Fake Games

[clyde]

So have y'all heard about the fake game problem?

This guy who uses a bunch of fascist imagery will explain it to you.

 

 

I really kinda want to play it, but I am having a hard time finding Air Control. It appears that the game's rarity has now turned it into a currency? I don't really want  to buy it on a gray market for an inflated price. Anyone know where I can get a copy in a legitimate manner? All I can find is a game-jam (that didn't seem to take off) that was inspired by it.

[Ben X]

Is there anywhere I can learn about the fake game problem without having to watch Jimquisition for more than three seconds?

[clyde]

5 hours ago, Ben X said:

Is there anywhere I can learn about the fake game problem without having to watch Jimquisition for more than three seconds?

 

He mentions that Valve also invited TotalBiscuit for consultation. TB has made a longer video about it that I haven't watched.

[Ben X]

Ouch. Is there a non-gross source I can learn about this from?

[Zeusthecat]

I've never actually watched a Jimquisition video prior to clicking that video above and I have to say, that guy is somehow so much worse than he looks from his video thumbnails. His "style", if you can call it that, is so far past terrible I don't have words for how bad it makes the insides of my body feel. Is he going for like "serial killer nazi pimp" with that incredibly stupid outfit?

[Beasteh]

Fake Games, according to Valve, are what the rest of us call "asset flips" with a side order of shovelware.

 

Unfortunately, Jim Sterling is one of the few people who's been bothered enough about the issue to speak up.  He ended up facing a frivolous lawsuit from one of these asset flipping companies last year. I did find a less abrasive source talking about the issue, but the video in the OP also talks about the solutions Valve are proposing. The Verge has an article discussing Valve's plan.

 

Valve's solution is typical Valve (and Silicon Valley for that matter) - get the users to sort it out. I'd be worried that the "Explorers" program would quickly become stuffed with shills for the asset flippers. Combined with free keys for favourable reviews, we'll just see these games make their way onto the store anyhow.

 

I find myself wondering how Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo ensure basic minimum standards, then I remember Life of Black Tiger is on PS4. So there's really no escape.

[jennegatron]

I like Jim Sterling.

[Twig]

Jim Sterling has an obnoxious style, but TotalBiscuit is a racist shitbag, so Jim Sterling wins out.

 

Anyway yeah like Beasteh says, "fake games" are just shitty things made in the cheapest way possible in order to make a quick buck from people who don't know better. They probably don't meet success very often, but they overcrowd stores without actual quality control and make it harder to find good stuff.

 

It's worth noting that Steam's discovery queue, for all that people seem to hate it, has helped a significant number of smaller devs making legitimate games actually find a bigger audience. I dunno about this explorer thing, and I sincerely wish Valve would just fucking hire people to do this for them, but their "solutions" do tend to improve things for the devs more often than not. Even if by just fucking hiring somebody they could improve it way way way way way more.

[clyde]

I feel like I missed out on all these "asset-flipping" games. How can I play them, they sound pretty interesting in concept. The footage for Air Control looks especially surreal. I don't appreciate gamers telling me what I should and shouldn't have access to on a store they have associated their personal identities with.

[Vainamoinen]

What Beasteh, jennegatron and Twig said.

[Twig]

They're all over steam. They're not interesting. They're offensive and exploitative. This isn't about my personal identity. This is about people doing shitty things to take advantage of ignorant people.

[clyde]

Since they are all over Steam, I should be able to find them with ease. If you can't give me Air Control, the link me to some others. This seems like a fake problem. Who has been exploited?

[TychoCelchuuu]

I haven't watched the video or anything but I assume it's stuff like this:

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/594160/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/448060/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/382080

http://store.steampowered.com/app/365460

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242800

http://store.steampowered.com/app/302240

http://store.steampowered.com/app/372740

http://store.steampowered.com/app/310870

[clyde]

1 hour ago, TychoCelchuuu said:

I haven't watched the video or anything but I assume it's stuff like this:

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/594160/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/448060/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/382080

http://store.steampowered.com/app/365460

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242800

http://store.steampowered.com/app/302240

http://store.steampowered.com/app/372740

http://store.steampowered.com/app/310870

Thank you. I'll check some of these non-horror ones out.

 

Ok. So Action Alien is cheap and looks cool. Would all of you agree that this is one of the fake games that is ruining your Steam experience? I kinda want to make sure that I am buying a fake game because I don't have loads of disposable income.

[Ben X]

So, judging from that Verge articles, Sterling and TB are acting as Valve mouthpieces on this one rather than these being independent reports/comments on an existing phenomenon. Valve created the term (which I don't particularly like - has tones of gg to it) and introduced their solution all in one. Strange that they did so purely via two YouTubers rather than a press release - perhaps they feel they'll garner more community support this way?

 

Interesting to hear about asset-flipping, though, I wasn't really aware of it.

[Cordeos]

It's super rampant on iOS/Android/windows app stores. That hilarious firewatch for iOS game is a perfect example

[Ben X]

Oh man, I hadn't got round to watching that yet! Okay, that legitimately earns the title "fake game" but it doesn't seem to be what Valve are talking about...

[Twig]

Those are not examples... Those are games with actual effort put into them. They're probably shit - they look shit - but anyone begrudging their existence is just being a baby.

 

I'm not going to go hunt down examples because, to be frank, I can't be bothered, I just don't care enough, but one example that always stuck with me is that one time I saw a thing on green light called "rock simulator". It literally had a rock in an empty field and you could look at it. That's it.

 

This didn't make it on steam (I'm pretty sure??). But I've seen shit that is only marginally more interactive make it to the store. I suspect they get removed over time, considering valve is aware of the problem, but given how easy it is to get through green light, they just keep showing up.

[clyde]

I still don't understand how this creates a problem for you. Is the problem that you don't want to see non-interactive stuff when you are browsing Greenlight submissions? I mean, what is the section of the store that people are browsing where fake games are creating too much noise? I never see them.

[Twig]

Okay.

 

I don't think I have any answers that will satisfy you. If you don't believe it's a problem, oh well. Have fun with the games you like. I'll continue avoiding using the store.

[clyde]

Someone found one for me. It's on sale even! Looking forward to play it when I get home. I hope the haters don't get it removed first.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/474790/

[TychoCelchuuu]

If "fake game" just means "marginally interactive," then here are some examples:

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/375950/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/313340/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/426420/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/219680/

 

That presumably can't be right, though, both for reasons obvious from my examples and from the fact that Air Control is the paradigmatic example, but that seems pretty interactive, right? The Verge article describes fake games as "derivative, broken, and poorly made titles churned out by potentially unscrupulous developers looking for quick cash." Again, I haven't watched either video, but I thought those were the games we were talking about, not just things with minimal interaction. The example I had first and foremost in my mind is long gone from Steam, I think, but I recall that it was literally a "demo game" thing for a game creation software package that someone sold as their own game. Like, they bought the game creation package, compiled the demo game that is there to show you how the game works, and sold it on Steam. I don't really give a shit if this stuff's on Steam because who cares, but apparently it annoys people like Twig enough to keep them off Steam entirely, and Sterling and Biscuit must also have issues because they've made videos about the thing, so there you go.

 

I did find a link about Rock Simulator in case that helps clear things up.

[TychoCelchuuu]

Looks like the person who made @clyde's game also has another game. These look pretty crummy! A review of it is similar to the story I talked about above of the repackaged example game.

[Beasteh]

I'm pretty sure The Last Patient was a ripoff of the Unity "Horror Hospital" resource pack - it was mentioned in the video I linked upthread. Also mentioned was Uncrowded, which is pretty much a straight lift from the UnitZ Unity resource pack. As Tycho said, the developer basically compiled the demo code and sold it.

 

Digital Homicide, a developer who is notorious for making games cobbled together from asset packs, churns out dozens of games in a year. For an idea of what a game developed in a few weeks looks like, see this let's play of Galactic Hitman. All the art assets are purchased, there's little to no QA (how can there be if the game was made by two people in a few weeks?), and the game is just unfinished.

 

The Jim Sterling video has footage from Chariot Wars (let's play), which is 23 Euros. Yes, €23.

 

The problem with these is that they hide behind the "early access" defence. It's easy to say that they're using placeholder assets. Of course, there's no intention of ever finishing the game, and it's effectively the final product. It's bad enough that the game's a cynical cash-grab, but it's making things worse for all of us. The steam store is full of garbage, and there's no way to work out if you're buying a "fake" game or not.

 

Sure, you can get refunds, but you'll never get the time you wasted back. Makes me nervous about taking the plunge on a title I've never heard of. Developers with honest intentions suffer becuase they don't get noticed in the sea of crap.

 

Kotaku lays the blame firmly at the feet of Valve. This is definitely Valves issue to fix - it shouldn't be a viable proposition to churn out bad games. Reviews are no good (they're mostly fake, stupid, or both) and the curation is pathetic. The Explorers program doesn't seem like the answer to me.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I guess I'm not really seeing the issue. I'll never get back the time I spend doing anything, including playing shitty video games. But it's not Valve's job to keep from selling me wastes of time any more than the movie theater has to keep me from buying a ticket to Suicide Squad (good lord I'll never get back the time I spent watching that fucking movie) or the grocery store needs to keep me from spending money on food I won't like or the bookstore has to stop me from spending money on a stupid book. Or am I missing something? I mean frankly Valve seems to be doing about as good of a job as you can, since I can just immediately get my money back once it's clear the game sucks, or I can watch a Let's Play because there are fourteen million of those for every game, or I can read the user reviews which are 99% "thumbs down, this game sucks" or whatever.