Direct buy&other keys vs Steam: new review policy by Valve

[The_Mell]

Hey everyone,
just stumbled across something that might affect KC and its games in a way, too.

Valve 'improves' the review system on Steam offering new filter options and so on:
http://store.steampowered.com/news/24155/
That's a good thing, right?

Problem is (or might be or becomes or whatever) new default setting is "count only Steam buyers".
Steam keys from somewhere else like KCs direct sale over its own page are now only a "opt in option".
Given reason for that decision is evil people exploiting key system to generate positive reviews.

Spoiler

Oh, they do of course clean out obvious fake reviews, but hey, if they see a chance to maybe boost their Steam shop, its sales and generated income on that way, too,...  ::)

[close]

[Karsten75]

The vast majority of Virgil's Steam users are from Steam purchases.

The reviews for Creeper World 3 are overwhelmingly positive and removing or discounting the non-Steam reviews would not materially affect the outcome.

Once again, Virgil's policy of not trying to game the system will probably stand him in good stead.

Edit: The story is starting to hit the news media. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/valve-steam-cheating-review-scores-devs/

[knucracker]

This change doesn't seem to really affect CW3.  Of course that's because CW3 has been on steam for over 2 years now and has plenty of steam purchases and most of the steam reviews are from steam purchases.
1447 out of 1487 reviews are from steam.  That leaves 'only' 40 reviews that came from purchases outside of steam.  So about 2.5% of the reviews on steam came from buyers outside steam. Interestingly, 12% of people who have it on steam got CW3 from somewhere other than steam.

Particle fleet... that's a different story.  With this new system, steam purchasers write the reviews that make up the game's score (by default).  Even though you can get to filters that show the other reviews, only a minority of steam users will do that.  Just driving buy a steam page, you are going to glance at the score (not dig in and filter it).

So, that means for every key I give away I take away a potential good review and the player's ability to write a review that 'matters'.  It's double edged.  I decrease the influence one of my fans has and that affects me and them.  I'm not sure, but even if that fan turns around and purchases the game anyway, I don't know if their steam reviews would get 'promoted' to the batch that counts.

And yes, it does now mean that when I am asked, "Hey, I'm a fan, should I buy the game from steam or from knucklecracker.com?" my answer is now more complex.  I normally say, "do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you".  Now I have to say "do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you, but keep in mind that if you want to write a review on steam (good or bad), it won't get seen or count as much unless you buy the game on steam".

[The_Mell]

Edit: The story is starting to hit the news media. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/valve-steam-cheating-review-scores-devs/

I originally found out via a German newssite:
https://www.computerbase.de/2016-09/steam-nutzerreviews-valve-ergreift-massnahmen-gegen-gefaelschte-bewertungen/
But linking the English Steam site seemed more reasonable here.

And yes, it does now mean that when I am asked, "Hey, I'm a fan, should I buy the game from steam or from knucklecracker.com?" my answer is now more complex.  I normally say, "do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you".  Now I have to say "do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you, but keep in mind that if you want to write a review on steam (good or bad), it won't get seen or count as much unless you buy the game on steam".

Yes, always more complexity - nothing seems to become easier, does it?  :P
So don't forget to mention when buying via knucklecracker.com how this results in a more complex decision for us buyers who want to support you. :)

[Karsten75]

Yes, always more complexity - nothing seems to become easier, does it?  :P
So don't forget to mention when buying via knucklecracker.com how this results in a more complex decision for us buyers who want to support you. :)

This is a common misconception. It does absolutely nothing different for Virgil when you buy direct from his site or from Steam. Virgil has a payment processor (Fastspring) that handle e-commerce transactions (who would want all the headaches associated with securely processing financial transactions?). THe commission rates between Fastspring and Steam are not large enough to make any difference.

So, you support Virgil regardless of where you buy. :) Provided, of course, one actually buys the product. There is a small minority, even on this site that plays from cracked, pirated versions.

[Karsten75]

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a good article on this.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/15/steam-user-reviews/

[Karsten75]

More on this change:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshBycer/20160916/281527/How_Steam_Review_Changes_Perpetuate_a_Vicious_Cycle.php

[The_Mell]

Rework of the rework:
http://store.steampowered.com/news/24331/
Now at least they show by default all reviews.

Found via:
https://www.computerbase.de/2016-09/steam-valve-aendert-review-system-nach-kritik/