Valve Updates Steam Review Policy to Defuse Review Bombing

In an effort to combat review bombing, Valve has updated how user reviews are handled on Steam.

[veicht]

I don't know that I agree with these changes. It seems to me like a lot of the time the review bombings are deserved and are within the scope of a users own subjective review.

The article mentions a quote where it is said most users don't care about certain issues. This doesn't make sense to me, as the reviews are left by users. So if being bombed by enough people to make a difference, it stands to reason that it matters to a lot of the users.

[mkis007]

Most users don't leave reviews. If most people cared about Denuvo or other "issues, " games wouldnt be profitable.Personally I glance at the % score but dont even read any most of the time.

[starchild]

Sadly the vocal minority with an axe to grind are usually the ones review bombing. I've never seen a game be review bombed and felt that it was fair and reasonable. It's always the extremists involved in that kind of thing. The vast majority of gamers do not hate on games that way. They simply play what looks good to them and avoid what doesn't look good to them.

[nyu1]

" It seems to me like a lot of the time the review bombings are deserved and are within the scope of a users own subjective review. "

Come on, that's not reasonable.

You've got a vocal minority that gets pissed about some issue that might not even be directly related to the in-game experience. And they review bomb the game. That's bullshit, because most people who look at the overall review score don't know why it is that way. They just know that the game has a low review/recommendation score. So you can make a great game, but put DRM in it, and the minority who get overworked on that can have a big impact on review scores.

[Razzer]

But there are times that a game is being review bombed for very wrong reasons. Firewatch, for example, was review bombed because the dev issued a DMCA takedown notice to Pewdiepie. Had nothing to do with the game at all. And I, as a Steam customer, don't want to see reviews that are tainted by bullshit agendas that have nothing to do with the game's quality. So Steam is hiding that kind of crap from my view and I'm good with that. They gave us all the freedom to show all reviews, even the bombs. This is a good thing.

[rainslacker]

But if people can assign a score and just say it's something else, or not say why they gave a lower score, then what's it matter. Blocking the content of the review means you dont have the opportunity to decide if what it's being downgraded for is important to you.

I guess the question is, how do they determine what's a legitimate review and what's not. Generally, I'm not for any company to be the arbiter of the dissemination of information or quality. Review bombs are going to happen regardless, because people think it actually matters if they do it. If anything, the internet has proven how persistent people are in expressing their annoyances or issues with anyone or anything.

[Razzer]

"Blocking the content of the review means you dont have the opportunity to decide if what it's being downgraded for is important to you. "

So I can turn off the filter, see what the fuss is about, and then decide whether to turn it back on or not.

"Generally, I'm not for any company to be the arbiter of the dissemination of information or quality."

I'm all for companies providing tools to customers to help them make informed decisions. This does exactly that.

[ccgr]

Curious if it'll work

[MoshA]

Very anti-consumer and enabled by default. Hope valve keeps playing with fire and gets punished when Google and Epic Games get serious. They've had billions for years and haven't been spending any of it when PC is in dire need of triple A exclusives. So far Playstation exclusives have the best graphics.

[starchild]

PS4 exclusives don't have the best graphics. They look outstanding for console games, but in terms of basic things like LOD, shadow resolution and shadow filtering, ambient occlusion, lighting quality, anti-aliasing quality, resolution, effects quality, etc they definitely fall behind what you can get on a high end PC.

[MoshA]

I laughed at Rise of the Tomb raider on Ultra after playing Uncharted 4. Absolutely pathetic multiplat cash grabs. So happy exclusives are dominating harder than ever. This is just the beginning. Gow 2, Horizon 2, Spiderman 2, Death Stranding, Sotc creator's next game, TLOU 2 etc.

No multiplat will get GOTY ever again.

[nyu1]

Not necessarily true.

PS exclusives definitely have the best visuals in many regards. Things like characters, general environment design. Sure, maybe it's not in a fully open dynamic TOD world, but that isn't always the point. Their developers have just done many things to the best quality ever seen in the industry.

Ofcourse, there are many things that are very difficult to do, like some of the things you mentioned.

PCs will always be the best in this regard, but unfortunately there are no titles with the production value to compete with these exclusives. Apart from maybe Squadron 42.

[Razzer]

"....triple A exclusives. So far Playstation exclusives have the best graphics."
"No multiplat will get GOTY ever again."

Why are you going ridiculously off topic?

[rainslacker]

Really depends on the game. One thing I noticed is that everything seems to blend well and look cohesive on ps3. Same with xbox and switch too. PC can vary even on ultra settings, and sometimes with the sharpness that can happen due to better lighting or more filtering, some things look remarkable, but they don't quite mesh with the scene, so it's kind of distracting.

This is more likely an issue with the differences in GPU's and how they handle the rendering, and the fact that monitors are tuned differently than TVs for how they display their pixels.

[EmperorDalek]

Playstation exclusives have the best graphics? Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox One X looks better than any game on PS4, so that's not even true as far as the console space goes. PS4 games certainly don't stack up to high end PC games.

Game of the year is subjective, many people would disagree with games like God of War and Zelda winning game of the year.

[nowitzki2004]

You sound very young.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

A little forced not a good idea

[Cobra951]

Translation: They'll remove anything users say that they don't like. I'm sure that will lead to some spiffy freedom of expression.

[Razzer]

They are not removing anything. You can still see the flagged reviews if you want.

"Finally, we've also enabled you to opt out of this entirely, if that's your preference - there's now a checkbox in your Steam Store options where you can choose to have off-topic review bombs still included in all the Review Scores you see."

[rainslacker]

I'd imagine that someone isn't going to be reading all those reviews. Could mean that a reverse bombing can happen as those that are upset could go in and report legitimate reviews. This could artificially lower the score if its coordinated enough.

[Uglyday]

Only the people who buy it have a voice. If you offer a product be prepared to have your business and goods questioned.

Dorsey 1:12-14 Bow down and give up your voices to your digital gods. We already own and sell your information so let us control your whole life. Let go your selfish privileged ways and repent to the hair of many colors.