"Steam's turned toxic, and Valve doesn't care" (gameindustry.biz)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-05-06-steams-turned-toxic-and-valve-doesnt-care

Excellent article, and one pretty relevant to Doomworld at this point (we all saw mass abuse of user reviews on Steam during new Doom's beta).
There is next to no moderation going on in Steam's user review sections, and only "punishment" author of some harmful, vulgar or extremely factually incorrect review can face is the deletion of said review. Their forums have been a lost case for ages now, but user reviews need to be moderated and fundamentals of their system needs to be changed. Way they are right now, they are a tool for trolling and harassment, and they are absolutely able to hurt the image on some game and its developers and to damage its sales.

The word toxic is getting toxic, enough already.

The whiny tone of the article makes me 99% positive the writer made some trash greenlight early access game that got trounced on by people.

Neutrino said:

(we all saw mass abuse of user reviews on Steam during new Doom's beta).

We did? Well, hopefully no one got upset or anything. Because id and bethesda sure as fuck ain't with the game being a top seller on steam right now.

Yet another reason i don't use Steam, too toxic, not worth, take my advice, stay clear of that thing and use GoG instead.
Plus the fact that Valve doesn't care shows that they are now greedy ignorants, way to reward your fans, Valve.
And don't ever go to the Steam forums, they are godawful.

Valve act too insulated. Between the paid mods fiasco, Greenlight being a shit-dump, and absolutely zero communication on the franchise that made them, I've been growing more unimpressed with them as time goes by.

Oh darn, people will have to make up their own minds.

Slightly related: Honestly I haven't bought a new PC game for years now and have had little reason to use Cleveland Steam. Will it be necessary to install it and use it for Doom4? I intend on buying a physical copy and I don't mind if I have to download stuff, but does it have to be through them?

Yeah ratings systems are often abused, so I don't care about it personally, but I won't pretend it doesn't make some kind of impact on sales, as many people check reviews before layin down cash. Also the link in the OP doesn't load for me, but I think I get the gist anyway.

gameindustry.biz said:

We're sorry, but an error occurred while attempting to show you this page.

Silenced.

Doomkid said:

Slightly related: Honestly I haven't bought a new PC game for years now and have had little reason to use Steam. Will it be necessary to install it and use it for Doom4? I intend on buying a physical copy and I don't mind if I have to download stuff, but does it have to be through them?

Yes. https://twitter.com/doom/status/244495971252322304

That's kind of lame, but no biggie.

Megalyth said:

Silenced.

"Um, actually"

It's affecting the whole site as well.

EDIT: Okay, now it works again.

HavoX said:

"Um, actually"

It's affecting the whole site as well.

Welcome to the DoomWorld forums.

Er, come again? :?

Anyway, those reviews were without merit, and I find it appalling that no one from Valve bothers to moderate the Steam user review section area.

BREAKING NEWS: People who don't have to be held accountable for their words will say shitty things for their own amusement.

gameindustry.biz said:

Steam saved PC gaming.

Article lost credibility at this point.

I buy pretty much all my games on steam, it's just convienent. Valve has gotten really complacent. It feels like they are slowly slipping grip on steam and don't know how to fix all the bullshit going on.

Disdain for the masses, apology of censorship, complaint about political leanings differing from the money sponsored media approved message... Isn't the flurry of journalist heads on pikes these last two years evidence enough playing champagne socialist in the realm of video games gives questionable returns?

Nathan Grayson chimes in on this subject: "Steam Games Are Now Even More Susceptible To Review Bombing"
http://steamed.kotaku.com/steam-games-are-now-even-more-susceptible-to-review-bom-1774940065

Phml said:

flurry of journalist heads on pikes these last two years

A bunch of unwashed rabble harassing any game journalist they don't like (which appears to be anyone who can write above a 6th grade reading level) does not a "flurry of journalist heads on pikes" make.

don't let convenience into your computer

Phml said:

champagne socialist

A what? Is that what anyone who isn't a fan of GG is?

The article in the OP seems to me like a 'turf-fencing' post. I've always suspected that reviewers in general get money for reviewing an item, and more money indeed if the review is positive "no-matter-what". But what happens when the seven seals of hell are open and "people, openly" start reviewing everything? I remember back in the day I'd go to gamespot, 1up.com, gametrailers.com, or others to lookup info on a game and maybe checkout a review or two before trying a game. That's being... how to say it.... democraticized (sorry for my progressistic-bullshetism) and reviewers make it seems that 'everyone is losing their minds' but it might be just them losing ground, that they're losing their minds.
That's my 2 cents.

Funny they should use Riot as a good example of how to treat a community. In their unending quest to "reduce toxicity", they've outright refused to implement tools which would vastly improve the performance of any serious player, especially at the professional level. Should tell you everything you need to know about the author.

The author wants to shit on the unwashed masses, but doesn't realize, or doesn't care to address, that the only way to prevent outrage would be to give a group total control over user reviews on Steam. I shouldn't have to spell out how ridiculous that is. I'm not willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt here either. Abuse of moderator powers on individual game forums are a regular occurrence on Steam and he'd have to live under a rock on the moon to not have noticed. Giving them more power is not going to make Steam better.

Outrage doesn't come from nowhere. It may be dramatic, but if you strip away the anger and the point they're making still stands, it's still a useful comment. People may have been unnecessarily angry at Doom 4's multiplayer, but them being upset because it was too much like Halo is a valid point that may be relevant to potential buyers.

Besides, it's not like "professionals" don't fly completely off the handle on a regular basis over incredibly minor bullshit, putting aside all other issues with them.

Fact is, nobody got harmed by people shitting on Doom's multiplayer. There is not an angry gamer mob going to developers' houses and breaking their windows. If you make shit, people are going to call it shit. Steam has its own section to do just that, because sometimes, there's a reason for it. When angry gamers bomb a nursery, then you can start talking about cracking down on the evil that is user reviews.

Somehow I can't take a news site in the *.biz domain seriously.

When I first saw that the site had a .biz domain, I thought it was going to be spam or something...

I don't really see how that article is relevant to Doomworld. And it's rather stupid overall.

I mean, I met my GF on Steam, and most of my online friends, so...

But I can even admit that Steam Is cancer sometimes, especially It's community.

All communities are cancer.

Meh, some communities are less as cancerous as others.

One problem with Steam seems to be the problem with any Democratically based system. When the people voting have very simplistic minds and are easily swayed. For instance, the greenlighting system which is basically just a popularity contest, not exactly quality control.

Is the Steam community really that bad? I've never had a reason to venture to the message boards.