Steam’s review system is now more useful

Valve recently announced an interesting update to its Steam ratings system, which is primarily aimed at improving the usefulness of user-left feedback.

This new “helpfulness” system promises to solve problems that have plagued the platform for years, especially the presence of useless reviews and spam, which often overshadow reviews that are actually useful to other players.

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Why did the Steam ratings system need an update?

User reviews on Steam are an important part of a game or DLC’s page, as they help many players make purchasing decisions. Many people check this area, as these reviews tend to be more up-to-date than other review sites or YouTube videos.

Additionally, these Steam reviews end up being quite useful for understanding the current state of a game, such as whether it has bugs, whether it continues to receive updates, or whether it has been abandoned by the developers.

But unfortunately, they depend on people and this usually means that they have some problems. In this case, what often happens is that the review section of a game ends up being affected by several comments with memes, bad jokes, fake stories, ASCII art and even sometimes with inappropriate content. As an example, we have this screenshot of comments on the game Stray:

In addition to cluttering the page, these comments are completely useless, as they do nothing to help anyone looking for information about the game itself. Not to mention that developers, especially independent ones, can suffer losses when their useful reviews are buried amid a flood of spam.

Another common problem is “review bombing,” where a group of users bombard a game with negative reviews, often for reasons that have nothing to do with the product itself, such as political protests. While Valve has implemented measures to identify and mark these reviews as “off-topic,” the problem still persists in some situations.

Steam’s new utility system

To combat these issues, Valve has launched a new ratings utility system. This system filters out comments that consist of one word, ASCII art, memes, jokes, and other types of spam, classifying them as low priority.

This highlights the most informative and useful reviews, making it easier for players to truly understand why that particular reviewer liked or disliked the game.

It’s important to note, however, that the new system does not affect a game’s overall rating on Steam. It’s enabled by default on both the web and Steam app.

The system works through a combination of user reports and Valve’s internal moderation team, which evaluates whether reviews are helpful or not. “Like” or “dislike” reactions to a review do not directly influence its relevance, but having a review marked as helpful by other users can help give it more prominence. Valve also uses machine learning algorithms to supplement human judgment in filtering reviews based on their content.

Change is already starting to take effect

Valve acknowledges that this new utility system may take some time to evaluate both existing and new reviews, but the results are already visible. In the case of Stray, for example, the reviews are now much more focused and useful, allowing users to make more informed decisions, unlike what was shown above.

Despite the filtering, Valve is clear that it will not delete low-quality reviews, even if they are reported as unhelpful. The company wants to ensure that players can express their opinions, even if those opinions are simple or negative without much explanation. However, for those who prefer to see all reviews, it is still possible to disable the new system and return to the previous viewing mode.

Overall, this update promises to significantly improve the user experience on Steam by making reviews more relevant and useful, while also maintaining the freedom of expression that the community values ​​so much. For developers, especially indie developers, this could mean a better chance of having their work reviewed fairly and visibly, without being buried by irrelevant content.

Source: ghacks