How would you remove the "bottleneck" greenlight is?

[Broax]

Hey everyone!

If you've watched the Gabe's presentation on DICE[1] you're probably talking about his wishes to produce a HL/Portal movie with JJ Abrams but I personally don't nurture very strong feelings for that as this kinds of movies usually fail (I know Gabe Newell is different and Valve isn't Konami, but still).

Anyway, what really caught my attention (as you might deduce from the title) is Valve's plans to open up the Steam store to every developer and game. Specifically how he described Steam as a bottleneck (and later even as a dictatorship[2]) implying the greenlight system is broken and needs to be removed (so soon after it launched nonetheless).

I would like everyone interested in this topic to jump in the discussion and give your interpretation on how this should be handled. Why? Because if it's not done well enough it risks Steam becoming a shovelware store full of mindless puzzle games, pay-to-win social "experiences" and amateurish clones of successful games. Like the app stores of smartphones.

Not to mention a petri dish of every kind of virus, worm, keylogger and phishing scam known to humanity!

This could hurt usability of the Steam store (spending a good half-hour trying to find a specific game) ruining its reputation and credibility and therefore the amazing system we all know and love.

I have my own ideas (obviously) but I'm interested in yours.

Thanks for reading! =)

[1] Link for the video if you haven't seen it yet (it's taken from valve time obviously):

[2] Link for the article quoting Gabe comparison of Steam to a dictatorship: Gameindustry.biz: Valve's Newell on tearing down the Steam "dictatorship"

 

[Vegeta897]

Hey dude!

I don't quite understand the question. Just remove Greenlight, what's the "how"? Unless you mean how do you keep Greenlight but remove its problems, in which case I ask why bother.

I think sites like kickstarter are a fine way to get attention and funding for a project. And people are voting with their money, not a thumbs up button.

You'll just have to accept the fact that some types of awful games are going to be popular. I know, it sucks. I probably dislike many more popular games than you do, too. There isn't anything to be done about it, you can't change what people want and you can't stop developers from wanting to make money.

The only think you can do is keep supporting the developers who make stuff you do like.

 

[Omnomnick]

We can all hate on games for legitimate reasons, we're allowed to. Just let them exist and get on with their shit, because at least some people enjoy them and, to be honest, that is one major thing that makes the gaming industry great - it's diversity.

Enjoy what you enjoy, leave other people to do their own thing.

Peace and love, man.

 

[Broax]

Wow... For all the horrible things I was warned about on my post in the Newbie Central you guys actually present some solid and sensible arguments. I posted this exact same post on the valve forums and got similar answer so I'm probably worrying about nothing.

And you're damn right Omnomnick... Diversity is what makes this industry great. I guess some part of me just worries that an over saturation of popular game clones (like what happens on the AAA FPS genre) might dilute some of that diversity. But come to think of it, Desura seems a lot more loose on its requirements for accepting games and that doesn't happen there.

Thanks for the insight... =)