Hello and good day out there. While the Greenlight issue is why I am writing in the first place, I wanted to clear the air in a few questions brought up here prior. Admittedly, when the “uncaring” (yeah, right, how many posts have they left now?) troll asked about me not covering major fuckups in the gaming industry, I was snarky as hell rather then answering. I don’t apologize for that, nor will I. A troll is a troll is a troll, but even so, he did bring up two good examples that I would like to answer now before I take a look at Valve’s latest actions in their utility to let gamers choose some of the library they get access to.
First, I did NOT talk about Ubisoft’s abysmal release of Assassin’s Creed Unity because to be quite honest, at this point, Ubisoft releasing a game in shit condition is simply not news to me. I come from a mainly PC gaming background, so to see Ubisoft games broken is just par for the course. Seriously, it was bigger news to me that they didn’t somehow break South Park and the Stick of Truth on the platform when they bought it from the now defunct THQ. Add to that we were also just getting off the shitshow that was Watchdog’s launch, including a story about how we have evidence left on the disc showing they handicapped one platform in the name of parity, and yeah, Assassin’s Creed Unity more or less came out as I expected.
Second, I have not YET covered Halo: Master Chief Collection. That doesn’t mean I won’t. In fact, the networking issues with that game is a HUGE part of why I haven’t covered it yet: I bought the game at launch with my brothers and the intent to review it as a co-op experience, and obviously the game outright not working online for a month hindered that schedule. Right now, the review is about 2/3rds done and will be up shortly after my brothers and I finish Halo 4. But that may take some time due to current ongoings and PAX East preperation. I hope it lives up the what you all expect of me when finished,but suffice it to say, covering 4 games and 2 shared game modes each as their own game has already made this review HUGE, but I’m hoping it will set the standard for how I will treat collections where you can’t use the games independent of each other from now on.
And finally, we have the story that actually prompted me to write: Tech Raptor put out a report today about how Valve has apparently taken notice of a fairly common practice used in Greenlight today. Specifically, there are a lot of games on there that promise a free copy of the game if you vote that you want the game on Steam: in short there are a fair number of unscrupulous indie devs on the system trying to bribe the audience. Their response is understandable, and you can almost hear the frustrated sigh in the update from ALDEN. (A note: I am placing my good faith in Tech-Raptor, for as of writing, I could not find the post itself, only the image of it in the middle of their story. Please feel free to follow the link in my sources to see it for yourself. I did not feel right leaching it from them.)
However, that entry also suggests a crackdown is either underway or has always been in the system. You see, the post suggests that Valve looks at such tactics in action and has to take into consideration how many of those posts would actually be interested in picking the game up and how many just want a free one. So if Valve catches you, expect to take a lot more then your competition to get into the actual store.
Personally, I’m glad to see this. Greenlight was made (as I keep having to repeat) so that the gamers playing on Steam would have a say in what games make to Steam. This is a great idea, but it needs to be managed properly and diligently, else you have scrupulous people who happen to want to sell whatever digital turd they shit out using underhanded tactics to get ahead. And while giving out free copies could be good advertisement (as ALDEN said in his post), it should never be a reward for if you vote for the game to come across. That is simply not I good faith. So, good for you, Steam. Your utility is not perfect by any means, but cracking down on this practice is definitely a step in the right direction, and all of us who use your service definitely appreciate it.
Source:
"I was snarky as hell rather then answering. I don’t apologize for that, nor will I."
ReplyDeleteHence what a troll does.
"he did bring up two good examples"
Bringing up good points is called a conversation; not trolling.
Once again... I don't think you know what that word means Megabyte.