How do Steam Trading cards and the trade system work?
I recently bought Terraria and have been receiving these "Steam Trading cards" while playing. I don't have any knowledge on them but I enjoy collecting items, so I'm intrigued; What are they, exactly? How do I get more? How do I trade them?
All the items in my inventory are 'Common' - does that mean there are rarer ones? How do you get those?
Best Answer
These are called Steam Trading Cards. To quote the website:
Steam Trading Cards are virtual cards earned by playing games on Steam. Sets of cards can be turned into game badges and tradable Steam community items.
Playing Steam games will cause you to earn these virtual cards as you play. Collecting sets of cards can get you special achievements and badges, and you can also buy and sell these cards on the Steam community marketplace.
On the Wikipedia page, it also states:
Steam Trading Cards are distributed through several methods; if a game has a trading card set, playing that game will periodically grant the player trading cards until a threshold is met.
This means that you get these cards randomly and periodically while you play, until you meet the set threshold. I can't find any sources for how to get rare or uncommon cards specifically, as it seems to be completely random.
Here's a link to the Steam community marketplace for trading these cards.
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How does the Steam Trading Card system work?
Steam Trading Cards are virtual cards, earned by buying and playing games on Steam, that can be crafted into badges that grant rewards. Collect a set of cards to earn items that help you customize your profile and show off your gameplay.Are Steam Trading Cards worth anything?
If you want to make a little money with your Steam cards, you can put them on the digital market, but I must warn you, most of them are not worth much. You can trade an entire collection and end up with less than $1. However, there are some Steam cards that are extremely expensive.Do people use Steam Trading Cards?
Selling trading cards for a few cents is a widespread phenomenon among Steam users. So widespread in fact, that I've never once met or talked to anyone (real life or internet) who actually buys Steam trading cards other than the event-specific ones (for summer sale and that sort of thing).Steam Trading Cards and Badges - Explanation and Tutorial
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Karolina Grabowska, Monstera, Pixabay, Pixabay