ABSTRACT
Initially serving as a compilation of the acclaimed game Half Life 2 and its subsequent expansions Half Life 2: Episode 1 and Half Life 2: Episode 2, Valve’s Orange Box also introduced players to Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The impact of these latter releases continues in a variety of contexts, including the massive success of Team Fortress 2’s switch to a free-to-play model that yields reports of students paying for portions of their college tuition using in-game objects (Hernandez). Portal, meanwhile, earned several game of the year awards for its unique physics puzzle-based twist on the classic first-person shooting formula. Valve later introduced the sequel Portal 2 to nearly universal acclaim, netting even more critics’ game of the year awards. In the time since Portal 2’s launch, developer Valve released more of their titles for free in much the same vein as Team Fortress 2. In the case of Portal 2, however, this free release came in the form of Valve’s Steam for Schools in 2012. Through Valve’s website, Teach with Portals, educators can apply for keys to download Steam for Schools, which includes Portal 2, the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker, and other software like Universe Sandbox. These freely available tools shift the potential of Valve’s products from entertainment to helping enterprising students to pay for tuition by selling in-game objects and other tangible benefits for technical communication students in our classrooms. In other words, Steam for Schools presents a unique opportunity to foster a range of technical communication literacies in our students.
