In what appears to be an attempt to put an end to the collaborative efforts of the Steam subreddit, Valve has changed the rules to this year's Steam Sale Summer Adventure. Earning points for your team still works the exact same way, but instead of only one team winning each day, members from the top three teams have a chance to get free games off of their wishlist.
The winning team — the one with the most points earned by crafting badgets by the end of the day — will still have 30 members selected randomly to win three free games from their wishlist. To be eligible you still must have contributed and scored points for your team.
With the changes made today however, the 2nd and 3rd place teams will also get free games. 20 team members who scored points for the 2nd place team will win two free games from their wishlist, while 10 team members from the 3rd place team will win one free game.
Valve didn't give a reason for the change, but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with colluding going on in the Steam subreddit. As I pointed out earlier today, there's an "Operation" where everyone on Steam works together to give each team two days of winning. And up until now it was working.
So are the changes made to the reward system working so far? If the goal was to throw off the planned schedule and bring back the competitive spirit to the competition, then I'd say so. Today is supposed to be Purple Team's day to win and so far they are in 4th place — not even on track to receive a free game. What's most noticable is that all five teams are within close range of each other, a far cry from the gap in points we witnessed earlier this week.
So while the slight change appears to have thrown the once organized operation into scrambling chaos, more free games is a good thing, right?
Editor's Note: We've reached out to Valve about this entire ordeal but have yet to hear back.
