Poll: Does Steam Need A Purging?

[omega 616]

I don't really see the crap, my PC launches it, I look at the special and the weekend deal on the front page ... I might look through the sliding bar window (at the top centre of the front page), if I am bored or looking for a new game but other than that, I don't look around steam. I don't see 90% of it, don't follow curators or that que system or top sellers etc

I don't scroll down the never ending rabbit hole of the front page or early access etc.

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

We thank our Internet critics for giving us this opportunity to purge and cleanse steam

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Yes and no. We have steam reviews to warn people and steam refunds in case they ignore those reviews, so it's not like there's a rush. The only time it becomes a major issue is when broken games and hack jobs (see Digital Homicide) siphon all of the precious attention away from the legitimate indie games on the Steam Featured page.

I'd like to see Valve gradually remove their broken/faulty products but first close the gates that allow them to pour in. Maybe adopt a new Greenlight system similar to GOG's?

 

[Mangod]

I'd say that Steam definitively needs to make changes to Greenlight, and the Steam store: I mean, for f***s sake, DigiHom actually managed to puke eleven different reskins of the same game onto Greenlight in a single day. That should be setting off warning bells for anyone.

Valve's Constantly Changing Position On DigiHom [http://mmofallout.com/column-valves-constantly-changing-position-on-digihom/]
[Not Massive] Valve Just Struck Down Digital Homicide [http://mmofallout.com/not-massive-valve-just-struck-down-digital-homicide/]

 

[sageoftruth]

Depends on the nature of the purge. An influx of crappy games has no effect on me, since I do my research before I buy games, so if there's going to be a purge, I'd prefer that it doesn't have any effect on my experience as an informed gamer.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Does Steam need to increase its quality control and start the Purge?

I'd say they need to rethink Greenlight.

As with anything else, I think they started the project in good faith. They thought they'd attract passionate indies without a publishing platform, but it's instead turned into a way for shady shits to dump their quick cash-ins. Their hands-off and liberal approach has its positives, but Greenlight needs active curation, or clear publishing guidelines. If they cull anything out of the Romaine brothers (aka Digital Homicide) and the Unity Asset Flippers, they need to make sure it all *stays* culled.

Considering, I voted no. Just purging the cruft wouldn't suffice, anyone could still apply for Greenlight with more scummy crap. If Greenlight were curated - as in, sifted through with human eye-holes set on favouring quality applicants - we'd end up with good stuff. Unfortunately, that means work that goes outside of the money-generating system Valve's set up for itself. It's likely that Valve considers that curation isn't its business.

Look at it from a business standpoint. If you were a prospective Cabal Lead at Valve, would you want to be affected to overseeing everyone else's games, when you could be developing one or leading further research? Probably not.

 

[Lykosia_v1legacy]

My three biggest issues with Steam are:

1. Customer service. It's absolutely horrible.

2. It's difficult to find anything there. When I try to look some genres, sales or something, 90 % of the stuff that comes up are some dlc crap or something. Very difficult to find any new games. Remove DLC and other crap from the games list.

3. This isn't specific to Steam: new games are expensive. For some reason Steam and other DD services still believe that $=?. GOG is only one who offers regional prices, but even those aren't enough. Here retail PC games are generally 10-15? cheaper than Steam or other DD services.