What gives Steam XP?
From the faq I know that the following give XP:
- Crafting a badge ("most badges give 100 XP")
- Upgrading a badge (it looks the same as crafting a badge: mostly 100 XP)
- Years of Service badge (the faq is vague. What is the formula for XP gained?)
- "Special events on Steam also frequently have badges" (?)
What other activities give XP? Are there any ways to get XP other than getting badges? Do regular achievements for Steam games give XP?
Solution 1:
From what I've seen so far:
- Crafting a game badge grants 100 XP
- Leveling a game badge grants 100 XP
- Years of Service awards 50 XP per year
- The games in your game collection award XP (The math is not clear to me, I have 414 for 209 games currently)
Steam Special Events appear to grant XP, although the formula is unclear to me. The individual data is incomplete for most of the previous events. Ones that I can confirm count for some amount of XP are:
- Steam Holiday Sale (2011 & 2012) - I've seen up to 130 XP for 2011, and 100 for 2012
- Steam Summer Sale (2012) - I have this one complete, I believe, for 100 XP
- Steam Summer Camp (2011) - I've seen up to 130 XP
- The Potato Sack (2011) - a "gold potato" gives 200 XP
- The Great Steam Treasure Hunt (2010) - I've seen this one up to 130 XP
For community contributions there are other bonuses (with thanks to Koraktor in the comments):
- Anyone can get the Pillar of Community (100 XP) or Community Ambassador (100 XP) badges for doing some simple tasks related to their Steam profile.
- Some translators get a badge worth 100 XP
- Steamworks developers get a badge worth 500 XP
- Community moderators get a badge worth 500 XP
- Valve employees also get a 1000 XP bonus, although that one might be kind of hard to get ;)