Almost Every Single Hot Dog Emoticon On Steam Owned By One Dude

When someone says ‘Steam’, other than the gaseous form of water, it’s only natural that everyone just thinks of games. That’s what it’s for, after all, and even though there’s been a huge rise in other digital game storefronts in recent years, such as Origin and Epic Games, Steam is still generally considered the front runner.

Games aside though, Steam is also, of course, home to a market, chock-a-block full of digital collectibles, including trading cards, headers, emotes, and more. As reported by Kotaku, it turns out that one guy has been making it his mission to buy every single hot dog emoticon available, for some reason. 

Valve recently gave an update on the state of production of the Steam Deck - shipping of the handheld is apparently set to double, making getting your hands on one way easier (in theory).

Brian Haugh, 20, has dedicated the last six years (and hundreds of dollars) towards collecting all the ‘2016wiener’ emoticons he can find. The emoticon in question is so much more than a simple hot dog - it also has shoes. So, y’know, a justified cause. 

The mission, which started as a result of an inside joke formed when he was 16, has seen him spend over $250 (about £206) on 2525 hot dogs, or wieners, as he refers to them, as of 30 June: “I will never stop looking for or at wieners,” he told Kotaku. “Wieners will be on my mind until the day I die.”

Haugh claims that it’s become such a big part of his life, that he sometimes sees hot dogs in real life and can’t help but laugh: “It has become a religion for me,” he said. “It’s always in the back of my mind.”

It’s a constant effort, being a collector of hot dogs. Apparently, Haugh is still regularly checking the market to make sure he has them all - he’s only ever passed on one wiener, which was listed for $400 (so at least he has some restraint). That said, the quest isn’t over yet: “I don’t ever plan on stopping,” he said. “There will always be some poor fool to list a wiener for a few cents on the market, and when he does, I’ll be there to buy it.”