There have been at least half a dozen clearly-identified issues which started showing up in the Steam client after the "new library" update in 2019. Valve's response to complaints addressing the problems has included fixing exactly none of them, removing tools for skin creation which allowed some of them to be resolved or partly compensated for, disabled access to several existing safe workarounds without providing any alternatives, and worse.
273 days ago(+3)
You are still being weirdly vague about the medical conditions and how steam is triggering them, or what any of the issues actually are. Are you referring to visual impairments?
272 days ago(-2)
Sorry, wasn't my intent. I've discussed this a lot (it's been 4 years) so I sometimes forget what I have or haven't mentioned in a given conversation. Migraines and epilepsy are the most prominent issues, since both can result in hospitalisation in bad cases, but a few less severe problems like vertigo and several headache-related conditions as well. As far as I'm aware, the triggers appear to be photosensitive. Not "visual impairment" per se, but visual triggers, though some of the causes are less obvious on normal viewing of the app.
I personally get severe migraines, and have been in hospital for them a few times, including once when this issue first started, before I found out the Steam client was a potential problem in this regard. Steam isn't just "a" trigger for me, but the most consistent and fastest-acting trigger I've found. Having the Steam client installed is a serious enough risk for me not to be safe to do so, and Valve's conduct in response to being advised of the problem has at best made the issues more severe and harder to work around.
264 days ago(+2)(-1)
This might seem like a crazy suggestion, but have you thought about not using it? Read a book instead? Watch a movie? Go for a run?
263 days ago(-2)
I do all of those things regularly. But I am also a gamer.
And surprisingly, given the question I'm asking, I DON'T use Steam. Because it's a literal health risk and I don't want to put myself in hospital with another migraine because of it.
Or did you not consider that asking for the game to be made available somewhere other than Steam was a part of my "not using it" process? Because yeah, asking devs to make sure their games are available elsewhere is a really useful way to still get to play games while not using Steam.
Kinda thought that would be obvious?
263 days ago(+1)
It was meant to be an amusing comment, no disrespect or rudeness intended.
I don't use steam at all, never have. I play these games on itch, but I don't really play that much these days. My gaming days were on the Super Nintendo.
Good luck with your healthy gaming :)
130 days ago(-1)
Get a daith piercing to cure migraines. Get some glasses with polarised lenses to prevent photosensitive triggers. Also, you can run any steam game without steam client.
1. Only works for about 10% of migraine suffers.
2. Not a good workaround *AND* only works for certain types of photosensitive trigger, and rarely works for the ones setting off migraines.
3. Objectively false, it works on about 80% (and dropping) of games on Steam, but more reliably with much older games than anything in the past 5 years, with games from the past decade being more like 80% chance they won't run without the client.
4. The issues don't only affect people with migraines.
Appreciate the attempt to help though :)
I used to get severe migraines every week ,for days at a time. Now I get a few mild ones each year. All down to the daith-piercing.
1- It's probably a lot more than 10% - but how do you know you're not one of the 10%, like me, who it works for? -if you haven't tried, 100% wont work.
2- Polarised lenses are a very good workaround - it blocks all parallax light and ensures each eyes receives the same brightness which pretty much irradiates most light-sensitivity triggers.
3- here are the games I run without Steam Client (haven't found one yet that wont launch) ...
Did you actually try any of the suggestions or did you just assume they're false, without testing for yourself?
1. A 90% failure rate (and yes, I looked into it in the past and that's the number quoted by multiple professionals who can cite research on the topic) isn't a good enough chance to be worth getting a piercing I don't want in the hope that it might help.
2. Partly untrue, and partly irrelevant to the reasons why it wouldn't help most people with migraines, and yes I've tried it and it doesn't help me.
3. That's nice. When I was still testing things, I found less than 2% of my library was safe to launch without the client, and it's a demonstrable fact that there are more recent games which can't be run without the Steam client than ones which can. It's entirely possible for someone not affected by the issues I've had to deal with to not notice when it opens as a background app, while someone whose condition(s) get(s) triggered by the client will noticed because they end up in pain/needing medication/getting an ambulance called to take them to hospital shortly after opening the game.
I've done plenty of testing of lots of possibilities which haven't stopped Steam from being harmful, and plenty of investigating of many more which I didn't feel were reasonably-priced or unintrusive enough to be worth testing personally. But, again, I do appreciate that you're approaching this with the intent to be helpful. It's not helpful, unfortunately, but I can tell that you want to help, so thank you for that much at least.
129 days ago(+1)
No problem at all. Your-body-your-choice my friend! End of story.
I think it's important for me to recount my own success, in case any other migraine sufferers read it....after all, that's how I learned of it, from someone else who had cured themselves...
I had also read the countless studies which say it doesn't work or it's a placebo - I think that's just a case of big-pharma putting it's foot down to protect its $100Billion per-year pain-med industry, from a $10 dollar one-off procedure.
In my case, the migraines were insufferable and I was happy to try. It was an immediate success - in fact, the migraine I had at the time was relieved within seconds, instead of having to wait days for it to clear on its own - actually a life-changing event.When you say you don't want to "take a risk with a piercing" which probably wont work, I just want you to know that there is very little risk, very little pain, it literally takes 10 seconds and does not need any medical expertise- it's a $10 routine-procedure (which is completely reversible), which requires almost zero aftercare other than basic hygiene. In fact, even children can get them at a Mall. I imagine you've readt a long list of risks from the same people who told you it doesn't work. For balance, take a quick glance at the safety-sheet for the side-effects (and efficacy) of the triptans/opioids/NSAIDs they'll try to push for migraine relief.
Either way, I genuinely wish you well - migraines can be soul-destroying - and just remember, if it ever becomes unbearable in the future, maybe reconsider the daith-piercing. :)