Steam has changed...

Before reading this blog post, I want you to open up the Steam Store page. After the painfully-long loading time to open what is pretty much a glorified website, you will be greeted with the storefront itself. Now, do you feel that there is something different about it? Doesn't it seem like it's harder to find games that you really want?

There is something strange happening with Steam, I’m not sure if it’s just me that’s noticed it, or if there is something different at all and others aren’t experiencing what I am. But I have found that the games in the Store have just become so hard to browse and look through. I don’t feel that this problem is just me, as there have been many videos bemoaning the flawed use of the Steam Greenlight program, I myself have written a previous blog about it. Something is clear is that the Steam storefront is broken, and I wonder, why has it become broken and how can it be fixed?

I think that the main issue with how the Steam storefront has been broken is with the use of marketing, and the use of profiling in suggesting and advertising games tailored to the user. My complaint is not that my data is used to send me personalised adverts, I know that when I signed up for Steam I was going to be profiled, and I don’t feel that such advertising is much more invasive than anything that already happens in the ‘real world’. My problem, however, is that the formula that is being used to give me personalised advertising is flawed and I am struggling to find titles that I enjoy on Steam because of it.

To make my point, look at this example of an eHarmony advert. It demonstrates concisely the issue with how profiling is used to create services that is matched to the user. In the video, a man is matched with an owl, simply because they both like to go out at night. The allegory is meant to be a humorous way to sell the service, but I feel it also makes a great point about how profiling a user can fail if not done perfectly. In this case, Steam is attempting to profile me, and looking at my interests in a flawed way that simply does not cater to them.

I really miss the Steam Store as it used to be; I used to get the same sense of giddiness browsing it as I did going to the local videogame shop. When I had enough money to buy a game, I remember always being so excited looking for my next experience. At the risk of sounding very capitalist, the fun of finding a new videogame was so enjoyable, even when the game itself turned out to be a disappointment. In earlier years, the Steam Store managed to successfully emulate that experience, and there were games from all genres that were just so easy to find. Even if the game was in a genre I wasn’t traditionally interested in, often in the interest of trying something new I would buy the game simply because it looked so different and exciting.

One of the issues with profiling my interests is that I don’t see anything outside of them. In order to look at games outside my comfort zone I have to actively search for them, which I probably won’t do because simply I’m not traditionally interested in such games. Think of the experiences that I am missing because of this. Right now I feel like I am stuck in a gaming rut because I simply am tired out of the genres I am currently playing, but on looking at the Steam store I am failing to see anything at all that I actually am interested in, because all the experiences that are sold to me are the exact same games that have put me in this gaming rut.

I think that something Steam needs to do is alter the profiling a bit to draw more attention to games that push one out of their comfort zone, or at least return somewhat to the old system which showed all kinds of games, even those that I traditionally wouldn’t be interested in. I think a lot of sales are being missed out on because gamers aren’t being encouraged to try something new.

Video games do not benefit from offering the same experience time and again. As proven by the rise of the NES after the 1983 crash, and the immense popularity of Minecraft at a time when the medium was experiencing one of its worst periods of stagnation and lack of creativity since those dark days, I think it’s been shown that gamers like to be shaken up. They like to be a part of the next new thing, and I feel that it is incredibly sad that, thanks to the increase of ‘personalized advertising’, many gamers may be missing out on some of the best experiences that push them out of their comfort zone and make them consider gaming genres that they would never do otherwise.

Ultimately, variety is the spice of life, and while I don’t personally mind profiling in the adverts directed at me, because I know that is what I sign up for when it comes to existing in an online space, what I do feel disappointed by is the failure of such personalised advertising to actually show me something that excites me. I think that unless the formula is shaken up, Steam is continuing to run the risk of becoming stagnant and losing its dominant share of the PC gaming market as a result, especially as GOG and the Humble Store are continuing to increase in popularity.