The Steam community awards have always struck me as rather strange. I mean, are these really they best they could come up with? Still, I guess we're stuck with them. 🙄

Take something like the “Hilarious” award. Some people use that to mean “I found that very funny, you're awesome”. Others use it to mean “You said something stupid, and I hate you” (lol). It's not great when one award can mean two different things.

As we all know, there’s no official “meaning” to each of the awards.
Well, now there is… 😀

Seeing as there is no place to post guides that are for Steam in general, I decided to post it here. Maybe someone will find it. Maybe not 😀

These days, people are discouraged from expressing any "negative" emotion online, and it certainly seems that Steam doesn't want us being anything less that lovely to each other. However, this doesn’t stop people from repurposing some of the awards for the simple reason that it's not natural to expect people to always be "positive".

In this guide, I’ve separated the awards into “positive” and “negative” awards for ease of reference.

All awards give the recipient one third of the award’s cost in points. And remember, I didn't choose the cheesy taglines 🙄 For some awards, it is really obvious what they are for. But, with this guide, I hope to clarify the awards that might be a bit ambiguous.

Please note: Just before you're tempted to be one of those people online that's like “who are you to say what the awards should be?” and “we all know what the awards are for, you moron!”, etc… – try to realise, this is not serious – just a bit of fun! 😊And of course, if you don’t agree with me, or dislike the guide, you’re free to make your own! Or, just ignore it and move on with your life.

If there is any serious point here, it’s that whoever designed the Steam awards system… well, they really do suck (they should be awarded the “Wild” award 😀).
This is how they should have done it:

1) Every award’s meaning should be crystal clear.
2) Every award should be completely distinct from one another – no duplicate “emotions”.
3) There should be negative awards, to allow people to express dislike and well as like.
4) The selection of awards should cover all possible feelings people might have towards something.

Now, enjoy the Definitive Guide to the Steam Community Awards...

Heatwarming
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Makes you want to go out and show a rainbow to a kitten.”
Real Meaning: You come across as such a lovely person. Nobody could possibly dislike you.
Give This Award: When you want to let someone know they are loved :)

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Hilarious
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “There’s funny, and then there’s this absolute gem.”
Real Meaning: The best way of saying “I found that really funny”, in a good way. Not to be confused with the negative Jester award.
Give This Award: When a person or comment genuinely makes you laugh.

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Hot Take
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “You can’t start a fire without a spark, and some gasoline.”
Real Meaning: A really original idea here.
Give This Award: When you want to show your appreciation for a unique point of view.

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Poetry
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Such elegant prose. A literary feast.”
Real Meaning: I couldn't have said this better myself.
Give This Award: When someone's comment or idea is perfect. They hit the nail on the head.

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Extra Helpful
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “If this were any more helpful, I wouldn’t need a brain.”
Real Meaning: I found this to be very helpful.
Give This Award: When you want to say it simply: "I found this to be very helpful". No frills. Easy.

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Gotta Have It
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Just hand it over, nice and easy.”
Real Meaning: Someone has created something that you really want.
Give This Award: When user-generated content is truly excellent, and can actually be beneficial to you or others.

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Deep Thoughts
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Trained dolphins couldn’t get to the bottom of this one.”
Real Meaning: You actually spent that long, and that much effort? You should be working in NASA with mind like that!
Give This Award: To someone that has shown they are a deep thinker.

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Michelangelo
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “It belongs in a museum (and my inventory).”
Real Meaning: This is awarded to a work of art. Something that shows talent, effort and skill.
Give This Award: When someone has shown real artistic flair is something they have created.

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Mad Scientist
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “It’s alive!”
Real Meaning: That's a truly off-the-wall idea.
Give This Award: When someone says or does something you would never have thought of in a million years.

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Wholesome
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Like laying in the grass on a warm sunny day.”
Real Meaning: In a world filled with bad guys, it’s nice to know that good people exist. Your faith in humanity has been restored.
Give This Award: When someone has shown themselves to be a decent person.

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Treasure
Cost: 600 points. Gives recipient 200 points.
Tagline: “We found it! We found the booty!”
Real Meaning: In amongst a lot of mediocrity, this shines.
Give This Award: When things were going along as normal, and out of the blue, someone just nails it. Game over, man. Game over.

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Super Star
Cost: 600 points. Gives recipient 200 points.
Tagline: “Leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity.”
Real Meaning: You should be famous (or more famous than you already are).
Give This Award: You might be forgiven for thinking you were insulting someone here by describing them as “Freddy Mercury-like”. But, this award let's someone know they are a cut above the average human being.

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Saucy
Cost: 1200 points. Gives recipient 400 points.
Tagline: “Sometimes you just need to kick it up a notch.”
Real Meaning: That was spicy!
Give This Award: When someone has said or done something that has provoked an interesting response from others.

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Mind Blown
Cost: 1200 points. Gives recipient 400 points.
Tagline: “Human brains aren’t ready for this much awesomeness.”
Real Meaning: I will never be the same again.
Give This Award: When a person or comment rocks your world with awesomeness.

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Golden Unicorn
Cost: 2400 points. Gives recipient 800 points.
Tagline: “Shine on Golden Unicorn, shine on.”
Real Meaning: A Golden Unicorn award is actually a Russian movie award. So, I've no idea what bright spark thought this is a good award for Steam. I mean really - what is the point in this? Oh well, let's see...
Give This Award: Seeing as this is such a valuable award points-wise, but has no inherent meaning, it's given when you just want to give a valuable award for the sake of giving a valuable award.

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Clever
Cost: 2400 points. Gives recipient 800 points.
Tagline: “Gold medal in mental gymnastics.”
Real Meaning: Subtlety is the key here.
Give This Award: Sometimes people or comments are just clever - it's that simple.

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Take My Points
Cost: 4800 points. Gives recipient 1600 points.
Tagline: “Shut up and take my Steam points.”
Real Meaning: Erm, "I'm giving you lots of my Steam points".
Give This Award: The highest award you can give someone on Steam in terms of points. Someone has impressed you so much, you want them to know just how amazing they are by giving them lots of points as a reward. Essentially, you're saying "kudos".

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Wild
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “Can’t tame this awesomeness.” (sarcastically)
Real Meaning: This is one of the newer awards, and is the most pointless award on Steam. We already have enough awards to show that we like stuff. This award is hardly ever given, for a good reason – it sucks. So, this is now the “omg, this really does suck” award. On the surface, it looks like a good award – but now we know better… :)
Give This Award: To someone who appears to offer something of value, but it's all superficial. They're actually a pointless human being. They're going to be easily fooled into thinking this is actually a good award. That's because they absolutely SUCK! Give this award when you want to surreptitiously show your dislike for something or someone.

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Whoa
Cost: 300 points. Gives recipient 100 points.
Tagline: “There are no words.”
Real Meaning: I'm left speechless by how dumb that was.
Give This Award: We've all see a post like this. One that leaves you thinking "this person HAS to be trolling, right? Nobody is that stupid."

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Warm Blanket
Cost: 600 points. Gives recipient 200 points.
Tagline: “Oh to be a cozy blob in a blanket.”
Real Meaning: You need to leave, before you start to cry.
Give This Award: Given to people who have exhibited snowflake tendencies. “Blob” implies they are of the overweight variety, needing to be tucked up in their bed, so the big bad world can’t hurt them any more.

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Slow Clap
Cost: 600 points. Gives recipient 200 points.
Tagline: “Every standing ovation starts with a single clap.”
Real Meaning: A way of patronising someone that has stated something so unbelievably blindingly obvious.
Give This Award: To someone who thinks they're smarter than they actually are.

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Jester
Cost: 600 points. Gives recipient 200 points.
Tagline: “An important part of any royal court.”
Real Meaning: There's Creationists... and then there's you.
Give This Award: When you spot a moron. They’ve said or done something that shows them to be a complete fool.

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Fancy Pants
Cost: 1200 points. Gives recipient 400 points.
Tagline: “Nothing says fancy like a well-tailored pair of pants.”
Real Meaning: You think you come off looking good here. You don't.
Give This Award: When someone is so "cringe" and they don't even realise it.

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