Steam Tags Beta

[Weaver]

So, Valve has rolled out a beta for Steam Tags:
http://store.steampowered.com/tag

Long story short, users can tag games and popular tags will become be applied to a game.

My real question, how long until a 4chan initiative to tag games like Dark Souls with "casual" or even random crap like "eggplant" and the like go underway?

The problem with giving users control like that is you have to design your system in such a way as to expect them to abuse it.

That concern aside, it seems like they put a relative amount of thought into this; tags are language dependent (I won't be seeing Russian tags, for instance) and they at least filter swear words.

All in all, my biggest concern:
Letting users tag a game with any (non swear) word might be a bit too much freedom.

Conversely, for developers there is a section which states "What if I don't agree with a tag that has become popular for my game?" and the answer is basically "deal with it". While I agree devs need to let actual tags stick with their game, it's kind of annoying (and maybe funny) that Valve will have to step in to remove, say, "Boulder Punching" from Resident Evil 5 or whatever.

Your thoughts?

Edit:
It appears the trolls are already in action. Here is a list of games with the tag "bad"
http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Bad/

Here is the "not a game" tag
http://store.steampowered.com/tag/browse/#global_7154

Here is the "Nanomachines, son" tag
http://store.steampowered.com/tag/browse/#global_5108

You get the idea.

Spoiler: Here's a youtube video demonstrating the matter

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I actually don't mind the freedom, especially with the fact it openly gets the word out on certain games for certain things.


Also had to laugh that all the COD games are listed in the bad games tag.

But really...

Nanomachines, son..that's all you'll ever need.

Plus the tags can help group like games or themes together (theoretically/eventually speaking)

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Is this a global beta or is this only for selected users?

It isn't really a bad idea but there really needs to be some sort of seperation between Dev tags and user generated ones as well as a up/down vote system to kill joke ones.

I would also would love for an 'offical' Early Access and Greenlit tags.

 

[hazabaza1]

It's dumb as shit but I love it. It's easy enough to ignore "bad" "not a game" "duur blarghgihgas" tags but when you see the "git gud or die tryin'" "nanomachines, son" and "PRAISE THE SUN" tags it makes it all worth it.

I expect some kind of editing on Valve's part though.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well you really don't have to guess twice which memes will end up on every damn game this way, but I know the twitter and facebooks generation will go crazy for this nonsense so I guess it's a good move for Valve to stay hip with the kids.

I meanwhile have a new Steam filtering script to write.

 

[Caiphus]

I think it has potential.

But what's more important is that I lost my shit when I saw that one of the popular tags for Rust is 'dongers'.

And 'Normal Dad Simulator' for Octodad.

 

[odinzeus]

What the...
http://store.steampowered.com/app/3820/
Tags on BloodRayne 2

 

[T_ConX]

Walking Simulator
Bad
tumblr
Overrated
Feminist
Lesbians
Short

Seems right to me!

 

[Robert Marrs]

Walking Simulator
Bad
tumblr
Overrated
Feminist
Lesbians
Short

Seems right to me!

LOL! Yea pretty much spot on. Really though I think this is a bad idea. Take COD for example a game that is just as popular to play as it is to hate. We already know the kind of punishment that series will get with this new feature. It could be a positive thing with a way for gamers to out games that are ACTUALLY bad or unplayable but it will just be used to shame games that people don't personally like for whatever reason. I think valve made a mistake with this and I doubt it will continue, at least in its current state.

 

[GiantRaven]

I think the people attempting humour is a real pain when you want to see tags that help to show similar games. What do I gain from seeing 'Glory to Arstotzka' as a Papers Please tag, as it's not going to show me anything else when I click on it. Why do I see Thief, Call of Duty and Dark Souls when I'm looking for 'Casual' games? This isn't helpful at all.

I have enjoyed the existence of an easy way to find new roguelike styled games though.

I did get a few chuckles out of the Beard Simulator [http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Beard%20Simulator/] tag though, rendering me a complete hypocrite.

 

[Elfgore]

I could see some potential in the system, only if it doesn't get tainted by people who are very spiteful and childish. Some of the tags are pretty hilarious as well.

Rome 2 has one that says "Rome wasn't patched in a day"

Civ5 has "one more turn" and "no sleep".

So, as long as it's moderated and people don't but feministic crap or something like that it as tags it should work fine.

 

[liger03]

Oddly, the popular tags have become more and more serious. "Git gud or die trying" and "nanomachines, son" are both gone from the list, which I suspect is from some direct Valve intervention. I cannot think for the life of me that average Steam-goers would tag serious terms and avoid making pop culture references this consistently.

However, one can still find little gems in the popular tags section of each game. Castlevania's newest offering seems to have both "What is a man" and "A miserable pile of secrets" in it.