https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -ETSG-5417

TL;DR

Trade stuff in Steam. Currently limited to game gifts (i.e. extra copies and there's a new option to buy a game as a gift but not send it. Also, traded games received will not automatically be activated, allowing you to trade it on) and TF2 items. Planning on adding Portal 2 and some 3rd party games soon.

Also, there's a new friend tagging/grouping system, which I imagine works like Facebook/Google+.

New trading, im guessing is to reduce risk of things like the reddit game swap thread and item for games going wrong.

The tagging system is like Google circles, it works quite well. Just wish I could edit groups to add a bunch of people at once, not go through a window on each person to add them to a group

Trading: Polygons
Looking For: Game please?

Yeah, it seems like it's basically to reduce the risk of scams. With game trades you will still have to buy the game, but atleast they can't scam it away from you so you still have it to trade.

So now, all we need is a big beefy server, 1,000 TF2 accounts that periodically log on and a script to trade items to a mule. Free games anyone?

That's a good point, you could theoretically farm items to trade for games, especially as TF2 is free. Though I think the amount of time and cost in electricity would probably outweigh the return on the TF2 items, considering their low value.

Really? All it takes is logging on weekly or whatever, cause you get items without even being on, right?

No, you only get items during time played. Otherwise I'd have had loads when I returned

(You do get some items when not playing - those are promotional items, not random drops)

Ahh fair enough