So first off, you start out by lying about my words, so we immediately know you're not operating in good faith.

What I said:

> Steam is not rent-seeking - the value that they provide is tremendous, and you are not forced to use them, which makes them non-rent-seeking by definition.

That's a compound statement that you cut off to change the substance of. What you quoted:

> you are not forced to use them, which makes them non-rent-seeking by definition.

And now that we've called out your lie, we can move on to the substance, which is also incorrect.

The definition of rent-seeking disagrees with everything that you've said:

"The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, especially by the use of subsidies."

https://www.wordnik.com/words/rent%20seeking

Steam is doing none of that.

> Rent seeking isn't even mutually exclusive with adding value.

This is factually incorrect - both according to the dictionary definition of the phrase, and according to the way that it's used casually, which is extraction of value without creation of it.

I'm glad that this is happening in the open - when people have to actively lie to try to push a narrative about Steam, it really shows that they have no legitimate points - every thread where these lies are exposed just (justly) boosts Valve's reputation.