13 votes

Steam chat update - new friends list, voice, and chat features

Tags: steam

9 comments

  1. [3]
    Ark
    Link
    I'm glad they're finally updating their almost too basic messaging system, but it seems a lot of the features they are implementing are already present in well-established applications like...

    I'm glad they're finally updating their almost too basic messaging system, but it seems a lot of the features they are implementing are already present in well-established applications like Discord. Not sure how much they'll actually get used as Discord already has the features in one nicely wrapped up package.

    5 votes
    1. clerical_terrors
      Link Parent
      Not to mention Discord actually has a very stable mobile app now, no mention on this page if this new chat function will be integrated in that as well.

      Not to mention Discord actually has a very stable mobile app now, no mention on this page if this new chat function will be integrated in that as well.

      4 votes
    2. radon
      Link Parent
      For people that use steam constantly, including messaging with friends over steam instead of discord, this is a massive plus and I welcome them actually trying to copy discord to the T. There is...

      For people that use steam constantly, including messaging with friends over steam instead of discord, this is a massive plus and I welcome them actually trying to copy discord to the T.
      There is great potential in integrating it more and more with game or community features and I'm sure they are already working on that.

  2. [3]
    clerical_terrors
    Link
    I mean I'd be glad to get more use out of my Steam emotes but I'm not sure this solves a problem Discord didn't already solve...

    I mean I'd be glad to get more use out of my Steam emotes but I'm not sure this solves a problem Discord didn't already solve...

    2 votes
    1. cfabbro
      Link Parent
      Well, for those of us who despise and distrust Discord, because of their VC indebted model especially, I’m glad Valve/Steam is doing this. I already use Steam as my primary means of communication...

      Well, for those of us who despise and distrust Discord, because of their VC indebted model especially, I’m glad Valve/Steam is doing this. I already use Steam as my primary means of communication with my gaming friends and would rather not have to also open up discord every time we play games together.

      4 votes
    2. Whom
      Link Parent
      Is it meant to have any "solutions" in that sense anyway? It seems to me to just be a (somewhat messy) improvement on Steam messaging. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I use Discord for actually...

      Is it meant to have any "solutions" in that sense anyway? It seems to me to just be a (somewhat messy) improvement on Steam messaging.

      Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I use Discord for actually talking to people, making communities, etc. If I just want to throw an invite out to someone who plays the same game as me, I just do it through steam. If I want to tell someone after a game that they were good or something, I do it through steam. I'm not adding every random nerd I want to play with to a completely separate service.

      1 vote
  3. [2]
    PogChamp
    Link
    One of the things I enjoy about Steam's current chat windows is how they don't use up a lot of screen real estate. The new thing feels like it wants to cover my entire screen. Anyway, here's a...

    One of the things I enjoy about Steam's current chat windows is how they don't use up a lot of screen real estate.
    The new thing feels like it wants to cover my entire screen.

    Anyway, here's a screenshot demoing the ability to attach images in-chat. I feel like it needs like 2000 vertical pixels just by itself.

    2 votes
    1. Whom
      Link Parent
      If you resize your friends list window, it'll behave as the previous one did and open up separate compact chat windows.

      If you resize your friends list window, it'll behave as the previous one did and open up separate compact chat windows.

      1 vote
  4. Kernal
    Link
    An improvement, but it's not great yet. The biggest thing for me is that the Steam Mobile app is still quite bad, which means I'm still going to use stuff like Discord when communicating with...

    An improvement, but it's not great yet. The biggest thing for me is that the Steam Mobile app is still quite bad, which means I'm still going to use stuff like Discord when communicating with people outside of games, and this will extend to what I use when playing games as well.

    1 vote