Steam’s New Tagging Mixes User-Created Hilarity And Despair

Valve have added a new feature to the latest Steam beta that allows users to create their own tags for games on the store. Predictably, this has gone a little bit off the rails as users have given games a bunch of tags that will make you laugh and despair in equal measure.

The system is designed to crowd source recommendations for you, based on the collective categories input by Steam members, but Valve may have underestimated humankind’s penchant for shenanigans.

Last year’s critically acclaimed Papers, Please, for example, is wittily labelled as an “Innovative”, “Bureaucracy ’em Up”, “Document Thriller”, while also making reference to in-game phrases like “Glory to Arstotzka!” Meanwhile, Octodad’s most popular tag labels it as a “Normal Dad Simulator”, which is completely factual so I don’t entirely know why I’m mentioning it, and Spelunky as a “Procedural Death Labyrinth.”

There’s even a tag which cunningly skirts swearword censors, using symbols that look like “poop”.

On the other side of things, it shines a light on how some games are truly perceived by the public, with Gone Home branded as “Not a game”, “Bad”, and “Overrated”, all ahead of “Innovative”, “Story Rich”, “Atmospheric” and “Creative”. At launch it was certainly a title which split opinions, revealing the intollerance which some gamers can harbour in the process.

Then there are all of the games with stories and plots that have major twists, which are so easily spoilt by these tags, the games bundled under the “the holocaust never happened” tag and on and on.

This is a system that is very much in its infancy, and Valve’s current stance is to wait and see what happens, as stated on the explanation page. There’s potential for it to add value to Steam’s recommendation systems, but Valve will need to manage the tags so as to accurately provide this and not let it be overwhelmed by uninformative nonsense.

Via The Average Gamer, PC Gamer, and many tweeters.