Valve begins fighting negative game “off topic” reviews

The company Valve two years ago changed the system of user reviews, as well as the impact of such reviews on the rating of games. This was done, in particular, to solve problems with the "attack" on the rating. The term "attack" refers to the publication of a large number of negative reviews in order to lower the rating of the game.

According to the developers, the changes should give each player the opportunity to comment on a particular game and its purchase. In the end, this will lead to the formation of a rating that can tell customers whether they will like the game or not.

Since the introduction of changes Valve, according to representatives of the company, tried to listen to the views of the players, and to developers. Both the first and second aware of the benefits or harm that can cause negative reviews, and in some situations, this tool is still used.

Valve has developed analysis tools that allow you to monitor reviews. After the data and opinions of users were received and studied, in Valve came to the opinion about readiness for new changes.
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The main change is the introduction of a “off-topic” monitoring monitoring system in order to exclude them from the overall rating. Such reviews are those in which the arguments "do not affect the desire to buy this product." Well, since there are no “correct” arguments, reviews of this type will not be taken into account in the rating.

For example, reviews that are in any way connected to DRM will no longer be taken into account. On the other hand, the reason for the negative feedback will be indicated. This is what the developers themselves say : “Strictly speaking, they are not part of the game, although some players are worried, so we decided that these were off-topic complaints. In our opinion, most Steam users are not interested in such questions, so the rating of the game according to reviews will be more accurate without them. Moreover, we believe that DRM interested players are often ready to carefully check the game before purchasing, so we decided to leave open access even reviews from off-topic attacks. From them, you will find out whether the cause of negative feedback is important to you. ”

The company understands that players may be interested in a relatively wide range of issues, and there will be a very thin edge between the “on topic” and “off topic” reviews. In order to understand where it is good and where it is bad, the company has introduced a system for monitoring negative reviews. She recognizes the uncharacteristic activity of any type in the reviews of all games on Steam in real time. At the same time, the system “does not try to find out the reason” for the occurrence of an unusual situation.

As soon as such activity is identified, Valve employees who begin to investigate the problem are notified. According to the developers, the system has already been tested in, by checking the entire history of Steam reviews. The result - there are many reasons why something unusual was happening. And there were not so many attacks with off-topic reviews.

When the moderators team determines that the activity detected by the monitoring system is associated with a similar attack, work begins on leveling the influence of the “survey bomb”. So, the time interval of attack is marked. Reviews during this time are not taken into account when calculating the rating of the game. Well, nobody removes the reviews themselves, they remain inviolable.


If desired, the user can always opt out of the new system. In the store settings there is an option that, as before, takes into account all the reviews when compiling the rating of the game.

One of the best examples of “attack reviews” is a flurry of negativity after leaving Metro Exodus from Steam in favor of exclusive placement on the Epic Games Store. The placement period is valid until February 2020. The creators of the game most likely had good reasons for doing so, but they were not understood by the players. Those began to leave not only negative reviews, but also put dizlyki under trailers on YouTube, as well as complaints and claims wherever possible.



The graph above shows clearly that after a certain moment the number of negative evaluations has increased very sharply. This moment - the departure of the third part of Metro from Steam. And if before the “Very Positive” reviews there was an overwhelming majority - more than 80%, then after them there were many times less, negative reviews began to prevail.