Valve is now hiding meme-y and ASCII art reviews on Steam store pages
Valve has started publicly testing sorting reviews in the Steam store based on how well they help players make purchase decisions about games.
Historically we’ve sorted reviews by the number of ‘helpful’ votes given to each review by other players. However, we’ve seen that many players use reviews for sharing jokes, memes, ascii art and other content that might not be the most helpful for a potential purchaser.
Its solution to the problem is the new “helpfulness system,” which introduces an enabled-by-default “most helpful” toggle that skips past highly upvoted ASCII art or memes to show reviews Valve deems more informative.
Valve says it uses a combination of machine learning algorithms, user reports, and the assistance of the Steam moderation team to categorize reviews and consider both positive and negative comments. The platform’s already started the process but says it will “likely take quite a while” to evaluate the more than 140 million existing reviews as well as newly published ones.
Users have the option of returning to the old review categorization system if they choose. They just need to head to the “Display” drop-down located right above user reviews and unselect the “Use new helpfulness system” checkbox.
The news comes just a day after Valve also announced it will no longer allow Steam store descriptions to include links starting in “early” September. Steam says it’s trying to prevent its store pages from becoming advertisements for other Steam store pages, as well as prevent confusion over “prologue” games.
Valve has started publicly testing sorting reviews in the Steam store based on how well they help players make purchase decisions about games. Historically we’ve sorted reviews by the number of ‘helpful’ votes given to each review by other players. However, we’ve seen that many players use reviews for sharing…
Recent Posts
- Anthropic blocks all customers’ access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5
- Valve just imported 13 tons of VR headsets in one day
- How to watch USA vs Paraguay on Tubi (it’s free)
- DoJ approves Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal, cementing Ellison family control of American media
- How to watch USA vs Paraguay: Free Streams & TV Channels online from anywhere as the co-hosts begin their World Cup adventure
Archives
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023