Just Another Necessary Reminder That Valve Promotes Underage Gambling

While it's great fun to point fingers at Epic, or Microsoft, at EA or
Activision for their scummy, quasi-legal behaviors, let's not also
forget that the darling of the PC Gaming industry, Valve, is neck-deep
in supporting not only gambling, but underage gambling.

A huge chunk of Valve's income derives from selling lootbox items used
as 'tokens' by gambling websites, and the company turns a blind eye to
the practice even as it rakes in billions. Its uses psychologically
manipulative practices to ensnare its victims, and uses the same shady
tactics as other gambling companies to find loopholes that keep it
(just barely) on the right side of the law (and sometimes not even
then).

There's a lot to like about Valve's games, and the advantages of Steam
over its competitors, but let's not forget that it's all fueled by
taking advantage of the vulnerable, many of them underaged. Valve is
well aware of this and does nothing to change this because too much of
their revenue depends on the income from selling lootboxes and trading
the items found within.

A lot of spite is aimed at the likes of the Riccitiellos and
Guillemots and Koticks of the industry, but some of that definitely
needs to be retargeted at Gabe Newell. He's equally as scummy, and as
much as I like some of the things Steam has done, I eagerly await the
day when the company is knocked down a peg for its unpardonable
behavior.

Here's a nice video about it (sadly, one of many because this is NOT a
new issue): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13eiDhuvM6Y