{"id":22345,"date":"2023-10-17T17:15:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T08:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=22345"},"modified":"2023-10-17T17:15:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T08:15:04","slug":"20231017-22345","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231017-22345\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese game dev shares frustration about harmful \u201cironic\u201d negative reviews on Steam\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A zero-star review accompanied by a \u201cfunny\u201d one-liner that reveals that the reviewer actually enjoyed the game \u2013 we\u2019ve all seen at least a couple of them while trying to inform ourselves about a game, but it seems this phenomenon is unfortunately prevalent in the Japanese community as well. A Japanese game developer recently spoke out about the issue on social media, and the topic has received attention from users.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u30a6\u30c1\u306e\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044\u3051\u3069\u3001\u307c\u3051\u30fc\u3063\u3068Steam\u898b\u3066\u305f\u3089\u307e\u305f\u5927\u559c\u5229\u4f4e\u8a55\u4fa1\u30ec\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3092\u898b\u3064\u3051\u3061\u3083\u3063\u305f\u306a\u2026\u3002<br>\u300c\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u306b\u306f\u307e\u308a\u3059\u304e\u3066\u5f7c\u5973\u306b\u632f\u3089\u308c\u305f\u306e\u30670\u70b9\u3067\u3059\u300d\u307f\u305f\u3044\u306a\u30a6\u30b1\u72d9\u3044\u306e\u4f4e\u8a55\u4fa1\u30ec\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3002\u30de\u30b8\u3067\u5236\u4f5c\u8005\u306e\u65b9\u304c\u6c17\u306e\u6bd2\u306b\u601d\u3048\u3061\u3083\u3046\u3002\u91a4\u6cb9\u5dee\u3057\u30da\u30ed\u30da\u30ed\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306a\u30ce\u30ea\u3067\u3084\u308b\u3093\u3060\u3082\u3093\u306a\u3041\u2026\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u9b3c\u866b\u5175\u5eab Hyogo Onimushi (@ONIMUSHI_HYOGO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ONIMUSHI_HYOGO\/status\/1713398221526180150?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><font size=\"2\"><strong>Post Translation: <\/strong>This isn\u2019t about my own game, but I still stumble upon \u201cmeme\u201d negative reviews whenever I\u2019m browsing Steam&#8230;You know, the ones aiming to be funny by saying things like \u201cI got so hooked to this game my gf dumped me so I\u2019m giving you a score of 0.\u201d I always feel so bad for the developers when I see this.&nbsp;<\/font><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Japanese indie game developer @ONIMUSHI_HYOGO posted on their X\/Twitter account about the fake negative reviews they see people making \u201cas jokes,\u201d citing the example of users rating games poorly only to demonstrate stale humor such as \u201cI got so hooked to this game my gf dumped me so I\u2019m giving you a score of 0.\u201d This definitely feels like a familiar sight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They go on to add that erotic games seem to fall victim to this phenomenon more often than other genres.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u4ee5\u524d\u306f\u3053\u306e\u624b\u306e\u5927\u559c\u5229\u30ec\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u3063\u3066\u8d85\u30e1\u30b8\u30e3\u30fc\u30bf\u30a4\u30c8\u30eb\u3060\u3051\u306b\u3061\u3087\u308d\u3063\u3068\u3064\u3044\u3066\u308b\u5370\u8c61\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3093\u3060\u3051\u3069(\u300e\u306f\u307e\u308a\u3059\u304e\u3066\u751f\u6d3b\u304c\u5d29\u58ca\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u300f\u7684\u306a)<br>\u6700\u8fd1\u3060\u3068\u7d50\u69cb\u30de\u30a4\u30ca\u30fc\u306a\u5f31\u5c0f\u958b\u767a\u306e\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u306e\u30ec\u30d3\u30e5\u30fc\u306b\u3082\u6cb8\u3044\u3066\u308b\u5370\u8c61\u3060\u304b\u3089\u3001\u3053\u308c\u307e\u30fc\u3058\u3067\u958b\u767a\u8005\u306e\u6b7b\u6d3b\u554f\u984c\u306b\u767a\u5c55\u3059\u308b\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u3082\u3042\u308b\u305e\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u9b3c\u866b\u5175\u5eab Hyogo Onimushi (@ONIMUSHI_HYOGO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ONIMUSHI_HYOGO\/status\/1713403710473449689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><font size=\"2\"><strong>Post Translation: <\/strong>It seems to be especially prevalent with erotic games. I don\u2019t know if people are too embarrassed to just sincerely praise them or what, but there\u2019s so many people giving negative ratings followed by joke reviews.<\/font><br><font size=\"2\">I feel like earlier, these kinds of reviews used to appear here and there under major, large-scale titles (saying things like \u201cI got hooked to this and lost control of my life\u201d), but now I find them popping up under the titles of small developers and I really think that it could be a life-or-death issue for some developers.\u00a0<\/font><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>@ONIMUSHI_HYOGO mentions how the meme reviews had once been a thing one could see predominantly with major titles, while it now seems to plague small creators as well. And this is an important distinction to make, as the impact of negative reviews is felt much more strongly by smaller titles. Not only does their overall score get more severely affected due to a lower total number of reviews, but, as opposed to big developers who have brand power and other means of promotion to fall back onto, small developers often have only their Steam page to go off. Meaning that, if their reputation dips down once, they may find it extremely hard to recover.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1239\" height=\"451\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1239px) 100vw, 1239px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040.png 1239w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-600x218.png 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-380x138.png 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-768x280.png 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-150x55.png 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-300x109.png 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-696x253.png 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-1068x389.png 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image_2023-10-17_171426040-1154x420.png 1154w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On Steam, reviews very much translate into sales, so for small creators looking to make a living from making games, such meme reviews may very well be, as @ONIMUSHI_HYOGO mentions, a matter of life and death to them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many users responded to the topic, but reactions were, as one would expect, quite unanimous \u2013 the act is unfunny and harmful. Many questioned what it is that\u2019s stopping people from posting their little jokes while giving a positive rating, and indeed it is a mystery. For the most part, it\u2019s likely more of a lack of awareness than ill-intentions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, under such reviews, one can also often find a bunch of people \u201cfinding the review helpful,\u201d which is a problem of its own as it makes the review far more prominent, and, less importantly, feeds the jokester\u2019s ego.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please don&#39;t make negative Steam reviews for a gag! <br><br>Negative reviews actively impact game visibility and sales in more drastic ways than you might think. This one referencing an in-game event is the #1 &quot;most helpful&quot; rated review because fellow players found it funny. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HRZx3zlAXg\">pic.twitter.com\/HRZx3zlAXg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Ryan T. Brown \ud83c\udfae\u2764\ufe0f (@Toadsanime) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Toadsanime\/status\/1684344708414177282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this year, marketing professional Ryan T. Brown also spoke of this issue, emphasizing that negative reviews have a far greater impact on the visibility and sales of games than the average person may think.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Steam\u2019s algorithms can also be added to the conversation and criticized for the dramatic blows they deal to game\u2019 visibility, the issue of simply being respectful to creators comes much before that. Especially in the case of smaller-scale, indie-developers, where leaving a review is a much more direct, human-to-human interaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Japanese indie game developer speaks out about the issue of Steam users leaving negative reviews &#8220;ironically,&#8221; causing harm to developers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":22347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-22345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese game dev shares frustration about harmful \u201cironic\u201d negative reviews on Steam\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Japanese indie game developer speaks out about the issue of Steam users leaving negative reviews &quot;ironically,&quot; causing harm to developers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231017-22345\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese game dev shares frustration about harmful \u201cironic\u201d negative reviews on Steam\u00a0 - 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