this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Some of these are minor inconveniences, but that's how enshittification happens. It's little, creeping annoyances that get worse and worse until it starts to make people look for alternatives.

Ok, maybe my definition of enshittification is off then. I thought it was when some company offers some product/service for a certain price (or free), then gradually removes features from that product/service while increasing the price. Am I off?

If that definition is right, I don't understand how the steam marketplace, a completely optional (borderline tangential) part of the steam platform, qualifies as enshittification.

And I'm not trying to defend the steam marketplace, I think it's stupid and terrible and at minimum needs age restrictions. But like, you can absolutely just not use it and your experience using the steam platform is totally unaffected.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

That's one way it happens, but in general the term appears to be about decline in quality for the purposes of profit-seeking, regardless of whether services were offered for free or not.

The wiki article starts with this:

Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is the term used to describe the pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders.

Other articles I looked at seem to agree with this basic concept.

And like I said, spam from scammers and inbox spam are examples of shittiness that seep in regardless of if you engage or not. There is no "no marketplace plz" option, and even if there were scammers can still send you friend request spam.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Eh, maybe I'm being pedantic, but I still don't really see how the addition of the steam marketplace is an example of the steam platform declining in quality. It was a feature that they added a long time ago, and it doesn't interfere with or worsen the experience of buying, organizing, or playing my video games. Sure it's a needless addition (in our opinions), but one that I can easily ignore because it's so isolated from the main product. Plenty of other products and services out there have features that some don't like or don't use, but that isn't the same thing as enshittification. And I feel like the spam would happen regardless of if the marketplace was there or not. That feels more like a moderation problem, not an enshittification problem.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sure, if you ignore the worst parts of it that I explicitly laid out and only focus on how it makes you feel personally, then I can see how you might feel that way.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm not ignoring anything, I just don't agree that the steam marketplace, and all the stuff you're talking about related to the steam marketplace, fits either of our definitions of enshittification.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Okay, I don't understand how and you haven't explained it, you've just said that you don't personally care about it, which isn't an argument I can respond to. You're free to have your opinion, but I don't see how it's relevant here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It was a feature that they added a long time ago, and it doesn't interfere with or worsen the experience of buying, organizing, or playing my video games... Plenty of other products and services out there have features that some don't like or don't use, but that isn't the same thing as enshittification.

I have explained it though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, you ignored the worst parts of it in favour of things you could dismiss for yourself, and then you ignored me pointing that out. I'm not going to keep explaining this to you any further.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The only one ignoring things is you. You're ignoring my whole point. Which is that your personal bar for enshittification is lower than any of the definitions we've given in this thread, because it's basically "anything I think is bad is enshittification"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Your point is that the issues don't affect the core experience, and I've explained how that's wrong, and you've ignored it.

You're also now blatantly mischaracterising what I've said.

If you want me to keep talking to you, I need you to tell me that you are actually curious to understand what I have to say.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Nah I don't really want you to keep talking to me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

In future you can just say that rather than talking in circles and making no sense. Goodbye.