Article -



Steam trading enters beta for GAMES (& hats)



Steam's introducing a way for players to easily trade 'gift' copies of games and, of course, their fine collection of Team Fortress 2 items. It's now in public beta testing, if you fancy a go. Valve hopes to roll it out to Portal 2 "reasonably soon" and plans to get third-party games in on the fun too.



Trading lets Steam users swap 'gift' copies of games (either received or bought) and TF2 items, mixing and matching to get the game or hat of their dreams. You can only swap unused games which are expressly gift copies, not just any old thing on your Steam account. Steam will be getting an easy option to buy gifts without sending them, if you want to stockpile bargains for future trades.



Trading's done through a natty special trade window (pictured above), initiated though a Steam chat. You can also view players' inventories of tradeable games and items through their online Steam Community profile, and drag items into chat windows to show them off. Check out the FAQ for more details.



Previously, TF2 hat fans had to arrange trades in-game on servers, and use community-run sites like TF2 Items for online inventories. There was no official way to trade games, so you'd have to trust the other party.



Right now, you can only trade gift copies of games and TF2 items, but, Valve notes, "Portal 2 should be reasonably soon and we hope to have several third-party games in the next few months."



You can join the trading beta through the Steam Settings page. It also brings goodies including organising your Friends list through tags, a separate tab for Steam Groups, and a fix for offline mode.

Its been officially launched.



From Toms -



Steam Trading is now officially available to all Steam users via Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights and Portal 2.



Tuesday Valve Software officially pulled Steam Trading of out beta and is now offering the service to all Steam users via Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights and Portal 2. Now everyone can shower each other with exchangeable in-game items and game gifts.



"The addition of Steam Trading is the latest example of how Steam continues to evolve with new features and functions developed based upon feedback," said Jason Holtman, director of business development. "We look forward to seeing how gamers and developers have fun and move this functionality forward."



The Steam Trading beta began with Team Fortress 2 items and game gifts last month. According to Valve, over 1 million items and game gifts were traded during the four-week beta. However, now that the trading service is open to everyone, users will now see an item inventory in their Steam Community profile which will be viewable by everyone in the community.





OFFICIAL VALVE STEAM TRADING FAQ -



What items can be traded?



Currently, Team Fortress 2 items, Spiral Knights items and gifts purchased on Steam can all be traded between one another.



Will there be other games that support trading?



We’re working now with other game developers to incorporate both Trading and Inventories. Portal 2 should be reasonably soon and we hope to have several third-party games in the next few months.



What do you mean by trading Steam Gifts?



Any game you’ve purchased from the store as a gift, or received as an Extra Copy, can be traded to other users. They can be used to trade for other Gifts, or for items in Team Fortress 2 or Spiral Knights. We’ve added a new checkout option to the Store when purchasing a gift so you can save it for trading or sending later, to support users who want to save games for trade fodder.



What restrictions are there on trading Steam Gifts?



Trading a Steam Gift is very similar to sending a gift to someone; just that once it is traded that user can then either trade it again, or open it for themselves. There are no restrictions on territory.



Why aren’t some of my gifts tradable?



Only gifts that are purchased on trusted accounts can be traded immediately; otherwise there is a 90-day cool down before the gift can be traded. Any account that has made any valid purchase from the Steam Store more than 90 days ago is considered trusted. This is to ensure that all games traded are valuable, and help prevent fraudulent purchases for the purpose of trades.





Does Steam Trading mean I can sell my used games?



No, only games that have been bought as a gift, and thus have never been played, can be traded. Once the Steam Gift is opened and added to your game library, you won’t be able to trade it again.



How do I see my Inventory on the Steam Community?



You can select Community in the Steam client, then on the right is a link to View Inventory.



Who can see my items?



Your Steam Gift Inventory is now only visible to you while we work on new privacy settings. The rest of your inventory obeys your existing regular privacy settings – public, friends only, friends of friends, or private.



Who can I trade with?



You can initiate a trade with anyone in a Group Chat or on your Friends List.



How is this different from trading in Team Fortress 2?



We’ve improved the display of changing which items are in the trade, and significantly increased the number of items that can be traded in one session. We hope these improvements will help with confusion or users trying to deceive others in the trade.



What’s this new Friends Tagging feature?



It’s not related to trading, but in this new Steam Client is also a new feature to help you organize your friends list. You can right-click on any friend and select ‘Tag As…’ to choose a category for them. Friends can be tagged in multiple ways, and will show up then several times in your friends list, once for each tag.



How do I add a game to my library after receiving it in a trade?



Go to the game in your Steam Inventory and click “Unpack gift…” to add it to your library.



What if a game I received in a trade was purchased with a stolen credit card?



If this happens, the account where the fraud took place will be suspended. Your account will not be suspended, however the game you received will be removed from your account.



How do I purchase a game and place it in my inventory?



Purchase the game you want as a gift. Select the option "Store the gift in my inventory to send later". Once the purchase is complete you will be able to view the game in your inventory by clicking on the Community tab and then click on 'View Inventory' under the right hand column titled 'Actions'. Select the Steam tab and this will open the games/gifts that are currently in your Steam inventory.





"We’re working with other developers to incorporate Trading and Inventories into their games, so keep an eye out for future announcements in the coming months," Valve reports, adding that support for Steam Trading now resides within the Steamworks SDK