Fixing Steam Greenlight

[Crystal]

As you can see, Greenlight is not very good right now and Steam want to "evolve it" into better experience. I don't know what are they planning but I just got an idea how to make it much better. At least till somebody prove me that it's a horrible idea.

 

Games that are on Greenlight can be played before they are published on Steam if they are finished and somebody already sell them like Desura,GOG.com,Groupees or Humble Bundle. My idea is that only people that already purchased the game through one of these vendors can vote for it on Greenlight based on if the game is good or not.

 

This would eliminate games that we can't judge fairly because we didn't play them. We can only judge by some screenshots, trailer and gameplay demo by developer. Of course, I see another factor that might be a new problem like Steam Greenlight verified vendors list or something like that.

 

It's just an idea and I want to know what do you think of it? Do you have better idea? Share it! Maybe we'll figure out something that will really help developers, Steam and consumers to have better products on Steam.

[Scionyde]

Are you talking about the full game or just a demo? A demo can be a bit misleading too. Its not a bad idea, but not all greenlight games are finished anyway.

[Dmon]

Correct me if I'm wrong in this assumption ( I don't browse Green Light often ). But if they just added a maximum number of games you could vote for each week/month it would add value to the system and make people actually do a bit of research into what they're voting for rather then just throwing out votes willy nilly. This would also encourage developers to actually produce something worthy of getting people to vote for the game with their limited votes.

[ShadowCaptain]

 

Games that are on Greenlight can be played before they are published on Steam if they are finished and somebody already sell them like Desura,GOG.com,Groupees or Humble Bundle. My idea is that only people that already purchased the game through one of these vendors can vote for it on Greenlight based on if the game is good or not.

 

This would eliminate games that we can't judge fairly because we didn't play them. We can only judge by some screenshots, trailer and gameplay demo by developer. Of course, I see another factor that might be a new problem like Steam Greenlight verified vendors list or something like that.

 

 

This wouldnt work for all games, for example a game goes onto greenlight but isnt available on other stores? so nobody can vote for it

 

I think all games currently in the greenlight program should have a 15 minute / 1 level demo, something to let you try it, so problems can be reported, gameplay analyzed etc etc and only people who have completed the demo can vote

 

Maybe there could be a seperate button to register interest in the game if you dont want to try out the demo or cant like "Im interested in this" and a button for "i have played the demo, i approve/dont approve"

[Crystal]

Correct me if I'm wrong in this assumption ( I don't browse Green Light often ). But if they just added a maximum number of games you could vote for each week/month it would add value to the system and make people actually do a bit of research into what they're voting for rather then just throwing out votes willy nilly. This would also encourage developers to actually produce something worthy of getting people to vote for the game with their limited votes.

That sounds interesting. As you said, it would add value which is great because, for example, there are 2 games I want to be greenlit but I want one more then other. I like that idea.

 

This wouldnt work for all games, for example a game goes onto greenlight but isnt available on other stores? so nobody can vote for it

 

I think all games currently in the greenlight program should have a 15 minute / 1 level demo, something to let you try it, so problems can be reported, gameplay analyzed etc etc and only people who have completed the demo can vote

 

Maybe there could be a seperate button to register interest in the game if you dont want to try out the demo or cant like "Im interested in this" and a button for "i have played the demo, i approve/dont approve"

Yes, if nobody could buy them then nobody should be able to vote for it. Unless its something like Kickstarter which is a different thing, you can't give it a fair judge unless you play it. This dont apply just to games on Greenlight but to AAA games too. People were pre-ordering A:CM based on trailers and false demo. just an example. I would expect them putting full game on either of those sites and sell your game, even if its dirt cheap. You have to get your audience somehow and if we dont want buggy and crappy games on steam to be greenlit, I think this is the most fair option.