Lightsout Games Studio

Steam has a big problem. Its time to talk.

We have all been invited to a “networking” group at least once in our lifetime on steam. It's annoying, random, and almost daily it seams.

These groups do free game giveaways, contest, run servers, etc. You might think these are harmless groups with big ambitions on helping players connect. Things aren't as good as the seem for every networking group that has thousands of members, someone had to spill their own blood at the cost of the group owner. Everyday developers and player alike are scammed, tricked, robbed of their private information. As you read this a developer is handing over 50,000 steam keys to a greedy networking offical waiting to make a quick buck off a independent dev.

The owners of these groups work together in scamming us and they know exactly what they are doing. Im going to break this next part down into sections first I will discuss what groups you should look out for and then what these groups offer to developers then what they do with their user base.

The offenders

DarkNight Network: operated by DarkEvil - DNGaming ♛

http://steamproxy.net/groups/DNGaming1

https://steamproxy.net/id/DarkEvilTF

Original Network: operated by SalzStange

http://steamproxy.net/groups/Original_Giveaway_Group

http://steamproxy.net/id/54656245

REX Network: operated by Daniël - ReviewExperts ♥

http://steamproxy.net/groups/therexnetwork

http://steamproxy.net/id/danielbink

Lit Network: operated by THEBOSSMAN

http://steamproxy.net/groups/LitNetwork

http://steamproxy.net/id/EliteBossMan/

UltraShock Gaming: operated by Nutlope | UltraShock Gaming

http://steamproxy.net/groups/UltraShockGaming

http://steamproxy.net/id/nutlope

What do these groups do exactly?

Well its not really news about some of these networks is it? We all know about this incident... http://morrisonlee.com/2016/05/23/game-publishers-in-2016-how-to-throw-your-lifes-work-away-in-seconds/

Here's a few things these network owners have said to me personally and other developers I have been in contact with:

"This is nothing new really, I've got a game on Steam that has grabbed the attention of review sellers multiple times now - if you decline they flood the new review section with bad reviews (thankfully Steam is fast with removing them). It's usually keys (~50k or more) or money "if you want to have them seem legit". Example: http://pastebin.com/raw/wYgrXTZf" -Xaymar

“DarkEvil - DNGaming ♛ 27 May @ 5:12pm Hello, Sir
I have a marketing offer for you and your awesome games! We are offering Greenlight Boostings for developers for only 30$. If you are interested, please contact me through Steam or my email darkevilservices@gmail.com”

-DarkEvil - DNGaming ♛

-THEBOSSMAN being an ass not even trying to hide what hes doing

If you look a little deeper into these people and their groups immediately you will find out the true horror of what they are doing to steam. USG charges 900 freaking dollars for a greenlight campaign boost that is against steam's ToS!

Developers beware

These groups will email you and add you on steam to abuse you. They will ask you for massive amounts of keys saying it will help your sales. THIS IS A LIE! This will make your game look cheap and like a cash in. If you are doing a greenlight campaign and they add you IGNORE THEM they use grey market tactics and abuse the system and their methods are actually against greenlight TOS this can get your game REMOVED from greenlight. All of their marketing data is false and they have nothing to bake it up all they do is add up their collective number of users in their networks. Just think a little if a network has 4 groups of 50k members they do not have 200,000 users collectively they most likely only have 50k people in 4 groups. If you really want to get your game noticed post to reddit, facebook, forums you visit. If your game is good it will catch on. These networks leach on unconfident devs. It's time to stop.

How this effect users

The users only see the group and free game end of this spectrum. I don't blame them joining a group to get free games I know I would when I was younger. But what they don't know is that they are pawns in the battle between developers and these group network owners. When a network admin pushes a announcement about a free giveaway the crowd goes wild flooding the stands unknowingly giving away their personal information to these group owners. Gleam.io is a data collection haven for these networks they can send 100,000 members to any group, twitter, or youtube with a push of a button. They also collect your email, name, steam account, and other social medias the can and WILL sell your information to 3rd party just to make a quick buck.