My initial thought is definitely yes for the Steam Machine, and maybe yes for the Steam Frame.
All devices are Valve made hardware running steamOS, so I would think a lot of the discussions/content would apply to Steam Deck. This also isn’t a super busy community, so I wouldn’t be that worried about Steam Deck specific content getting buried.
The Steam Frame is a bit more iffy than the Steam Machine though, there’s a lot of experience differences between the Deck/Machine and a VR device, so there will be larger differences. Also the Frame has ARM hardware and has to use an additional x86 to ARM compatibility layer for games running on it, so we’ll probably see some unique compatibility bugs for it.
Overall though I just want to hear everyone else’s opinions on it.
Yes. Anything to grow communities. The fediverse is not in the restrictive limiting of communities time in its evolution. The fediverse is in the we need more numbers phase. You need a lot more people to be worried about this kind of thing. Right now you just need more people making more post and making more comments.
I wouldn’t be opposed. New community name could be SteamHardware. They share an OS and ecosystem and people interested in one would likely be interested in the others.
Absolutely. I would rather have one great community instead of 3 hyper specific communities. It just needs to have flags like [steamdeck] [ steammachine] [steamframe] Or even shorthand sd, sm, sf.
Is… is it even possible to rename a community?
Valve Ecosystem Nerds?
Or do you just have to make a new one, and tell everyone to migrate?
Anyway, yes, I think that untill or unless it becomes truly problematic in some way, yeah, this basically already is a comm of general Valve/Steam related both hardware and software nerd#, why be too picky?
If a flood or trickle of noobies ever show up, easier for them to ask questions and get news in one place.
But I also do see a potential problem of people having no idea this comm would cover more than just the Deck, not finding it in searches.
… Not sure what to do about that?
Maybe make another community so that people who don’t own the other devices can just subscribe to this one and not be bothered by desktop linux gaming and VR ?
Personally, I like the idea of becoming more of a “Steam Hardwares” community, as them being all kinda niche but close in scope, they shouldn’t conflict with each other nor turn the community into a too generalist one.
gabeware
FTFY
One more yes from me. All hail Gaben
I think a name change would have to match. Steam hardware seems pretty straight forward to me.
I’d say yes. If the volume becomes overwhelming new communities can easily be created.
Agreed, the fediverse is small enough now that living aggregate communities are preferable to dead specific ones. Especially because everyone hates posting something, getting their post removed and being told to go post in another very similar community they didn’t know existed. As you said, if it becomes a problem you can just spin off
Fragmented communities is such an annoying problem in the fediverse.
The problem can also be a positive, so that communities for more specific niches can be created, or to have alternatives for already existing ones with different management philosophies.
User numbers are still far too low for this to be a practical positive imo.
Definitely yes, they all run Steam OS and all 3 device are very interchangeable in what they offer. Plus there’s not that much people to properly support 3 different communities.
Yes.
We are the niche of a niche. We need more content, as long as it’s relevant.
Since they’re all designed to work together as a trio, surely it makes sense to include them all? And it’s not a forever decision, they can always branch off later if it becomes clear enough people are interested in one or the other to support their own communities.
I’d love to see them included, honestly. it seems they’re all part of the same family.
I think that there is a somewhat decent chance that there will be an ARM Steam Deck Mini at some point. The Steam Client will probably be released for ARM distributions. I think for the foreseeable future there will be a considerable overlap of topics between thee devices.
I think should there be a flood of posts regarding hardware tinkering of the other devices (people sharing faceplate STLs for Machine or addons for the Frame’s expansion port), they could be directed to dedicated communities but for now IMO it’s fine to be inclusive.
I think that there is a somewhat decent chance that there will be an ARM Steam Deck Mini at some point.
Damn. I hope so. I play many indie retro style games, and my favorites are all on my Steam account. I would get so much use out of a truly pocket device with good retro controls and my Steam account signed in.
Edit: Alternately, somebody needs to release a dedicated pocket device with “Donut Dodo” pre-installed, and we can call it good enough for an few months.
Feels like the more accurate name moving forward would be “SteamOS Hardware”.
