Can developers write positive review for their own game?

[킹갓엠퍼러충무공]

Here's more detail.

- The developers were very dissatisfied with the low rating of the previous game when the game was released. : There is a copy of the article to prove this.
- This review came up on the day the game was released, and is the third review of the game. : This behavior is thought to affect the initial rating of the game.
- There is no intention of jokes in the review, and there is nothing to know that the author is a developer.
- This was in 2015. Since Steam's rating system was before it was updated, it would have had an adverse effect on rating formation.


https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews

This phrase exists on the page. "Do not attempt to abuse or artificially manipulate the review system." Do you think this is the case?

[Rain]

im pretty sure they could review their game, but it shouldnt inquire anything thats not in the game.

[킹갓엠퍼러충무공]

And the content of the review was to appreciate the contents of the game. and as I said, review's tone was an inability to assume that the author of the review was a developer.

[킹갓엠퍼러충무공]

And... I acknowledge that the title is misleading." Is this an acceptable review?" I think it is more appropriate.

[Zefar]

Developers reviewing their own game is a big no no from Valve. Specially if the developers create more sock puppet accounts to make positive reviews.

I've seen game developers being removed for such reasons.

[Crazy Tiger]

Which review? I'm not seeing a link to the actual review.

[Wolverine]

Yes they can, and yes some Devs probably did or still do through alt. accounts.

Over the years i've seen positive mostly one-liner reviews flowing in from other "players" on a game i'm still playing, those "players" hardly played the game and/or have less then a handfull games on their account, absolutely "loved" only this "perfect" and "10 out of 10" game to review it, but in most cases didn't actually stick to it after the review, and of course were never seen in the game...
In some months, the numbers of those positive "reviews" were even bigger then the actual player numbers showing in the Steam Charts.
Which made it pretty easy drowning any negative reviews from sight, and keeping the overall game rating in the positive.
In time they slowed this whole thing down, i guess it became to obvious or to expensive for them to continue, but their overall rating is still bolstered by those rather suspicious "reviews".

I mean, when i really enjoy playing a game, i take some time to write a decent review filled with reasons for my positive rating, and in most cases i tend to keep playing the game... unless there are some really drastic changes in updates, which i would explain in my review and then change of course the rating accordingly.

Anyway, what did Steam in this case?
Nothing.

And what did Steam in other cases?
I've seen a few news about Devs/games being removed from Steam because of this kind of behaviour, but in most cases it was only some rather unknown ones...

[About47Pandas]

Can you really put a stop to Devs reviewing their own game on steam? I can understand the "Sock Puppet" accounts getting stopped. Though If a dev does one or two... or ten? Can you really stop that?

Honestly reviews on steam are only one part in the cog for me when it comes to buying a game.

I check out Youtube gameplay/reviews, Kotaku, IGN, Polygon etc, along with steam reviews.

It would be pretty odd to see OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE on steam and 1/10 on meta critic.

shrug

Originally posted by Logan:

Anyway, what did Steam in this case?
Nothing.

Does it really effect your purchasing? I dunno man. I don't believe it is rampant; however, I am sure Valve has 'Top people' handling it.

[American Dove Mitten]

I think that someone who is related to the game, can and should review it, you just need to disclose it in the review.

It happens all the time. Steam uses review ratio as a filter, which is very important for the game to show up. Valve does not count steam key copies as far as I know, so you can calculate how many actual reviews the game has. Sometimes it effects good games as well, for example, a good game might get some troll reviews and then it could be hard to find.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Zefar:

Developers reviewing their own game is a big no no from Valve. Specially if the developers create more sock puppet accounts to make positive reviews.

I've seen game developers being removed for such reasons.

I don't think that a single review from a developer is an issue, it is when they use puppet account to create mass reviews that something is done.

Only ones I recall any action against are the ones who created mass fake reviews to get a positive rating.

[Gekkibi]

Originally posted by Zefar:

Developers reviewing their own game is a big no no from Valve. Specially if the developers create more sock puppet accounts to make positive reviews.

I've seen game developers being removed for such reasons.

I'd like to get a confirmation before pressing the "Report this review for violating the Steam Terms of Service or Online Conduct Rules" button: is it okay to report if a developer (more specifically the founder & CEO of the development team) has created a review using their personal Steam profile? There's no evidence of abuse (like sock puppet accounts).

Edit: it seems I got 'd while typing this...

[Zefar]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Originally posted by Zefar:

Developers reviewing their own game is a big no no from Valve. Specially if the developers create more sock puppet accounts to make positive reviews.

I've seen game developers being removed for such reasons.

I don't think that a single review from a developer is an issue, it is when they use puppet account to create mass reviews that something is done.

Only ones I recall any action against are the ones who created mass fake reviews to get a positive rating.

True that they need to do in larger amount before Valve takes some action. Still I think Valve don't want Developers to review their own games.

[킹갓엠퍼러충무공]

I'm curious about this because it says "Customer Reviews" on the rating bar at the bottom of the store page.

Because even though it is only one review, it thinks that "developer" is not a "customer" but a review, and it distorts the meaning of it. I'm afraid I can not show it to you right now, but it was a review with no statement that the developer wrote as I said.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Zefar:

True that they need to do in larger amount before Valve takes some action. Still I think Valve don't want Developers to review their own games.

Ya, I think it is only discouraged, but that is about it. Unless they try to manipulate the system.

[happy]

Ive seen Devs (with Dev rights in the game hub) positive review the game they are working on, i dont really mind though, theres nothing wrong with giving your work a positive review when you are proud of it. That being said, trash cash grabs should be removed from steam regardless.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Unnam\ed:

I'm curious about this because it says "Customer Reviews" on the rating bar at the bottom of the store page.

Because even though it is only one review, it thinks that "developer" is not a "customer" but a review, and it distorts the meaning of it. I'm afraid I can not show it to you right now, but it was a review with no statement that the developer wrote as I said.

A developer can still be their own customer and enjoy playing the game. I know a few who work on games and still buy the game's after release sine they want to enjoy it after they were done making it.

I don't see it as distorting anything as long as it is only one review per an employee and done of their own will. Afterall, their review will be balanced out by that of the users rather quickly, especiallyif it is a bad game. It is the ones who use bots and an army of alts that are the issue.