This is a gaming group that operates off of Valve's Steam platform.  Students will pick up and develop practical skills here to help navigate within the world of gaming as a life enhancing activity.  Learners will be guided by not only an experienced gamer, but a scholar heavily versed in ancient and classical literature from authors like Hesiod, Homer, Xenophon, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Chaucer, and Shakespeare.  Playing video games builds grey matter, a major component of the central nervous system that helps with muscle control, perception, spatial navigation, memory, and pretty much all aspects of human life: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553239/  There are several medical journal studies pointing to these findings: 
https://rdcu.be/cNhEa
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091506
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0187779

This class will require the Steam client downloaded onto the participant's computer or possession of a Steam Deck.

Q: What is Valve's Steam?
A: Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by a company called Valve.  It is a standalone software client that launched back in 2003.

In this class students can expect to learn the following:
- Customizing a User Profile
- Navigating the Steam Community and Market
- Discover that Steam isn't just games, it has art creation and audio engineering software too!
- What are Steam Points and how to collect and spend them
- How to sift through bad games and identify "asset-flip" games
- What are the different game genres
- Adding PC games you already own or an application to your Steam library
- Assessing review scores of games
- Writing our own reviews
- Learning the dangers of micro-transactions, loot boxes, and all the creative ways companies try to extract money from players
- What sales are coming up
- Finding free games!
- Avoiding scams and suspicious messages from other users
- Gaming Festivals, like Steam Next Fest from June 13th - June 20th (https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest)
+ A heck of a lot more

If a student possesses one, this class will also cater to the Steam Deck that Steam released in February of 2022.  Those unfamiliar with the Steam Deck; it is a hand-held like a Nintendo Switch, but it can play PC games and has access to Steam's 10k+ gaming library.  Possession of the Steam Deck is not necessary to partake in the class.  It is simply a hand held PC that runs the Steam software client.  Being a life long user of Steam, I'm familiar with all of their other hardware.  Unfortunately, we will not venture into VR with the Valve Index (yet), BUT we will learn about everything else Steam has to offer such as Steam Remote Play Together or Steam Family Sharing; features that allow you to play couch co-op games with anyone around the world or to share your games and software with a family member.

Classes will begin with a short meet-and-greet then we will delve into latest gaming trends on Steam each particular week; see what is gaining popularity, see what is losing its momentum by analyzing Steam's concurrent player populations.  Every day a new game appears on Steam.  We will learn how to sift through the milieu and spot diamonds amidst a sea of gaming titles.  From week to week, we'll watch trailers, check out demos, we'll share reviews of games, write our own, and talk about a particular game's lore or history.