When I talk about the "value-add" component of Steam, I'm referring to the way I have Steam set up to auto-start whenever my PC is turned on. I have a gamer buddy I served in the military with who lives in Texas 1200 miles away - we talk using Steam chat about once a day, and play games together over it. The same with a guy who lives in Iowa. I'm not into the whole 'facebook social popularity contest' nonsense, but I find the social features of Steam indispensable. Steam makes it easy to play with these guys as if we were still at the same duty station.
"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
"Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."