A gamer approached the community with a very specific request: He wanted to get exactly one point on Steam. His wish was apparently fulfilled personally by a Valve employee.
What was the point? Steam Points are a currency that you can use to purchase profile and chat items in the Steam Cosmetics points shop or to reward contributions from others. You can get them for purchases on Steam, or for contributions such as reviews, guides and workshop content that have been priced by other users.
One user recognized a special opportunity in his Steam Points – but he needed help from the community.
Also Valve boss Gabe Newell is always up for a joke:
Commercial for the Joule kitchen appliance with Gabe Newell from Valve
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User recognizes the opportunity for a gag on his profile
What kind of problem was that? A gamer addressed the community on December 24, 2023 in the Steam subreddit under the name CoffeeAndPistachios. He wanted to know exactly how to earn one point on Steam. He also showed a picture of his current points account balance: That was 68,999.
Although the user didn’t say it explicitly, everyone can probably guess why they wanted to reach that exact amount.
Unfortunately, the undertaking did not turn out to be so easy. Although CoffeeAndPistachios received over 500 responses – including some suggestions that he should aim for 421 or 691 additional points – there was hardly a practical solution.
In theory, the gamer would only have to buy a game for 1 cent on Steam to get the point. However, Steam’s pricing policy prevents this: a game can only be offered for at least 0.99 cents, on sale for $0.49.
Others advised the player to contact support. But that wasn’t necessary, as it turned out.
A Christmas miracle
This was the solution: CoffeeAndPistachios returned the day after his post with a new screenshot: His points account had magically increased to 69,000. The user couldn’t explain it himself: “I’m going a little crazy, I haven’t done anything, where does that one point come from?”
On the advice of the community, the gamer checked his history in the points shop on Steam and found an adjustment that had been made by support the previous night. An anonymous Valve employee seems to have given CoffeeAndPistachios the missing point in a cloak and dagger operation.
However, exactly how this heroic act was carried out is not entirely clear, as the gamer never mentioned his Steam name. It’s entirely possible that an employee searched the database for the exact value – so perhaps CoffeeAndPistachios wasn’t the only one who had a surprise in their points account the next morning.
Some Reddit users even speculated whether Steam boss GabeN could personally be behind the “Christmas miracle”. After all, he is known for unusual actions: Gabe Newell revealed the login details for his account on Steam to prove how secure his platform is