Bioshock: Infinite QoL update - 2K launcher

[loppantorkel]

So.. they updated this 10 year old SP game with a launcher. The right or wrong to do so is discussed in other threads.

I'm wondering about the recent reviews written and Valve's/dev's/publisher's view and response on that. Is the current review bombing sound and valid or will they be removed from the overall score?

automated tool that will identify "anomalous review activity" on all Steam games, in as close to real-time as possible. When a problem is detected, a team at Valve will be notified, and will investigate further.

"Once our team has identified that the anomalous activity is an off-topic review bomb, we'll mark the time period it encompasses and notify the developer," Valve wrote. "The reviews within that time period will then be removed from the Review Score calculation."

Off-topic content will include obvious things such as storefront changes and exclusive publishing deals, and also complaints that are related to, but not actually about, games, including the presence of DRM and changes to EULAs. Valve said the "general" Steam user doesn't really care about that sort of thing and so for most users, review scores are more accurate if those complaints are excluded—and users who do get into it at that level are often more willing to "dig a little deeper" before making their purchases.

The reviews themselves will remain in place, allowing those who want to dig deeper to do so, but the store page will be marked to indicate that off-topic review activity was detected and removed from the score. The review graph will also indicate which segment of offending reviews has been removed from the score.

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-takes-steps-against-steam-review-bombs/

Is it within the consumer rights to review the game negatively when the conditions have been changed around the game, perceived by the consumer as a negative? Do they have a right to affect the score negatively, having bought the game?

I'm not sure have this will be handled. It's not a major release or event. It's a 10 year old game which few cares about now, but it's still interesting imo.

[Overseer]

That launcher sucks and adds nothing of value but Valve has already decided that such inconveniences don't matter here for reviews as long as the game is playable. That's just how it is. There is no clear approach that could solve all problems to this. And a quick test showed me that the exe still runs without launcher. Just don't be so review score focused.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Overseer:

That launcher sucks and adds nothing of value but Valve has already decided that such inconveniences don't matter here for reviews as long as the game is playable. That's just how it is. There is no clear approach that could solve all problems to this. And a quick test showed me that the exe still runs without launcher. Just don't be so review score focused.

Valve does not own the rights to those ip's to dictate.

[Nx Machina]

@ loppantorkel

Are you reviewing the game? On-topic.

Are you having a rant about the dev, the launcher and not reviewing the game? - Off-Topic.

And finally Valve could remove the review system and no consumer rights have been violated.

[AustrAlien2010]

Originally posted by UberFiend:

Originally posted by Overseer:

as long as the game is playable.

...and there's the problem.

Try this:

1) Search for the BioShock Infinate installation files. Create a new folder so you get this: \Steam\steamapps\common\BioShock Infinite\2KLauncher
2) Create a text file named LauncherPatcher.txt, save this file in that 2KLauncher folder
3) Rename that text file to LauncherPatcher.exe
4) Set a launch option for BioShock Infinate by right-clicking on BioShock Infinate in your Steam library, then click on Properties. Set the launch option to: "BioShockInfinite" -run %command%

See this thread for further details.

[Start_Running]

That depends on the user. You can confuigure your preferences to include the bombs,, or not. Most people keeop the bombs iout since they don't particularly care what some people are getting their panties in a twist over.

[loppantorkel]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

@ loppantorkel

Are you reviewing the game? On-topic.

Are you having a rant about the dev, the launcher and not reviewing the game? - Off-Topic.

Read the OP again if you need guidance for a relevant discussion.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by loppantorkel:

Read the OP again if you need guidance for a relevant discussion.

I read the topic. I responded. You did not like the answer which addresses points from the topic. It is about reviews, off-topic activity and consumer rights, hence my reply and the relevance of it.

Reposted:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

@ loppantorkel

Are you reviewing the game? On-topic.

Are you having a rant about the dev, the launcher and not reviewing the game? - Off-Topic.

And finally Valve could remove the review system and no consumer rights have been violated.

Note: I do not work for Valve so i cannot confirm - "will they be removed from the overall score" but what i can say if from a personal perspective "Is the current review bombing sound and valid" - no it is not.

And finally not exactly sure why you are concerned about the 2K launcher when you last played Infinite in 2013 with the last achievement been 7 April and you never completed the game.

[loppantorkel]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Originally posted by loppantorkel:

Read the OP again if you need guidance for a relevant discussion.

I read the topic. I responded. You did not like the answer which addresses points from the topic.

Breakdown - it is about reviews, off-topic activity, and consumer rights, hence my reply.

Reposted.

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

@ loppantorkel

Are you reviewing the game? On-topic.

Are you having a rant about the dev, the launcher and not reviewing the game? - Off-Topic.

And finally Valve could remove the review system and no consumer rights have been violated.

Explain to me the relevance of me either reviewing the game or not. Explain to me your question about me having a rant about the dev and the launcher.

Your always interesting answer that Valve can do whatever they want, I'll disregard for now.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

@ loppantorkel

Are you reviewing the game? On-topic.

Are you having a rant about the dev, the launcher and not reviewing the game? - Off-Topic.

And finally Valve could remove the review system and no consumer rights have been violated.

Ah but remember;
these are not really reviews.
These are just motivations for a binary choice of whether you endorse others to purchase the game or not. And the addition of suddenly requiring an additional 2K account; as well as the additional advertising shoved in your face at every launch, can be a perfectly fine reason to choose to no longer endorse the game, now can't it?

[ReBoot]

The game is playable just fine. It's enjoyable as well.

Quite frankly, if a launcher is enough for you to not notice the gameplay & story (which you apparently liked before), you got bigger problems than the launcher. That extent of stuck-up principle thinking is toxic. Reminds me on Jim Sterling's episode on toxic gaming discourse

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Being forced to use an unwanted launcher is a technical issue that affects the player's experience with the game, so it makes sense for people to be upset about this.

[Black Blade]

I think it may be removed from the over all
It is abslotly relvent as its part of the softwarr you buy the game with
Even that I do have to agree that most users likely will not care at all

[AustrAlien2010]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Being forced to use an unwanted launcher is a technical issue that affects the player's experience with the game, so it makes sense for people to be upset about this.

I can still run this without a launcher after following those steps. I didn't even got to that point of having to install a launcher. Or at least, not yet.

Anyway. I have no problem anymore and I have this fixed. Let's just go back to fixing other bugs now. Many more bugs in many other games still remain and need to be fixed.

[loppantorkel]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

And finally not exactly sure why you are concerned about the 2K launcher when you last played Infinite in 2013 with the last achievement been 7 April

My level of concern - from the OP

Originally posted by loppantorkel:

So.. they updated this 10 year old SP game with a launcher. The right or wrong to do so is discussed in other threads.
....
I'm not sure have this will be handled. It's not a major release or event. It's a 10 year old game which few cares about now, but it's still interesting imo.

and you never completed the game.

It's a bit funny how you try to use my openness against me and still fail. Don't you feel a bit silly searching through other profiles while hiding your own? At least try to get your facts correct next time.

Originally posted by ReBoot:

The game is playable just fine. It's enjoyable as well.

Quite frankly, if a launcher is enough for you to not notice the gameplay & story (which you apparently liked before), you got bigger problems than the launcher. That extent of stuck-up principle thinking is toxic. Reminds me on Jim Sterling's episode on toxic gaming discourse

Read the OP again if you didn't get it the first time.

Originally posted by AustrAlien2010:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Being forced to use an unwanted launcher is a technical issue that affects the player's experience with the game, so it makes sense for people to be upset about this.

This situation is more confusing than that. Users are not being "forced" to install this launcher or any additional program, instead this may happen automatically through Steam or this may not happen at all, depending on unknown circumstances. Or at least, the situation seems as that based on the information that I could gather.
Regardless of that, this launcher is seemingly not required for that game-title. In fact, users can play that game-title without installing that launcher and they were always able to do that in the past. But now they have to do these extra steps, otherwise Steam will continually attempt to install that launcher.

There are likely work arounds which will allow you to play the game without the launcher. The question here is if people should be able to affect the score when reviewing the game without Valve flagging it as Off-Topic activity? Should people be able to protest the change by giving the game a lower score, or not?

[Lithurge]

As far as I'm aware all the games are playable without the launcher. Certainly BS2, Civ VI, The Quarry and the last XCom game are.

However 2K are inconsistent in how they handle discussions on disabling it, when people ask for help as it blocks the game launching. For Civ a 2K employee has pinned the post about how to disable it. For The Quarry it's a bannable offence to discuss it on Steam.