Right. This is a definite concern.
I think a lot of the complaint in this thread is pretty silly because it focuses on this artificial (and incorrect) presumption that it's worth getting tremendously worked up about the
current state of the platform when (contra the sclerotic console manufacturers) Valve have always maintained a platform that's constantly seeing iteration of its basic functionality. When people are saying that this is going to have an inevitable and dramatic negative effect on the indie market, or drive everyone away to Origin, or mark the end of indie games on Steam or whatever, you know things have gotten a bit ridiculous.
I think it makes more sense to do what you're doing here and try to identify the concrete areas where certain improvements would make Greenlight worthwhile.
- There's some debate in the thread, but I think just about anyone reasonable agrees that the best possible results will come through a mix of hand-chosen curated selections and group-vote interest marking. This way, anything obviously appropriate can get rushed through, while still giving fans a way to express their interest in games that slip through the cracks.
- One significant improvement would be to consider games by type or genre. Almost every genre that has at least a strong niche fanbase on PC should be considered for inclusion (the pinball games are a great example here, but I'm sure there are other niche markets that have a similar issue.) Considering the top games by genre as well as overall would ensure more diversity and also help certain types of games get their foot in the door when otherwise they could be easily overlooked.
- The pace of greenlights should be significantly increased. By my count, Steam added 54 new games in October (in addition to various Mac releases, bundles, new DLC releases, etc.) That suggests to me that there's probably room to up the Greenlight count to 20 (or even quite a bit higher temporarily) without completely flooding the store.
- Although Concepts is a first move in this direction, Greenlight really needs to firmly separate projects by readiness. There should be one section that consists only of games that are already released and playable/purchaseable elsewhere, to help fill in the backlog of existing quality indie titles. This category should require lower thresholds for acceptance and be adding something like 20-30 titles a month, at least to start. Another category should include games that are in serious development and can make available a stream of screenshots, videos, and demos to keep people abreast of development. In the long run this will be very beneficial because devs in this category can get their games approved to be on Steam at launch, which would be great. And then anything that's truly speculative, intention-driven, or otherwise incomplete can go under Concepts.
Am I missing anything major here? What other changes are really needed to help make this process better and contribute to getting everyone's good games onto Steam?