Greenlight’s had something of a spam problem since it was launched last week. In a matter of hours the page was flooded with joke submissions, scam submissions, and things that looked like joke submissions but sadly weren’t. Projects with years of heart and dedication behind them were quickly drowned out by flash games, meme garbage and fifty 2D Slenderman games made in RPG Maker. Something had to be done to filter submissions a bit.
I proposed having a moderation team look through the submissions before they would be allowed to go up, manually checking for copyright infringement, obscenity and so on before approving each project. It turns out Valve had something a bit simpler and a lot less tedious in mind. In response to the rampant spam, they’ve instituted a one time fee of $100 to grant Greenlight submission privileges to your Steam account. All proceeds, minus taxes, will go directly to Child’s Play, a charity that donates toys and video games to hospitals.
Founded by the Penny Arcade guys, Child’s Play has raised over $12 million in its nine years of operation.
I see nothing wrong with this. A $100 fee should eliminate almost all of the spam outright. Microsoft and Apple charge similar amounts (as a yearly license) to develop for their app stores, without the whole charity angle. There will be a lot fewer submissions now than if Greenlight was completely open, but those that remain will hopefully adhere to some level of quality if the developers were willing to throw down the entrance fee. No more projects that consist of nothing but concept art, no more student projects with Microsoft Paint graphics, no more submitting hentai games for the lulz.
Even if your project is completely legit but you find yourself unable to make the required donation, there are ways to make it happen. In the age of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the like, worthwhile projects have a much better chance to gain attention and financial support. What’s more, members of the indie community are already offering to help those with good projects but empty pockets. With this measure in place to weed out the spam, Steam Greenlight just might be worth paying attention to after all.
We’ve seen the worst, now get ready for the best. A top ten of the best projects currently up on Greenlight is coming up soon, and you can expect regular coverage of cool games that pop up on there as they’re posted.
A good move, not only the 100$ fee but also giving it away to a charity.
This should really filter out the crap. Talking about Greenlight, how many thumbs up does a game need to get accepted?
I’ve read that they’ve yet to decide on a solid number, yet. They’re looking at the responses they get and will be adjusting the number of votes needed to where they see fit.
That’s a surprisingly good idea IMO.
Thank good, no more games that belong on Newgrounds/Ipod or that look like they were made in MS paint. :)
Yeah I like this idea, 100$ isn’t really a big deal even for an indie developer, but regular people wouldn’t waste money just to put up poop.
This is REALLY, REALLY cool. I work at Whole Foods and when someone doesn’t want a bag or uses their own we’ll give them $.10 off their bill OR they can give it to a charity. We change these every six months and every time there’s one for nature (forests, trees, parks, etc) one for water related things (rivers, fish, oceans) and one for children or teens. I’m trying to get Child’s Play to be that third one for a six month spell.
So now only the rich will be able to spam greenlight with terrible flash games “retro” plat-formers.
Looks like Valve can’t help but let thier true colours shine through.
0/10 apply yourself.
Why don’t they require donation to a real charity?
They’re all scams anyway, bro.