Why so many mediocre-review games suddenly have very high reviews?

[Turbo Nozomix]

Many games on Steam which were somewhat commercial flops and have had mixed reviews since they released suddenly have a huge influx of 90%+ or thereabouts reviews in the previous 30 days. In some cases, the influx of 90%+ positive reviews has suddenly lifted the game out of its Mixed review status.

I've been noticing this all over the place on Steam.


Here are some examples:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/637090/BATTLETECH/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/690790/DiRT_Rally_20/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/421020/DiRT_4/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/272270/Torment_Tides_of_Numenera/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1017900/Age_of_Empires_Definitive_Edition/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/640820/Pathfinder_Kingmaker__Enhanced_Edition/



What's going on? These games haven't all received new patches and nothing has changed about their basic experience.

They could all be legitimate, but at face value, and right before the Steam Autumn sale, it's suspicious, IMO. It sort of looks like titles are being massaged ahead of the sale.



Edit:

The cause is expected to be from Steam prompting people who have been actively playing a game to leave a review.

A problem I see with that approach is that, just as people who keep going to a restaurant obviously like the experience of that restaurant, people who actively play a game are also likely to be playing it because they like it.

Discussion of the issues of that type of system start around here:

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/1744512174759305803/?ctp=7#c1744512496198191837

[RedLightning]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Początkowo opublikowane przez RedLightning:

I find it very very very hard to ignore as of late, still dont trust em .. have not since the day they were selling a store within a store.

Set your client to open the library rather than the store when you start Steam.

I mean Valves attempts at being at making Steam console and many 'other' issues that plague Steam ..

I meant the 'whats new shelf' and THAT is in my library .. along with the myriad of mish mosh orientations plaguing most of the rest of the screen.

Seems Valve just dont care anymore.. and that is apparent.

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

And yet again, Steam reviews aren't a 8/10 or 9/10 judgement. They are merely an indication of the % of people that recommend the game. That says nothing about the quality of the game on a 10 point rating system.

That argument is contradicted by the fact that reviews are for reporting the quality of a product, and that Steam's written reviews exist precisely to report on the quality of a game, and it also ignores the fact that the % of people recommending each game is curated through a prompt system that is overtly over-emphasizing positive reviews.

Steam's new system doesn't give an indication of the % of people who've played the game recommend the game. It gives an indication of the % of people who were solicited for a response who recommend the game.

Also, reviews are for reviews, not for giving an arbitrary % of recommendations based on an arbitrary selection pool. You're arguing that it's working as intended because it's inaccurate and gives a false impression by intentional design - which might be true. What you're saying is that Steam's review system isn't a review system. That isn't an argument in favour of it, though, and underscores that it its new format is deceiving people.

It's not contradicted. You have only two choices in the Steam reviews, a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Ergo do you recommend it or not. The % is nothing more than an indication of what percentage of the users that reviewed the game recommend the game.

The review window further tells people to "Please describe what you liked or disliked about this game and whether you recommend it to others." In that, a valid answer already is "I like that the game had moving grass and hopping bunnies and I dislike that there were no birds flying around. I do recommend the game".

Nothing that Valve has done has changed anything about that.

You are mixing your personal view and value on reviews with the actual reviews on Steam. The Steam reviews aren't for reporting the quality of the game, they are merely there to get an indication how many people recommend the game. Quality impression cannot be derived from the review rating on Steam. In many cases it can't even be derived from the actual written words in the reviews.
You cannot say that a 90& recommendation rating equals a 9/10 quality impression.

You're false that it gives an indication of the % of the people who were solicited, as you have no actual data on how many people wrote reviews due to the prompt and how many people wrote reviews just because they wanted to.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

As long as you keep approaching it from this wrong angle, you create a giant pitfall for yourself as you apply a value to the Steam reviews that isn't there.

Losing accurate information about games is not a pitfall that I create for myself. And approaching reviews from the angle of getting an unbiased overview of the product's audiences responses to the game is not the wrong angle to be approaching a collection of reviews from.

If Steam re-labelled their review system as a curated system to emphasize positive reviews, then the new results would match its description. But so long as it's being presented as everybody's reviews with a % score rating to suggest an overall favourability from among each games' players, then it's deceiving players.

Yes, you are approaching it from the wrong angle. You keep on thinking that Steam review ratings represent quality impressions, when they do not.

It's also not deceiving. The Steam review rating is, again, merely an indication of what percentage of the people that reviewed the game recommend the game. Why people recommend a game can be for all kinds of reasons, some which are not related to actual quality standards. The Steam review rating is NOT a quality impression, you keep deceiving yourself that it is.

Edit: TL;DR: I'm not saying the current system is good. I am saying that the current system does not reflect the actual quality of a game, but merely how many people recommend the game.

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez RedLightning:

If looking at the score makes someone a dingus .. why is it even there?

I wish they'd change it. As it is, it has little to no value in that, as it doesn't represent quality standards. If changed, I think it would prompt people to actually write good reviews and would result in being the quality representation OP (and others, including me, btw) want it to be.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

You cannot say that a 90& recommendation rating equals a 9/10 quality impression.

You're false that it gives an indication of the % of the people who were solicited, as you have no actual data on how many people wrote reviews due to the prompt and how many people wrote reviews just because they wanted to.

Steam's system says that reviews for a game are X% positive, giving an aggregated measurement of how favourable people regard a game. That is a comment on the quality of a game.

Your arguments are reducing the meaning of the aggregated score to the point that it is meaningless and serves no purpose. And then you're arguing that there's nothing wrong with what Valve are doing because the score isn't supposed to have practical meaning to it in the first place.

But that is not so.

If you aren't familiar with what an aggregate score is, look at Metacritic, which gives aggregated scores from professional critics and gamer critics:

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dirt-4

The overall score has a meaning about how well liked or reviewed a product is. The overall score means something and if its a certain number then there's likely to be a reason for it that can be found out by reading the individual reviews. Steam's X% positive / negative score is meant to do the same thing. But with the new system, it no longer achieves that purpose because every game is an 8 or 9 / 10.

Yes, you are approaching it from the wrong angle. You keep on thinking that Steam review ratings represent quality impressions, when they do not.

It's also not deceiving. The Steam review rating is, again, merely an indication of what percentage of the people that reviewed the game recommend the game. Why people recommend a game can be for all kinds of reasons, some which are not related to actual quality standards. The Steam review rating is NOT a quality impression, you keep deceiving yourself that it is.

You seem to be working from your own conception of what a review is, and from there are trying to tell other people that because you think Steam reviews are fallacious by design that there's no problem with it. That is an incorrect and dishonest argument.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/review

Review

- a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.


Reviews are supposed to give insight into the state of quality of whatever is being reviewed. And if someone recommends or not a game on Steam, their decision is supposed to be qualified in their review that explains why they either recommend or don't recommend the game, with the game's quality being an inseparable part of their choice to recommend a game or not.

[Radene]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/review

Review

- a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.

Says nothing about video games, or any kind of an interactive experience, so congratulations, you just defeated yourself with your own pedantry.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/review

Review

- a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.

Says nothing about video games, or any kind of an interactive experience, so congratulations, you just defeated yourself with your own pedantry.

That is one of the most absurdly dense and comprehension-lacking comments I have read.

The definition is: "a critical article or report".

The example given in the definition is: "as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like"

Which is qualified by: "as in", "or the like"

And then the definition summarizes the essence of the word Review as: "critique; evaluation".


The definition literally says what I did, and literally discounts what you claimed. And anybody should have been able to understand that before you made you comment.

[Radene]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Says nothing about video games, or any kind of an interactive experience, so congratulations, you just defeated yourself with your own pedantry.

That is one of the most absurdly dense and comprehension-lacking comments I have read.

Still better than the "NO U" you just pulled.

Dictionary attacks are weak as it is, and then you had to go and use it without actually reading what you posted before hitting "post".

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

You cannot say that a 90& recommendation rating equals a 9/10 quality impression.

You're false that it gives an indication of the % of the people who were solicited, as you have no actual data on how many people wrote reviews due to the prompt and how many people wrote reviews just because they wanted to.

You are wrong. Steam's system says that reviews for a game are X% positive, giving an aggregated measurement of how favourable people regard a game. That is a comment on the quality of a game.

You are trying to reduce the meaning of the aggregated score to the point that it is meaningless, and then you are arguing that there's nothing wrong with what Valve are doing because the score isn't supposed to have meaning to it in the first place.

All of that is False.

If you just aren't familiar with what an aggregate score is, look at Metacritic, which gives aggregated scores from professional critics and gamer critics:

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dirt-4

The overall score has a meaning about how well liked or reviewed a product is. Steam's X% positive / negative score is meant to do the same thing. But with the new system, it no longer achieves that purpose because every game is an 8 or 9 / 10.

I'm not trying to anything. The window where you type the review says enough. Just as the message "X% of the reviews are positive" doesn't say anything about a quality judgement.

All it literally says is how big the percentage is that gave the game a positive rating. It doesn't say the game is a quality piece of work.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Yes, you are approaching it from the wrong angle. You keep on thinking that Steam review ratings represent quality impressions, when they do not.

It's also not deceiving. The Steam review rating is, again, merely an indication of what percentage of the people that reviewed the game recommend the game. Why people recommend a game can be for all kinds of reasons, some which are not related to actual quality standards. The Steam review rating is NOT a quality impression, you keep deceiving yourself that it is.

You have invented your own conception of what a review is and are trying to tell other people that because you think Steam reviews are fallacious by design that there's no problem with it. That is an absurd and dishonest argument.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/review

Review

- a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.

I have not invented anything, Steam reviews speak completely for themselves. Heck, the questions asked in the review window speak for themselves.
Many times have I suggested in past discussions that the word "review" is misplaced in this. Professional reviews do fit the description of the dictionary, but user reviews are anything but professional reviews.

Steam reviews are personal opinions that answer the question "Do you recommend it" and have no quality standards. Whether they should be anything else, is a different question. One in which I do agree with you, btw, as they should represent quality standards. But they don't, not in the current format.

Anyone who thinks that they can derive the quality standards of a game from the Steam review rating, is deceiving themselves. Why else do you think I said in an earlier post that I don't look at the rating? Because it's useless for the purpose that you want it to be.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

That is one of the most absurdly dense and comprehension-lacking comments I have read.

Still better than the "NO U" you just pulled.

Dictionary attacks are weak as it is, and then you had to go and use it without actually reading what you posted before hitting "post".

No, it isn't better than anything that I wrote. And I didn't write a "no u" response.

The meaning of a word matters when having a debate over the word, so it isn't weak, it's the foundation of the matter. And not only did I read the dictionary word, which vindicates what I said, before posting it, but I also understood it before posting it whereas you did not and you clearly also did not understand it even after I posted it.

How does somebody see that a dictionary definition confirms what a person said yet somehow come to the conclusion that the person didn't read it before posting it? How bad does a person's English have to be for that to happen? Pretty darn bad, to be sure.


You're going to want to re-read what was posted, because you just embarrassed yourself on a level I don't think anybody does very often. And your doubling-down on it makes it all the more cringy.

The definition is: "a critical article or report".

The example given in the definition is: "as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like"

Which is qualified by: "as in", "or the like"

And then the definition summarizes the essence of the word Review as: "critique; evaluation".


The definition literally says what I did, and literally discounts what you claimed. And anybody should have been able to understand that before you made you comment.

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Still better than the "NO U" you just pulled.

Dictionary attacks are weak as it is, and then you had to go and use it without actually reading what you posted before hitting "post".

No, it isn't better than anything that I wrote. And I didn't write a "no u" response.

The meaning of a word matters when having a debate over the word, so it isn't weak, it's the foundation of the matter. And not only did I read the dictionary word, which vindicates what I said, before posting it, but I also understood it before posting it whereas you did not and you clearly also did not understand it even after I posted it.

How does somebody see that a dictionary definition confirms what a person said yet somehow come to the conclusion that the person didn't read it before posting it? How bad does a person's English have to be for that to happen? Pretty darn bad, to be sure.

There is a difference between a literal meaning and a contextual meaning. As I said in my latest post, the word "review" is misplaced on Steam reviews. They're personal opinions, nothing more, nothing less.

[Radene]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

The example given in the definition is: "as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like"

Which is qualified by: "as in", "or the like"

And then the definition summarizes the essence of the word Review as: "critique; evaluation".

"of a book, play, recital or the like". Video games are not like books, plays, or recitals, so your link is useless.

And yes, I can and will out-pedant your pedantry if I feel like it.

[Tito Shivan]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Steam's system says that reviews for a game are X% positive, giving an aggregated measurement of how favourable people regard a game. That is a comment on the quality of a game.

And a low quality product can have good reviews.
It seems you're mixing reviews, recommendations and criticism.
Steam games are not reviewed under the premise of the game quality but if the reviewer recommends to buy that game.

A purchase recommendation can be given by factors outside of game quality.

I.E. People review positively a trash food restaurant or a bad movie.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

I'm not trying to anything. The window where you type the review says enough. Just as the message "X% of the reviews are positive" doesn't say anything about a quality judgement.

That argument is omitting the fact that positive or negative reviews are based on a personal evaluation - they aren't, or shouldn't be, empty-minded. They are meant to be reflective of the quality of the experience of the game.

When clicking to leave a positive or negative review in the Steam library, a window appears that says "Please describe what you liked or disliked about this product". That is literally a review of the product's quality, and those likes and dislikes are what support the recommended or not-recommended rating given to a game. And the Steam review score is an aggeregation of those recommended / not-recommended scores and are a quality rating whether you want to admit it or not.

I have not invented anything, Steam reviews speak completely for themselves.

Part of the review system speaking is the aggregation of review scores to give an overall picture.

Steam reviews are personal opinions that answer the question "Do you recommend it" and have no quality standards. Whether they should be anything else, is a different question. One in which I do agree with you, btw, as they should represent quality standards. But they don't, not in the current format.

Anyone who thinks that they can derive the quality standards of a game from the Steam review rating, is deceiving themselves. Why else do you think I said in an earlier post that I don't look at the rating? Because it's useless for the purpose that you want it to be.

Then I'm not sure why we're having a debate when it's agreed that the review system does not reflect accurately the quality of games on Steam. The previous system without the review-prompts gave a much more usable reflection of the gaming audience's impressions of and experiences with the games and the new Steam review-prompt system is moving things further away from providing accurate review and quality information.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Radene:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

The example given in the definition is: "as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like"

Which is qualified by: "as in", "or the like"

And then the definition summarizes the essence of the word Review as: "critique; evaluation".

"of a book, play, recital or the like". Video games are not like books, plays, or recitals, so your link is useless.

You have to realize how absurdly dense that is. I'm sure everybody else does. The definition says that critiquing or evaluating anything is a review.

The definition also doesn't mention cars, and cars are not like books or games. The definition also doesn't mention restaurants, and restaurants aren't like books or games. The definition doesn't mention thousands of things that are their own experience, yet the same definition of Review applies when using the word "review" in the context of each of them.

[Turbo Nozomix]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tito Shivan:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Turbo Nozomix:

Steam's system says that reviews for a game are X% positive, giving an aggregated measurement of how favourable people regard a game. That is a comment on the quality of a game.

And a low quality product can have good reviews.
It seems you're mixing reviews, recommendations and criticism.
Steam games are not reviewed under the premise of the game quality but if the reviewer recommends to buy that game.

A purchase recommendation can be given by factors outside of game quality.

I.E. People review positively a trash food restaurant or a bad movie.

The wording on the Steam store page is:

"
Recent reviews: XX%
All reviews: XX%

X% of XXXX user reviews for this game are positive."


But those % are based exclusively on whether a person recommends a game or not. I've double-checked, and it seems that a recommendation cannot be posted without including a write-up describing why the recommendation is given, and that write-up is the review for the game and the recommendation is the summary of the write-up.

Steam's system literally conflates a game recommendation as being a positive review for the game. So, saying I'm doing something wrong by stating the same thing lacks merit.