- Steam Deck owners have found the smell of the exhaust fumes irresistible.
- This trend has become so popular that Valve has noticed it and issued a warning.
- While nothing serious has happened yet, this act can be harmful.
The Steam Deck has always been popular in the portable gaming market. With over 9000 supported games, the handheld is highly desirable for fans of gaming on the go, and its popularity has only gone up after the recent release of the Oled model.
However, this popularity has come with a caveat. Following the console’s launch, a viral trend on Reddit has seen curious social media users sniffing the vents due to an addictive scent.
However, Valve warns that this should be strictly avoided.
Why it matters: While this trend was initially limited to smaller circles on the internet, it grew enough to reach Valve, highlighting the hilarity in this bizarre situation.
Because of this trend, Valve has stated that users should not deliberately sniff the vents for health reasons. Several discussion threads, blogs, and tweets suggest that since the portable console’s inception in 2022, the number of vent sniffers has constantly risen.
It appears people are drawn to the exhaust vent fumes and find it impossible to resist them. They have even made jokes about how the fumes smell like Cheetos and new laundry.
Despite acknowledging that it is a meme, Valve advises users to refrain from continuing this practice. Although there hasn’t been a serious report of damage or injury yet, Valve has found it best to stay on the safe side.
There are microtoxic fumes or impurities in the vents that can travel directly to the lungs while inhaling. This is true for every electronic device, so this advice is not limited to just the Steam Deck.
Like Valve, we hope our readers stay away from partaking in this trend. However pleasant the fumes might smell, they certainly aren’t worth the health risks associated with the act of inhaling them.
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
Majored in Computer Science
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Sajjad is a passionate and knowledgeable individual with many skills and experience in the tech industry and the gaming community. He is committed to providing honest, in-depth product reviews and analysis and building and maintaining a strong gaming community.
