Valve Finally Takes On Steam User Review Score Manipulation (eurogamer.net)

Valve is taking a step to stop developers from artificially inflating review scores on Steam. From a EuroGamer report: Valve just changed the way Steam user reviews work -- and it's certainly set the cat among the pigeons. In May, Valve updated Steam so that it highlighted recent reviews on games. The thinking behind this change was sound: it wanted to better show the current state of a game, many of which evolve quickly as developers issue updates. Now, though, Valve is changing the default review score that shows up at the top of each product page -- the one developers and potential customers put so much stock in -- so that it does not include reviews written by those who obtained the product through a Steam key. What this means is that reviews penned by those who got a game after backing it on Kickstarter, for example, or via a developer's website, do not affect the Steam user review score. Again, the thinking behind this change is sound. Valve knows that some developers were gaming the system -- that is, they were giving keys to friends or shady paid services in exchange for positive reviews.

Comments

Still can't find a reason to care

[damn_registrars]

For as long as valve has had steam, I haven't found a reason to use it. Every time I have looked through it the only titles on the catalog that I care about are ones that I already own. If they are trying to make money off of me by re-selling me titles I already own, they won't succeed. If they should somehow - presumably by accident - manage to add a title to it that I care about and don't already own, I would be quite surprised.