Valve is giving users a new tool to personalize their list of recommended games. The “Interactive Recommender” uses data on games you have played before and will recommend games that you might have missed due to its massive backlog of games. The machine learns as it slowly filters games you look at with games you ignore to give a focus on what you want to see.
The entire point is to give you a more informed suggestion based on your information and the data gathered by other players on Steam. It runs on the base concept that is other players with similar habits as you play a game that you have not tried, it might be a good recommendation. This might be a good way to dig up a few hidden treasures among the massive collection of games that were overlooked while browsing bigger titles.
This system is not replacing the already existing recommendation method but rather gives an alternative mode of viewing. You can customize the recommendations with tags and sliders browsing only the categories you want to see. You can also move a slider that will allow you to limit it to new releases or old releases and even weigh the results from popular to niche depending on the game’s performance.
The only drawback that users have seen so far is that you can not remove items from the recommended list even if you added them to your wishlist or opted to ignore them on the store page. This will mean that unless you buy these games specifically on Steam to be in your library, you might get less accurate results over time. This also makes the popular result option less useful as it might include games you own on other platforms.
This is all part of a new initiative called Steam Labs where Valve is trying to let users in on experimental features. Steam Labs is featuring two other projects right now which include Micro Trailers and The Automated Show. Micro Trailers will allow you to see a large directory of six-second game trailers and The Automated Show gives users a half-hour video compilation of new Steam game trailers.
There are scattered references to a project codenamed “Organize Your Steam Library Using Morse Code” although no details have been made to what this means. The updates seem like a way for Valve to help fix small errors in their store. Small developers are often frustrated by the lack of indie developers found on their front page, making many of the developers feel that Steam was promoting large games exclusively.
Valve seems willing to update and change its features over time, and many are thinking this is a response to the actions taken by the Epic Games Store. With Valve in a battle to remain relevant only good things are to come for improving interaction with their storefront for users.
