Quick Thoughts on Steam Review Update
2016-09-15Hello everyone, I just wanted to leave a quick message to comment on the recent update to the review system here on Steam. First of all, I want to say that I respect and admire Valve's attempts to make this the best possible storefront for desktop gaming. Developing a fair system that is free of spam and abuse is no small task. The change has had some effects on Adventure Lamp, and so I thought it worth telling AL's story to give it some context. I made Adventure Lamp because I love to make things. I wanted to make something joyful and unique and I think I hit that mark dead center. Selling things on the internet is very hard and there are a zillion reasons why things succeed or fail here.
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I can't pretend to know why, but on launch day I received just three reviews from Steam purchasers. Two of those three are negative, for reasons I respect. I worked hard the following months to get the game in front of more people. I also sell the game on itch.io, and many of those players responded to the Steam launch by writing a review here. I have also had a number of youtubers, streamers, and journalists request a key for the game via my website. I have never asked for positive reviews, nor do I want fake ones. Many of the youtubers, streamers, and journalists thoughtfully gave their time in the form of a written review. Slowly, the positive reviews trickled in, and brought the rating score up to a respectable Positive. The recent change to the review system hid that progress, leaving only the first three reviews. Today the reviews are pretty meager. This is fine, and does not change how I feel or the work I am putting in to a pretty hefty content update. I think given time Adventure Lamp will meet its core players and the rating will reflect that. And, hey, if not I will still be here making joyful and unique things anyway. TL;DR: Rating systems are icky, videogames rock, and you rock too. Ryan
