All of the pages the site links to use the same colour palette, with the exception of the Steamworks page, and arguably the About page could do with some touch-ups as despite being updated, the abundance of grey doesn't really mesh well with the blue.
I mean pages like the Activity page, profile, Greenlight, badges etc.
They are still using the old, dark blue design, while the shop page and the Account page are using the newer, light blue design with the text in a light blue "box" and stuff like that.
This is ultimately only a problem if you are considering Steam to be the primary form of discovery for any product. But it shouldn't be. Like any other product, there are various forms of discovery for someone seeking something good outside of a store.
Even before origin came to be a thing I didn't quite like steam I guess since the slow interface and community for the games were all what gets banned instantly here on gaf.Do you consider yourself a member of that community? It's a community that places a high value on openness and freedom of choice. When the choice is between having a more open store that contains some bad games and a more closed store that leaves some good games out then it makes sense that this particular community would choose the first option. It has nothing to do with turning a blind eye to Steam's issues and everything to do with preserving the open nature of the PC platform.
If enough people were adding corgi tags to games, it would do that. But to list every single one someone has added would be chaos.It needs to work in reverse too. For example, say I really enjoyed corgis in Va11 Hall-a. I should be able to click "corgi" and see all the games tagged with "corgi". Currently it doesn't do that!
There is no actual "corgi" tag. The search function just uses "fuzzy search" like Google does.
Nobody says "I'm gonna go through all of the products that were recently released on Amazon" and then complains that they're not seeing what they want.
Refunds did kill the good sales.Refunds are bad.
Huh.
Refunds did kill the good sales.
If you intentionally look for garbage, Steam is going to be good at showing you garbage.
If you like good video games, you'll see the good ones.
It is not the slightest bit difficult to find good games on Steam. Valve likes to show you games that they think you'll like, because you're more likely to spend money on them.
So unless you're specifically looking to wallow through all of the trash, Steam surfaces games that have good reviews, games that are popular, games that are recommended by your friends and curators, and games that are similar to ones you've already played.
It doesn't even matter if most of the games on the service are bad, just like it doesn't matter if most of the songs on iTunes or most of the books on Kindle are bad.
Nobody says "I'm gonna go through all of the products that were recently released on Amazon" and then complains that they're not seeing what they want.
I understand that there is no perfect solution, but at the very least we need a solution preventing developers who steal assets, re-release the same game under different names multiple times and games that celebrate bigotry and hate-speech.This is ultimately only a problem if you are considering Steam to be the primary form of discovery for any product. But it shouldn't be. Like any other product, there are various forms of discovery for someone seeking something good outside of a store.
I understand that there is no perfect solution, but at the very least we need a solution preventing developers who steal assets, re-release the same game under different names multiple times and games that celebrate bigotry and hate-speech.
Finding a way to prevent such titles doesn't seem too tasking for a corporation like Valve. However, all the systems they deployed so far haven't prevented any of that and what they proposed doesn't seem like a proper solution.
RobF
‏@retroremakes
John's going to have a nervous breakdown by the time Valve are finished setting Steam up for an open system at this rate.
One of the odder yet strangely regular things I keep stumbling into is the idea that whenever someone discovers a videogame that maybe isn't all that, that questions must be asked of the storefront that stocks it. How could they let this happen?
https://twitter.com/retroremakes/status/831862346058436608
And Rob's article on Abundance, which is linked to in the Twitter-thread.
What if the patch breaks the game which I already have more than 2 hours of gametime? For example, game gets an update and it is no longer stable or even as good as it was before on your system.
Steam refunds are automated, but they are highly conditional compared to what you get with electronics in EU. Two years defect free for every item. You get two hours grace period on Steam active for two weeks.
It is not "exactly" like Tesco or Amazon when it comes to warranties and returns.
I haven't used the steam application to discover games for years, because it's fucking garbage.
https://twitter.com/retroremakes/status/831862346058436608
And Rob's article on Abundance, which is linked to in the Twitter-thread.
Same here. Steam has become a total shitshow.
You guys might want to actually use the thing instead of leaving it for years and claiming it's a shitshow despite not having it used since significant improvements have been made.
If "good" games are lost in a sea of garbage, then that doesn't benefit anyone.
I was an insane Valve fan for like a decade, but I'm really bummed out about the direction they took. Everything they do feels exploitive now.
I was an insane Valve fan for like a decade, but I'm really bummed out about the direction they took. Everything they do feels exploitive now.
I was an insane Valve fan for like a decade, but I'm really bummed out about the direction they took. Everything they do feels exploitive now.
Rob's article is the right one, I feel. You can have garbage exist; it's up to choice if its event discovered. Discovery is the whole problem.
As a note, I think Steam's crusty old interface is what's holding a lot of this back. They haven't done much to rethink their UX to deal with the absolute deluge of games.
Yeah man, me too.
Family Sharing
Proper Refunds
Steam Controller + Controller API that supports 3rd party controllers
In-Home Streaming + Steam Link + Broadcasting
SteamVR/Vive + OpenVR
Opening the doors for more games and experiences
Discovery Update
I could go on. Terrible.
What the hell version of steam are all of your "swimming in garbage" using all the time?
Curation isn't steams biggest issue, it's the almost non existent customer support system that barely functions on its best days. That's what needs the overhaul. Even just paying some call center in Mumbai to handle issues would go a huge way.
Good. A couple of games have been pulled, after the fact. But it would have been amazing if steam had refused to post the recent Batman game. Or any game which eats save files. Which for some reason, has plagued the industry a few years running.What do we call not fit for sale ? Games suffering bugs ? Cause that'd cross off even AAA releases on any platform.
Have you considered that the people who are into Steam are into it because it provides lots of features they want, and they agree with Valve's stance on what a PC marketplace should be?Well technically they should but the PC community is so far into steam that many of them turn a blind eye to the issues and still praise the hell out of it.
Imho I would rather use origin than steam these days.
Conversely, I used to be extremely annoyed at most Steam fans and the arbitrary store selection (you can even check back on GAF about that), but lately Valve has been making all the right moves from my perspective.I was an insane Valve fan for like a decade, but I'm really bummed out about the direction they took.
Good. A couple of games have been pulled, after the fact. But it would have been amazing if steam had refused to post the recent Batman game. Or any game which eats save files. Which for some reason, has plagued the industry a few years running.
What if the patch breaks the game which I already have more than 2 hours of gametime? For example, game gets an update and it is no longer stable or even as good as it was before on your system.
Steam refunds are automated, but they are highly conditional compared to what you get with electronics in EU. Two years defect free for every item. You get two hours grace period on Steam active for two weeks.
It is not "exactly" like Tesco or Amazon when it comes to warranties and returns.
Valve allows developers to do this very conveniently and i na controlled manner using public branches (and many developers use that), but I agree that it would still be nice to have a generic fallback available to users.On the subject of patches, GOG implemented a patch rollback scheme about a year and a half ago. That seems like a pretty ideal way of handling the issue of patches breaking games, and it doesn't seem to have any downsides for the user.
There are far more good games released on Steam each month than any local physical retailer would put on their shelves.
This is why I'm against an all digital future. Some of the crap you see on Steam wouldn't fly with local retailers. They wouldn't bother stocking it. Imagine if you went to Gamestop and there were thousands of games on the shelves and what you want is buried under boxes of crap games. Physical distribution helps cut down on some of the BS. Even if you decide to buy the digital version that's fine, but at least someone willing to go through the expense of physically shipping their game is somewhat invested in its quality. Anything goes digitally.
I was an insane Valve fan for like a decade, but I'm really bummed out about the direction they took. Everything they do feels exploitive now.
It does but it's too late now, it's turned into the shitfest mobile gaming has always been.
Just as a personal example there is no way Banished would exist in a brick-and-mortar world.
You know, people usually prefer physical because of the whole "being able to still play and don't worry it will be pulled in the future".This is why I'm against an all digital future. Some of the crap you see on Steam wouldn't fly with local retailers. They wouldn't bother stocking it. Imagine if you went to Gamestop and there were thousands of games on the shelves and what you want is buried under boxes of crap games. Physical distribution helps cut down on some of the BS. Even if you decide to buy the digital version that's fine, but at least someone willing to go through the expense of physically shipping their game is somewhat invested in its quality. Anything goes digitally.