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[Polygon] Some developers unhappy about steam review system. Some not.

Shai-Tan

Banned
This is true but the problem also comes down to Steam's insistence on using algorithms that don't quite work perfectly to filter its content. I suggested above that they could write an editorial feature every week to inform us about games that have come out in the past week, focusing on both big and small ones. Hell, make two lists and let us subscribe to whichever one we prefer. All it takes is a team of them to play and pass comment, which would do really well to highlight hidden gems. Even Apple's App Store boasts recommendations from its editor (who used to write for 1Up.com IIRC). Steam don't seem to like the human touch and it comes across to me as a user, and also comes across to developers judging from the article.

Are the app store editorial recommendations actually that useful though? That's literally what the curator system is set up to do. I don't see how Apple christening some programs makes them better than anyone else doing recommendations beyond some very low threshold, or signal boosting a program that was already high enough quality to get attention anyway. I only used the app store editorial recommendations in the first week with an iOS device (to buy some games I never played more than 15 minutes aka they have no refunds)
 

ROMhack

Member
Are the app store editorial recommendations actually that useful though? That's literally what the curator system is set up to do. I don't see how Apple christening some programs makes them better than anyone else doing recommendations beyond some very low threshold, or signal boosting a program that was already high enough quality to get attention anyway. I only used the app store editorial recommendations in the first week with an iOS device (to buy some games I never played more than 15 minutes aka they have no refunds)

Hmmm yeah Steam's curation system can be helpful when you stumble on curators with similar tastes - usually by trawling through loads of reviews to get good ones - but quite honestly I think the way it recommends curators is rubbish.

Waifu Hunter
The Knowledgeable Anime Gangster Squad


These are two of the five ones recommended to me right now. I have 'anime' blacklisted as a tag so god knows why it's recommending them to me.

Again, that's my issue here. Steam's recommendation system seems like the wild west.
 
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120v

Member
it's unfortunate like 80% of negative reviews for any given game is because of support stuff that could be solved relatively easily but people are idiots

anyway my takeaway is it's a bigger island now. even something like, say, hotline miami, would probably fall by the wayside debuting on steam in 2018. just the way of the beast now and there's not an awful lot valve can do about it
 
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I don't care.

If you go to the Reddit game review system (at least from what I've seen on /r/GameDeals), it's very common for negative reviews to be down voted. And for exaggerated, positive reviews (i.e., this game is a STEAL) to be up voted.

I honestly just don't look at those Reddit reviews anymore because every game on sale there is a "steal." Get real. I honestly wonder if some of those Reddit reviewers are shills.

To summarize, fanboys are the worse. But also, idiot customers are the worse. Unfortunately, it's really hard to make people accountable.
 

Zewp

Member
Any links to info on this? It's not something I've been following.

Here's a Reddit thread with a (now deleted) comment chain from Polygon's site where Ben says people shouldn't get second chances and other users point out his volatile posts on the Ars Technica forums back in the day: Link

And here's where he complains about how unfair it is for people to comb his social media accounts to use as ammunition now: Link
 
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YIKES

Member
You can always put your game on itch.io, Gog or Humble if you hate steam as a developer. If the game is good enough people can and will go the extra mile buying it from there.
 
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