This was done because a bunch of idiots flamed the Dota 2 review page due to the announcement of Artifact and no half life 3. It lowered the score from a 90 to a 70% rating in just a few weeks. The reviews were super downy too and along the lines of "y no hl3 volvo???" Their accounts should be locked from doing anymore dumb ass reviews.
This was done because a bunch of idiots flamed the Dota 2 review page due to the announcement of Artifact and no half life 3.
It's good that this happened so Valve woke up about this problem, this happens with Indie/small games regularly. Massive, organized negative reviews for petty reasons, often not related to the game itself.
Easy way to deal with this - do away with user ratings completely.
Indeed, sometimes user ratings turns into popularity contests, it's not about the game anymore, it's just people trying to push it down or keep it afloat. Multiple accounts, downvote bots for things like metacrit, etc... just manipulation.
Yeah I agree with removing user reviews. Only the company, developers and media should review games. The problem is, you get reviews bad mouthing fallout 4 because of paid mods. But the real reason to remove reviews...
My game I am working on (it is an ant/termite/wasp/bee simulator using Unity), I want to price the game very high outside the US but very cheap in the US. This of course upsets people and will get them to downrate the game because the US gets to play it for cheaper. Other companies have done this, and get down rated because of it.
I also want to add very restrictive DRM into the game. It can only be installed on one computer to prevent piracy, this of course would be heavily hated but in the US it be super cheap to buy it again and get a new key.
I'll be sure to sue any media that bad mouths these practices, call it libel, and force them to write good things about the game. My game will be the most highest rated game and any media or website who posts negative remarks will get sued and I'll make more money
I think having user reviews is better or the above can happen
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
Steam customer reviews already has a method for vetting them. You can vote on the reviews if they were helpful. If most of the negative reviews were helpful, then it is a bit more telling than pruning the negative reviews.
Easy way to deal with this - do away with user ratings completely.
They are not needed.
It's all about the individual anyway - who cares what the masses think about a game - the only thing that matters is what YOU think about it.
Sadly social bias is a thing - so individuals tend to be more likely to follow mass opinion than their own
Then we'd need to do away with "professional" reviews, too, with that line of logic. Steam reviews, and user reviews in general, are usually poop but it's better to have to put up with them to get some decent user reviews than to just allow info about a game to be doled out by the developers/publishers and "lol games journalists".
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
How the hell do they think they can tell if it is malicious?
Easy, they look into their pockets
It's still funny, though. If they get bombarded with positive ratings they plaster all over the web how awesome their game is and the peeepl loves it. If they get bombarded with negatives, it's "malicious review bombing" and must take actions to prevent it. Well, you can't have only one side... if you want the easy fanservice for marketing reasons, you should swallow the bad rep too. Or, as suggested above, you can try to stop user reviews - except you can't, since then it will only rerouted to social media and will spread there uncontrollably. So, they now try the middle ground, control it on their turf. Good luck with that...
Easy way to deal with this - do away with user ratings completely.
They are not needed.
It's all about the individual anyway - who cares what the masses think about a game - the only thing that matters is what YOU think about it.
Sadly social bias is a thing - so individuals tend to be more likely to follow mass opinion than their own
For me the players score reviews is the best by far system to determine if the game is good or not. That includes any fluctuations in review scores, both positive and negatives. Had EA featured such a system, it would have saved me from buying ME:Andromeda for example.
I'll give some examples on what I'm looking at when going through the player reviews:
Pretty much all mmorpgs have mixed reviews. I then head to the actual reviews to find the individual reasoning for that.
Good games can get bad reviews over time. Nier Automata is starting to get bad reviews after 6 months without needed patching of the PC version.
Bad ports get good reviews over time. One example is latest Batman, with its huge issues at release.
Overall, the information provided is by far better than anything "game journalists" provide (usually heavily biased towards big companies, regardless of actual quality).
Next stop after those reviews for me is twitch, where I check the actual gameplay and feeling of the game.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Usually bombs when they change something like adding P2W crap into their game. That isn't malicious, that's just what happens when you decide to fuck over your player base.
During the last Summer Steam sale, Paradox games artificially increased the prices off all their games prior to putting them "on sale", and they paid a high price in negative reviews as a result of that fuckery. In my opinion, the price they paid was warranted by their actions.
I was all hyped to buy Stellaris until they did this, and because of it I don't know that I ever will.
its it not the Conan Exiles game that did exactly what i elude to,claim to be in EA,claim to improve the game but when comes time to improve they want you to give them more money for those promised improvements.Maybe was a different game but i think was Exiles selling a so called expansion before finishing the game?
And here is a great example of why it would be helpful. Completely uninformed, incorrect information from an 'epic' member. Before you throw a game under the bus, name names, and talk about who is screwing who over, check your facts.
You are likely referring to ARK.
You will find that @Wizardry seldom has any comments based on fact, lucid thought, or anything remotely to do with the topic at hand. He turns every topic he can into a debate about game companies he knows nothing about. In short, he is a conspiracy theorist with an agenda against all games that have a desire to make money on their endeavor.
Easy way to deal with this - do away with user ratings completely.
They are not needed.
It's all about the individual anyway - who cares what the masses think about a game - the only thing that matters is what YOU think about it.
Sadly social bias is a thing - so individuals tend to be more likely to follow mass opinion than their own
The Hype meter on this site is one of the big reasons I stopped reading reviews/hype meter. I feel there are very few non-biased game reviews out there "professional" or otherwise.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
They just need to make it so you can't leave a review unless you've played over two hours.
Most of the obvious troll negative reviews I see are from people who have played "0.2, 0.8" hours.
Then you'd miss honest reviews from people who played and returned the game. I watch videos, read reviews here, and check steam reviews. Just skimming the reviews will give you a good idea of what the game is like, you can tell the bs from the actual critiques very easily.
I don't always look at score but I will read reviews. I don't trust scores to decide for me.I also don't trust games much any more. I don't buy many new games because I never know if I am just seeing a great ad or if the game sounds like fun but I get and I personally do not like how it works. Part of this is that streaming and videos of games allow me to make a better choice after the game is released where just looking at a score doesn't.
How the hell do they think they can tell if it is malicious?
A perfect example is what Iselin is saying,but then again i point to the other side of the fence,how about this website or gamespace for example giving piles of crap an 8.5/10 score?See the double standard here,ok to be malicious with reviews if a business partner but not ok for consumers?
I'll tell you right now there are lots of games i would give a 0 and based on knowledgeable game design reasons NOT just because i have no reason.I see far TOO MANY 8's going around,given out like candy,it is near impossible to find a reputable business in gaming in 2017.
Why doesn't valve show the same concern for the consumer,clamp down on malicious developers who lay out impossible claims and taking gullible consumers money with no care about ripping them off.Early access is full of dupes,tons of games even ones that survive that put very little effort into a game after the initial money rush has slowed down.That is what these businesses do,they hype up the game ,make a bunch of initial sales and then go into hibernation mode.
The fact that you would give games that run well 0s just because you don't personally like them. No one should ever listen to a word (babble) you have to say. You are the epitome of why there are these issues in game ratings. You're either too stupid or arrogant to realize it though.
The way they can tell it is malicious is by the histogram. Some people are getting Steam accounts just so they can file negative reviews. They get paid for it through Amazon Turk. It's a thing.
You folks don't know what a histogram is, do you?
If you see a histogram (chart) that shows that all the bad reviews are from new accounts with 1-2 reviews, or that the accounts are relatively new and every review is negative, then you have sock puppets.
Those are malicious reviews. TROLLS on hire. Amazon gets them, every e-tailer, and now the game launchers and leasers like GOG and Steam.
Gaming is an entertainment industry with a lot of zeros in the global income. Expect it to act like any other industry, not your little oasis hobby. If a Chinese game studio has a release of a competing game at the same time as a Korean studio, it may as well be a little online war as vicious as anything in international politics. We're not immune to anything in global economic influence in the West. People feel they have to compete, so they race to the bottom on tactics.
Any tactic employed globally in social engineering, hacking/DDOS seige, exploitative marketing or whatever else will be ranged against players and devs.
Comments
Indeed, sometimes user ratings turns into popularity contests, it's not about the game anymore, it's just people trying to push it down or keep it afloat. Multiple accounts, downvote bots for things like metacrit, etc... just manipulation.
My game I am working on (it is an ant/termite/wasp/bee simulator using Unity), I want to price the game very high outside the US but very cheap in the US. This of course upsets people and will get them to downrate the game because the US gets to play it for cheaper. Other companies have done this, and get down rated because of it.
I also want to add very restrictive DRM into the game. It can only be installed on one computer to prevent piracy, this of course would be heavily hated but in the US it be super cheap to buy it again and get a new key.
I'll be sure to sue any media that bad mouths these practices, call it libel, and force them to write good things about the game. My game will be the most highest rated game and any media or website who posts negative remarks will get sued and I'll make more money
I think having user reviews is better or the above can happen
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Then we'd need to do away with "professional" reviews, too, with that line of logic. Steam reviews, and user reviews in general, are usually poop but it's better to have to put up with them to get some decent user reviews than to just allow info about a game to be doled out by the developers/publishers and "lol games journalists".
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
It's still funny, though. If they get bombarded with positive ratings they plaster all over the web how awesome their game is and the peeepl loves it.
If they get bombarded with negatives, it's "malicious review bombing" and must take actions to prevent it.
Well, you can't have only one side... if you want the easy fanservice for marketing reasons, you should swallow the bad rep too. Or, as suggested above, you can try to stop user reviews - except you can't, since then it will only rerouted to social media and will spread there uncontrollably.
So, they now try the middle ground, control it on their turf. Good luck with that...
If I want to see what a game is like, I watch some Youtube game play video's, then make up my own mind.
- Pretty much all mmorpgs have mixed reviews. I then head to the actual reviews to find the individual reasoning for that.
- Good games can get bad reviews over time. Nier Automata is starting to get bad reviews after 6 months without needed patching of the PC version.
- Bad ports get good reviews over time. One example is latest Batman, with its huge issues at release.
Overall, the information provided is by far better than anything "game journalists" provide (usually heavily biased towards big companies, regardless of actual quality).Most of the obvious troll negative reviews I see are from people who have played "0.2, 0.8" hours.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The Hype meter on this site is one of the big reasons I stopped reading reviews/hype meter. I feel there are very few non-biased game reviews out there "professional" or otherwise.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
You folks don't know what a histogram is, do you?
If you see a histogram (chart) that shows that all the bad reviews are from new accounts with 1-2 reviews, or that the accounts are relatively new and every review is negative, then you have sock puppets.
Those are malicious reviews. TROLLS on hire. Amazon gets them, every e-tailer, and now the game launchers and leasers like GOG and Steam.
Gaming is an entertainment industry with a lot of zeros in the global income. Expect it to act like any other industry, not your little oasis hobby. If a Chinese game studio has a release of a competing game at the same time as a Korean studio, it may as well be a little online war as vicious as anything in international politics. We're not immune to anything in global economic influence in the West. People feel they have to compete, so they race to the bottom on tactics.
Any tactic employed globally in social engineering, hacking/DDOS seige, exploitative marketing or whatever else will be ranged against players and devs.