Change forum posting rights to game owners only, checked and 80% of negative did not own game

[Vurt]

I was just in another game forum where out of interest I looked at 30 posters with the worst rants against an upcoming game, released in the US EU tomorrow (STEAM only). Out of 30 only 4 actually owned the game.

So I got interested and started looking around the forums for STEAM exclusive games (just killing some time) and I must say I got quite a surprise, I ended up checking 120 account (that I could see obviously) for game owenership vs the most angry rants and found that 95 of those people did not even own the game.

Now quite aside from the reason why someone would wish to spend time slagging a game they had never played is beyond me but It does seem that the forums are being hijacked.

Solution is to restrict posting access to game owners only, that way people can get a much better picture of wether a game has issues or is good etc.

Simple solution and I suspect it would also cut the number of posts dramatically, making the forums more effecient.

[Black Blade]

it may also kill the forum... meaning almost no post and what if i want to ask something... like how is the game working with net if no one say so far..
So i think maybe with your idea they need to add a tag that will show in hub if you own the game or not will that not work?
Also no one say they did not maybe download the game (unligil maybe) or got it from some were else

just pointing it out... and i like access to hubs even if i don't own the game

[Tito Shivan]

Not everyone uses their main account to post on the forums.

[Black Blade]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tito Shivan:

Not everyone uses their main account to post on the forums.

So they don't get ban? or something else?

[Satoru]

This has been done but only in EXTREME cases.

Just because a bunch of idiots don't understand how regional release schedules work, the same as they have ALWAYS worked since the dawn of retail, doesn't warrant that level of lock down.

Not to mention those idiots have it better than the Japanese. They got nothing to gripe about when japan easily gets several MONTHS of delays for big titles. Titles published by JAPANESE COMPANIES.

[Vurt]

Information is only useful if contained, forums would not die or anything close to it, the only thing that would happen it that most of the Spam would be removed.

[Satoru]

Początkowo opublikowane przez |UKMD| Muppetts:

Information is only useful if contained, forums would not die or anything close to it, the only thing that would happen it that most of the Spam would be removed.

But there are some legitimate reaasons for usres who don't own a game to post in a forum

[Matt]

Every game hub should have a General Discussions forum which is open to everyone. The developer can then optionally create additional sub-forums which are restricted to game owners only, if they choose to do so.

[sfnhltb]

People who want to buy a game should be able to ask questions about it, so I can't see any way such a restriction can be a good idea. Abusive posters can be dealt with in the normal ways, whether they are complaining about a game they don't own or not.

[Wolf Echo]

Początkowo opublikowane przez MindLey:

Since the problem has been getting worse, why not have a default General Discussion and Owners Discussion for every game so that developers don't feel like they are doing something different? Many people have suggested and wanted an Owners only Discussion.

That could work, but I think most users are just going to click on the "Go To Forums" link (or however they get there) and look at the posts there, not really bothering to see if theres an owners-only area. And are most game owners going to post more often in the General or Owners area?

[Alienowl]

For me, if a forum is locked to game owners only and I do not own that game, then I will not buy that game. I would rather see "moaning" posts than restrictive forums.

Początkowo opublikowane przez sfnhltb:

People who want to buy a game should be able to ask questions about it, so I can't see any way such a restriction can be a good idea. Abusive posters can be dealt with in the normal ways, whether they are complaining about a game they don't own or not.

^^^ this sounds right.

[Wolf Echo]

Początkowo opublikowane przez alienowl:

For me, if a forum is locked to game owners only and I do not own that game, then I will not buy that game. I would rather see "moaning" posts than restrictive forums. :jianh:

Początkowo opublikowane przez sfnhltb:

People who want to buy a game should be able to ask questions about it, so I can't see any way such a restriction can be a good idea. Abusive posters can be dealt with in the normal ways, whether they are complaining about a game they don't own or not.

^^^ this sounds right.

I think a problem here is that game forum moderation is done by the developers, and aside from the indie ones I don't think I've ever seen a big-name developer assign someone to moderate the Steam forums for their game. A solution would be to have a select group of people, who are highly trusted by Valve, given moderator access with the express task of making sure such abusive postings are regularly marked as Closed or outright removed. But given how many games are on Steam even if this option is the easiest to impliment, there are too many forums and such a task would have to be a paying one to justify taking the time to police (for lack of a better word) it all in any effective manner.

Honestly, I think the forums are generally OK as they are now. Yes, there are a lot of trolling posts by people that don't own the game or do own it and just want to cause problems. But you're going to find that kind of behavior in any online forum. Easier to just ignore the bad posts and focus on the good ones.

[Wolf Echo]

Początkowo opublikowane przez MindLey:

It would be their perogative to post in both I guess. I do not see why owners should be restricted, but it would be helpful to have a private Owners only discussion away from flaming non-owners when needed.

For example, instead of wading through non-owner flame threads in the General Discussion, I can see myself going straight to the Owners only Discussion if I need to find a game fix or helpful tip to save some greif. Or if I wish to have a logical and orderly discussion away from falmers and trolls about a game, then I most certainly would only post it in the Owners only Disucssion. However, I would still post in the General Discussion if a non-owner asked a reasonable question about the game.

A well reasoned argument, but the part about finding a "logical and orderly" discussion in the Owners Only thread is predacated on all owners of the game not being trolls, and lets face it, a few of them are going to be, no matter what game you talk about. An Owners Only thread is no promise of a troll-free discussion area. I've been on several forums where some of the *worst* trolls had access to every sub-forum, even ones that required special access rights. Some people are going to buy a game, hate it and then feel the need to spread that opinion around. By adding a second thread, you'll just add another place that they can spew out their troll-esque thoughts.

[Wolf Echo]

Początkowo opublikowane przez MindLey:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Quietus Wolf:

An Owners Only thread is no promise of a troll-free discussion area. I've been on several forums where some of the *worst* trolls had access to every sub-forum, even ones that required special access rights. Some people are going to buy a game, hate it and then feel the need to spread that opinion around. By adding a second thread, you'll just add another place that they can spew out their troll-esque thoughts.

True, but if I bought a game, then I should be free to let others know how I feel about it. I just don't care about people who don't own the game and never intend to buy it or play it at length. Their opinions are nothing but flames almost all the time.

Understandable, but there have been a few games that I've bought/recieved, played for less than an hour, and been so upset by the poor quality of the game and/or numerous bugs and glitches that playing for any longer becomes pointless, so people that haven't played at length aren't always in the wrong.

A better option here is to change the way the forums mark who actually owns the game. Instead of just the mouse icon, have the forum post flagged in a special way that grabs the attention, like a tag that says "OWNER" or some kind of unique 'background' to the threads title. There's no need for a new system when you can just modify one that already exsists.

[Vurt]

Początkowo opublikowane przez alienowl:

For me, if a forum is locked to game owners only and I do not own that game, then I will not buy that game. I would rather see "moaning" posts than restrictive forums. :jianh:

Początkowo opublikowane przez sfnhltb:

People who want to buy a game should be able to ask questions about it, so I can't see any way such a restriction can be a good idea. Abusive posters can be dealt with in the normal ways, whether they are complaining about a game they don't own or not.

^^^ this sounds right.

How wrong, what makes you think people who own the game won't moan, the difference is that you will know that they are actually doing it from experience rather than troll bordom, you will get an informed moan. Otrherwise you may end up not buying a good game you would have liked because a bunch of people who never played it told you it was crap. Or on the flip side you may decide not to buy it because you know the people commenting are doing so from gameplay insight.

[Wolf Echo]

I still don't see a seperate owners discussion area happening. As was stated before:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Matt:

Every game hub should have a General Discussions forum which is open to everyone. The developer can then optionally create additional sub-forums which are restricted to game owners only, if they choose to do so.

And as I said, I've not seen many devs outside Indie ones that even bother to moderate the Steam forums for their games. You're also talking about altering the forums for 3000+ games, which may not be easy to do (I'm not a programmer so I don't know). You also have to consider that what's the best fix for something now may not be the best in the long run. A small alteration to the system now, like flagging owner posts, lets Valve see if more needs to be done. If the owner flaggin doesn't help then they can look at other options.