What you need to know
- On Tuesday morning, Steam users noticed a “new helpfulness system” in place for user reviews. When toggled, this system filtered game reviews so that the only ones visible were those that were fairly detailed and classified as “Most Helpful.”
- Valve — the creator of Steam — disabled the toggle for this system a few hours later, indicating that it’s not finished yet. Still, this leak of it confirms that Valve is finally making an effort to address issues with Steam’s reviewing system.
- Currently, many users flood Steam store pages with low-effort reviews that are humorous, quirky, or controversial in an effort to farm Community Awards from their peers.
- These “awards” are essentially emoji reactions, and give reviewers Steam Points they can spend on profile customization when given. Their introduction several years ago is largely what led to the onset of useless review spamming.
As a long-time PC gamer and Steam user, I can wholeheartedly say that this new “helpfulness system” is a breath of fresh air. For years, I’ve found myself scrolling through an ocean of memes and jokes disguised as reviews, trying to find genuine feedback about the games I’m interested in. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but the haystack keeps getting bigger.
For approximately two decades, Steam, Valve’s gaming platform, has been favored by PC gamers due to its intuitive interface, seamless performance, rich community features, and regular game discounts. Although numerous improvements have been made over time, one persistent issue that hasn’t been fully addressed is the exploitation of Steam’s game review system, which leads to constructive user reviews being buried under a mountain of trivial jokes. However, this might be rectified soon.
On Tuesday morning, Steam users discovered a new feature in game reviews from other players: a “new detailed review filter” toggle. When activated, this would show detailed and comprehensive reviews that had been highly rated, using an upcoming “helpfulness system.” However, Valve quickly turned off the option later the same day, suggesting it was accidentally released before being fully completed. Despite this premature launch, it seems this helpfulness system could be Valve’s solution to the previously mentioned issue.
A Reddit user found that so far, the system is performing well. It appears to allow useful, detailed reviews while blocking repetitive or unfunny memes, especially those spammed by lazy Steam users. The system automatically prioritizes helpful content, which should effectively end such pointless trends.
Valve is finally addressing bad reviews issue from r/Steam
For a while now, it’s been troublesome that some players flood reviews with meaningless or humorous comments, known as spamming. However, this problem has escalated in recent years following the implementation of Steam Points and Community Awards system. This system allows users to give “awards” (essentially emoji reactions) to reviews using points they earn from purchases. These awards then grant more Steam Points to the reviewer, which can be utilized for customizing their profile with items like animated avatars, profile pictures, backgrounds, badges, and more. This incentive seems to have exacerbated the issue of spammy reviews.
It’s no shocker that this sparked an overwhelming wave of brief, insincere reviews, crafted merely to collect Community Awards with their witty, offbeat, or polarizing content (reviews that stir controversy frequently attract the “Jester” award, which resembles a clown emoji). As I mentioned earlier, these superfluous posts often overshadow valuable ones that genuinely assess the game, undermining the entire purpose of the review system from the get-go.
As a tech enthusiast, I’ve been eagerly waiting for change, and it seems like Valve is finally addressing the long-standing issue with their character limit in reviews – a problem that has often forced me to truncate my detailed assessments. The anticipation for this new helpfulness system has been palpable, and so far, the response on social media has been overwhelmingly positive. One user expressed relief, saying, “At last! I’ve had to cut down my thorough reviews due to character limitations, which garner decent likes and praise but still feel incomplete. It’s frustrating to see quick, sloppy reviews getting attention.” Another user commented, “That’s actually quite exciting. The meme reviews were amusing at first, but they’ve become a bit repetitive now, in my opinion.”
It’s yet unclear if the system can be manipulated or not; after all, a long review doesn’t necessarily make it high-quality, and I’m certain people trying to game awards will strive to outsmart Valve’s algorithms using tactics like repeating the same text multiple times or submitting lengthy texts. However, just knowing that some action is being taken is enough to pique my interest.
As someone who has spent countless hours scrolling through Steam reviews, I can attest to the overwhelming number of irrelevant and unhelpful comments that clutter the platform. However, if the system is indeed enabled by default upon its official release, as it was during its public availability this morning, I am optimistic that we may see a significant reduction in the amount of junk reviews. This would be a welcome change for gamers like myself who value constructive criticism and meaningful discussions about games.
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2024-08-08 00:39