Change user reviews to rating only

[Vinz Clortho]

User reviews are rarely helpful. The ones that try and review the games properly tend to waffle on for 50 paragraphs about something specific to them, the ones that don't will write:

"I am a 45 year old father, one of the oldest playing this game"
"Are you winning, son?"
"Main character thicc"
Picture of Walter White/Xi Jinping
"Do not give money to this developer they are criminals"
"This is for the Ukraine, f*ck Russia!"
"I got run over by a truck then turned into a dog and a man came to ask if I needed a gun 10/10 the game of all time"

The only part that's really helpful is the rating of negative to positive. You could remove the ability of users to write reviews for games & the system would still function the same way. Get rid of all the clutter.

[Mr. Smiles]

Easier solution would be to get rid of the awards that promote posting that crap. Sure there will still be trash, but at least there will be less lolmeme award bait reviews.

As someone who actually reads reviews to try to decide if I'm going to get a game, I would like them to stay.

[BJWyler]

Escrito originalmente por Mr. Smiles:

Easier solution would be to get rid of the awards that promote posting that crap. Sure there will still be trash, but at least there will be less lolmeme award bait reviews.

As someone who actually reads reviews to try to decide if I'm going to get a game, I would like them to stay.

This. So much this. The awards system was just a terrible idea from the outset.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Even if they don't want to get rid of the points, just disable the option to give points to reviews, and refund all the points back to everyone that spent it on reviews, then this just flat out give zero reason to try farm points, it be back to thumbs up, and funny.

[Anxiety]

No. Joke reviews and award spam aside, everyone should be entitled to their 50 paragraphs of poorly laid out thoughts.

[Zoltan Redbeard]

Escrito originalmente por Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Even if they don't want to get rid of the points, just disable the option to give points to reviews, and refund all the points back to everyone that spent it on reviews, then this just flat out give zero reason to try farm points, it be back to thumbs up, and funny.

That sounds interesting, maybe it should also be applied to game guides too, to try to stop the joke/fake guides spread as well.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Escrito originalmente por Zoltan Redbeard:

Escrito originalmente por Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Even if they don't want to get rid of the points, just disable the option to give points to reviews, and refund all the points back to everyone that spent it on reviews, then this just flat out give zero reason to try farm points, it be back to thumbs up, and funny.

That sounds interesting, maybe it should also be applied to game guides too, to try to stop the joke/fake guides spread as well.

TBH yes I think points should be limited to screenshots, artwork, videos, workshop, and posts maybe on the posts because some people still try to farm for clown points, which IMO people should just not give them any points at all, give it to people that calls them out, or makes actual good points to counter people that trying to farm clown points in the forum, but yeah I think this will kill whole lot of guides, and reviews basically no more farming them.

[Serendipity]

Escrito originalmente por BJWyler:

Escrito originalmente por Mr. Smiles:

Easier solution would be to get rid of the awards that promote posting that crap. Sure there will still be trash, but at least there will be less lolmeme award bait reviews.

As someone who actually reads reviews to try to decide if I'm going to get a game, I would like them to stay.

This. So much this. The awards system was just a terrible idea from the outset.

I so much agree with you two and others who would like to see the end of this ridiculous award and points system.

I have also noticed that some of the forums are plagued with the same problem, nonsensical
posts. I so wish Valve would think again about what they have unleashed.

[William Shakesman]

Unnecessary. Valve explicitly encourages those types of reviews and there is nothing wrong with them.

[Crazy Tiger]

I very much am interested in the text. I specifically look for negative reviews with shorter playtime because I want to know why people stopped playing, or refunded, a game.

So no, not just ratings. That would be entirely useless since it's missing a lot of context. I literally have no use for ratings only.

[Psymon²]

Escrito originalmente por Han Solo:

User reviews are rarely helpful. The ones that try and review the games properly tend to waffle on for 50 paragraphs about something specific to them, the ones that don't will write:

"I am a 45 year old father, one of the oldest playing this game"
"Are you winning, son?"
"Main character thicc"
Picture of Walter White/Xi Jinping
"Do not give money to this developer they are criminals"
"This is for the Ukraine, f*ck Russia!"
"I got run over by a truck then turned into a dog and a man came to ask if I needed a gun 10/10 the game of all time"

The only part that's really helpful is the rating of negative to positive. You could remove the ability of users to write reviews for games & the system would still function the same way. Get rid of all the clutter.

your suggestion feels a bit extreme, but i absolutely understand where you're coming from.
it would be GREAT if people used the helpful and not helpful ratings properly, which would go a long way to sorting this problem out, but alas, most users seem to prefer nonsense and dumb jokes...

[Brian9824]

Steam just needs harsher punishments to reviews and most infractions. Do something like you suggest lose all reviews for a month and have your existing reviews hidden. Do it again, a year. Do it a 3rd time and permanent ban from leaving reviews

[William Shakesman]

Escrito originalmente por brian9824:

Steam just needs harsher punishments to reviews and most infractions. Do something like you suggest lose all reviews for a month and have your existing reviews hidden. Do it again, a year. Do it a 3rd time and permanent ban from leaving reviews

They already do that. I got a thirty day ban from reviews for just thumbing up a review steam did not like.

Of course Steam did not tell me about this nor what was wrong with the review they removed and since they removed it I cannot tell myself. So probably the review was edited after the fact and Valve punished me needlessly for it.

But the main point is Valve already implements sudden harsh punishments for review naughtiness.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Escrito originalmente por William Shakesman:

Escrito originalmente por brian9824:

Steam just needs harsher punishments to reviews and most infractions. Do something like you suggest lose all reviews for a month and have your existing reviews hidden. Do it again, a year. Do it a 3rd time and permanent ban from leaving reviews

They already do that. I got a thirty day ban from reviews for just thumbing up a review steam did not like.

Of course Steam did not tell me about this nor what was wrong with the review they removed and since they removed it I cannot tell myself. So probably the review was edited after the fact and Valve punished me needlessly for it.

But the main point is Valve already implements sudden harsh punishments for review naughtiness.

You can still see removed text by viewing the page source.

[William Shakesman]

Escrito originalmente por cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Escrito originalmente por William Shakesman:

They already do that. I got a thirty day ban from reviews for just thumbing up a review steam did not like.

Of course Steam did not tell me about this nor what was wrong with the review they removed and since they removed it I cannot tell myself. So probably the review was edited after the fact and Valve punished me needlessly for it.

But the main point is Valve already implements sudden harsh punishments for review naughtiness.

You can still see removed text by viewing the page source.

Cool. Now give me a link to the review I had clicked thumbs up on one day randomly and I can view the source. Remember it has been removed. Will that also tell me how the user edited it after I had voted on it?

[Brian9824]

Escrito originalmente por William Shakesman:

Escrito originalmente por brian9824:

Steam just needs harsher punishments to reviews and most infractions. Do something like you suggest lose all reviews for a month and have your existing reviews hidden. Do it again, a year. Do it a 3rd time and permanent ban from leaving reviews

They already do that. I got a thirty day ban from reviews for just thumbing up a review steam did not like.

Of course Steam did not tell me about this nor what was wrong with the review they removed and since they removed it I cannot tell myself. So probably the review was edited after the fact and Valve punished me needlessly for it.

But the main point is Valve already implements sudden harsh punishments for review naughtiness.

They do not do that, you lose it temporarily but it does not escalate, and your other reviews are not removed as a result. If you abuse reviews, you should lose the ability to create them and that includes your old ones.