The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[racofer]

Nah, game is great.
Someone even wrote a book analysis of it: http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Harmless-Critical-Reading-Spec-ebook/dp/B00B9P2WP6

WOAH this guy is really good!

For a moment there I thought he wasn't gonna make it at the chopah part.

 

[sexbad?]

Not sure why you think a short YouTube video would change my opinion, this was already discussed at length in here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...s-the-line-heart-of-darkness-with-guns.73595/

I meant it to mock you for enjoying shovelware disguised as drama

 

[Ninjerk]

Oh I already did some quality work on FO3.

 

[toroid]

http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Rogue-like/

So that's what a roguelike is.. Huh, I totally had the wrong idea.

 

[Dexter]

Well they've managed to neuter the system pretty massively already, removing a large amount of negative tags, even stuff like "bad". I guess a few more days till the system evolves into its useless fruition.

 

[sexbad?]

As long as Return to Castle Wolfenstein has a "Cheese und Crackers" tag, I will consider the system a success.

 

[jfrisby]

The tags seem to be up to the devs, now? The Shivah still has all of it's tags, for instance. Other games seem to be able to hide tags from the front of their store pages, but the tags remain in the list view. It was glorious for a few hours there.

 

[Konjad]

Fallout 3's top tag still is "Play New Vegas instead," so everything's fine so far.

 

[toroid]

The tag "Unfinished" is no longer allowed. That's pretty fucked up because a lot of the games on Steam are actually unfinished.
This is an accurate factual descriptor in many cases and having it removed makes me question Steam's integrity quite a bit.
I imagine that eventually any term that could serve as a warning to consumers will be taken out of the system.

edit:
Somehow "Cash Grab" is still allowed.

 

[jcd]

7d9d5f85087f3eeb3ddec22dc803102928f025232c9709a28acdcc490f69ff434afcd4bd432b34ff212fdabd463b6b178ec3fad2d1aaf3785e34bf5b2fdbc892ef0f864e6dd31022e3e4910e92314a4e91177436926748f24915d7613e767ffce2a860f4d2de6f009bb6d9777b32ed00bce055ab34f264809c2cf9872a7dc61694a60a284cb6abd0bac9c7082b8a2f1e34a7ab490004a481b4dc1a8d0514ff63876443d36a2797e63434ff2c4b1ba69553e0715782aceb9dc62db2229b8f1fc87d5c117212453c71a9c17dfce3c2d0b418a88f11adbab2482b2752e377d4636037d0da705cfad72b1163ff39da099e22270fe1607d40a92c3ba3dd6dccb98ba0bdf911074ddccfc87be1f74cdc74db277089977a2b25b1c0d110ca4d45107e35298b21f7e9f29b0dba3e859364a2bf929d025d186ea16432e1566620d57c21b886191b1b54eeb8c1771cc5beabc0b6833041634524968e587c8649db266abbe575ba861d962fd8906fe271579ab206819b0fcb2f5b1bfe9faace3d5eeb0740a25e470c34a7f1ede2f05ab013b06d712885a493153f1f8d7a91491e0e53ca1273ffdef46d32c2cd2ddf0e68440d444b431e0c7fbf68850071ac1f60fe32aad35f1805df71fce44bcfaeb934a30cf86190a6b75ceaaca9625b695963f01bb22f2622f297b41380bface9b3a7dd988454ca01fdfb0b74aeba9b3b1c173aaf63c0623ce12fc72cd6255a1660b8f790739dab2126ed19d46ce7d2d147e23bcb40cba5128c462ad4e5065b01ae70f49f1aba7af97edcbf10cc8a248da6ca6cef3014baaf58789ac2003d2b5ece078186377a48776afb8618594b55d3b6a8caa9b710d293de3d0590a3ddff27f3182d57f0d1ec313befbe9af1307131488647da5896760ce136316f93d42382d4c8c0fba1fc2f3c0012cc14cfca1e46f3e1149d8882db36b2badb1647b0d7f3eb2d096d91881bc6cf21dfb2aff0a667d9d7c5781b7a7fed0b4637806f540c0400f5199c03e1f2e515841da485e53e2b4e0d5c7d12a9af37cabd31ea252c79feeb1d0cd1207c3f9f7a010c6c07aea854fdec0d259206fca7eac88245a4de2cab94b7f57ac728a406d606eeca531a5767177a3ff8ba486c83ecf56bdc63b2b77dcf72a8c7445acefa69c4d45dd74728032fac5b8ce2675b812c4ad4e1af288de2c176451538e5a04b7de64f2dc3a99f543218e6166391741469e3cbab0752e6d7e451f04eac32cf6e93a8530ac4ed1c378de196abb4c93055fd0486a63a1a9282aa7ae7c65449d5377310bc5199f700587239b1003d678941ffd1d214f136f3611eceea757f501a24b3b93eda817b40240ea5f88b97d4f76abb7dbc5a6781cfce495401184d7427ddecc43a5fb041398ee9e9d4730d9e660a603083cb372bb02cbd996e654fe1846446b129d94cd7b28f16700fd1133690c9e558f074a130b1e18925872b485e254380bec31f92437d735f2654b345d2f7eeb280a575f9fcc5804d2d8c1dce5224aa482f0c649a622272f0297048659a4752b0730647d34261f311e490ab014d7d3287482f7e7f2335c7fcf82d38522718675f8f134636166ec13e938af84f36145a507d147d798d8bef4cfd47a236a2b48118e42cd93bc2ca6980bebf17e2bcedab0da0861a0464d8e6b76d0ad6f647815a0d77ea90c02cff2e73a078b2acf6042ef3c178ec8787d54868e30364cbf227806390e209a8f77112964d0496b02e204fc7fa29769fc796e56e79ba921ae21a77f14c38b23e6abc534524959588cd4247efc4fdaa82a47c819f7a262ca6b8b575dfb8378e28c00d6d1be2919fe637cfa829722e0a38561d4ec918923a963c642085566d3b35dea222e69ce1d71c4a33e6fd820bbde68221718088e32932037a9f0b0e91066a8ff22b16947c4afe7216792c9e5ad1d5c6abbdb79ec18a7034a18833a382bdefc1d98af7bd80f34698800831eaf4e3497726b1fe8533aaab370308b58e9201c814e9e248174fdbf1d5cfc13f9fde2ad7aaa00e14299cbb4141397e126820cade42ee4be1b5a1244bcdbe0de2946e89a9e536de56b9af29921daea55d5e4fe659f24ce902758aa8eb9c60933ec77fd5a5c34f781f8239e8e554f5dc721d807f78d5479a8f6d770912bbe3ba82b938a8aa2c95cda51b8fc889f903e2832145d88e02cc79e92132f1c20233a74b67928cf0cc0291efe835f844d994bcbfdabb4c386601ca54449ab1e8370cc418156951e4269b11ca8cb80a38321b7046149bef469b0bc371b5acf8d78d381a9abbf9a5eaaa9c5f836d451ca03fcd609cd7d6a7c0914f76249625867e4f268d586ce6bffacd806f13fa7f9666fdd6b68ac286f39fe0630349951f840e2a7ae03ba4849174ceae6450e40c096500f01da80cb61250eac688a3ea0dcec7ffa31099a20ba1539c7d59de231833a3cb7054b372166831b720d24fc0959fe550a39b2b61a9578aee34e8afbea5fb44b015c492c88a49561ddef3c9f9974ea22d48aca34d230aed2e784a9740e73d5c5c2f84a9dff511a8b399bad71173a19d80af2fb0ebc01cd07d6823c5f36681cc5d6d4d33f3f166d62989637515455c0b1d19854cd768fa2b02334a4a84043d19c1bff605205d3d2ee963715c502742c7962f4fbae8be5781fc91e20eec23cd31c69dc63b147935ee2caa0301d4332f1de3aca60630884ea5eb07ec06dee1d03d4aa4889216cb22b2e4899ec931bb77ca0063f72a5bf4840807835886920bc8ebf7a5cb05f22db0d6eb74480b1743efa8c12caffc68d29e2420183ee1b128ba8a5ad3b7178866ebd63a30cd9adfed8312acc4a407afc256a0e9569c3fd7233ec7f23d4161753eea8c8a4df2c04fd2756f84f7eef2915c8233d40089f49d9f93eea865e15a72c382d65a2b6c1f950cf5f98ccc6baa327e8588eb8366f1fcf6a80774743859c8e6df18f92c3a5ca4a8a90e56a0c2cdb5e346800a07f47f85ceefa6c308822eb7f865e953d17b5f1e581e6a3d26076cf431d6f0d247fa0124ecadcab4ba5cd4700afec60802cfe2505c2f564fb9301923d9c7d99d249bfedd734c78f48eda8ad89651a0036705eff514bbfb2f58bf3da7cfffe9db37a71076a704ef1f2554ed9f25d2e1680b62470f53f6e41752e6f27b0c21789288b09b632b194a0fdd51c9bcf4e627a969b8a07e1664288d441b0f5e3b4834ca35680f0a7fddd182ef77d8153405e4176ed97a433b0590e2ed69c07fd473c1555278bc29b3b7a361f814bdc9f350629c0d7224fee55746984c50829b489b2f9698dddc51f757115e515de00f7cbc034a439abdd3bd8efe855ae1b2753c11ddbeba0dd931bda3149e904d80afb6ddf5bf05a12cb514f93ac3cf53f9213e0e04ea4fbfa76647dfb3dddcdd193bc00fcef830c9eaaf8c9118387377e76272b9a04ec6b4c37b908120affebf53cdd3b922880314c9039f74b07a91b13e8908aa82ec0b2a6fbb6ab85c593a31065153745764d7fdb2f54ca46dfbad615dc91285c690216faf52a171b52e3d1eca2623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[Dexter]

Yep, now they removed even "not a game" or "Overrated". Great fucking job Valve...

See tags for games like Bioshock: Infinite, Fallout 3 or FEZ now...
http://store.steampowered.com/app/8870/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/22300/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/224760/

Can't have people share their actual opinion.

 

[racofer]

You can only criticize a game as long as you don't.

 

[Dexter]

At least it led to extreme butthurt and meltdowns with some developers like for instance these guys: http://steamcommunity.com/app/267220/discussions/0/558747922093449025/

We as developers - especially here on Steam forums - have come to expect all manner of anti-social behavior by those who feel that they are entitled to something when they are not.

[...]

The people (we know all of them because, well, we banned every single one of them - on cue) you see here, were up in arms because, due to their false sense of entitlement, decided that the game, at $18 (!) was over-priced when compared to its mobile counterparts at $4.99. For, according to them, a port of a mobile game.

[...]

Undeterred, we continued taking action. And in doing so, once in a while, some innocent people got caught up in the dragnet. e.g. if you delete a post that someone innocently excerpted you have to edit and delete the excerpt or else. In some cases, we had no choice but to remove entire threads because deleting posts ended up with disjointed conversion flow.

Then, in the "What on Earth were they thinking!?" dept, we discovered that Valve had started allowing people to tag games. You can pretty much guess what happened next to the games by myself and other devs who simply don't put up with this crap. That's right, the tags (Diva Dev etc) went up, shots got taken, posted on imgur and elsewhere and in our forum threads. We deleted them.

[...]

At this point, we knew that we were at war.

Sadly, the years have taken their toll and at 50, I don't have the same vigor and drive that I used to. So, rather than engaging in any intelligence draining discourse, I simply did what Steam allows us to do. Delete posts and threads, ban people.

[...]

The game is free on mobile devices in that you can play the first three missions in the sixteen mission campaign. While the PC version is far more graphically improved than on the mobile version, the gameplay is the same. Which is why I didn't bother with a PC demo because I felt that everyone who owns a PC or Mac, already has an iOS or Android device.

NONE of the hateful, spiteful reviews of this game you see here, are true. None of it. The game - even if I say so - is great, plays well, runs well and is worth every penny.

And the Steam admins who some posts got reported to, have also seen them.

If you guys think that we're alone in all of this, Shirley you jest. This is not some protracted effort to stifle anything other than trolling and abusive posts.

The game is great, its getting accolades where it has been released and very soon (it's still early yet since it only just released three days ago) the PC reviews will start appearing. So we're not here deleting posts by people who are giving the game bad reviews. Those reviews are malicious, vengeful and not based on reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Smart

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-02-14-gaynor-on-gone-home-reception-and-steam-sales

 

[Infinitron]

Heh, I didn't even know Derek had any games on Steam.

 

[Whiner]

So what's the point of tagging,when the only tags allowed are "amazing,fun,great,beautiful".
Don't we have game journalism metacritic for ego jerking.Just remove the feature then,no problem.

 

[Infinitron]

So what's the point of tagging,when the only tags allowed are "amazing,fun,great,beautiful".
Don't we have game journalism metacritic for ego jerking.Just remove the feature then,no problem.

The tags are supposed to describe genre and features, not one's opinion of the game's quality.

 

[Whiner]

Then the devs or Steam can do that. It's not that hard.
You can't expect random people to do your job and not share their honest opinion.Only if most people agree with you,your tag will be visible.
And how is "amazing,fun,great,beautiful" a genre or a feature.
Yes,everyone went a little overboard in the first day,but after that everyone will be bored.Remember Wikipedia editing.

 

[Dexter]

So what's the point of tagging,when the only tags allowed are "amazing,fun,great,beautiful".
Don't we have game journalism metacritic for ego jerking.Just remove the feature then,no problem.

The tags are supposed to describe genre and features, not one's opinion of the game's quality.

That's not really how Valve described the feature themselves: http://store.steampowered.com/tag

At the very beginning they already give an example for a qualifier like "difficult" and say users can come up with new concepts of categorizing products:

Apply genres such as “Puzzle”, themes like “Military”, or attributes such as “Difficult”. Or, come up with entirely new concepts to apply in categorizing products.

The FAQ doubles down on that:

Q. Can I tag a product with any word?
A. Yes, the system is intended to support a broad variety of concepts, genres, and attributes. The tag you apply may not appear to other users until enough other people have applied the same tag to that product.

I expected them to obviously remove all the obviously offensive or insulting tags but they went way overboard and removed absolutely anything that could be deemed negative even something like "Mobile port" apparently returns an error. At this point they might as well remove the tagging feature and replace it with a few pre-ordained keywords of their own.

If it remains I'm sure such qualifiers as "Great Soundtrack", "Story Rich" or similar which are also value judgments but positive and even often debated tags like "RPG" to apply on a shitload of games where it shouldn't will remain: http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Great Soundtrack/ http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Story Rich/

 

[Ninjerk]

well they do want people to continue selling their games on steam and not some other DD service

 

[StaticSpine]

what's the point of steam recommendations if it recommends me the games that are in my wishlist?

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Wait what, Gone Home is 20 dorrah? The fuck? For a "dick around in a house" simulator with voiceovers telling the story of a woman who

Spoilered for those of you who want to spend 20 bucks on the game

left home after an argument with her parents because she's a lesbian and wanted to travel with her girlfriend?

I'd be upset, but then again if the creators manage to get people to fork over the dough for that story I applaud their business savvy.

It's overpriced but the story was decent.

 

[Dexter]

Basically:

Spoiler

By the way, this is fun: http://tags.steamdb.info/

 

[Unkillable Cat]

By the way, this is fun: http://tags.steamdb.info/

Which game matches these tags?

Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hooot
Park it like it's hooot
Pop it like it's hot
Pop it like it's hoot

Answer:

Spoiler

Restaurant Empire II

First wrong answer I got after 15 questions.

 

[Spectacle]

WTF is this shit I'm seeing?

Get to work you lazy nerds, and tag deserving games as #popamole!

 

[Metro]

Adding that and 2deep4u.