steam-tags
Latest
Steam Tags merge languages, exit beta
Steam Tags, the system where users of the Steam digital distribution service and storefront assign keywords to games, has exited beta testing. Valve announced the change earlier this week via a news post, but noted that the removal of the b-word is "mostly a cosmetic change." Valve reasoned that the change feels cosmetic due to the fact that Steam Tags will continue to evolve and change. For example, it used to be that tags were divided by language, so that the list of tags for Russian users would be different from the list of tags for English users, and so on. However, the news post notes that many languages had so few tags that they were disproportionately full of bad data such as inappropriate tags and joke tags. Hence, all language pools will now be combined and then translated where needed. Tags with similar concepts are also being merged. The post brings up how Valve noticed four variations of a tag advertising a game that supported mods - "modding," "mod-friendly," "moddable" and "mod supported" - so now, if a user types in "mod-friendly," you'll actually see the "moddable" tag appear. Whether these changes sound good or bad, Valve invites you to share feedback with them on the subject. [Image: Valve]
Valve adds flagging option for user-made Steam tags
Earlier this week, Valve implemented the beta trial for Steam Tags, a feature that lets the Steam userbase collectively assign new tags to games. This was meant to help users find games relevant to their interests by searching for less conventional concepts, but as the "check your privilege" tag on Gone Home suggests, some users are taking a different path. Valve has since updated the beta to deal with problematic user-made tags. The update brings with it a flagging function, meant to report tags that are offensive, abusive, unhelpful, spoiler-related or irrelevant to the game they're assigned to. New tags will also have to be used by more users than before in order to show up in the popular tags section. In the event that an inappropriate tag does make it into the popular tags section, it will need to be approved for multiple games before it's listed in the recommendation-oriented "For You" tab. We can't really act surprised that some users have alternative plans for user-made tags, but it's nice to see Steam try and fix the feature for those looking for something other than snark from their shopping advice. [Image: Valve]
Steam Tags help you find games based on custom criteria
Steam has introduced a new tags system, where users can input custom tags on any Steam product page. Steam Tags not only helps with organization, it's also a good tool for discovering new games and apps on Steam. You can now browse games by popular tags such as "Steam Trading Cards" or "difficult," or by tags recommended to you based on your play and purchase history. Steam Tags are multi-lingual, too – so you can add tags in English, Russian, Danish and more. Sorry, it doesn't look like Steam supports Klingon or Elvish tags. The implementation of Steam Tags follows last week's addition of a Recently Updated section providing an at-a-glance view of games that have been patched or received new content. Valve also plans to introduce a Steam Music beta soon, which will allow users to listen to local library files through the Steam client while playing their games. [Image: Valve]
