Steam is introducing a significant update to how user reviews are handled on game store pages. This new “helpfulness” system aims to make it easier for potential buyers to find reviews that provide valuable insights into a game, rather than getting lost in a sea of jokes, memes, and ASCII art. While humorous reviews have their place, they don’t always help users who are trying to make informed purchasing decisions.
What’s Changing?
Historically, Steam sorted reviews based on the number of ‘helpful’ votes they received. However, this system sometimes led to less informative content rising to the top—like one-word reviews or playful memes. The new system prioritizes reviews that are more informative and relevant to potential buyers. If you still enjoy seeing the more lighthearted reviews, you can toggle the settings to include them.
Importantly, this update won’t affect how overall review scores are calculated. Instead, it’s focused on changing the order in which reviews are displayed, allowing more useful reviews to surface.
My Take on the Update
As a gamer and frequent Steam user, I’m cautiously optimistic about this new system. The current review sorting mechanism can be frustrating when you’re genuinely trying to find out if a game is worth buying. Too often, you have to wade through layers of jokes or spam reviews before finding something helpful.
This update could be a game-changer (no pun intended) if it truly helps surface more insightful reviews, making it easier to spot real user feedback. However, the success of this system will hinge on how well Steam’s algorithms and moderation team can distinguish between helpful and unhelpful content. I hope this system makes it easier to weed out spam and fake reviews as well, ensuring that the reviews we see are not just popular but genuinely useful.
How You Can Get Involved
Steam is looking for user feedback on this new system, so if you have thoughts or suggestions, don’t hesitate to share them. They are also encouraging users to report reviews that they find unhelpful, which will aid the moderation team in refining the system over time.
If you want to dive deeper into the specifics or have questions, you can check out the official update notes and the Steam review guidelines.
In conclusion, this update has the potential to improve the user experience on Steam significantly, and I’m eager to see how it pans out in practice.