"Half-life 3" is still not confirmed, and as sad as that news may be for longtime fans of Valve, there's more. Users will also no longer be able to practice "review bombing" because Valve is now implementing a new rating system to negate it.
Valve is now working on a new chart rating system that is set to replace the current user review system on its game market platform Steam. The said charts will show a timeline of user scores and the number of negative and positive reviews of the game.
In addition to charts, Valve is also considering "freezing" the user score of games on Steam, and instead, users and potential game buyers will have to read the user reviews to see the game's standing. If the patrons see a review stating something irrelevant to the game and using that to give the game a negative rating, then they can conclude that the game has been review bombed.
Review bombing as a form of protest is, as suggested by Valve, detrimental to a game's sales since most review bombs do not even talk about the merits or demerits of the game. The company thinks this is unfair for the developers of the game.
Review bombing is the act of giving a game a thumbs down on Steam when a user wants to protest something to the game creators, developers, or distributors, no matter if it is relevant to the game or not. The most recent incident of review bombing happened to "Firewatch's" Steam page after the developers of the game issued a takedown on YouTuber Pewdiepie's "Firewatch" videos due to the streamer's "racist outburst."
Another large incident of review bombing was when a legion of users demanded that Valve start development of "Half-life 3," or at least "Half-life 2: Episode 3." These protesters took to "Defense of the Ancients 2" ("DOTA 2") Steam page and gave the online game low review scores.
Starting Sept. 20, every game on Steam now has a histogram chart showing the positive and negative reviews of a game since its release. Valve hopes that this will remedy the issue of review bombing.
