Lots of people who make reviews of Steam games that are either too positive or too negative have complained about the influx of users who raid the review and begin flaming, arguing, debating, and trolling the reviewer for their content. Many users have asked for the option to disable comments on user reviews, and in a strange twist of fate Valve has obliged those gamers and their request.

PCGamesN is reporting that the change to user reviews seems to have been implemented with the recent privacy policy update in light of the GDPR compliance protocols set to take place on May 25th.

PCGamesN explains…

“When a review for a game is left on Steam there is always an option box below it, where users can change language, review visibility and so forth. Now there is a new option: a small checkbox labeled ‘Allow Comments’. This is unchecked by default, which means that unless reviewers opt-in, all comments will be disabled.”

So now there will be far less comments on user reviews by default, unless gamers decide to check the box and allow people to comment on their reviews.

This sort of change has had wide-ranging effects on the discussion about privacy and freedom of speech. Some people believe that disabling comments by default will limit users from calling out positive shill posts, or alternatively, limit users from calling out negative troll posts. Others feel this will benefit the review section, as there will be less arguments and fewer attempts to troll, forcing people to make their own reviews instead of debating on others’ reviews.

This change has obviously been less impactful on the industry than Valve’s decision to make everyone’s profile data hidden by default. The change literally crippled Steam Spy, which was one of the only ways to measure sales data for games and gauge whether or not SJW agitprop was selling or not (in most cases SJW games did not sell well at all). With Valve capping Steam Spy’s data acquisition in the knee, it meant that now publishers and corrupt journalists are the only means of gaining and distributing sales data.

As for comments on user reviews, I doubt most people will miss them all that much.