You have 4 options... Do you love Valve?
Imagine you have entered a studio where the world's elite have gathered, and they tell you: you have 4 options. The first is to release Half-Life 3, BUT YOU DON'T PLAY HALF-LIFE; in the sense that you are simply not interested in the game, you didn't like it, but you know that the majority love it. To release Portal 3 — you know that only '1.5 people' are waiting for it, but you personally want it*.*
3. Or a million dollars personally for you. Which option will you choose?
A small correction: there is a 4th option. You put your hope in the next person, who will also choose from the options. They are told that you trusted them, and you discuss with them what can be done. An important clarification: the world's elite who invited you to the studio will choose for you; this is done so that you don't call a friend. By calling one more person, he gains the power to choose any of the 4 options, and he is not obligated by the rules to listen to you (though morally he is, because without you, he wouldn't have made it into the studio).
From a democratic point of view, two opinions are already objectivity, and you didn't arrive at an selfish desire alone but discussed it with someone.
Plus, he can still choose the million dollars and give you some share if he is honest; and morally he should share, because if not for you, the second person wouldn't have been invited to the studio.
But he can also choose the 4th option, and now he must choose any one person. BUT YOU COULDN'T DO THAT BEFORE (meaning you are the 'weak link', the first participant who can call one more person, but the elite chooses who it is, while all other players can choose specific people) — even Gabe Newell. You don't necessarily need to know the person's name; you can just say who he is, for example, 'a Valve fan who loves cats,' and he will be brought to the studio, among those who are alive. But he personally owes you nothing.
The point is that the further it goes, the more people there are, and you can try to hold a vote for 100 or 200 people. But it is necessary that no one breaks the chain. Plus, you can take 100 people and everyone will get $10k if you managed to agree. Let me remind you: the last person invited to the studio has absolute power of choice. You can scream as a crowd for him to press the 4th option, but he might just take the million dollars for himself.
HERE IS HOW I SEE THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM (you may have a different opinion): take Option 4 annd cal a second person. When they arrive, tell them to call Gabe newell — according to the rules, this is allowed. So, Gabe becomes the 3rd person, and now he is the one facing the choice. I should clarify that everything happens in a 'closed club,' meaning it won't leak to the internet or media.
From here, you and the second player either blackmail him into releasing the games, and he chooses the most 'democratic' option possible (the one where the creator decides which game to make), or you tell Gabe to give you $2 million — $1 million for each of you. For him, this is pocket change. Plus, he seems like a nice guy, and it’s much harder for him to develop Portal 3 or Half-Life 3 than to simply pay $2 million out of his own pocket. To be precise, he takes the $1 million from Option 3 and adds another million from his own budet for the second player.