Steam is getting attention with a new update that changes the way users evaluate game reviews. Thanks to the newly added “usefulness” filter, reviews can now be ranked more efficiently. This system deprioritizes reviews that contain jokes and ASCII art, but are not particularly helpful for purchase decisions.
Big changes to the Steam comment system
Valve has introduced a new “usefulness” filter to help Steam users sort game reviews more efficiently. The filter re-ranks comments on game store pages and removes comments that contain jokes, memes, and ASCII art that will not influence purchase decisions. According to the Steam blog, this new system is enabled by default, but users can turn it off if they wish.
The new filtering system aims to improve the usefulness of comments, and will highlight comments that are particularly useful to people looking to buy games. Valve acknowledges that seeing jokey and funny comments can be enjoyable for existing customers, but that these types of comments aren’t very helpful to potential customers. Therefore, comments that are short or written purely for humor will now be made less visible.
While the new usefulness filter will make certain comments less visible to some users, Steam says these comments won’t disappear entirely. For example, recent comments may not be affected by this filtering. But in general, users looking for information about the game will see fewer jokes and more useful information.
The new system also raises some questions about how it will affect what’s known as “review bombing,” the organized negative reviewing of games. Valve states that whether a review is positive or negative will not affect the usefulness ranking. However, some users believe that such negative comments could be pushed to the background with this filtering.
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Steam aims to improve the user experience with the new comment filtering system. This step to make game reviews more useful is a great convenience, especially for those who are considering buying games. Still, how this new system will work and its impact on users will become clearer over time. You can share your thoughts on Steam’s new comment filtering system!
