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, it makes sense to expand the community to be steam devices as a whole.
Community displayed name should probably change to Steam Devices or something like that.
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.
I vote yes, and change the name so it isn’t just deck
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.
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.
Yeah, community being split up might just lead to inactivity for certain hardware if it isn’t popular enough. There’s enough overlap with SteamOS that I think being all in one is the best route. Maybe if lemmy gets way more users in the future then splitting up discussion to dedicated hardware communities might be an option, but for now better to be one.
gabeware
FTFY
All hail the Gabecube.
But the Gabe Companion Cube…
Yes. If this were a more heavily trafficked sub I’d consider separating out the Frame and GabeCube. But it’s not.
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.
Of course. Valve hardware is awesome and we need a place to talk about it.
I don’t know why you would, except in relation to how they work with the steam deck.
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 don’t think so. Because they are different systems with different goals and different needs. If the community was named “Steam OS”, then it would make sense. But this community is not about the operating system, but the device itself.
I can definitely get that for Steam Frame, but I feel like docked Steam Deck and Steam Machine are basically the same experience, just with different performance levels.
I’d suggest a separate community for each hardware variant and a Steam OS community acting as a broader hardware indifferent Steam gaming community (which I believe exists already)
this is just a forwardlooking estimation that it will be easier for moderation.
I think a name change would have to match. Steam hardware seems pretty straight forward to me.
Yes; it makes no sense to have multiple communities when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame are so similar to the Steam Deck. It may be that in the future it makes sense to split out topics if their isn’t overlap, but I’d say the community isn’t flooded with content and there is a lot of overlap between these topics that will benefit everyone.
Yes.
We are the niche of a niche. We need more content, as long as it’s relevant.
