Steam Chat and SteamOS Get Major Feature-Rich Overhauls

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Apr 10, 2003
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Steam chat has gotten a major overhaul which includes a new sleek web browser integration in the latest update. You can drag friends into chat groups and post GIFs, tweets, videos and even upload pictures directly into the Steam client or your browser. I can share my favorite video game soundtracks via SoundCloud direct to Steam chat. The new Steam chat reminds me of Discord, but of course with Valve's take on it. I wonder how much customer traffic is Valve losing to Discord? I glanced at the mobile app and saw nothing new, but I rarely use it. Steam client patch notes are here.
In Linux news, it seems that Valve is close to releasing SteamOS 3.0 aka "Clockwerk." It is rumored to include an upgrade to Debian 9.0 for more modern device support.

I wouldn't expect major changes in how SteamOS actually operates though, as this will likely involve Kernel and GPU driver updates to help SteamOS keep up with modern hardware. For the current stable version of SteamOS, they just pushed the previous beta out to everyone too with SteamOS update 2.154.
 
Big improvements over Discord in quality, stability, and integration of friends (assuming you've already been using Steam all these years), with the added benefit of Valve not mining and selling all your data in the aggressive manner that Discord does. However, they need major QOL and UI improvements. Discord has that locked down, as well as the ease of use. Steam also needs to automatically detect non-Steam games like Discord does. It's a pain needing to add each one in manually, and even then Steam's overlay doesn't work in them. Will be interesting to see where things go in the next few months, Discord can either improve their game and keep Valve out of the game, or Valve can fix their issues and push/market this successfully and steal people from Discord.
 
New chat is absolutely hideous. Shit takes up half the damn screen with absolutely zero added benefit other than bigger buttons. If this is what hypes up the kids with this discord shit I keep hearing about they can keep it. Yea I sound like a crotchety old man but I don't care, function over stupid in my book and the new crap is full of stupid.

Fortunately, Valve aren't idiots and left in a way to get the old version of chat back so kudos to them for that.
 
U-238 said:
New chat is absolutely hideous. Shit takes up half the damn screen with absolutely zero added benefit other than bigger buttons. If this is what hypes up the kids with this discord shit I keep hearing about they can keep it. Yea I sound like a crotchety old man but I don't care, function over stupid in my book and the new crap is full of stupid.

Fortunately, Valve aren't idiots and left in a way to get the old version of chat back so kudos to them for that.
Click to expand...

Seems like you can resize the windows. Are there some that you can't?
 
WarriorX said:
Seems like you can resize the windows. Are there some that you can't?
Click to expand...

You can resize the windows but the buttons and icons don't resize. So you're either stuck with a huge window or stuck not being able to actually see anything.
 
Been beta testing the new chat stuff on Linux for a few weeks now. There's parts I like, like better historical stuff in chat, and better grouping of friends based on games they're playing. But the existing steam groups are left in the cold with the new chat for now. Really annoying if you have a large group.

IMO it's a step in the right direction, but more work is needed.

I haven't tried voice yet though.

The mobile part hasn't rolled out yet, that's coming in a bit. Not sure why they did them separately, but whatever. Mobile steam chat has always sucked.
 
the best thing i got from the update was the options window was up and center so i could disable the pop-up you get when a friend starts a game.. so i didnt have to go looking for it..

LOL

otherwise, steam is nothing more then a store for me, not a social center.
 
I hope they add an option to how they sort the friends list. I don't want it grouped by what game people are playing. Just give me a list of people that are online in an alphabetical order. If I'm looking for a specific friend I don't want to have to sort through a list of different games to find them.
 
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