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Spotted by SteamSpy, it seems Valve is having an issue on Steam with bots giving out good reviews of games.
The game in question is ZombieRush, and it's pretty obvious too.
I could spot them almost instantly, same time played, same amount of products owned and reviews given out:
This game is absolutely rammed full of bot reviews. I fully expect the developer and their game to be removed from Steam for gaming the system in such a way and they should be.
This is the problem when you open up your store and allow pretty much anyone to get in. It doesn't state it on the Steam page, but the game actually came from greenlight. It wouldn't even surprise me if those same accounts are used to vote for the games on Greenlight too, in fact, I'm sure this probably happens.
Valve did say a while back they wanted to get rid of Greenlight for a more open system, but they haven't even been able to sort the issues out with this approach yet.
I don't think a walled garden approach is the answer either, but on all titles Valve should seriously do some checking.
It's not like Valve doesn't have the money to recruit staff to check on games that come into Steam. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
The game in question is ZombieRush, and it's pretty obvious too.
I could spot them almost instantly, same time played, same amount of products owned and reviews given out:
This game is absolutely rammed full of bot reviews. I fully expect the developer and their game to be removed from Steam for gaming the system in such a way and they should be.
This is the problem when you open up your store and allow pretty much anyone to get in. It doesn't state it on the Steam page, but the game actually came from greenlight. It wouldn't even surprise me if those same accounts are used to vote for the games on Greenlight too, in fact, I'm sure this probably happens.
Valve did say a while back they wanted to get rid of Greenlight for a more open system, but they haven't even been able to sort the issues out with this approach yet.
I don't think a walled garden approach is the answer either, but on all titles Valve should seriously do some checking.
It's not like Valve doesn't have the money to recruit staff to check on games that come into Steam. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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raverrebel 10 Jun 2016
obviously http://store.steampowered.com/app/462060 has the same umm.. "problem"
2 Likes, Who?
obviously http://store.steampowered.com/app/462060 has the same umm.. "problem"Yep, did a quick check and that one is also being bot spammed with good reviews.
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linux_gamer 10 Jun 2016
Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
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I also noticed a large amount of negative reviews on Wasteland 2. All with less than half an hour of play time. Looks like someone is using the free weekend to take down the rating.
Valve obviously still has some issues to sort out in the review system.
Valve obviously still has some issues to sort out in the review system.
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rustybroomhandle 10 Jun 2016
Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
A dev can request as many keys for their game as desired.
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Valve needs to step up their game. For such a big company in the industry they are in they just seem so dysfunctional. I feel like they have made misstep after misstep, and the only thing that keeps them up is consumer loyalty and a lack of a viable alternative. Consumer loyalty will go down if they can't get their act together.
1 Likes, Who?
linux_gamer 10 Jun 2016
That's an invitation for abuse. They could create as many non-steam copies of their games as they like anyway (for testing and promotion purpose).Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
A dev can request as many keys for their game as desired.
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rustybroomhandle 10 Jun 2016
That's an invitation for abuse. They could create as many non-steam copies of their games as they like anyway (for testing and promotion purpose).Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
A dev can request as many keys for their game as desired.
Perhaps. In the developer's stats panel, sales are separated into "Steam purchases" and "retail activations". The latter being any other place where you can get a Steam key - Humble, GoG, bundles, giveaways, store purchases, etc. This is why they are not limited - Valve is just happy to have people on their platform.
1 Likes, Who?
obviously http://store.steampowered.com/app/462060 has the same umm.. "problem"Those sure are a lot of 4.1 hour game sessions :P
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Several of them seem a bit... odd. ~0.1h play time and no real comment (eg. "li ca dracu", "Wasteland 2, Best way to waste your time.", this game is sooo bad m8", etc.). It doesn't necessarily seem like a bot problem though, more like spammy reviews.I also noticed a large amount of negative reviews on Wasteland 2. All with less than half an hour of play time. Looks like someone is using the free weekend to take down the rating.Haha, no, I’m pretty sure these are legit.
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walther von stolzing 10 Jun 2016
Valve needs to step up their game.
Nice avatar; is this memes?
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mulletdeath 10 Jun 2016
I'm curious about what goes on in the heads of devs who do this stuff. What do you have to gain? It just makes absolutely sure any observant or informed gamer will never touch any of your products with a ten foot pole. Maybe I'm giving gamers in general too much credit, and they're not observant or informed at all. But for the most part people do seem to give a glance at the reviews.
Last edited by mulletdeath on 10 Jun 2016 at 6:14 pm UTC
Last edited by mulletdeath on 10 Jun 2016 at 6:14 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Storminator16 10 Jun 2016
I've seen a lot more of these for every game I checked out lately. I'm not sure the developers are doing this. As Cybolic said, I think this is just a general spam problem. Could be a hacker trying to make a point to Valve: really fix your reviews system.
Last edited by Storminator16 on 10 Jun 2016 at 8:08 pm UTC
Last edited by Storminator16 on 10 Jun 2016 at 8:08 pm UTC
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Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
A dev can request as many keys for their game as desired.
I know a Developer creating a game they said Valve will only give them 500 steam keys.
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rustybroomhandle 11 Jun 2016
Is it worth it? The devs don't get (unlimited?) "free" steam copies or do they?
A dev can request as many keys for their game as desired.
I know a Developer creating a game they said Valve will only give them 500 steam keys.
I am a developer with a game on Steam. I have created thousands of keys thus far for various things. Never encountered any limit.
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Silas Mortimer 13 Jun 2016
I'm a fan of game reviewer Jim Sterling and he's been on a bit of a crusade about the problems with Greenlight and Valve's lack of quality control for quite a while and he makes a lot of very good points. I'm generally careful about what I purchase, but I've purchased a couple of games that I really hoped would be good from the screenshots but turned out to be terrible, half-baked garbage that I had to get a refund for. (Thank goodness for refunds, at least.)
Zimplex1: Love the avatar. That's one game I'd love to see a Linux port for, however terrible it is.
Zimplex1: Love the avatar. That's one game I'd love to see a Linux port for, however terrible it is.
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