Steam reviews need a five star rating scale.

[FOXDUDE69]

The simplistic thumbs up or thumbs down thing can be very misleading. Games aren't just good or bad, there's a gradient there and I know you can explain your rating in the text but when you go to a store page and you see an "overwhelmingly positive" rating of 98%, you might think it's the hottest thing since Jessica Alba, only to buy the game and realize it's just a 4 out of 5 game.

But that's not the biggest problem, the biggest problem is when you have a game that is overall good but has some serious issues. Or a game that's just "good enough" for the price. The reviewer is forced to pick from positive or negative rating and since the experience was overall positive, they pick positive which usually results in games having a "very positive" rating, sitting around 85% when in reality it's a 2.5 or 3 out of 5 game.

The absolute worst scenario is one like Fallout 3's which is left in an abysmal state because of steam's lack of standards and Bethesda's let-the-fans-fix-it attitude resulting in a game that doesn't even launch without being modded by the paying costumer and requires further work to run well. Every new player needs to go through this process but the game is real good after you you spend a good amount of time fixing it, so they leave positive reviews... on a game that doesn't even launch. And it's sitting right now with a "mostly positive" rank on steam.

A simple five star rating scale would help a lot and provide a much more honest and accurate average rating.

Thank you for reading.

[Tito Shivan]

引用自 Foxdude：

Something I noticed today is that when we search for a Steam game on Google, Google then takes the Steam approval rating and converts it to a rating in the 5 star scale and also in the 10 point scale.

Google does no conversion to star ratings. Google only reads the review metadata in the product page which is set up by Valve. That includes review rating.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/review-snippet#review-snippet

Judging from the numbers Steam is just translating the percentage of overall positive reviews to a 1-10 scale for google to draw the star rating in their search results.

IE: Searching for Payday 2 in Google gives us a 4.5/5 stars rating (Rating: 9/10 · ‎297,194 reviews)
If we look at the product page we find the following code snippet with exactly the same information:

<meta itemprop="reviewCount" content="297224">
<meta itemprop="ratingValue" content="9">
<meta itemprop="bestRating" content="10">
<meta itemprop="worstRating" content="1">

87% of those 297.224 reviews are positive according to Steam so they're rounding it up to a 90% to get the 9/10 score.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

And that would be Google, the biggest aggregator of them all, understanding what are commonly-used rating scales, and displaying them as such.

While Steam can and certainly does differently, it remains the odd one out.

Furthermore, the fact that Google shows them as 5- and 10-point ratings is more evidence contradicting the argument (proffered a few times already in this thread) that people use Steam's system as a recommendation system rather than a review system.

(It's YouTube that uses its 2-point rating as a recommendation system; said system is basically invisible before a person even clicks into a video.)

[cinedine]

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

And that would be Google, the biggest aggregator of them all, understanding what are commonly-used rating scales, and displaying them as such.

Yes, this is google. A company that is *ranking* results. A company that is number driven like no other.
And a company that exactly know when to use a scale Vs a binary system.

[Nx Machina]

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

There is an entire series of posts from you that makes digs at yourself simply by the series of non-sequiturs and other strangely-worded statements that you've posted; whatever I can add pales in comparison to the embarrassment you've made of yourself anyway.

Oh! dear - grasping at straws -

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

It's a 2-point review system with the status labeled as a recommendation.

Keep clinging to your definition in the hopes it will convince someone.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

IAnd 3- and 5-point rating systems are all built to handle subjectivity too.

And?

Not available on Steam.

In real life you recommend a restaurant to friend not rate it unless you are boring.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

This is you misunderstanding a rating as a recommendation..

A 5 star rating is not a recommendation? Of course it is.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

I have indeed gotten my facts straight; your rejoinder wouldn't be so empty if you actually had a counterargument to present.

Well you keep on believing your facts are relevant and not just rhetoric.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Where did I say looking through post history was against forum rules? I have never said it was against forum rules, and for you to imply such is your mistake.

Arguing for arguing sake. Well at least you are consistent

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

But for some reason you feel the need to keep on pushing back against them anyway.

Because I can due to something known as freewill - I CAN DISAGREE.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

If you think I am here to convince you, then you've made a big error in judgement.

Did I state me or was it ACTUALLY others. Oh! that's right it was others.

Convince me? It takes a multitude of posts and you still do not get it.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Sorry, you don't get to decide what is a valid reason for change.

Oh! I do because I have an opinion and can state it.

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Sorry, you don't get to decide other people's needs either.

Oh! a "NO YOU" post

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

By your reasoning you are not relevant to Steam.

My, my, what a moot point to finish with.


You really cannot let go can you. You just argue for arguing's sake.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

There is an entire series of posts from you that makes digs at yourself simply by the series of non-sequiturs and other strangely-worded statements that you've posted; whatever I can add pales in comparison to the embarrassment you've made of yourself anyway.

Oh! dear - grasping at straws -

Oh! dear - the lack of self-awareness -

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

It's a 2-point review system with the status labeled as a recommendation.

Keep clinging to your definition in the hopes it will convince someone.

Once again, if you think I'm here to convince you, then you're sorely mistaken.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

In real life you recommend a restaurant to friend not rate it unless you are boring.

In real life, people are using Steam's review system as a rating system.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

This is you misunderstanding a rating as a recommendation..

A 5 star rating is not a recommendation? Of course it is.

Only if you want it to be one.
I'm fine with ignoring all those 5-star games out there, but perhaps you aren't?

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Where did I say looking through post history was against forum rules? I have never said it was against forum rules, and for you to imply such is your mistake.

Arguing for arguing sake. Well at least you are consistent

Nice dodge. Didn't work.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

But for some reason you feel the need to keep on pushing back against them anyway.

Because I can due to something known as freewill - I CAN DISAGREE.

Congratulations, glad you understand...now extend that understanding to the perspective of others.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

If you think I am here to convince you, then you've made a big error in judgement.

Did I state me or was it ACTUALLY others. Oh! that's right it was others.

Still misunderstanding.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

Convince me? It takes a multitude of posts and you still do not get it, you have scored zero.

Hey look, you're writing your own reality again.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Sorry, you don't get to decide what is a valid reason for change.

Oh! I do because I have an opinion and can state it.

And so do I.

引用自 Shogun Blade：

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

Sorry, you don't get to decide other people's needs either.

Oh! a "NO YOU" post

I'm not here to tell people what they need; I'm here to discuss an option, so people can choose.
You, on the other hand, take it upon yourself to tell me what I need.

[Nx Machina]

@ Quint

And here we go again. I Quint cannot concede, cannot let go.

As with the other thread, no more, Quint. I will not reply further to you on this thread.

You literally argue for arguing's sake.

Bye.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 Shogun Blade：

@ Quint

And here we go again. I Quint cannot concede, cannot let go.

As with the other thread, no more, Quint. I will not reply further to you on this thread.

You literally argue for arguing's sake.

Bye.

See you around.

[FOXDUDE69]

引用自 Tito Christmas：

Google does no conversion to star ratings. Google only reads the review metadata in the product page which is set up by Valve. That includes review rating.

And that review rating is generated from the user reviews, and then converted into the 5 star and 10 point rating equivalents.

引用自 Tito Christmas：

Judging from the numbers Steam is just translating the percentage of overall positive reviews to a 1-10 scale for google to draw the star rating in their search results.

If it is Valve themselves doing the conversion, it only strengthens my argument, because that would prove that Valve themselves would translate a 90% positive rating to a 4.5/5 and a 9/10.

Putting the nail in the coffin of any argument that claims recommendations should not be interpreted that way when Valve themselves interpret the system precisely that way.

Thank you so much for helping me prove my point by digging a little deeper! It would never have occurred to me to look at the code in the Steam store! Your help is most welcome, friend!

[Start_Running]

9 out 10 you say. You sure you're reading that and not interpreting say the fact that they're jst misinterpreting the various Tiers. 10 kindal lines up with the number of actual tiears Availble.

1. Overwhelmingly Negative
2. Very Negative
3. Mostly Negative.
4. Negative
5. Mixed
6. Positive
7. Mostly Positive
8. Very Positive
9. Overwhelmingy Positive
10. ???

and as anyone has noticed these cover percentage ranges and are based on certain criteria such as the nuumber of reviews.

[FOXDUDE69]

引用自 Start_Running：

9 out 10 you say. You sure you're reading that and not interpreting say the fact that they're jst misinterpreting the various Tiers. 10 kindal lines up with the number of actual tiears Availble.

First, please learn how to structure your sentences and the proper use of punctuation.

Secondly, go read Tito's full post. Post #421.
Valve themselves are providing this metadata for 3rd parties like Google to display the games' user rating in the 5 star format and the 1 to 10 format. Valve themselves are converting this data to a 1 to 10 scale. Which irrevocably shows that Valve considers a 90% approval rating a 9/10.

[Tito Shivan]

引用自 Foxdude：

Valve themselves are converting this data to a 1 to 10 scale. Which irrevocably shows that Valve considers a 90% approval rating a 9/10.

That's how statistics work. 90% positives mean 9 out of 10 people voted positively. Little to do with rating scores.

[cinedine]

引用自 Foxdude：

Putting the nail in the coffin of any argument that claims recommendations should not be interpreted that way when Valve themselves interpret the system precisely that way.

Thank you so much for helping me prove my point by digging a little deeper! It would never have occurred to me to look at the code in the Steam store! Your help is most welcome, friend!

They don't. It's google more or less forcing them. They use the metadata to create cards for the shopping results and to rank search results. If you don't have a complete set of metadata, you will be ranked lower.

Also it's still not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ score. 90 % is a 9/10 on a scale of ten. Nine out of ten people recommend the game. That doesn't make it a score.

You know how the Guide Michelin uses a five star system? That doesn't make it a score. They are awards.
You know how hotels have a five star system? That doesn't make it a score. It's a pure classification system.

[FOXDUDE69]

引用自 Tito Christmas：

引用自 Foxdude：

Valve themselves are converting this data to a 1 to 10 scale. Which irrevocably shows that Valve considers a 90% approval rating a 9/10.

That's how statistics work. 90% positives mean 9 out of 10 people voted positively. Little to do with rating scores.

Still Valve is converting this data to be displayed as a rating score by Google.
A game that has a 90% positive rating gets converted into a 9/10 and subsequently into a 4.5/5. And Valve is fine with this, otherwise they wouldn't provide this metadata if they didn't want the approval rating to be interpreted as a rating score by Google.

So when someone comes into this thread and tells me I shouldn't be interpreting a Steam approval rating 98% as a 9.8 out of 10, they are objectively wrong because Valve themselves is fine with doing this.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 cinedine：

Also it's still not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ score. 90 % is a 9/10 on a scale of ten. Nine out of ten people recommend the game. That doesn't make it a score.

What is a "score" to you?

Because all of these are just numeric ratings summarizing people's opinions on things.

[FOXDUDE69]

引用自 cinedine：

They don't. It's google more or less forcing them.

Google is not a legislative government... Yet.

They can't force Valve to do anything. Valve is converting approval percentage into a 1 to 10 scale to be displayed as review score as Tito showed. Which means Valve themselves equate a 90% approval rating to a 9/10 and a 4.5/5 review score and are okay with those numbers being displayed as such.

You can perform whatever mental gymnastics around this as you want, but even if you were Spider-Man, you wouldn't be able to dodge it.