Dead Internet Theory and Steam Forums

[Lord Cheek Buster]

As I think most people may be aware of the integration of bots on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit to an extent) and their appearance as real people, I am interested to know the Steam community’s thoughts on the discussions/posts/reviews/comments on the platform. Are there more bots posting content in these forums than real people?

Some of the topics really throw me for a loop. I know there’s a lot of award farming and trolling, but I find it hard to believe that humans are actually posting the majority of content on Steam these days

[nullable]

Apparently you've never met a human being. They're not variants of you. It's a whole spectrum of nonsense that sometimes is hard to believe, but do not forget how limited by our own experiences we are.

[OMG_its_Keir]

Originally posted by nullable:

Apparently you've never met a human being. They're not variants of you. It's a whole spectrum of nonsense that sometimes is hard to believe, but do not forget how limited by our own experiences we are.

Sounds like something an AI would write...hmm.....

[_oBSOLEte_]

I've reported any self admitting chatGPT user posts as spam and only got maybe one acted upon.

Seems Steam automods are somewhat fine with AI generated posts, unsurprisingly.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

Alts, lots and lots of alts.

[Lord Cheek Buster]

Originally posted by nullable:

Apparently you've never met a human being. They're not variants of you. It's a whole spectrum of nonsense that sometimes is hard to believe, but do not forget how limited by our own experiences we are.

I understand there’s a lot of complexity to the human experience, but I think on the Steam forums there just seems to be so much content that doesn’t seem like it’s written by actual humans en mass

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

Originally posted by nullable:

Apparently you've never met a human being. They're not variants of you. It's a whole spectrum of nonsense that sometimes is hard to believe, but do not forget how limited by our own experiences we are.

I understand there’s a lot of complexity to the human experience, but I think on the Steam forums there just seems to be so much content that doesn’t seem like it’s written by actual humans en mass

Can't say I agree with that. While various people will use ChatGPT, I very much doubt bots are used to post general content. The scam links, trade stuff and spam, sure. But not the general posting.

I haven't seen much that would even come close to qualify as such, to be honest.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Person comes back to the forums using Ai responses that aren't 100% correct. Asks if there are more bots on the forums.

Well, .

[Lord Cheek Buster]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Person comes back to the forums using Ai responses that aren't 100% correct. Asks if there are more bots on the forums.

Well, :cfacepalm:.

:nkDaze:

Do you play games? It seems all you do is post things that aren't particularly helpful/relevant

[Tristin]

Do you think that's air you're breathing now?
-Morpheus

[Uncle Sam]

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

As I think most people may be aware of the integration of bots on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit to an extent) and their appearance as real people, I am interested to know the Steam community’s thoughts on the discussions/posts/reviews/comments on the platform. Are there more bots posting content in these forums than real people?

Some of the topics really throw me for a loop. I know there’s a lot of award farming and trolling, but I find it hard to believe that humans are actually posting the majority of content on Steam these days

Eh probably yes, in the case of the folks doing spam / rage bait via a ton of alt accounts. Other than that there's less bots in low traffic sectors of the internet (i.e. forums), when compared to mainstream corporate social media amount of bots.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Person comes back to the forums using Ai responses that aren't 100% correct. Asks if there are more bots on the forums.

Well, .

Do you play games? It seems all you do is post things that aren't particularly helpful/relevant

Less so on Steam these days. I play mainly on Game Pass.

My 676 Extra Helpful awards say otherwise.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

Are there more bots posting content in these forums than real people?

You pose a question yet do not answer it.

Is it so hard to imagine there are actual humans who can write posts while having a reliance on "must be ai."

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

I understand there’s a lot of complexity to the human experience, but I think on the Steam forums there just seems to be so much content that doesn’t seem like it’s written by actual humans en mass

Doesn't seem is not a definitive it is a guess by definition.

[Lord Cheek Buster]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

Are there more bots posting content in these forums than real people?

You pose a question yet do not answer it.

Is it so hard to imagine there are actual humans who can write posts while having a reliance on "must be ai."

I don't have an answer, hence why I am asking.

[Lord Cheek Buster]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Originally posted by Lord Cheek Buster:

I understand there’s a lot of complexity to the human experience, but I think on the Steam forums there just seems to be so much content that doesn’t seem like it’s written by actual humans en mass

Doesn't seem is not a definitive it is a guess by definition.

Is having a definitive answer a requirement? If I knew, do you think I would ask?