Why so many bad game on steam?

[skydancer]

Tons tons.... why? Can we have some filter?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences

[Start_Running]

Maybe not keep browsing the 'cheap as dirt' aisle of the store

[Pan Paka Pan]

You can filter tags i believe

[Mikasa Ackerman]

steam lets anyone publish their game if they pay the fee , which is good since there can always be a few hidden gems that way

[Spawn of Totoro]

I think the same thing every time I walk into a store. With over 20k items for sale, all but the 100 or so I want to buy are just junk.

[76561198407601200]

Originally posted by skydancer:

Tons tons.... why? Can we have some filter?

Witcher and bioshock are ♥♥♥♥ games imo, those should be filtered out.

[Fear dot Com]

I like to think it symbolizes the world - thousands of unlikable people, but only a few hundred we're willing to tolerate. Or better yet...nah, the moderator said it best.

[Mivo]

Well, I both agree and disagree.

For me, it's a bit like online book stores in the age of self-publishing: there's a lot of garbage that didn't go through any kind of quality testing (editing, in case of books) or any form of review process, and the barrier of entry is ankle-high. This is positive because it makes for a more equal playing field, but it's also negative for customers looking for quality products. The refund option compensates a little for this, but it's not an ideal solution for either side, I feel.

As with books, a properly published and edited book isn't always better than a self-published book, but the chance that it is better is fairly high. The same applies to games.

As a customer, my chief issue with the current store situation is that I have a hard time finding new games that interest me. Half my store page is filled with recommended games by friends that are years old and that haven't been updated in a long time, for example. The tags are too generic and too widely used. Every other game is flagged as a roleplaying game or an action game, even if those labels apply only in the very loosest way (or not at all), making the filter less useful than it could be.

In the past, I used Steam's "new releases" list to spot interesting games, but there is such a flood of low quality games now that this approach no longer works. As a result, I now buy fewer games, and typically learn about a title only if someone on the forum mentions a game favorably.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Mivo:

Well, I both agree and disagree.

For me, it's a bit like online book stores in the age of self-publishing: there's a lot of garbage that didn't go through any kind of quality testing (editing, in case of books) or any form of review process, and the barrier of entry is ankle-high. This is positive because it makes for a more equal playing field, but it's also negative for customers looking for quality products. The refund option compensates a little for this, but it's not an ideal solution for either side, I feel.

If you knew how the publishing field operates you'd understand whyt it is a net gain for the customer. People focus on the bad yes but a lot of those 'bad' books still get bought and still have happy readers.

Online Publishing removes the massive production costs associated with self-publishing as well as the time consuming and expensive process of distribution. Ergo you have writers now able to throw off the sometimes outright abusive shackles of publishers to print for themselves.

As with books, a properly published and edited book isn't always better than a self-published book, but the chance that it is better is fairly high. The same applies to games.

Okay properly-published is not a thing and editing is not exclusive to big publishing houses. Self-published works tend to be self edited for starting writers because professional editors are not cheap.(especially when you consider that you have to use one 2-5 times for a single book. A $100 for every 10 pages of your manuscript (thats 12 point monospaced font, double spaced letter sized sheets). Many newer writers cannot plonk down that kind of dosh.

As a customer, my chief issue with the current store situation is that I have a hard time finding new games that interest me.

And yet for many its no trouble at all. YOU should probably turn your focuys away from 'New' games specifically.

Half my store page is filled with recommended games by friends that are years old and that haven't been updated in a long time, for example. The tags are too generic and too widely used. Every other game is flagged as a roleplaying game or an action game, even if those labels apply only in the very loosest way (or not at all), making the filter less useful than it could be.

There has never been a very strict convention as to what constitues role-playing. It just means having mechanics based stats that the player improves over time. and yes you are seeing those mechanics everywhere because it has been shown to work pretty well in other genres (and is a hadndy excuse for the developer to insert tedious gameplay length boosting grinding.)

In the past, I used Steam's "new releases" list to spot interesting games, but there is such a flood of low quality games now that this approach no longer works. As a result, I now buy fewer games, and typically learn about a title only if someone on the forum mentions a game favorably.

Try using 'New and trending'. Though i honestly can't believe you never thought of that. There's also branching searches where you go the store pages of games you own and like and check what comes up in the 'More like this' section.

The recommended feed also tends to favour games similar to the ones that you've spent the most time in recently. You seem to be following the pattern that many who have problems do, in that you're not searching for anything very specific, jjust what's new. which is a hold over from the old days where you just had to look at the new release featured in game magazines and websites. which never allowed you to see the full totality of the games released jjust the ones the publisher picked.

Nowif you want that kind of experience, pick a couple curators to follow and let them shortlist games for you.

Originally posted by ⎛⎝ Heresy ⎠⎞:

I don't know whether I agree about books being '' edited '' as a sign of quality tho, but published by a professional outlet yes. Kinda...

Those trashy romance novels and penny dreadfuls get ragged on all the time yet...they have never gone out of print

Dianetics was an edited book (big name editor too, published professionally). 'Nuff said.

I think that overall, a '' professionally published '' work whether it be a book or a game is more likely to '' work ''.

ET, Zen Intergalactic Ninja, Daikatana, Deus Ex 2, Barbies Horse adventure, Arkham Knight...all these games kinda break that logic... hard. And there are more.

Edit: The tags are pretty ridicilous tho.
Usually they just spam every tag that they can to make themselves show up in the search engine more often.
Which is understandable really, they're just using the tools at their disposal. But they're really abusing it sometimes.

unfortunately as with everything that is User contributed on steam it is a bit of a foobar. It's like how Psychological Horror comes up on everything these days, but you as a user can flag a tage as being inappropriate.

[Lamont]

Because, no matter how bad the game is, if anyone buys it, Valve make money, quality and service don't figure into the equation only profit counts it seems.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Lamont:

Because, no matter how bad the game is, if anyone buys it, Valve make money, quality and service don't figure into the equation only profit counts it seems.

:accat:

If the game sells enough to make a profit, then that's good enough is it not? It means enough people found its quality acceptible

[Pan Paka Pan]

Taking money into account, a game should sell at least $150 to cover for Steam Direct, minus 30% Steam cut. Not taking into account all other costs of development of course.
With that said, a game with no dev cost at all, just a “test” or something almost empty, would need to sell at least $200 just to barely return anything. Taking in account that Steam does NOT promote your game in the front page, only a miracle would make a bad game sell.

In other words, if a game appears in the “new and trending” which is the first thing we see when we access Steam website, this means it’s doing pretty good. So when you see those “trash VNs” there, it means there is a market for it, some people are buying it, and even the reviews are usually positive even if you think the game is “complete trash”.

Therefore, demanding “bad games” to not exist on Steam doesn’t make any sense if people are buying it.

[Start_Running]

When Steam threatened to remove som of those 'trash VN's we got an idea of just how many people actually like those games.

And yea. Even if a game doesn't make it to new and trending, someone might actually like it. These are entertainment products, sometimes the novelty of something bad can be quitre enjoyable. I mean people enjoy bad movies all the time.

[Vault Hunter 101]

But what about "games" like this
https://store.steampowered.com/app/684050/Achievement_Idler_Black/

There is literally no gameplay or anything, you just sit watching a counter showing how many achievements are left

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Vault Hunter 101:

But what about "games" like this
https://store.steampowered.com/app/684050/Achievement_Idler_Black/

There is literally no gameplay or anything, you just sit watching a counter showing how many achievements are left

If people are buying it, then people be wanting it.