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ScruffyNote Jul 27, 2016 @ 11:46am
Fake Accounts for Reviews
When a dev creates fake accounts to post positive reviews for their game ("Smell of Death"), what can be done about it?
I have reported the game, the dev, and the fake accounts. So I'm not really asking about what I can do as a user. I'm really interested in knowing what Valve does in cases like these.
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Showing 1-15 of 32 comments
V Jul 27, 2016 @ 11:54am 
I believe that it takes a lot of reports , and not just one , for Valve to actually notice an issue and start working on solving them.
#1
Start_Running Jul 27, 2016 @ 12:45pm 
How are you so sure they are dev accounts? secondly. to answer your question: Move on with your life.
#2
ScruffyNote Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:08pm 
Originally posted by Start_Running:
How are you so sure they are dev accounts? secondly. to answer your question: Move on with your life.

They are all new accounts with one paid game in their inventory, and they make the same grammatical errors. It's pretty obvious that they are fake.

When you see someone post about something that you don't think is worthwhile, you should follow your own advice.
#3
GhostSailor Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:16pm 
Sauce,

Unfortunately that's a slight possibility due to the ability to generate keys through SteamWorks for a game released through that platform.

I've personally purchased games in the past that didn't have glowing reviews, yet were absolutely magnificent in my opinion. I can only recommend that you purchase games that you strongly feel you'll truly enjoy -- if a developer is intentionally creating falsified reviews and that's reflecting negatively on your experience with or about the game, just steer clear of it and you'll be alright.
#4
Start_Running Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:21pm 
Originally posted by Sauce:
Originally posted by Start_Running:
How are you so sure they are dev accounts? secondly. to answer your question: Move on with your life.

They are all new accounts with one paid game in their inventory, and they make the same grammatical errors. It's pretty obvious that they are fake.

When you see someone post about something that you don't think is worthwhile, you should follow your own advice.

In which case you've reported them . now follow the second part. move on. Truith is such tactics don't amount to much of anything.
#5
ScruffyNote Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:25pm 
Originally posted by koa:
Sauce,

Unfortunately that's a slight possibility due to the ability to generate keys through SteamWorks for a game released through that platform.

I've personally purchased games in the past that didn't have glowing reviews, yet were absolutely magnificent in my opinion. I can only recommend that you purchase games that you strongly feel you'll truly enjoy -- if a developer is intentionally creating falsified reviews and that's reflecting negatively on your experience with or about the game, just steer clear of it and you'll be alright.

Yeah. I intend to. When I saw it though, I was just curious as to what Valve does in situations like this.
#6
GhostSailor Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:32pm 
Originally posted by Sauce:
Yeah. I intend to. When I saw it though, I was just curious as to what Valve does in situations like this.

Understandable, and you're more than free to inquiry about this specifically by creating a Steam Support ticket for a possible more *definite answer. I've personally never tackled such a claim in the past, so I'm unsure of the specifics within SteamWork's partners rules and regulations, if there's an actual case to be projected and discussed about.

:-)
#7
Start_Running Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:45pm 
Originally posted by koa:
Originally posted by Sauce:
Yeah. I intend to. When I saw it though, I was just curious as to what Valve does in situations like this.

Understandable, and you're more than free to inquiry about this specifically by creating a Steam Support ticket for a possible more *definite answer. I've personally never tackled such a claim in the past, so I'm unsure of the specifics within SteamWork's partners rules and regulations, if there's an actual case to be projected and discussed about.

:-)

Really? as if support isn't clogged up with enough meaningless tickets. They won't say anything. At best all Valve will do is remove the reviews if it can be shown they are from the same person. I.e looking at the IP addresses.

Chances are these revuiews are not from the dev but just a group of the devs's friends and perhaps family. There are also review booster groups out t6here that will drop a posituive review in exchange for a free copy of the game.

Hence the advice. You reported, now move on. At worst, a few removes will be axed from the store page and that will be about it, in all likelihood, nothing will happen because there usually need to be a certain number of reports to get something on steam's radar.
#8
ScruffyNote Jul 27, 2016 @ 1:53pm 
For clarification, I'm not asking what I should do, and I don't have any intention of submitting a ticket to get this answered, as I'm simply asking out of curiosity. I was just wondering how Steam handles situations in which this occurs.
You don't know, and that's fine. Now move on.
#9
Start_Running Jul 27, 2016 @ 2:38pm 
Originally posted by Sauce:
For clarification, I'm not asking what I should do, and I don't have any intention of submitting a ticket to get this answered, as I'm simply asking out of curiosity. I was just wondering how Steam handles situations in which this occurs.
You don't know, and that's fine. Now move on.
Actually I do know. Hence why I said, Worst case. You see, might surprise you but this sort of thing has come up before. Might want to do some forum searching. Needless to say, you have the answer. Whether you choose to accept it is irrelevant. That is the standard procedure for such things.

Fake reviews (if proven to be fake via IP logs) are removed and that is more or less that. Seldom do such reviews get removed because it turns ourt, it's very hard to prove something's fake in a conclusive manner.
#10
ScruffyNote Jul 27, 2016 @ 2:53pm 
In that case, thank you for a simple answer to a simple question. Now we can all move on.
#11
Reefler Jul 27, 2016 @ 3:24pm 
When a game is absolutely awful, but it was a blockbuster tiltle everyone will have fake reviews regardless of how good the game actually is the same as metacritic. Gaming companies pay off reviews just like businesses pay to increase their search results on google it's all money and b.s. Same as cheating software many developer's of shooters get paid a percentage of sales from the cheat companies which is crooked as hell (that's why the cheats don't go away otherwise they would sue the cheat companies for altering their copywrited i.p.). That's how messed up gaming is now.
Last edited by Reefler; Jul 27, 2016 @ 3:28pm
#12
76561198001062896 Jul 27, 2016 @ 9:15pm 
Originally posted by Reefler:
When a game is absolutely awful, but it was a blockbuster tiltle everyone will have fake reviews regardless of how good the game actually is the same as metacritic. Gaming companies pay off reviews just like businesses pay to increase their search results on google it's all money and b.s. Same as cheating software many developer's of shooters get paid a percentage of sales from the cheat companies which is crooked as hell (that's why the cheats don't go away otherwise they would sue the cheat companies for altering their copywrited i.p.). That's how messed up gaming is now.

I have yet to see any confirmation of gave devs bribed to allow cheaters

Not word of mouth rumors
#13
username12121 Jul 28, 2016 @ 12:55am 
If you look at the store page for a game called ZombieRush, you'll find this news article linked to it.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/467460/announcements/detail/886462256235816821

You'll also notice that the game is not for sale and that it hasn't been since that article was written.

I don't know exactly what action was taken, but this game was shown to have several hundred positive reviews that were obviously written by a small number of accounts and then somehow each account and review was able to be duplicated many times.

This does show us, I guess, that Valve do take action against this sort of offence if, as I imagine happened in this case, there was enough of a public reaction about it. Exactly how big the reaction needs to be, I have no idea, but I do know that this fake reviewing was reported on Steam in forums and through the report system, as well as through other non steam media/ forums etc.
Last edited by username12121; Jul 28, 2016 @ 12:57am
#14
ScruffyNote Jul 28, 2016 @ 1:14am 
Originally posted by username12121:
This does show us, I guess, that Valve do take action against this sort of offence if, as I imagine happened in this case, there was enough of a public reaction about it. Exactly how big the reaction needs to be, I have no idea, but I do know that this fake reviewing was reported on Steam in forums and through the report system, as well as through other non steam media/ forums etc.

The game I'm talking about in this post has been brought up on Reddit, and a lot of people are reporting it. I have noticed that the number of reviews dropped from 20 to 16, and the rating dropped from Mostly Positive to Mixed. So it looks like Valve is at least removing some of the reviews.

I appreciate your input, as it gives an idea of how far Valve can go with cases like this, which was the original question.
#15
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Date Posted: Jul 27, 2016 @ 11:46am
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