Valve released an announcement Tuesday, exposing their plans on “Greenlight”: an application that may reverberate throughout the Indie gaming scene. In an effort not so far removed from the core idea at Kickstarter, Valve hopes to put a game’s progress in the hands of the gaming community. By allowing new titles to advertise on Greenlight, gamers will become voters, determining what projects debut on steam. However, Valve’s project won’t give you total control.

So there’s one question prevalent in the Steam community: is Steam going full Democracy? In a way, yes– but not totally. True, gamers will ultimately be a deciding force in whether a game passes or fails. Keep in mind, though, in the announcement it’s stated, “Steam Greenlight is a new system that enlists the community’s help in picking some of the next games on Steam.” The key word, as bolded, is “help.” Valve will still be the deciding factor in any decision making.

Still, Greenlight seems to be nothing but a positive force for all involved. “There’s always been a reliance,” the announcement says, “on a group of people to make tough choices on which games not to release.” Greenlight will shift some of that weight over to the community, treating them as active players in the process. Gamers will have more voice, and Valve will have its work cut out, “making Steam distribution easier and faster.” As any informed gamer knows, this isn’t the first instance of Valve’s innovative track record. Business Week reported in April on Valve’s hierarchy and why the corporation is able to develop renowned titles time and time again. It’s greater efficiency through freedom, a concept that could appeal to anybody. And what’s more, it works. Much to Half-Life enthusiasts’ chagrin, unfortunately, this means Valve hardly needs to work at all if the community is more than eager to pull all the weight. What does this mean for the Indie gaming scene? Could this morph the ripple caused by Indie game developers into a crashing wave? Only a month remains before we find out, as Greenlight is scheduled for release in late August. Valve certainly seems to be heading in that direction. “After all, it’s the community that will ultimately be the ones deciding…”