Congratulations, we have been awarded additional June 1968! Hold on . . . we’ve just been awarded June 1968 again? Wasn’t last month also June 1968? Thus continues the unbroken series of June 1968s that began long ago in mid-September 2007. Team Fortress time never changes. The spawn room calendars, as the Sandvich must constantly remind the Heavy, contain neither spies nor lies. The ongoing June 1968 overtime simply keeps calm and carries on through summer full moons, Halloween falls, and Smissmas winters. Even ill-advised incursions by cyberpunk weapons FROM THE FUTURE have thus far failed to flip the Team Fortress calendar page.

Success! Years are being scrambled! Let the January 2012 begin! Despite a growing reliance on mid-week, weekend, and holiday Steam sales to measure the passage of time, most of us have not yet chosen (or been chosen) to completely abandon the Gregorian calendar in favor of this alternative “Valve time” so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors. This year Valve celebrates two significant milestones: five years of Team Fortress 2 and ten years of Steam (from its earliest public Beta release). So what long-overdue improvements to the Steam experience should we anticipate or petition from Valve during this upcoming double anniversary year?

First, Valve has rightly recognized the need to overhaul their content delivery system. Valve announced plans this past summer to refine the Steam download experience with bandwidth limits, schedules, background transfers, prioritization, and differential patching. The Heavy responded that it costs $400,000 to download game content from Steam for 12 seconds. While patently untrue, the Heavy’s hyperbole does expose continued regional pricing inequities by certain third party publishers and the concerning costs associated with exceeding stringent regional bandwidth caps.

Second, Valve needs to find a better way to communicate Steam service interruptions to its customers. The Steam forums contain a long-maintained thread where Valve employees provide periodic updates on planned Steam maintenance and unplanned service outages. Alt-tabbing to check this official Steam Downtime Announcement thread feels sadly reactive, however, when the Steam Community is already offline or a Steamworks-reliant multiplayer session has already disconnected everyone. Planned service interruptions should not be an unexpected and unwelcome surprise for players. Steam service status should instead be readily available and clearly visible to customers within the Steam client and overlay.

Third, Valve should revisit the often broken and unpleasant Steam Support experience. “Valve time” may produce great games but “Valve time” is not a good model for customer service. Valve needs to provide better and quicker support options. The primary and official means for requesting assistance should not be an impersonal web form with a minimum 48 to 72 hour wait time before reply. While Gabe Newell and Robin Walker’s direct responses to customer feedback are often open and warm, the long delays and formulaic responses of Steam Support feel far more closed and cold. Valve should consider adding live chat support and perhaps even phone support. Steam has grown and adapted over time. Steam Support needs Valve’s support to grow and adapt accordingly.

Sic Semper Steam. Sic Semper Team Fortress.