Trading and scams

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Trading between players

Shard Garden lets friends swap seeds and pots. Trading makes rare items exciting, and it makes them worth stealing. Every trading system needs protection from scams and from stolen accounts.

Common scams

Quick check

Why does Shard Garden's trade window show both items and needs both players to confirm?

  1. So nobody gives an item and waits for a promise
  2. To make trades slower
  3. Because it looks nicer
Show the answer

So nobody gives an item and waits for a promise

When both items move at the same moment, "pay me later" can't happen.

True story: Steam makes trades wait

In December 2015, Valve added the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator and trade holds: items are "held by Steam for a period of time before delivery", so players whose accounts were stolen can "quickly cancel any fraudulent trades".

On 1 March 2016, Valve reported "roughly 95% of daily trades use the mobile authenticator". The hold for players without it went from three days to 15.

Source: Steam: Security and Trading: Update (1 Mar 2016), store.steampowered.com

Quick check

How does a trade hold protect a player whose account was stolen?

  1. They have time to cancel the thief's trades before items leave
  2. It stops all trading forever
  3. It finds the thief
Show the answer

They have time to cancel the thief's trades before items leave

The items wait. A real owner who notices in time can cancel the trade.

Secure accounts trade instantly

Valve's design rewards security: trades confirmed with the authenticator need no hold. Remy does the same for Shard Garden with passkeys from the Trust and safety stage.

Design the rule

A rare pot worth 50,000 coins is traded from an account that signed in from a new device an hour ago. What should Remy's trade system do?

  1. Hold the trade for a while and tell the account owner
  2. Let it through instantly
  3. Delete the pot
Show the answer

Hold the trade for a while and tell the account owner

A new device and a valuable item is a warning sign. A short hold gives the real owner time to react.

Never duplicate

Valve also wrote that restoring stolen items by hand created "duplicates of the original items", which changed how rare they were. Preventing theft protects the whole economy, not just one player.

Quick check

Copying a stolen item back to its owner has no effect on other players.

Show the answer

False

Every copy makes the item less rare, so everyone else's copy is worth less.

Spot one yourself

Scams look friendly. Telling them apart is a skill.

Bolt says: Next: spot the scam.

Fact-checked 12 October 2026