I'm sure you've all seen some of the more playful user reviews on Steam, but they're not exactly helpful for figuring out if you want to buy a game and so Valve have a new "Helpfulness System" they're testing.
Valve said in the announcement of the new Beta that this new system will not impact the actual review scores, just change the ordering of what reviews are actually shown. As Valve explained:
User reviews that are identified as being unhelpful for potential customers, such as one-word reviews, reviews comprised of ASCII art, or reviews that are primarily playful memes and in-jokes, will be sorted behind other reviews on the game’s store page. That doesn't mean players won't ever see these humorous, but unhelpful posts, but it hopefully means that they’ll see them less frequently when trying to learn about a game. If you enjoy seeing these sorts of reviews when browsing the store, there's an option on the store page to include them when browsing.
How do Valve determine which to show? They said they use a mixture of techniques, including user reports and the Steam moderation team looking directly at reviews, along with some "machine learning algorithms". They found that a lot of the unhelpful reviews were easy enough to spot but it's all a work in progress. And of course, considering the amount of user reviews on Steam, this could take a while to get through.
For example, looking at Persona 3 Reload without (first picture) and with the new system activated (second picture) and yeah…the results of this new system are pretty clear:
Friends passing by can touch her and click Like to pet her once.
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neon_soaked_chryssalid Aug 15
Quoting: neon_soaked_chryssalidI'm glad they're trying to do something about all of that garbage on the review page. The sad thing is that there was already a system in place to take care of it, the helpful/not helpful button, and most Steam users won't use it correctly. Hopefully the new system works a bit better!
To be fair, if you look in the screenshots in the article then you see that the top review without the new system has 14 helpful tags and the one with the system has 65. So just sorting it would have been better.
Now all the "no one will see this so I'll just say I'm gay" award baiting reviews will actually not be seen by anyone.
neon_soaked_chryssalid Aug 15
Quoting: EhvisTo be fair, if you look in the screenshots in the article then you see that the top review without the new system has 14 helpful tags and the one with the system has 65. So just sorting it would have been better.I'm assuming it has something to do with their algorithm, but you are correct. I've also seen those junk reviews with hundreds or even thousands of helpful tags as well though, so it may still not be able to filter all of them out.
It's tough for me to say what the best option is, but I'm just glad they're trying something! I've looked at a few games since I read the article, and the new system has definitely brought up the more thoughtful and informative reviews, at least for the moment.
PublicNuisance Aug 15
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Quoting: tfkGot a cat here.You read my mind because I was going to say something about the cat ASCII art
Friends passing by can touch her and click Like to pet her once.
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