Before you figure out how to use Steam, it’s worth explaining what the program is and why it is needed. Steam is a well-known and largest digital store for games and updates for them on the Internet. The name translated into Russian sounds like “valve”. Users simply call it “Steam” among themselves. Using Steam, you can purchase more than three thousand products on this topic and more. At the moment, Steam has more than 63 million users, which is an undoubted record for such a resource. The owner and creator of the store is the famous company Valve Software.
Steam Features
- free use of already purchased and activated games,
- automatic free game updates. Updates are installed automatically upon release,
- gaming world news,
- information about new products,
- search for games and servers for them using various criteria and filters,
- purchasing a game for another person as a gift at your own expense,
- various communities of interests,
- chat between users.
How to install the program and how to use it to activate games and use the full variety of resource capabilities? Let's look at the step-by-step instructions.
Installing "Steam" and creating an account
- To install Steam, you need an Internet connection. It is best to download the program from the official website.
- During installation, the program will ask for a login and password. If this is your first time installing Steam, you will need to go through a formal registration process. To do this, you need to fill in the following fields: “Account name” - your unique name (login) in the Steam system, “Password” - your password, respectively. In the next field, you will need to re-enter the specified password. Next, press the “Next” key
- If the login you created already exists in the system, you will be given the opportunity to change it to a new one.
- Next, enter your active email address in both fields and select a security question that you may need to recover your password in the future. Answer the question and press the “Next” button.
- The system will display a message on the screen indicating that registration is complete. Click “Finish”
Entrance
When you first log in, enter your login in the “Login” field and enter your password in the “Password” field. Next, press the “Remember my password” button for convenience. Next time, you will be logged into your account automatically. And this will allow you to run games without connecting to the Internet, which is very convenient if the connection suddenly disappears, but you want to play. Press the “Login” button.
Game activation
Registered, logged in, looked around and now the key question is how to activate the games? How to use Steam? To activate the game, you must complete the following steps:
- Open the program menu item called “Play Games”
- In this window, click on the name of the game
- If your copy of the game has not yet been activated, Steam will automatically offer you to buy it.
- Click on “Register a product I already own”
- Next, you need to enter the individual registration number of the copy of the purchased game and press the “Next” button.
- After checking the number and downloading updates, the program will complete activation
Payment for purchases
Payment in the Steam store is carried out in the following ways:
- credit cards Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB
- debit cards Visa, Mastercard
- PayPal
- Webmoney
- ClickandBuy
- Yandex money
- Xsolla
- QIWI Wallet
- And others less common (depending on the region).
- An important point to remember in the context of how to use Steam is that it is not possible for two users to play from the same account.
- If, when loading an activated game, the speed is lower than what your connection can provide, you need to go to “Settings” - “Download” and change the download server in the context menu.
- look for game secrets in various thematic communities.
- Be sure to wait for the games to load 100% and do not allow the Internet connection to be interrupted, otherwise the entire activation procedure will need to be started again.
What is Steam and what is it for?
Do you know what Steam is? If you have a school-aged child, he knows for sure. But adults, as our experience of communicating with parents shows, are often not aware of what kind of service this is and what it is needed for. Steam is the largest online store for computer games. In it you can get both games from Valve, the creator of Steam, and other developers. Along with a large number of free programs, Steam also has paid content. Both purchased and free games are launched through the program of the same name. One way to get a paid game is to buy an activation key. All purchases are linked to the player’s account: no matter what device the user logs into his account from, he always has access to his collection of games.
In addition to distributing gaming content, Steam is also a social network for gamers. There they can communicate, add other users as friends, create and join communities, give gifts, receive achievements, like, exchange items, and much more.
What are the pros and cons of this gaming platform and why should parents know about its existence?
Let anonymous communication remain anonymous
If Steam is a social network, then children and teenagers communicate on it. Moreover, Steam has a ton of multiplayer games in which players also have the opportunity to communicate with each other. The main, in our opinion, features of communication both on the network itself and in games from a security point of view are that, on the one hand, players communicate with a mass of random and unfamiliar people, and on the other hand, they usually use nicknames - “Pilot777 ", "ХХХваняХХХ" and so on. That is, in this environment, communication with strangers is common, which does not flow into personal meetings, or even into acquaintance as such with the exchange of personal information. It should remain that way. Explain to your child that such anonymous communication is completely acceptable, but in no case should it be de-anonymized - you cannot tell someone you know from the game your real first and last name, age, especially address or phone number, or give a link to pages on social networks.
Some gaming communities practice meetings between their participants. Your child should know that if he plans to go to such a meeting, he should definitely tell you. You can go to it, but only on condition that the message about such a meeting was posted in the public domain, and did not come in a private message from one of the players. At such a meeting, the child will be able to evaluate for himself who is who, see children of his own age and get to know them personally. He can continue to communicate with older players in the game, but transferring communication to social networks or real life is not worth it, because just because a child saw this person at a meeting does not make him a good acquaintance, and this person may still turn out to be a criminal .
What is my child doing? Check it out on Steam!
Parents should consider registering for Steam themselves and adding their child as a friend. This will allow you to see who your child is communicating with, what games they are playing, how much time they are playing, and when they were last online. This will help not only to make sure that he does not spend too much time in games and does not play games that are prohibited for his age, but also to better understand his interests, and maybe even share them.
By the way, the family account settings and parental controls inside Steam will allow you not only to look at what he is playing and sigh, but also to limit your child’s access to games, for example, 18+, or to certain works that are not suitable for children.
There are no new games. Money too.
Fraudsters are well aware that children, on the one hand, are very interested in new games and “pumped up” characters and, on the other hand, do not have enough money to buy and do not want to spend a lot of time on “pumping up”. As a result, scams are emerging that target schoolchildren looking for cheaper and easier ways to get new games and “level up.” And if a scammer targets a schoolchild, that means the parents’ wallet is at risk. Tell your children that the following tricks are scams and should not be fooled.
Sale/giveaway of invalid Steam keys
There are a huge number of stores on the Internet offering to purchase keys. Buying a key is always a pig in a poke; until the moment of activation it is impossible to know whether it works or not. Here you can only count on the seller’s integrity. Often, users, in pursuit of a new game and an attractive price tag, forget simple safety rules and purchase keys on dubious sites. As a result, they may become the owners of an already used key, and, of course, no one will return the money spent on its purchase.
Fraudulent stores have an extremely short lifespan, so along with this type of fraud, a more sophisticated scheme is also used - drawing random (“random”) keys. The random key is a lottery. By paying, for example, 60 rubles for participation in the drawing, the user, according to the organizers, can get any game: from a cheap one for several tens of rubles to a top-end one, the price of which can reach several thousand.
The process of drawing a key, however, is not demonstrated on the sites, so it is impossible to verify its fairness: among the prizes, there may not be keys that are more expensive than the cost of participation, so we advise you to refrain from participating in such dubious lotteries.
Buying/stealing an account.
Along with selling keys, these same dubious stores are also selling accounts. Why do people buy them? Having made a decent discount on purchased games, things, etc., the seller gives the user a ready-made profile. The buyer only needs to log into his account using the purchased login and password, and he becomes the proud owner of not only game content and items, but also all the achievements of the previous owner. However, it is impossible to get someone else’s account and be one hundred percent sure that it has completely come under your control: the purchased profile may turn out to be stolen, and the original owner can return it at any time.
Everything acquired through backbreaking labor!
In addition to schemes aimed at the user’s wallet, gamers may encounter attempts to steal their account. For your child, losing a Steam account can be a real tragedy, because a lot of time and pocket money have been invested in it. Here are some methods that allow scammers to gain control of your account:
Phishing sites.
This scheme is simple, but most effective, since it is designed for inattention and ignorance of users. Here's how it works:
- You receive a link with a tempting offer on Steam (free giveaway or discount on inventory, exchange of items, etc.). There are many ways to get such a link: in a letter, in comments to articles, in public pages or in a personal message on social networks.
- Clicking on it takes you to a page that is almost indistinguishable from the official Steam page. Where you are asked to enter your username and password for your account to continue.
- The user, in anticipation of an excellent exchange/purchase of goods, enters all the data required of him, not paying attention to the address bar of the site. The official Steam domains are steamcommunity.com and steampowered.com. Fraudsters register very similar domains to lull the victim's vigilance. Eg:
- steam.stearncommunity.click
- steamcammunitty.com
- steamcammunity.ml
- steamcamrnunitty.com
- steamcommunity.ml
- After entering the data, it is leaked to the scammers, and along with it, access to the account.
Third party programs.
Another way to steal an account is to install additional programs (in particular on mobile devices) supposedly designed to protect the account, add additional functions, ban and damage the enemy’s reputation on Steam, etc. There are a huge number of such programs, but you shouldn’t trust them. The only exception is Steam Guard, Valve's official account protection application.
If they are installed, not only data for accessing Steam can be stolen, but also other personal information: contacts, SMS, and even logins and passwords from accounts on other sites.
Tell your child about these schemes so he can protect his account.
How to protect yourself?
There are several simple but effective rules to help you avoid falling for scammers:
- Treat with healthy skepticism the too attractive prices of goods offered to you. Don't forget that the miser pays twice.
- Never click on links received from unknown senders. If it was sent by a person you know, first find out from him what it is and why he sent it: his account could have been hacked by scammers.
- Buy games online only from reputable stores.
- Use security solutions for your devices and update databases on time. Antivirus will protect you from downloading malicious programs, and anti-phishing will protect you from switching to fraudulent resources.
- Always be careful when entering logins, passwords and other personal information on any resource.
You should not protect yourself from the Steam gaming platform itself. This service has more pros than cons: it teaches children and teenagers to use licensed software, allows parents to keep track of their children’s gaming activity, and can limit access to adult content. Learn to use this service as another tool to ensure your child's digital safety.
Steam is a service that is designed to distribute digital computer games and other programs that belong to a fairly well-known company that develops games - Valve. Steam is an activation service, and also performs the functions of downloading via the Internet, automatic updates and game news both from the direct company and from other developers who have signed agreements with the founders of Steam. For example: Epik Games, 2K Games, Rockstar Games, Sega and many others.
In short, with the help of this service you can purchase and install exclusively licensed and high-quality computer games via the Internet, regularly receive bonuses when placing pre-orders, receive the latest news from the world of your favorite computer games, and also receive updates without your participation, in automatic mode, find friends with whom you have a lot in common.
Steam program and its benefits
- Open just one program and a world of interactive entertainment opens before you. One database that stores games. Having your account and being a client in this service, you will again and again be able to install, download and delete the entertainment you have purchased;
- The owner of Steam no longer has to worry about the performance of purchased interactive products, look for and install patches, and fulfill the requirements of the developers for the correct display of the game. This service independently, without your participation, downloads and installs updates on your computer, and problems that arise after the update are eliminated by experienced programmers using special patches;
- Another, no less important advantage of the service is that the entire game process is saved in a special Steam Cloud storage. You don’t have to worry, the entire path traveled in the game, as well as achievements, will be saved;
- On the Steam service, you can often purchase a high-quality game at a significant discount, usually 15-75% cheaper;
- Making game purchases on Steam is very easy. To do this, just use one of the existing seven methods: WebMoney, Visa, American Express, ClickandBay, Master Card, Qiwi wallet and Yandex money.
Steam: how to use?
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Registration in the service
There is nothing scary or surprising in this section. Like other services where purchases are made, they require personal identification. By filling out a simple questionnaire, you create your own personal page on which you will be identified and with its help you will pay for purchased products.
To register in the Steam program, you should go to the official website of the service and click on the “Create Account” button. Next, in the window that opens, you will need to answer questions (email address, full name). If for some reason you do not want to answer these questions, then you will not be able to register for the service.
That’s all, registration of your account on the service is successfully completed!
The next point should not cause you any difficulties either. Immediately after activating your personal profile, you should download and install the application on your personal computer; for this you need, without leaving the official service, Find the button in the top header of the site - “Install Steam” and click on it.
After you click on this button, you will automatically go to another page to download the program; in a new window, click on a similar button again - “Instal Steam New”.
Immediately after the program has loaded, you need to click on the file called “SteamInstall. msi" and install the program. To launch the application, you will need to click several times on the Steam icon that appears on your desktop.
In the program window that appears, the owner needs to enter his registration data for the profile that was created at the very beginning. After entering the information, check it is correct and click the “Login” button, then you will need to read the user agreement Steam program, after reading the text, you must click on the “I Agree” button.
Having completed all the above steps correctly, you will see the program interface. It is worth noting that your profile information can be changed after registration. If you have problems with the correct operation of the program, you should update the Steam Client Bootstrapper program. The update can be found on the official website of the service. For this you will need to use detailed instructions which are given in the program. You can remove the application from your PC at any time and then install it, for example, on another computer. Information on how to remove a program from your computer can be found on the Internet.
Good luck using the program!
“,” experienced gamers say goodbye to each other. And any avid fan of computer games understands what we are talking about. About a place where each of them is a superhero. About where you want to return again and again. About the virtual “house” where sweet games live.
Steam is...
You probably already guessed what Steam is. This is a gaming platform, a service designed for purchasing and launching computer games, communication between players, creating gaming communities and much more related to gaming topics.
Being the brainchild of Valve, in the early 2000s Steam was used only to distribute and activate the developer's products. Today it is a full-fledged social network with many functions, like Facebook or VK, which supports more than 10,000 games and applications from different manufacturers: Sega, Epik Games, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, etc., including many free ones.
The Steam platform exists in a web version, accessible through a browser, and as an application for all major desktop and mobile operating systems - Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, Android, iOS, as well as Samsung Smatr TV Tizen OS (with restrictions) . Installation and use of the service is completely free, payment is charged only for content.
Features, pros and cons of the platform
In recent years, the functionality of Steam has grown to such a scale that even a developer probably cannot say which of its functions is the main one. Its users are provided the following options:
- play on any supported device;
- buy content at promotions with a 50-75% discount and play paid games for free, and such promotions take place almost constantly;
- install game updates as a priority - the platform does this automatically;
- do not think about the safety of game data - Steam also takes care of this;
- create and save backup copies of game distributions;
- activate supported games purchased in boxed versions;
- buy games as gifts for other users;
- return the money spent if you don’t like the game (the option remains up to 14 days after purchase, provided that the toy was played for no longer than 2 hours);
- create personal pages and groups, join communities;
- find like-minded people and friends;
- exchange messages and communicate in built-in voice chat;
- share achievements;
- exchange, buy and sell game items - inventory, cards, etc.;
- take screenshots and shoot videos, post videos on YouTune;
- record and broadcast streams without third-party programs;
- receive the latest news about events in the gaming world;
- listen to music stored on the device instead of game soundtracks;
- Give other users access to your game library (family sharing);
- customize the design of your personal page to your liking;
- use the developer's technical support services.
And since Steam is the official store for game content, the products that are distributed through it are 100% legal and safe.
Among the disadvantages users of the service attributed:
- Inability to use means of gaining illegal privileges over other players (cheats).
- Inability to run pirated content.
- There is a high risk of losing your account, and with it the funds stored on the balance sheet. Steam user accounts are very attractive to attackers and are often attacked. To prevent attacks, Steam Guard is built into the platform, but it does not guarantee complete security.
Some people think that buying content through Steam is too expensive and for this reason they do not use the platform. However, it makes it possible not only to spend, but also to earn real money. One of the ways to make money mentioned above is by selling gaming equipment. Also, some users manage to unofficially sell previously purchased games, and experienced gamers make money by promoting and selling upgraded accounts.
How to register on Steam
To register for the Steam service, launch a pre-installed application or open the website store.steampowered.com, go to the “Login” section and click the “Create account” button.
Enter your email address, confirmation and verification code. Accept the user agreement and confirm registration by clicking on the link that will come in the email.
After confirmation, return to the registration section, create a unique name that will be displayed to other users, and a password. Click "Complete Registration".
How to link a payment instrument to your Steam account and top up your account in the system
To link a bank card to your Steam profile, go to the “About Account” menu. In the Store Transactions section, click Add a payment method to this account.
Select a payment system from the list and enter the card details - number, expiration date, CVV/CVC code.
In the “Account Information” section, indicate your real first name, last name, postal code, residential address and telephone number. In the “Billing address” and “Billing address 2” fields, enter the street, house/building number and apartment number.
After linking the card, funds for purchases in the Steam store will be debited from its balance.
In addition to linked bank cards, you can use money in your personal Steam account to pay for content.
To top up your account balance, do the following:
- Click the “+Top up balance” button in the “Store Transactions” section. Select one of the suggested amounts (minimum 150 rubles).
- Choose a convenient payment method. In the CIS countries, Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express cards are available for this; payment systems PayPal, Yandex.Money and Webmoney; mobile phone account and Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Once you have made your selection, click Continue.
- Further actions depend on the specific payment method. Complete the payment by following the instructions on the screen.
How to download games
The selection, purchase and installation of games are made through the “Store” section of the main menu. The distribution of content by genre and other categories (new releases, top sellers, etc.) is in the column on the left.
Clicking on the game banner will take you to its purchase page. Here you can find more detailed information about the offer: trailers, gameplay screenshots, description, system requirements, as well as the game distributions themselves and additional paid content. The same page contains information about discounts and promotions.
To buy something from what is offered, click the “Add to cart” button next to the product and follow the instructions to make a payment. The purchased game and additional content will be downloaded to your Library.
How to add friends
To add Steam users as friends, go to the section of the main menu named after you and select “Friends”. In the “Find Friends” field, enter your username. Once it is found, click "Add as Friend".
In addition, the “Add as a friend” button is present on the personal pages of Steam users:
And on your personal profile page in the “Your Friends” section there is a search bar for users by login and game name (the system shows who you played with):
The “add as a friend” feature becomes available after replenishing your account balance or making a purchase of $5 or more.
In general, the Steam platform is quite easy to understand and master; just wander through the sections and everything becomes clear without explanation. Moreover, it is completely translated into Russian, and besides it supports 25 more languages of the world.
You can often hear the question of what Steam is and how to use it. Steam is currently the best service for purchasing computer games online. Here you can find hundreds of different games for Windows and MacOS operating systems. In this article we will look at the main features that Steam provides to users.
The Steam service has four main parts, these are: Store, Library, News and Community. We will now look at each of these parts in more detail.
Shop this is a catalog of games where you can choose and buy the game you like. After the game is purchased, it moves to the Library section and begins downloading; after the download is complete, you can play.
Library This is a catalog of games you have purchased. Having purchased a game once, it remains in your Library forever, and you can always download it using Steam and start playing. This way, all your games are centralized and cataloged in one place.
News not a particularly interesting section. News about the Steam system, new games and updates are published here.
Community is a social network for gamers. Here you can chat with Steam users you have added as friends. The community provides many opportunities for organizing joint leisure time playing computer games.
Key features of STEAM
- Purchasing games. If you don't know what Steam is, it's best to start by purchasing games. There are a large number of games available in the Steam catalog. And most of these games can be purchased from anywhere in the world. All you need is Internet access to top up your Steam account and download the game after purchase. By purchasing at least one game, you will quickly understand all the capabilities of this system. You can top up your Steam account using Webmoney, MasterCard, American Express, Visa, PayPal, as well as other payment services. Replenishment occurs quickly and without problems.
- Free games. Steam users have access to a large number of free games.
- Convenient client. You can also work with Steam using a browser. To quickly get acquainted with what Steam is, go to . But, in order to gain access to all the features of Steam you need. The client is an application with which you can top up your account, buy games, communicate with other players and much more. If a game you purchased from a physical store is also sold on Steam, you can add it to your Game Library. To do this, just enter the key to the game. After this, this game will become available in your Steam account, and you can download it any time you need it.
- Saving game settings to the Steam Cloud online storage. By saving your settings online, you don’t have to worry about their safety.
- Creating offline backups of games. If you have a slow Internet connection and downloading games is difficult for you, you can create a backup copy of the game you purchased on Steam and burn it to a disc or other
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