In a recent blog post, Steam announced that they would be making a couple small changing to their user review system. This will be the second such update to the system since they rolled one out in September, heavily focused on filtration and review manipulation.
This update will focus on who is able to provide review scores and who will not, as user reviews will no longer include those submitted by gamers that received the game for free, such as via a gift, or during a free weekend. While reviews by those customers can still be written and seen, they won’t count toward the overall review score.
Steam stated in the post that the changes began unannounced earlier this week, but will take a few more days until the entire new review system is in place. Scores will also be completely re-calculated to account for previous user reviews using the new system.
While the update will filter a lot of biased content, it still doesn’t do anything about the overabundance of joke reviews. Though they are generally kind spirited, the satirical reviews currently dominate almost all games review sections and can affect the game’s overall score as a result – like giving a fantastic game a 1/10 because it didn’t have enough goats.
Other forms of sorting reviews are still lacking as well, including the option to sort hours played, giving the option of seeing opinions from players who have had a lot of time and experience playing the game. My only hope is that this is simply the second step of many updates wise for the Steam platform, so be sure to stay tuned to the site to find out!
