Multiple game creators describe ineffective moderation on the platform, resulting in unchecked hatred in forums and targeted campaigns of negative ‘anti-woke’ reviews
Yeah but what good is reporting when Valve themselves takes what feels like an eternity, getting down to dealing with just a few?
Eventually, they’re going to be faced with making one of two choices; Shut down the discussions board to a particular game for violating ToS or let it go unchecked for however long.
“I’m not new to online harassment,” says designer Nathalie Lawhead, who spent two years trying to get reviews removed from their games’ pages. Both reference allegations of sexual assault that Lawhead made in 2019. “I assumed reporting Steam abuse might have its own issues. But when people suggested that I open a ticket, I did have hope that this would be the way to get it resolved.”
One of the reviews, published in 2023, read, “cringe game, made by a liar”. The other, a review of Lawhead’s game Blue Suburbia posted in 2024, said: “A women [sic] who seeks to destroy other’s [sic] career made this. It’s very poorly put together. She also probably has dual Israeli citizenship with how pointy her nose is.”
Despite Steam’s code of online conduct and community guidelines prohibiting “abusive language or insults”, public accusations or “discrimination”, moderators initially cleared both reviews after Lawhead reported them.
What’s with Lemmy users and lying and bending backwards to shield poor indie dev company Valve from harassment? Does Gabe’s dick taste that good?
Honest question, do you think someone replying to a thing in a public forum “cringe thing made by a liar” is actually harassment and should be forcefully removed just because the dev doesn’t like it?
Yes. Never in a million years I would consider “cringe game, made by a liar” an honest review, and I don’t know why anyone would consider it as such. It’s clearly part of a harassment campaign.
should be forcefully removed just because the dev doesn’t like it?
It should be removed because it’s not a review and has nothing to do with the game at hand, not because the dev doesn’t like it.
It’s about reviews, not forums, which devs have no control over
They list both, and the developers have direct control over the forum. Less over reviews but you can report them if they are inappropriate.
Yeah but what good is reporting when Valve themselves takes what feels like an eternity, getting down to dealing with just a few?
Eventually, they’re going to be faced with making one of two choices; Shut down the discussions board to a particular game for violating ToS or let it go unchecked for however long.
Which is what the entire article is about, reports being ineffective…
Its not, its about Valve not proactively moderating for the devs.
What’s with Lemmy users and lying and bending backwards to shield poor indie dev company Valve from harassment? Does Gabe’s dick taste that good?
Honest question, do you think someone replying to a thing in a public forum “cringe thing made by a liar” is actually harassment and should be forcefully removed just because the dev doesn’t like it?
The seems too far censorship to me.
The antisemitism yeah get rid of that shit
Yes. Never in a million years I would consider “cringe game, made by a liar” an honest review, and I don’t know why anyone would consider it as such. It’s clearly part of a harassment campaign.
It should be removed because it’s not a review and has nothing to do with the game at hand, not because the dev doesn’t like it.
Not liking something doesn’t mean it should be removed.
Any negative review of a game then becomes fair game.
And I never said that.
No, it doesn’t. If you truly, truly believe that the review is authentic, I have a bridge to sell you.