An Idea: Remove Jesters

[Pumpgun-Petrus]

Thats the worst thing implemented by Steam.
Either remove them or make them more expensive to award so that fewer People get one.

Thoughts?

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

I'd rather have a universal option to never see these horrible bloatware awards anywhere on the platform (but can still get them and Steam points.)

[@R+5]

Originally posted by Pumpgun-Petrus:

Thats the worst thing implemented by Steam.
Either remove them or make them more expensive to award so that fewer People get one.

Thoughts?

imo, is not even close to the worst feature in steam, but i agree is not great either.

Removing features that have been accepted and adopted, specially after early criticism about poor implementation and bad design (ie those "reward-extra points" to buy in the point shop, which is used to displace the "steam marketplace", where decorative extras are trade-able for money, which could be used to buy cheap games, or complete those "missing pennies" in payments) is usually a bad idea, and leads to distrust.

so, i also agree making them more expensive could reduce how frequently those are awarded casually. that way, not only those would be more valuable, but also less misused to try to mock or misrepresent the content of a thread from touching a topic some people may find "polemic" or "annoying" (including devs, and some forum moderators).

imo, if valve and steam really wanted to "increase social engagement" in their forums, one of the first big changes they need to do, isnt to improve the usefulness of the point shop, but make those points compatible in someway with the marketplace and marketplace items, not only to reduce the cost of some marketplace items, but to also give the chance to use them as a form of "cashback" to later reuse them to buy (mostly cheap) games.

Another would be they should reduce and limit the power of forum moderators, and implement a meritocratic system for moderation, similar to the one used by newgroundsDOTcom (which most of the time is very effective to limit actual trolls, and limit abusive censors).

That way people could easily "feel tempted" to spend "a little extra" in less known games, and maybe actually play them, which is what small and new devs need the most, to improve in their craft and maybe become bigger later. Also more people would feel interested to spend more time in the forums, and offer feedback for games and share "fan content" in the "gallery" which i think helps to increases the seo of games, which then also helps to increase sales indirectly (more people talk about something, more people find that).

Originally posted by B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t:

I'd rather have a universal option to never see these horrible bloatware awards anywhere on the platform (but can still get them and Steam points.)

like a button in settings to turn off visibility?

i think that would be nice, but unlikely to happen soon or ever, if we consider how many have complained and asked for something similar to hide (and also allow to place it elsewhere) the "whats new" section in the client.

imo, that could still happen, if enough people asked (or demanded) valve to bring back the "steam client (css) themes" (and maybe combine options to personalise content with the "point shop"), and include a special section to fine tune every aspect, like color and size of scrollbars, size and placement of sections, borders, text and so on.

i think a feature like that could make even more attractive steam deck, since most of the time players are navigating the steam client ui, rather than the desktop (and since the de is linux, that one is highly customisable, so they dont actually need to do anything there, even if they could still offer their own "theme manager", to try to keep the desktop and client themes in sync)

[N*rd]

I will only quote the parts that are relevant to my responce, I read to the entire thing and can agree on the most parts.

Originally posted by @R+5:

imo, is not even close to the worst feature in steam, but i agree is not great either.

Removing features that have been accepted and adopted, specially after early criticism about poor implementation and bad design (ie those "reward-extra points" to buy in the point shop, which is used to displace the "steam marketplace", where decorative extras are trade-able for money, which could be used to buy cheap games, or complete those "missing pennies" in payments) is usually a bad idea, and leads to distrust.

so, i also agree making them more expensive could reduce how frequently those are awarded casually. that way, not only those would be more valuable, but also less misused to try to mock or misrepresent the content of a thread from touching a topic some people may find "polemic" or "annoying" (including devs, and some forum moderators).

....

Yes, the intention behind the Jester award is not inherently bad; however, it is often misused and can cause more harm than good.
Let me explain. (Note: I am not ranking these points by significance but simply listing the cases that come to mind.)

Derailing Discussions
A user makes a statement with logical arguments—for example, pointing out a balance issue with an enemy, sharing a perspective on a certain change, etc.—without malicious intent.
The topic then gets awarded a large number of clowns, which often leads to the discussion devolving into a flame war with insults directed at the original poster (OP).
Interestingly, the Jester awards are often used as justification to dismiss the OP’s arguments entirely, which brings me to the next point.

Invalidating Arguments
Similar to the first point, I’ve seen cases where a user shares an unconventional or creative idea (without being insulting or offensive) and receives a flood of clowns. This seems to serve the purpose of silencing the individual instead of engaging with their argument.

Clown Farming
This phenomenon wasn’t present before the introduction of Jester awards. Some users now post threads designed to provoke or anger others, counting on the fact that the community is quick to hand out Jester awards when confronted with ideas or topics that challenge their usual thinking.

Harassment
In some cases, this extends beyond threads. Users may “invade” someone’s Steam profile and spam them with clown awards, effectively damaging their reputation or prestige on the platform.

Marking Silly Content
On the other hand, there are legitimate use cases for Jester awards, such as marking genuinely silly comments or threads. In these cases, it can be justified.


When I read through this, I can’t help but think about the negative impact the Jester awards have had overall.
In my observations (over 17 years on steam by now), people seem to have become more reckless and increasingly prone to harassment.

The Jester award, in particular, seems to enable bullying and incentivize users to create silly or provocative topics intentionally.
I believe the award system should focus on recognizing and encouraging good content.

If the Jester awards were removed, I would bet that overall interactions on Steam would improve or at least become more polite again.

Originally posted by @R+5:

...
Another would be they should reduce and limit the power of forum moderators, and implement a meritocratic system for moderation, similar to the one used by newgroundsDOTcom (which most of the time is very effective to limit actual trolls, and limit abusive censors).
...

never heard about that system, how would that work?

[seblav]

Originally posted by N*rd:

I will only quote the parts that are relevant to my responce, I read to the entire thing and can agree on the most parts.

Yes, the intention behind the Jester award is not inherently bad; however, it is often misused and can cause more harm than good.
Let me explain. (Note: I am not ranking these points by significance but simply listing the cases that come to mind.)

Derailing Discussions
...

Invalidating Arguments
...

Clown Farming
...

Harassment
...

Marking Silly Content
..
If the Jester awards were removed, I would bet that overall interactions on Steam would improve or at least become more polite again.

Being relatively new to Steam I can't tell how things were before, but I do agree with your point here. I were clowned some time when my opinion was different from the others.

But I think removing the jester would simply move the community toward another award, like example "slow clap" can be seen as sarcasm by some people.

I honesty don't know what would be best.