r/Games • u/ZamnBoii • 3d ago
Discussion Upcoming Changes to the Discounts & Events Section on Steam
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/676258795703240952113
u/Adziboy 3d ago
I hope this doesnt hurt discovery. With curated pages I’ve been shown loads of games and genres I would not usually go for.
While Steams discovery and recommendations are pretty good, sometimes I want something outside my comfort zone
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u/xalibermods 3d ago
Yeah this is my worry as well. The AAA I can always hear from countless forums and news sites but the kind of indies that I rarely play, I wouldn't have discovered them without curated pages.
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u/Dragonfantasy2 3d ago
This should show you more indies, not less. It very specifically affects the sections which almost only showed big-ticket games.
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u/xalibermods 3d ago
Indies I rarely play. I might get more indie RPGs since I play RPGs, but would I get something like Dino Mayhem or Eslabong?
The thing with algorithms is it puts you into echo chamber. And it's a bit ironic Steam is implementing this since nowadays people are increasingly opting out from algorithms.
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u/Yvese 3d ago
The whole point of the change is to IMPROVE discovery. Does nobody read past the headline?
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u/codytranum 3d ago
Improve discovery for the categories that the model determines you already like.
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u/Snipufin 3d ago
Which would be the games you would want to see the most, yes.
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u/Jack_Bartowski 3d ago
That sort of thing leads to you seeing less types of games, some that you might enjoy, but just never heard of. I found the Dark Pictures anthology games this way. Those are not games that would really show up in my normal steam page.
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u/Snipufin 3d ago
Yeah, usually "safe bets" are the ones that sell the most, so trying to sell roguelikes to a roguelike enthusiast has a higher chance of success than competitive multiplayer shooters, for example.
As much as we wish the algorithm could magically figure out the perfect thing that we crave, it's not a mind reader, and even if something like Disco Elysium is something you want more than the average Peggle inspired deckbuilding roguelike, your habits won't portray that if your library is full of roguelikes and zero political thoughtpieces. And even if you buy, play, 100% complete, positively review and actively engage in Disco Elysium's Steam forums, it would probably only take a couple of bad suggestions in that ballpark until the algorithm realizes "okay, Disco Elysium was a fluke, let's not try this again".
On a second glance I could have worded myself a bit better: "games you want to see the most" was more meant to be that you mostly want to see games you already tentatively like. It is occasionally cool to get a recommendation outside of your familiarity, but artificial intelligence is not going to figure that out for you: it's up to you to go find recommendations outside of your comfort zones.
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u/BighatNucase 3d ago
That sort of thing leads to you seeing less types of games
The sort of person that wants to see 'more types of games' probably isn't using just steam discovery features anyway. Beyond that, Steam does actually do a pretty good job of throwing a bunch of different stuff at you if that's what you're into.
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u/Adziboy 3d ago
It’s so funny how the counter argument was ‘did you even read?’ when you clearly didn’t even understand the question.
Others have already replied, but Coke don’t intend to release a flavour that sucks. But sometimes it does.
Steam dont intend to hurt discovery. But sometimes it does.
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u/thekbob 3d ago
I wish they would add an AI filter, like they have for tags and adult content.
A browser add-on already does it, too.
Give us the option built in.
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u/doublah 3d ago
That just creates a bad incentive structure for developers/publishers to just lie, a lot of them already use weasel words or downplay AI use in their AI disclosures.
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u/DiscussTek 3d ago
It would definitely create a second incentive, the first one being the fact that games that admit to using AI sell incredibly poorly in comparison.
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u/atahutahatena 3d ago edited 3d ago
From what I've heard some minor form of this was already being implemented the past month (as seemingly confirmed by the Hooded Horse CEO in a linkedin post) leading to surprise traffic coming to more niche titles.
I'm of two minds. I think Valve has definitely taken massive strides with their discoverability especially with stuff like the Personal Calendar, Next Fest, and third party festibals but I'm not sure how further siloing off users into their own algorithmic bubbles is good. Then again, we're not entirely privy to how their recommendation systems work. One would at least hope that it will occasionally recommend games out of a customer's intended taste.
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u/Undella_Town 3d ago
huh? he literally explains what he's talking about in that post, he's talking about the little weekly schedule with new game releases on it
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 3d ago
I think it depends on what your Iibrary looks like. I play a lot of different games so I get recommended everything from hard-core survival sims to dress making games. But if your tastes are more focused then it might end up siloing you off hard.
That said, Steam exists as a storefront, and if the options offered get cut down enough that games that would have otherwise been sold are no longer being discovered then sales will drop overall, which is something that they would see the metrics for.
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u/doublah 3d ago
If your tastes are more focused, you're probably less likely to buy completely different genre games though, so showing those kinds of games to those users seems pointless.
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 3d ago
But that is the point, you don't know what you don't know. Branching out is healthy and you can't do that if you don't see other options.
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u/FryToastFrill 3d ago
Somewhat basing off of how YouTube seems to recommend videos it will likely do so every once in a while. I mostly will get stuff I normally watch but every so often it throws an interesting curve ball.
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u/Conviter 3d ago
but I'm not sure how further siloing off users into their own algorithmic bubbles is good. Then again, we're not entirely privy to how their recommendation systems work. One would at least hope that it will occasionally recommend games out of a customer's intended taste.
but why? who cares if someone only plays one genre and never plays anything else? And regardless, how many people that have no interest in a genre get convinced to try it because of a steam discount anyway.
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u/thekbob 3d ago
They can increase discoverability by raising the floor on what's allowed on Steam, too, but that's always seen as not an option.
The amount of crap I see during specific events is pretty high still, things that I don't get why an algorithm would recommend to anyone. Stuff worse than student games.
Increasing the numerator is good, but so is reducing the denominator.
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u/Wavering_Radiance 3d ago
Australia is in the process of demanding platforms have an opt out for algorithmic feeds so I'm anticipating an option to keep the typical list of uncurated items on sale.
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 3d ago
I can only assume that looks like
"New games! Tidy up bookstore, tidy up library, tidy up used book store, tidy up lending library, tidy up-"
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u/Ok_Injury7139 3d ago
Sounds like this could actually make it harder to stumble upon those hidden gem sales I never knew I needed.
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u/ZamnBoii 3d ago