The Steam Trading feature which was introduced as a beta by Valve last month can now be accessed by everyone for bartering in-game items between two titles. As of now the, the swapping can take place among three games – Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Spiral Knights, but Steam has already announced plans about working with other developers to incorporate this trait into their titles.
The Community tab on the Steam client has been updated to include an Inventory link which shows all the inventories of every public profile in the Community. The Steam Trading feature also allows the swapping of any game which has been purchased as a Gift or an Extra Copy with other users. On purchasing a title, gamers will be shown an option reading, ‘Store the gift in my inventory to send later.’ Choosing this will transfer with game to their Inventory where it can be saved for latter use.
There are no restrictions on territories, which means the trading can be done with anyone around the world. However, gifts can be traded through trusted accounts only. These accounts are held by those gamers who have made any valid purchase from the Steam Store more than 90 days ago. Also, they cannot swap games which have been played by them at least once.
A new checkout option lets gamers save gifts which can be used for trading or sending later. Steam users can start trading with anyone in a Group Chat or their Friends List. A person who receives a certain game can visit the Inventory and click on ‘Unpack Gift’ to add it to their library.
The Steam Trading feature is now live and can be taken advantage of, through games like Team Fortress 2, Portal and Spiral Knights.