I know and I agree, as I stated in my last sentence.

Valve has done a lot of good for PC gaming with Steam, but it gives the impression that Steam has gone out of control, and may end up being a problem for PC gaming.

I'm not sure anymore if Valve ever has done something "good" for PC gaming or if they just did something and people reluctantly accepted it.

Nah! Without Steam, PC gaming nowadays would be in a much worse state. We have to keep in mind that Steam is a DRM platform that helps reduce piracy, that's why publishers were so eager to join.

It's never a good idea to say: "If X didn't do something we wouldn't have Y".

Maybe if Valve hadn't started it we would have something much better today. Which doesn't seem to be that hard to do.

Maybe it's not that hard, but no one else did it, right?

The best we have is GOG thanks to its lack if DRM, and that's mostly it. And retail stores like Green Man Gaming rely on Steam codes, so they aren't the answer.

One thing is for sure, before Steam became the omni presence of PC gaming i could buy used PC games who were 1 year on the market for pennies

Is it just me, or has Steam's recommendation algorithm gotten a Lot better over the past year.
Steam still has fundamental problems, but good content often seems be a stone's throw away now.

The Steam shopping experience feels better these days.

Restrictive platform but isn't EU going after them to have users ability to give or sell their games in their library?  Not sure what happened with all that.  I could look it up but too lazy because it wouldn't change anything here in USA.

EU and I think Australia too. But that doesn't change what I said and, in fact, if this ever happens it will be good for all of us.

Heck! They could even implement it in a way that one euro/dollar/pound/etc, goes to the developer, another one to Steam and the rest for the end user, almost like they do it when selling cards.

Steam is probably the lesser of two evils.
Valve being a privately held company means they aren't at the mercy of shareholders who will attempt to push for the exploitation of consumers at every single possible turn to make an extra buck.

Could you imagine if EA made Steam and controlled the majority of the digital distribution market? Your games would probably be sold inside loot boxes as random drops.

Valve has reached a point though where they are approaching 20,000 games on Steam... They don't have to worry about quantity, but they do need to start worrying about quality... And with EA having left the platform, Microsoft having spotty support (Where is Halo Wars 2 and Gears 4?) well. You get the idea.

I also wish Valve would go back to making games... Where is Portal 3, Left 4 Dead 3, Half Life 3, Team Fortress 3, Dota 3, Alien Swarm 2? They have some of the greatest games of all time but it feels like it's been a forever since their last releases. D: Heck. Make them Steam exclusive. IDC.