Valve starts hiding “unhelpful” Steam user reviews

Valve starts hiding “unhelpful” Steam user reviews

As a seasoned Steam user with years of scrolling through countless game reviews under my belt, I must say, this new system is a breath of fresh air! I’ve always found myself sifting through hilarious memes and creative posts, upvoting them because they brought a smile to my face, but knowing deep down that they weren’t helping me decide whether to buy a game or not.


The new system uses machine learning to determine how informative your game review is.

For numerous gamers, Steam continues to be the primary platform for purchasing PC games. Not only does it serve as a gaming hub, but it also provides a space where users can exchange thoughts and experiences through Steam user reviews. These reviews often contain humor in the form of jokes, memes, and ASCII art, but their primary function is to guide other players on the quality of a game. Recently, Valve took action to modify the sorting system for user reviews on Steam. Here’s what we know about the changes.

“Unhelpful” Steam user reviews

The business disclosed details about a fresh feature through their formal Steam announcements. The article clarifies that these evaluations are intended to aid others in making a choice – whether to purchase or abstain from purchasing this game. On Steam, such user reviews are highly valued.

The evaluation method previously employed was based on the count of upvotes and downvotes. However, this approach isn’t suitable for humorous content or excellent ASCII art, as they receive many upvotes due to people appreciating them, but these upvotes don’t necessarily reflect genuine recommendations.

In order to address this issue, Valve now ranks Steam user reviews based on their usefulness. This feature is automatically enabled, and less helpful reviews will be given lower priority.

How to see funny user reviews on Steam?

As someone who has spent countless hours scrolling through social media feeds, I can confidently say that the latest update is a breath of fresh air. Previously, I often found my favorite creative posts like memes getting deleted without warning. However, this new update explicitly states that such content will not be removed. Now, all I need to do is scroll down or change the sorting principle to find these gems. It’s truly a game-changer for those of us who enjoy the humor and creativity that memes bring into our digital lives.

  1. Find the Steam reviews section on a game’s page.
  2. Scroll to the very bottom and press the Browse all reviews link.
  3. Click the drop-down menu Most Helpful (all time) to select a different one.
  4. Choose Funny to see memes and hilarious posts.

Valve starts hiding “unhelpful” Steam user reviews

New system of sorting reviews (image via esports.gg)

Who decides on helpfulness?

Valve employs a combination of methods: their moderation team’s efforts and machine learning technology. Due to the sheer volume of Steam user reviews (over 140 million), it would be impractical to manually check each one. However, the company asserts that by identifying patterns of usefulness and discerning which reviews should appear first in this new system, it becomes easier to manage them effectively.

The algorithm is in development, so Valve promises to improve the reviews sorting over time.

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2024-08-15 13:40

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