- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,592
Tags: RPG Codex; Steam; Valve Corporation
Several months ago, the overlords of PC gaming over at Valve began allowing unprecedented numbers of new games on to their platform. Thus began a long debate over the issue of "discoverability", and many developers expressed a fear that their games would drown in the endless torrent of shovelware. Earlier this week, Valve finally issued their response to this concern, in the form of a massive new update to the Steam client. The update consists of an overhaul to the Steam front page user interface, which has received several new discoverability features.
Among these features is the new concept of "Steam Curators", which is actually an expansion of the long-existing Steam group functionality. Groups may now recommend (or "curate") games with a short description and review link, while Steam users can follow their curation feeds. The curated games appear on the users' front pages, thus allowing them to potentially discover good games lost in the chaos of Steam's endless new releases and bargain bin sales.
Upon learning this, several Codexers, including myself, immediately realized the potential for Glorious Codexia to plant her flag in yet another tract of digital soil. A couple of days later (and after a frustrated attempt to take over an existing unofficial RPG Codex group), the official RPG Codex Steam group was born.
Right now, our group already has over 200 members and its curation feed has over 900 followers (leaving the RPGWatch group in the dust, naturally). It's also the most popular result by far when searching for "RPG" in the Steam Curators section. We've appointed some of the Codex's finest to curation duty, and have already recommended 46 suitably Codexian RPGs. Things are looking good.
So why am I posting this? First of all, if you haven't heard of all of this and haven't joined/followed the group yet, please feel free to do so. It's a hell of a lot better than letting Total Biscuit or Valve's dumb suggestion algorithm decide what games should appear on your Store page.
Second, while our curators have done a great job thus far, there are some games that they just aren't familiar enough with, and we'd like to have meaningful descriptions in our feed, as opposed to endorsing games blindly. Not to mention, condensing a "review" of a game into the 152 characters that Steam allows can be fairly challenging!
So, while curation privileges will remain exclusive to a small group of users for the foreseeable future, we are open to submissions of new descriptions. In particular, the following games are in need of an endorsement:
Realms of Arkania 1+3
Wasteland 1
Wizardry 6
Geneforge 2-5
Avernum: Escape from the Pit
Avernum 4-6
Furthermore, if you see a recommendation in our feed that you feel isn't sufficiently descriptive and think you can do better, feel free to suggest a replacement. If it's good enough, we'll take it.
That is all - you may now start complaining.
Several months ago, the overlords of PC gaming over at Valve began allowing unprecedented numbers of new games on to their platform. Thus began a long debate over the issue of "discoverability", and many developers expressed a fear that their games would drown in the endless torrent of shovelware. Earlier this week, Valve finally issued their response to this concern, in the form of a massive new update to the Steam client. The update consists of an overhaul to the Steam front page user interface, which has received several new discoverability features.
Among these features is the new concept of "Steam Curators", which is actually an expansion of the long-existing Steam group functionality. Groups may now recommend (or "curate") games with a short description and review link, while Steam users can follow their curation feeds. The curated games appear on the users' front pages, thus allowing them to potentially discover good games lost in the chaos of Steam's endless new releases and bargain bin sales.
Upon learning this, several Codexers, including myself, immediately realized the potential for Glorious Codexia to plant her flag in yet another tract of digital soil. A couple of days later (and after a frustrated attempt to take over an existing unofficial RPG Codex group), the official RPG Codex Steam group was born.
Right now, our group already has over 200 members and its curation feed has over 900 followers (leaving the RPGWatch group in the dust, naturally). It's also the most popular result by far when searching for "RPG" in the Steam Curators section. We've appointed some of the Codex's finest to curation duty, and have already recommended 46 suitably Codexian RPGs. Things are looking good.
So why am I posting this? First of all, if you haven't heard of all of this and haven't joined/followed the group yet, please feel free to do so. It's a hell of a lot better than letting Total Biscuit or Valve's dumb suggestion algorithm decide what games should appear on your Store page.
RPG Codex Official Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/rpg_codex
RPG Codex Steam Curation Feed: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6866630-RPG-Codex-(Official)/
RPG Codex Steam Curation Feed: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6866630-RPG-Codex-(Official)/
Second, while our curators have done a great job thus far, there are some games that they just aren't familiar enough with, and we'd like to have meaningful descriptions in our feed, as opposed to endorsing games blindly. Not to mention, condensing a "review" of a game into the 152 characters that Steam allows can be fairly challenging!
So, while curation privileges will remain exclusive to a small group of users for the foreseeable future, we are open to submissions of new descriptions. In particular, the following games are in need of an endorsement:
Avernum: Escape from the Pit
Avernum 4-6
That is all - you may now start complaining.
