817
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by helenslunch@feddit.nl to c/gaming@beehaw.org

In case you're out of the loop, the old Steam Deck had Philips screws that screwed into self-tapping plastic holes. This lead to occasional stripped threads and often stripped screwheads.

Valve absolutely did not have to change their screws, and its probably actually against their best interests. While other companies around the world are constantly in search of new ways to screw their own consumers, Valve goes out of their way to update their screws to make them easier to install/remove by changing to torx screws and added metal threads in the backplate. Those who know anything about mechanical engineering know this is not an insignificant amount of effort they put into it.

This is a small change that makes a huge impact, and speaks volumes about the ethos of the company. It says:

  1. We want to make our devices last longer, and be easier to repair.

  2. If you want to buy the cheaper tier and save yourself a few bucks by installing whatever SSD you want, go right ahead.

  3. We trust you to make decisions for yourself.

  4. Most importantly, we respect you, the consumer, and want you to fully own and control the devices we sell.

Valve is by no means perfect, and there's plenty more they could be doing, but they've earned my respect and my patronage and I won't buy games from anywhere else. I will buy whatever future products they sell, even if I don't think I'll use them regularly.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 9 months ago

Yeah, the OG Steam Deck video before it even released made very clear that the original run was made with self-tapping screws, which meant that disassembly and re-assembly was always going to result in a less firm and tight re-assembly because the holes have already been tapped once.

It was honestly my personal biggest complaint considering it seemed otherwise like they were aiming to support self-repair. Very refreshing to see they changed tack to a costlier option for the sake of their customers. Very true, companies rarely do this out of the goodness of their hearts, and Valve is an unusual company.

[-] DigitalPaperTrail@kbin.social 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I consistently pray for shareholders never getting their deathgrip on Valve

[-] Mambert@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

I just don't use my impact drill on them and I've never had an issue.

[-] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago

But how do you know if the screws are tight when you're not counting ugga duggas?

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] PeWu@lemmy.ml 8 points 9 months ago

I think Valve in on very early steps of enshittification. Maybe not everyone, but most companies started like that. I mean being nice to users. Counterargument to my claim is that they are already millionaires, which is true, but humans' greed may be limitless.

[-] araozu@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago

If valve were public, and required to make a lot more money than the previous quarter, they would absolutely need (want?) to get the maximum amount of money from wherever they could. It's what I think it's happening with netflix & others. It doesn't matter that (hypotetically) they make a billion dolars of revenue. They need to make more next quarter. So they need to raise prices, forbid account sharing, reduce content quarity, anything to earn as much money as possible for next quarter.

Volvo could earn a billion dollars, and if they don't want to earn more, they could happily stay the same. They might even want to make moves thinking on the long term, such as keep customers happy and excited, or invest in new technologies like proton. Compared to netflix execs, who don't care about the long term, they care about next quarter.

I don't know a lot about the stock market, but it looks stupid to me to bet on infinite growth. If the company earns money, and I own shares, shouldn't I earn money via dividends? It looks to me like the only way to make money is to buy low and sell high? Or is that just greed?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Zozano@aussie.zone 6 points 9 months ago

I don't think it will happen. Enshittification has a predictable life cycle. Valve has had years of opportunity to sell out, but haven't.

load more comments (13 replies)
[-] guyrocket@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago

Made by hardware hackers for hardware hackers.

[-] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

Turns out i'm gonna buy a steamdeck with them using linux and thinking of things like this.

I just need to wait a bit as the most expensive season is around the corner, i'm just glad our Dutch black friday doesn't outdo any regular discount making it a near necessity to wait for black friday.

[-] stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

Are people continually opening their steam decks? I am confused at the opportunity to have stripped screws and dethreaded holes.

load more comments (7 replies)
[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 4 points 9 months ago

People ITT: it's called ranting and raving!

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
817 points (100.0% liked)

Gaming

30344 readers
96 users here now

From video gaming to card games and stuff in between, if it's gaming you can probably discuss it here!

Please Note: Gaming memes are permitted to be posted on Meme Mondays, but will otherwise be removed in an effort to allow other discussions to take place.

See also Gaming's sister community Tabletop Gaming.


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS