A frustrating story of getting a FOSS project on Steam.
  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zipEnglish
    405·
    7 days ago

    Ok so… FOSS Dev submits a software (music creation tool) to Steam, to be ‘sold’ for $0, ie, available freely.

    On the splash welcome screen to the software, there is a link to his patreon for donations.

    Steam’s automated vetting/verification process identifies the keyword ‘patreon’, but misreads a u as a v, or that reversed, in the url, and sends out an automated response saying ‘direct links to request donations are not allowed, please remove’.

    FOSS Dev somehow thinks this is a real person talking to him, writes up a response (with valid objections, that Godot and Krita and others feature donation links)…

    … He does not recieve a response, but changes the link in his software to point to another webpage with a different url, where that webpage then points to his patreon, and uploads this new build to the automated first pass vetting system…

    … and is surprised when this immediately passes vetting and is accepted.

    Ok. Mhm. Yep.

    …

    Does FOSS Dev… did it occur to him that a platform like Steam that recieves, what, thousands of these kinds of applications a month, tens of thousands?, and is extremely well known for having a shockingly small employee headcount… might be using automated systems?

    Might have a detailed flow chart for producing what are basically detailed error messages?

    Has this person never heard of how call centers for large firms just give their phone support staff a script generated by such systems?

    Has this person never used an automated support chat bot that only actually kicks you over to a real person if you specifically request it and/or exhaust its pre built in help options?

    I am sorry but this dude is having an emotional breakdown from an automated bot response he doesn’t realize is an automated bot response.

    He at no point ever shows the response from Steam to his pointing out that other FOSS software has donation links. There apparently… wasn’t one? … Because actual lengthy responses get assigned to a ticket cue for an actual human to read and reply to at some point, later?

    I am absolutely baffled as to how anyone with any familiarity with ‘Steam Support’ could possibly think they are talking to an actual human being in this scenario.

    This is like feeling personally betrayed by a nonexistant YouTube video reviewer support person when you upload a video with copyrighted music and are told it won’t be elligible publishing.

    …

    Now as to the actual Steam policies, the actual issues here… yes, in general, Steam is not geared toward FOSS releases with optional donations, yes it is bullshit that there are older software/games that got grandfathered in, no argument with any of that.

    But he already solved the problem, on his end.

    He already changed the url to not include a direct donation link by bouncing it to patreon via some other link.

    The entire tech support adventure he had with trying to get donation DLCs was completely unneccessary… he already had an accepted build with a donation method accepted.

    The entire tax adventure he had is also… he just says he has a very weird and uncommon legal setup with his sole proprietorship, and is frustrated that that makes the process complicated as well.

    I get that this is frustrating, but again… if Steam said no to a donation only DLC… and he already has a build, accepted, with a working donation link that entirely circumvents the process, meaning he would not even be getting any payouts from Steam at all, and Steam will not be generating any revenue, whatsoever, because that software is listed as available in Steam for free, so there is no Steam cut…

    Then this person is complaining about having to deal will some bs paperwork to be able to have his free software published on Steam, for no cost to him, at a cost to Valve, and he benefits massively by increasing the number of potential eyeballs on his software.

    This is analagous to complaining that you have to fill out paperwork to recieve like free food benefits or reduced cost housing or a low cost bus fare.

    …

    In conclusion, yes, Steam is not the best option for FOSS releases.

    Yep. Its a commercial storefront, primarily.

    Alternatives exist, that are specifically supportive of FOSS projects with flexible donation/payment models.

    I don’t know why you’d go to the hardware store and be angry that they don’t sell fresh fruit.

    Should there maybe be some kind of push to try to convince Valve to offer some kind of option like that?

    Well… maybe?

    If Steam actually did basically what itch.io does, then uh, itch.io stops existing in … what, 2 years?

  • drspod@lemmy.ml
    283·
    7 days ago

    It sucks for FOSS projects, but you have to imagine their rules from the perspective of someone who is actively trying to bend the rules to avoid giving Valve their cut. If they make an exception for FOSS projects, then every indie developer will claim to be “Shareware” and solicit donations off-platform.

    Even Epic Games tried this and ended up in a lawsuit with Apple.

    • Colloidal@programming.devEnglish
      14·
      7 days ago

      FOSS and Shareware are very different things. It’s easy for Valve to add an option for FOSS projects where the publisher must enter which license is being used (from a list of pre-approved licenses) and a link to the source code including all artwork.

      They won’t do it, because they don’t want to become a FOSS rating and distribution service. They make money by selling proprietary software. FOSS goes against their business model.

    • misk@sopuli.xyzOP
      5·
      7 days ago

      Never considered that angle, interesting and probably very true. Thanks!

    • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      7 days ago

      I could see the only way Steam would do it is require the project to be under a limited set of licences, and then require buildable non-blob sources and they distribute their binary builds.

      A bunch of foss projects still have binary blobs, and might have mixed licensing, so even the best case I imagine would still exclude a bunch of projects.