Steam Community beta upgrade goes live

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 7th August 2007
Comments (25) Stumble
The official community upgrade is now in public beta on the Steam platform, so join up to the official bit-tech group now!

The official community upgrade is now in public beta on the Steam platform, so join up to the official bit-tech group now!

In a constant effort to better the digital platform, Valve has now made the Community beta open to the public. It is still very much in the beta stage, but the results thus far look promising and gamers are now able to create individual pages which show others their favourite games and gaming statistics.

It's also possible to create groups who can use chat-rooms in both IM and voice modes, schedule gaming events and tournaments, come together to discuss all things gamey and just generally commune with each other.

The community upgrade is the single largest update to Valve's Steam platform since the original release in March 2004. Since then the system has grown to comprise over 13 million users, making games from a number of publishers and developers available anywhere there's a stable internet connection.

In fact, just yesterday Valve and id Software joined forces to make the id Software back-catalogue available over Steam.

More importantly though, the community upgrade has quickly spawned an official bit-tech.net gaming group, which is open for all to join - so feel free to build something alongside myself in Garry's Mod, or wipe the floor with Tim, Rich or Brett in Counterstrike: Source.

To join up to the group, you'll first need to enable the community beta. To do this, start up steam and hit File > Settings > Beta Participation and then restart your Steam client. After that, you'll have access to the beta and will be able to join the official Bit-tech.net group. Sure, it's small right now but it's early days.

If you're having trouble joining the Bit-tech gaming group, or if you just want to weigh up whether it's worth joining a beta or not, then you can always head to the forums and discuss the matter in-depth.
Quote g3n3tiX 7th August 2007, 10:39
I just can't join the group ? When I click "join" nothing happens. (Yes I have the beta).
help
Quote Duste 7th August 2007, 11:10
Sign in on the website first.

I've joined btw. :D
Quote CardJoe 7th August 2007, 11:15
If anybody needs a direct invite to join then add me to their friends list and I'll do the honors - Friend name: Cardjoe
Quote Bauul 7th August 2007, 11:34
So, are we playing a game of Hidden or what?
Quote CardJoe 7th August 2007, 11:44
http://www.hidden-source.com/ - for people who want it. As I said in the community post, I'm game for a match of it. If people want CS:S or HL2DM or whatever though then we can do that too.
Quote Jack_Pepsi 7th August 2007, 13:26
Excellent! - I've joined, however I can't get your (multi-core) server to come up in my Servers list. :( Think it might be a bug as I haven't been able to add new servers recently.

I'm sure myself and some clan mates would be will for some CS:S lovin' - :D
Quote C-Sniper 7th August 2007, 13:33
Joining it as we speak! Anyone else got Dystopia or Insurgency?
Quote Jack_Pepsi 7th August 2007, 14:00
Insurgency! :D
Quote HugoB 7th August 2007, 14:22
Dystopia FTW!!!
Quote Blademrk 7th August 2007, 19:33
joined.

Quick question, if I've already got a game, say Doom 3, can I use the ID key to activate it on steam so I wouldn't need to use the CD anymore? or does it only work if you buy it again over steam?
Quote Bladestorm 7th August 2007, 20:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blademrk
joined.

Quick question, if I've already got a game, say Doom 3, can I use the ID key to activate it on steam so I wouldn't need to use the CD anymore? or does it only work if you buy it again over steam?

That seems to vary game to game, steam supports the option, but it seems like not every publisher does.
Quote Blademrk 7th August 2007, 20:47
ok, thanks.
Quote Hiren 7th August 2007, 20:49
Trying to join. It's uber slow though.
Quote Bauul 7th August 2007, 22:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blademrk
joined.

Quick question, if I've already got a game, say Doom 3, can I use the ID key to activate it on steam so I wouldn't need to use the CD anymore? or does it only work if you buy it again over steam?

One doesn't need the CD anyway to run Doom 3. You have got it fully updated right?
Quote Blademrk 7th August 2007, 22:08
I was just using Doom 3 as an example, haven't had Doom installed in quite a while
Quote LeMaltor 7th August 2007, 22:41
Since i joined this beta Im bombarded with messages that people are playing games (whilst im ingame also), I do not know these people, or care what they are doing, how do I stop it? please help ;(
Quote capnPedro 7th August 2007, 22:55
File -> Settings -> Friends

Untick the relevant boxes under the Notifications & Sounds section
Quote FIBRE+ 8th August 2007, 02:44
Joined
Quote:
Originally Posted by C-Sniper
Joining it as we speak! Anyone else got Dystopia or Insurgency?

Loving Insurgency, it felt a bit different to start with but grew on me very quickly :)
Quote steveo_mcg 8th August 2007, 10:08
Is it possible to see what others are playing and what server they are playing on? I went on last night although i could see others i couldn't work out where every one was, so i gave up and played zombie master (which we should all play).
Quote CardJoe 8th August 2007, 10:10
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveo_mcg
Is it possible to see what others are playing and what server they are playing on? I went on last night although i could see others i couldn't work out where every one was, so i gave up and played zombie master (which we should all play).

Yeah, hit the 'View current status of all members' underneath the member list. You can then see who's playing what, if they are, and hit a button to join that server.
Quote yodasarmpit 8th August 2007, 10:51
Lets see who can beat my playtime http://steamcommunity.com/id/yodasarmpit
Quote Denis_iii 10th August 2007, 13:21
have joined....but the new steam client isnt as responsive as old so will wait for it to move on from beta. lol current steam client slow as it is n buggy. hope new one is sorted asap as kewl features n shows steampowered website far better with em extra button thingys lol god i need a beer n sleep. anyways.......

Every time I start CSS and go into the server list I have to resive the latency,map,game and players columns as they are all pushed to the right and as small as can be so u cant see anything

really gettin a pain and pissing me off

cheers
groMMit
Quote fathazza 10th August 2007, 22:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by yodasarmpit
Lets see who can beat my playtime http://steamcommunity.com/id/yodasarmpit

hours and hours making maps, none playing them?

i think a cod:uo session needs to be scheduled to actually get you out of sourcesdk for more than 5 minutes!
Quote yodasarmpit 10th August 2007, 22:43
Quote:
Originally Posted by fathazza


i think a cod:uo session needs to be scheduled to actually get you out of sourcesdk for more than 5 minutes!
:)
Quote xion 12th August 2007, 12:30
Joined up, but it's a damn shame there's not even marginal support for 3rd party games (i know i want the ideal world!) but i'd love to see a bitUT04 match... something tells me i'd get my ass handed to me
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