In the latest blog post from Valve, they address the issue of what should be on the Steam store. I think most of you will agree that there is so much rubbish on Steam that it makes it unbearable to browse most of the time.
Valve has now attempted to clarify that they don’t want to dictate what they allow on the Steam Store because gamers enjoy different things. What they want to do is improve tools that will give gamers more control over what they see. They also reiterate that the system is not automated and the Valve team does a certain amount of curation but they will be asking developers to highlight any content that could cause potential problems.
This update from Valve is a typical noncommital response to recent complaints about some of the games that have appeared on Steam. However, in a world where you can’t please everyone, there’s really not much else they can do without angering someone. As long as they remove some of the rubbish that are either scams or asset flips it will improve Steam no-end but they have so far failed to do that. Giving users more control seems to be their approach moving forward.
Common questions we ask ourselves when trying to make decisions didn’t help in this space. What do players wish we would do? What would make them most happy? What’s considered acceptable discussion / behavior / imagery varies significantly around the world, socially and legally. Even when we pick a single country or state, the legal definitions around these topics can be too broad or vague to allow us to avoid making subjective and interpretive decisions. The harsh reality of this space, that lies at the root of our dilemma, is that there is absolutely no way we can navigate it without making some of our players really mad.
In addition, Valve is not a small company – we’re not a homogeneous group. The online debates around these topics play out inside Valve as well. We don’t all agree on what deserves to be on the Store. So when we say there’s no way to avoid making a bunch of people mad when making decisions in this space, we’re including our own employees, their families and their communities in that.
By taking a more open approach expect to see more rage posts from gamers who object to certain games which appears to be something Valve are prepared to put up with. Valve believes that offending some people is inevitable and they are probably right based on some of the garbage that appears on Steam being passed off as games. Take the school shooter simulator Active Shooter. It was removed from Steam, not because of the content, but because the developer was deemed a “troll”. It’s great it was removed but their reason for removing it is quite shocking. In the future, a ‘game’ like Active Shooter would likely pass Valve’s checks. That is simply wrong.
The bottom line is, Valve is not going to be making any changes now with regards to what appears on Steam but half-heartedly commit to making the rules a little clearer at some point. That is unlikely to happen as they are firmly sitting on the fence.
To be explicit about that – if we allow your game onto the Store, it does not mean we approve or agree with anything you’re trying to say with it. If you’re a developer of offensive games, this isn’t us siding with you against all the people you’re offending. There will be people throughout the Steam community who hate your games, and hope you fail to find an audience, and there will be people here at Valve who feel exactly the same way. However, offending someone shouldn’t take away your game’s voice. We believe you should be able to express yourself like everyone else, and to find others who want to play your game. But that’s it.
It’s business as usual over at Valve and Steam based on what’s been discussed in the post. There will be great games, there will be rubbish games, and there will be games that offend some gamers. Valve’s position is clear. They want to keep taking their cut of sales no matter how unsavory a game is and that’s a huge problem for everyone.
