Inconsequential reviews on Steam are not uncommon. While some may be humorous, many lack meaningful content. It appears that Valve is developing a system to filter out such unhelpful reviews, as indicated by a recent user discovery.
Recently, a new review filter was spotted in the “Display” column, alongside established categories such as “Relevant” and “Funny”. This new option, labeled “Use a new utility system”, has so far been applied only to filter relevant and useful reviews, allowing users to access the most comprehensive opinions.
Valve concealed the feature shortly thereafter. Yet, this action only served to persuade gamers that the company was addressing issues with the review system on Steam.
Valve doesn’t have to put a lot of effort into stopping the flood of lazy Steam users spamming with unfunny or copied memes. Apparently, the filter leaves useful long reviews, filtering out all the others. In addition, the utility system is activated by default, so there is every chance that it will stifle all this nonsense.
Steam User Comment
The past tense was deliberate — Valve concealed the feature shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, it is now confirmed that the company is addressing the issues with Steam reviews. This development has been met with enthusiasm from users.
Steam is inundated with trivial reviews, particularly since the launch of Steam Points and community rewards. These incentives have led to a surge in reviews as authors receive points for badges on their reviews, which can be used for profile customization. Consequently, many users have started to farm points by posting cursory reviews laced with humor or controversial opinions to deliberately obtain a clown badge.
