Valve has now launched the beta of its new “Steam Tag” system. The Steam Tag was meant to be an easy way for consumers to browse games by genre, as placed by their fellow consumer. For example, I might play Deus Ex: Human Revolution and tag it “RPG”, you then click on the RPG tag and find Deus Ex alongside games such as Mass Effect 2, Skyrim and Shadowrun Returns. You could then use tags to further filter the games you search for, tailored to your tastes.
That’s how it was meant to work.
As of right now? There are quite a few legitimate tags, but the system has predictably created a paradise of vandalism and trolling on Steam. Arguably these tags express how gamers really feel about the game, but they range from the helpful to the sarcastic to the vitriolic. It seems to have been causing dismay for a few developers and may not be the most useful system for players trying to figure out which games to drop into their library. I do admit there is a certain merit to the system, it gives gamers a way to specify games to one another in a sense that retailers and even developers can’t. Certain unique tags such as “Female Protagonist”, “Moddable”, “Metroidvania” or the amusing “Git gud or Die Tryin'” have popped up which could honestly prove useful. This is not always the case, see exhibit A:
Or hey, maybe you do find it useful
This picture is just one example, there are others such as “Bad” “Not a Game” “Praise the Sun!” and “Hats.” The tags really range anything from the offensive to flat out spoilers on a game’s greatest twists.
Simply put right now Steam Tags are completely lawless. It’s more like walking into a bar brawl in the Wild West, there are no moderators, anything goes. There is however a silver lining, the steam tag system has the potential to drive one gamer to a title they wouldn’t have heard of, while netting a sale that the developer wouldn’t have seen. While the surface chaos can be distracting there is a larger give and take to consider here.
This isn’t the first time Valve has tried to introduce a democratic, player base driven system like this. It shows a great amount of trust for the consumer on the company’s part, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if this is how they want things run, though I do have to wonder if Valve intended the current overall result (I doubt it.) It’s difficult to believe things will remain as is, and this is still the beta version, Valve may step in and create restrictions on the system, they have not only the consumer base to keep happy but developers and publishers as well. There’s perhaps some middle ground out there, somewhere.
For now though you get to enjoy your “Nanomachines, son” Tag.
