Decline Valve killed Steam Spy but it's gradually coming back

[Burning Bridges]

Sure, but do sales number tell you anything that steam reviews don't? If I see a game with more than 1,000 reviews and it's still highly rated, that gives me more information than sales. Take for example Banner Saga 1. The sales are quite good, but the reviews themselves have more information. Especially the negative ones.

Again, I don't see this as a loss to the consumer, but more a loss to the indie developer.

In this age the sales numbers, volume of user reviews, total playtime and general activity are the most important indicators you can get for free, and apart from testing the game yourself. You can follow some kind of swarm intelligence** that the more people spend with a product, the more it is worthwile to check out what it is and if you can use it. It's just important to interpret the data right. For example I see tons of games that get excellent user reviews but everyone just spent 10 hours with it, or vice versa and can draw important conclusions from it.

That way I could for example find games like Hellion, Osiris New Dawn or The Hunter that are getting terrible user score but are actually very good value for money.

**Exceptions are: AAA games, cinema and "bestseller" books, where it's more of a flock intelligence, i.e. the mirror image of intelligence. The sheeple run into the movie theatre entrance while the dogs of marketing, peer group pressure, boredom and micropenis are barking at the sides.

 

[Forest Dweller]

My hours in game are almost always inflated because sometimes I leave a game on when I'm sleeping. Or even when I leave the house.

In order to be accurate it would need to count "unpaused" hours only.

 

[Burning Bridges]

That's correct but still .. some people are completely nuts. During my time in The Hunter there was a guy (well actually there were more like him) who had been playing every single day since the game came out, and if you looked at the logs, he normally started at 9:00h and stopped at 23:00h. As can be expected he was usually at the top of the HunterScore. Then 2 years ago they deleted his account, no one ever learned why (he probably used exploits which is a valid reason for a ban in the retarded TOS) and you know what he did? He started a new account and built up his HunterScore from 0 and had overtaken me after a month.

 

[fantadomat]

That's correct but still .. some people are completely nuts. During my time in The Hunter there was a guy (well actually there were more like him) who had been playing every single day since the game came out, and if you looked at the logs, he normally started at 9:00h and stopped at 23:00h. As can be expected he was usually at the top of the HunterScore. Then 2 years ago they deleted his account, no one ever learned why (he probably used exploits which is a valid reason for a ban in the retarded TOS) and you know what he did? He started a new account and built up his HunterScore from 0 and had overtaken me after a month.

There is a lot of crazy people out there. I can't understand why people waste their life playing a single game for 12 hours a day. I have wasted a lot of time playing all kind of games,but i do like to go out,do some work and have a few drinks with bunch of friends. For me such people are no better than vegetables.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I don't know either. I think that they could be handicapped people or have serious mental issues (like Irenaeus who posted on rpgcodex during his wedding night). In any case it helps to understand what your mother was thinking every time she said "go outside, the sun is shining". The difference is that those people do the same 52 weeks a year and we only for a few weeks.

Btw I calculated my total playtime for all games on Steam is also ~ 2000 hours total and that includes games since 2014 (I resisted Steam for very long). That means 1/4 man year / year spent gaming which is already concerning. But apparently people apparently make no break for work, social life or travel at all. And it troubles me when I see how young some of them are.

 

[Spectacle]

I personally know certain people having over 2,500 hours in some games. If you consider that this equivalent to 200 x 8 hour days, or 1 man year, you can bet that there are companies who store such information and label "gaming addict". That means if someone has access to such database they may cancel you from elegibiliy for credit, work or appartments.

Apart from the fact that this can be used by criminals too. For example when you are in some game they know exactly where you are.

How would they even know? Steam profiles are pseudonymous unless you intentionally put your real name on there.

I'm surprised that you of all people would ask such a question.

 

[:Flash:]

This makes me wonder: Why does the movie industry publish the box office numbers, but the game industry doesn't? Is there a (semi-)official reason for this?

 

[Roguey]

I'm surprised that you of all people would ask such a question.

I've only been able to identify game developers. If one could deduce one's identity just looking at their Steam profile, that'd really be something.

 

[Big Wrangle]

Why does the movie industry publish the box office numbers

They kind of don't. When it comes to the box office, the numbers are reported by theaters to a third-party who end up doing the maths, like Box Office Mojo. A movie going around the theaters is more 'public' compared to product going into your house if that makes sense. The production company is generally not interested in talking about that stuff unless they make bank or bomb hard. Think of it like how Blu-Ray sales aren't as widely reported.

 

[fantadomat]

I don't know either. I think that they could be handicapped people or have serious mental issues (like Irenaeus who posted on rpgcodex during his wedding night). In any case it helps to understand what your mother was thinking every time she said "go outside, the sun is shining". The difference is that those people do the same 52 weeks a year and we only for a few weeks.

Btw I calculated my total playtime for all games on Steam is also ~ 2000 hours total and that includes games since 2014 (I resisted Steam for very long). That means 1/4 man year / year spent gaming which is already concerning. But apparently people apparently make no break for work, social life or travel at all. And it troubles me when I see how young some of them are.

I can understand playing a lot of game for the escapism,but playing the same shitty,repetitive,boring mmo for endless time is just mental sickness. I do play shit ton of games,but just because i love interesting stories and don't have anything else to do,i have always chose the going out to drink over playing some game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Why does the movie industry publish the box office numbers, but the game industry doesn't?

They kind of don't. When it comes to the box office, the numbers are reported by theaters to a third-party who end up doing the maths, like Box Office Mojo. A movie going around the theaters is more 'public' compared to product going into your house if that makes sense. The production company is generally not interested in talking about that stuff unless they make bank or bomb hard. Think of it like how Blu-Ray sales aren't as widely reported.

Another thing to consider here are unions and guilds (yes, really) and similar interest groups which are proteced by law, set laws and enforce them on (and on behalf of) their members who work within the film industry. Because of them we know the minimum wage an actor can make for starring in a film, and about other boundaries and restrictions that are put in place to protect workers from unscrupulous employers.

Now name a single such group in the gaming industry. Take your time, I can wait.

This is why we know of 'crunch time'. This is why we've known about crunch time for more than 20 years.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

There should be a punishment for playing Oblivion 2500 hours.

isn't that already a punishment by itself?

 

[Roguey]

Now name a single such group in the gaming industry. Take your time, I can wait.

This is why we know of 'crunch time'. This is why we've known about crunch time for more than 20 years.

Even bleeding heart leftie Josh Sawyer believes that unions in the game industry would be a mistake.

 

[Infinitron]

Looks like some kind of new estimation algorithm has been implemented after all:

 

[ColonelTeacup]

That's correct but still .. some people are completely nuts. During my time in The Hunter there was a guy (well actually there were more like him) who had been playing every single day since the game came out, and if you looked at the logs, he normally started at 9:00h and stopped at 23:00h. As can be expected he was usually at the top of the HunterScore. Then 2 years ago they deleted his account, no one ever learned why (he probably used exploits which is a valid reason for a ban in the retarded TOS) and you know what he did? He started a new account and built up his HunterScore from 0 and had overtaken me after a month.

There is a lot of crazy people out there. I can't understand why people waste their life playing a single game for 12 hours a day. I have wasted a lot of time playing all kind of games,but i do like to go out,do some work and have a few drinks with bunch of friends. For me such people are no better than vegetables.

Because some of us work long hours and want to enjoy videogames when life and the husband aren't around.

 

[Burning Bridges]

And now you're swamped with PMs amirite ..

 

[Roguey]

And now you're swamped with PMs amirite ..

Gonna be out of luck unless they're gay men.

 

[fantadomat]

That's correct but still .. some people are completely nuts. During my time in The Hunter there was a guy (well actually there were more like him) who had been playing every single day since the game came out, and if you looked at the logs, he normally started at 9:00h and stopped at 23:00h. As can be expected he was usually at the top of the HunterScore. Then 2 years ago they deleted his account, no one ever learned why (he probably used exploits which is a valid reason for a ban in the retarded TOS) and you know what he did? He started a new account and built up his HunterScore from 0 and had overtaken me after a month.

There is a lot of crazy people out there. I can't understand why people waste their life playing a single game for 12 hours a day. I have wasted a lot of time playing all kind of games,but i do like to go out,do some work and have a few drinks with bunch of friends. For me such people are no better than vegetables.

Because some of us work long hours and want to enjoy videogames when life and the husband aren't around.

You are a woman....

I am not talking about playing games,i do it all the time. I am talking about playing boring mmos,collecting single flower to make shitty potion and to sell it a bunch of loosers.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

And now you're swamped with PMs amirite ..

Gonna be out of luck unless they're gay men.

So, still lots of PMs?

 

[Infinitron]

Looking for more information on this new algorithm (he's keeping the details under wraps in private Patreon updates), found this:

 

[vonAchdorf]

Neural network, AI, machine learning and soon SteamSpy Coin.

An algorithm which works better for smaller samples is interesting. What's the logic behind it?

 

[Gerrard]

and the times of the real cheap games have finished since 2-3 years.

No they haven't, you just have to look past Steam.

I personally know certain people having over 2,500 hours in some games. If you consider that this equivalent to 200 x 8 hour days, or 1 man year, you can bet that there are companies who store such information and label "gaming addict".

And they'd be right.

Yeah, in games that have been out for X amount of years.
Shame TV and social networks don't have time counters.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

-the games on steam aren't cheap anymore.
-they are, if you don't buy them for steam.

retardness over 9000.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Neural network, AI, machine learning and soon SteamSpy Coin.

An algorithm which works better for smaller samples is interesting. What's the logic behind it?

Statistics is a very complicated topic, those who ever had to deal with it know it's almost impossible to understand. The gist is: if you know the invariants in a system, for example that the sum of all angles in a triangle = 180 degrees, it's possible to calculate the accuracy of random measurements and also to improve the accuracy with some confidence. This can help when you have only a small sample and that's basically all I understood . If you have a really large sample of measurements you cannot improve the measurements much more, but the smaller the sample = the more random the values are.

But don't ask how it is done unless you are prepared to deal with equation systems of 18x18 matrixes of second order derivatives and sheeet.

 

[Gerrard]

-the games on steam aren't cheap anymore.
-they are, if you don't buy them for steam.

retardness over 9000.

You realize you can buy games that activate on Steam outside of Steam? Are you actually retarded?
There's plenty of cases where you could get a better deal off Steam.