Why do Steam Curators give such bad reviews?

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Pastor Peanut Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:33pm

These people are given early access to games and asked to review them, and all they say is things like 'because Im Batman', or 'I see your a man or culture, or sometimes even just 'yes'. And they just copy and paste this sentence for every game review. Why do Steam allow this if they spend no effort whatsoever helping people judge if they should get a game or not?

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Showing 1-13 of 13 comments

Aachen Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:37pm

How do you know these curators don’t?

It may not seem like sane advice .... but some people aren’t looking for that.

Pastor Peanut Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:38pm

Originally posted by Aachen:
How do you know these curators don’t?

It may not seem like sane advice .... but some people aren’t looking for that.

I'd understand if they did a Youtube video on it or smth but then they have to link it instead of a copy and paste sentence which a fictional person says

crunchyfrog Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:41pm

First off, how do you KNOW these people got given the games?

Then why do you think they're entitled to offer ANY review, let alone meaningless, bad or otherwise?

When I worked freelance for the Official PS magazine, I'd get games sent that I had to work on and review or write a guide for, as per my job, but I'd also get promos sent to me out of the blue.

Pastor Peanut Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:50pm

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
First off, how do you KNOW these people got given the games?

Then why do you think they're entitled to offer ANY review, let alone meaningless, bad or otherwise?

When I worked freelance for the Official PS magazine, I'd get games sent that I had to work on and review or write a guide for, as per my job, but I'd also get promos sent to me out of the blue.

These people are given games in advance before everyone gets to play them. So why would these companies just say to them 'here have a free game copy a month early and no need to review!'

Reggaejunkiedrew Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:57pm

What makes you think curators get games early? Any steam group can be a curator. A lot of games journalism sites have steam groups that are curators, and they get games early because they are in games media, but that has zero to do with being a steam curator.

https://store.steampowered.com/curators/aboutcurators/

Last edited by Reggaejunkiedrew; Mar 28, 2020 @ 5:57pm

Reggaejunkiedrew Mar 28, 2020 @ 6:00pm

I guess a specific company may CHOOSE to send a game to a curator if they are popular, but that's not really any different then sending the game to a Twitch streamer, the publisher can send a game to whoever they want to. Again not really anything to do with Steam.

crunchyfrog Mar 28, 2020 @ 6:03pm

Originally posted by Peanut Pancake:
Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
First off, how do you KNOW these people got given the games?

Then why do you think they're entitled to offer ANY review, let alone meaningless, bad or otherwise?

When I worked freelance for the Official PS magazine, I'd get games sent that I had to work on and review or write a guide for, as per my job, but I'd also get promos sent to me out of the blue.

These people are given games in advance before everyone gets to play them. So why would these companies just say to them 'here have a free game copy a month early and no need to review!'

Same reason as I did. Did you miss that?

Once you work in the industry, you get put on certain mailing lists. You get sent stuff, unsolicited. I stopped working for the PS magazine in 2000 and something, yet I received games in the post for many years after. And yes, they were usually a few weeks early, unless it was for the magazine, in which case it was 3 or 4 months early, with 1 month to get the work done, then 1 month to print the mag.

But again, how do you know these people DO get games free, and how do you know they get those specifc games? Do they not have their own money?

Also, we KNOW many youtubers and such get free unsolicited games. I've seen tons go on about emails being sent with game keys and "please look at my game" messages.

Last edited by crunchyfrog; Mar 28, 2020 @ 6:06pm

GigaPimp, The Nefarious Oct 19, 2021 @ 1:15am

I once saw a steam curator on an unreleased game (cant remember which one) and his "review" literally didnt say anything, i think the curators name was blank reviews or something and all of his reviews were just informational with no writing

Sleepy Yoshi Oct 19, 2021 @ 3:39am

Vetting people for pre-release reviews is very much the Publisher and/or studio's job. How well they do or don't do that, is up to them.

I don't see any compelling reason for Steam to attempt to take on that role on their behalf.

crunchyfrog Oct 22, 2021 @ 2:02am

Originally posted by Gambian:
I once saw a steam curator on an unreleased game (cant remember which one) and his "review" literally didnt say anything, i think the curators name was blank reviews or something and all of his reviews were just informational with no writing

Bottom line is this - Vave have ALWAYS introduced in this platform applications that dwell on one remit. That of offering ANY user their input and communication to other like minded users.

From forums, to chat, then reviews, and so on.

All of this is to serve that purpose. So ANYONE can do it. By offernig a hands-off approach it offers a level playing field and mitigates bias. But it ain't perfect by any measure. Some people are ♥♥♥♥ at things and will take part, and some will know they're ♥♥♥♥ at these things and take part just to puff up self-importance (you see it Youtube all the time).

But the point is your perspective is wrong. You shouldn't see all curators as some sort of status being "ooh they're somehow worthy". All it means is they're having a go for good or ill, and YOU should judge which ones you like - that's it.

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