Some studios on Steam have no problem getting noticed. In fact, they might be getting too much attention in the form of review bombs from people who might not have even played the game they’re trashing. And Valve, the video game company that owns PC gaming’s biggest platform, didn’t help matters with its recent move to keep review-bombing from affecting a developer’s games.
Tuesday, Valve announced a solution to tackle review-bombing (the practice of hordes of people leaving bad comments and reviews in anger), and it’s not a practical one. A new graph will give customers info on the history of user reviews along with alerts about abnormal spikes in negative reviews. But will it tell you why it has negative reviews? Nope. Unless you have context, such as knowing that PewDiePie fans are attacking Firewatch because they are upset with indie studio Campo Santo’s takedown request of his videos of the game, you don’t know why these negative reviews are coming in.
And that does nothing to solve the problem Valve’s trying to address. I give it credit for trying to do something, but here’s an idea: Why can people who don’t even own a given game on a platform review it there? Change your system so that if you don’t own the game on that platform, you can’t review it — this includes banning reviews from those who buy a game, never play it, and then leave a review before getting refund, as these are clearly review-bombers if the review is negative. Making this restriction could put a stop of review-bombing. Seems like a simple solution to me. Wish I had an easy way to fix toxicity in games, though.
Or, you know, hire people to moderate the reviews if you don’t want to take that step.
Meanwhile, I’m going back to what’s shaping up to be my game of the year — Divinity: Original Sin 2, a role-playing game that’s hot on Steam (though nowhere near as popular as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). Original Sin 2 so good (so far, as I’m not finished yet) that it very well could surpass Baldur’s Gate 2 for what I consider to be the gold-standard for turn-based RPGs.
For PC gaming coverage, send news tips to Jeff Grubb and guest post submissions to Rowan Kaiser. Please be sure to visit our PC Gaming Channel.
—Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor
P.S. Remember Marble Madness, one of the classic PC games of the 1980s? The Little Ball That Could is an updated take on beloved maze game.
From GamesBeat
Valve’s review-bomb fix won’t fix review-bombing
The customer review is a relatively young form of criticism, but consumers have already unlocked some of its creative power with memorable and hilarious Amazon reviews. Of course, the internet has turned these into weapons against creators they don’t like or are upset with. The practice is so common among gaming fans that it has […]
Jump is a Netflix for indie games that promises better discoverability than Steam
Jump is hopping on an opportunity to offer high-quality indie games with a subscription service that focuses heavily on discoverability. It’s launching today with a library of 63 hand-selected titles — role-playing games, racers, multiplayer brawlers and more. The monthly fee is $10 to stream an unlimited number games, and every month, it will add […]
Divinity: Original Sin 2 studio claims it set a Steam RPG record (update)
We’ve seen Bluehole Studio crow about its number of people playing 2017’s biggest gaming phenomenon, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, on Steam. But over the weekend, Divinity: Original Sin 2 made some unexpected noise when it comes to how many people are playing it on Valve’s PC platform. Larian Studios confirmed to GamesBeat today that when its new […]
We can all help with Overwatch’s toxicity — but Blizzard must lead
Recently Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan spoke in an Overwatch Developer Update video about the issue of toxicity and bad behavior in Overwatch. In it, Kaplan addressed some key improvements being targeted to improve the recently released reporting system for consoles and for reporting and moderating bad behavior overall in the game’s ecosystem. He also conveyed a […]
How to set up Counter-Strike: Global Offensive like the pros
Mouse and video gaming settings can make or break your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive experience, so it’s very important to ensure you have settings that are right for you. It’s also important to recognize that the only way to know these settings and their suitability to you is to play CS:GO and try out each setting. […]
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Early Access review — a seminal shooter
REVIEW: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is one of the biggest gaming stories in the world. It has sold more than 10 million copies since debuting in March. It recently surpassed more than 1 million concurrent players on Steam. And it has caught on as one of the top games in the United States, China, and South Korea. Bluehole […]
Beyond GamesBeat
Cryptocurrency miners are the heroes gamers don’t want but AMD needs
You’re probably just as sick of this whole cryptocurrency mining thing as the rest of us PC gamers. The latest crypto gold rush has seen prices spiralling out of control for new and second-hand graphics cards, and has made it all but impossible to buy a decent AMD GPU, whether that be old Polaris or new Vega. (via PC GamesN)
EA CEO Andrew Wilson joins Intel’s board of directors
U.S. tech giant Intel has added EA chief exec Andrew Wilson to its board of directors, expanding the board to 12 members. Intel brought in Wilson because of his success in transitioning EA from an “offline packaged goods company to a leader in online digital services.” (via Gamasutra)
Build, gather, brawl, repeat: The history of real-time strategy games
The rise and fall of real-time strategy games is a strange one. They emerged gradually out of experiments to combine the excitement and speed of action games with the deliberateness and depth of strategy. Then, suddenly, the genre exploded in popularity in the latter half of the 1990s—only to fall from favor (StarCraft aside) just as quickly during the 2000s amid cries of stagnation and a changing games market. And yet, one of the most popular competitive games in the world today is an RTS, and three or four others are in a genre that branched off from real-time strategy. (via ArsTechnica)
Beast Battle Simulator is exactly what it sounds like
Beast Battle Simulator is a physics playground that hands you dozens of animals, dinosaurs and deadly weapons, and gives you permission to run wild. Pteranodons, miniature dachshunds, bears, sharks and seagulls all await your command. (via Polygon)
Subscribe to PC Gaming Weekly
and receive this newsletter every Thursday
