10 — The Review System

The first item in our list is going to surprise absolutely nobody, as it's a widespread issue that, honestly, Steam users complain about at large: the review system. It's not uncommon to see a review appear, alluding to the fact that they wish they could give a "meh" option instead of the black-and-white system that the "Yes" and "No" options offer at the moment.

The Steam community has always been very vocal about their disdain for this extremist system, though it's done wonders, as many have criticised the Epic Games Store for lacking this same feature. So many years since the original implementation of user reviews on Steam, it's possible it won't be something we'll ever see change.

#9 — Average Game Completion Rate Counting for Every Game

This one is something that I not only battle with a lot but also hurts me to my very core — games you have already gotten at least one achievement on count towards your overall score. With such an active achievement-hunting community, ranging from professionals nearing the 100% mark to newcomers (like me!) who are barely reaching the 50%, this one was quite heavily asked for.

How the system currently works is relatively simple — the total aggregate of all of the games you've unlocked an achievement on counts towards your completion rate by dividing into the average (thus, Average Completion Rate). All of your percentages are added and divided by the amount of games you have, and that, rounded down, becomes your score. But once you unlock one achievement in a game, it is there — forever. Even if you permanently remove it from your account. The user in question mentioned they unlocked tutorial achievements in Lost Ark, which according to HowLongToBeat.com, can take upwards of 1,000 hours to get 100% on.

Ouch.

#8 — Not Remembering Password on Browser

Don't you dare scan my QR code!

I'm sure we've all, at one point, suffered at the hands of Steam's browser version. Sure, it's great to be able to launch the store and find information (especially with the handy SteamDB widget that you can use to access even more useful and nerdy data), but there is one thing everyone dreads collectively: having to log in... Again.

This used to be a very prominent issue for me until recent years, wherein every time I would restart my computer, the browser would decide that it no longer wanted to recognise my log-in credentials and disconnect me. As someone who has a 32-character-long password and 2FA (I care for my Steam account more than my own life), getting logged out is a chore.

#7 — Not Remembering Age

Considering Steam is a 20-year-old client now, there are many accounts out there that, on their own right, count as "adults". The 18+ years of service (and the fancy badge that comes with such a high number) does not, however, come with the ever-essential capability to remember your very age.

Considering the Steam Subscriber Agreement's first clause includes that you can't have a Steam account if you are under the age of 13, a seven-year-old account should be enough to — hypothetically — bypass the Adult Only verification that oh-so-commonly plagues us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am (again) going to input my birthdate of 1/1/1990.

#6 — Not Being Able to Hide Items

Don't mind me, just hiding all of the NSFW content and—— oh...

Coming from the previous one, you can probably see where this is going. We see you, a shy Steam user who wants to just own 18+ games (and even play them!) but can't because you have family or close friends in your Friends. And want as you may, you still can't hide your most heinous titles that you don't want the world to see — your deep, guilty pleasures that if anyone saw you launched and played even a minute of, your entire reputation would be ruined. Mine, for instance, would be Stardew Valley.

All jokes aside, thankfully, it seems like there is a possibility that Steam is testing a system to hide items already. Though this particular commentor was talking about items within their inventory as well, we know that deep down, many, many people want to be able to own some games that you don't want anyone catching you play.

#5 — The Curator System

Though we have our very own curator on Steam and are proud to announce that we use it the intended way... well, we can't really say that's the case for everyone else. Corruption runs amok among the various Steam curators that abuse the system to get thousands of followers in hopes of getting free keys, giving a competitive edge to those who are amidst the leaderboards of the most-owned items.

If it wasn't a failed system, and Valve gave two craps about it, the Steam curator could be a quid pro quo between indie developers and sites (big and small) that want to review titles. As it stands, however, it's being abused to take advantage of developers that use its integrated system to send keys to a lot of curators, many of which are either spam or bots. This problem is one I personally resonate with closely, and I hope that we can see Steam do a better job in the future with this system.

#4 — Steam's Subscriber Agreement 1C

How dare you not read the 8,633-word agreement? Swine!

Congratulations! Your account has now been banned. "But oh no, why?!", I hear you ask in a concerned voice. Well, that's because of Steam's Subscriber Agreement's 1C, an obscure rule that most everyone has broken at least once in their lives: no account sharing.

Now, this doesn't mean that you share your account with someone and you both use it to play games. No, Steam is demanding that you — as a user — do not give your password to anyone, as any sort of Steam account trading is illegal, and Valve has the rights to lock down any of them permanently under this rule. This one was by a concerned redditor who said they'd never be able to give their account to their young 'uns because of it, but I'm pretty sure Steam won't notice if you do it... r-right?

#3 — Additional Launchers from Other Publishers

This issue is another big one that a lot of users have complained about, within the thread and outside: additional launchers. You know, those pesky additional screens that come up when you boot any Ubisoft- or EA-owned title and are forced to go to a different launcher, deal with those crappy implementations, have two accounts, and then get too frustrated and give up? Yeah, this is why a lot of users want a Steam monopoly.

I don't personally resonate with this too much, as I often just play games that are directly hosted by Steam, but the few times I did encounter it, it was a (thankfully) smooth process. This hasn't been the case for everyone, and I'm sure that the headaches of managing your Ubisoft, EA, and now even Blizzard accounts start becoming a bit much, especially for those who delve into those games more often than regular users. 

#2 — Back Button is Broken

There are two people in the world: those who have been pained by Steam's back button for years... and those who just learned about it and will be pained by it for years to come. Now, this is more of a bug than an actual error in the site (for the most part), as some Steam updates can fix it for some users. For those unaware, there is a bug with Steam’s back button that, even when pressed, does absolutely nothing; this really confused me in my early years of Steam, but now I’ve grown so used to it, that I don’t use it anymore.

I haven't struggled with it, personally, in a few months now. Likely because I've messed around with Steam's Library display because I was exploring the Steam client recently, but it's thankfully stopped. For many, however, the back button has been plaguing their nightmares and continues to do so. May Lord Gaben have mercy upon your soul if you hadn't noticed it and shall deal with it for years to come.

#1 — No Chat History

This is my chat history with my wife! As you can see, we've never spoken to each other on Steam. Ever.

And our final one is one that, quite frankly, a lot of people resonated with, and the most begged-for feature in the post — Steam Chat History. I've spoken to many a friend on Steam over my 12 years of service, and many of those conversations I no longer remember and will never be able to revisit — a failure of a system that encourages the use of third-party programs like Discord, no matter how much I really, really want to use my Steam emojis acquired from creating cards.

Half jokes aside, it's a shame to see how much has been lost to the void of Steam's lacking chat history, as it is impossible to return some of the deep, meaningful conversations you may have had through it. As a sentimental person, I wish we could revisit those and see what transpired years ago, when we first started using Steam.

...and of course, the one time I forgot to claim a key a friend sent me, it disappeared into the history, and then I never really confessed to it. It was too late by then, and I didn't want to seem ungrateful! Oh, it’s nice to get that off my chest.

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And there you have it! The top 10 things that users complained about Steam! In a world that is seeing more launchers rear their heads in an attempt to stop a Steam monopoly and bring more competition, it's good to know that we still have some things to criticise about Lord Gaben's launcher. Epic Games, take notes! You're gonna need it.