A new study reveals that bugs in games, so-called, do not bother most players. In cases of poor game design, however, it is quite a different story. This was found in a study after evaluating more than 10 million reviews on Steam.
Players rarely mind small game bugs, but poor game design is often brought up and drives players crazy – at least that is what a new study claims. Queen’s University in Canada reviewed numerous Steam reviews and created assessments. According to this, developers can derive more value from negative reviews than from positive ones.
Bugs also appear in “positive” reviews on Steam
What was discovered? In negative reviews on Steam, game bugs are mentioned in only 17% of all cases. In 57% of the reviews, however, complaints are made about poor game design. Furthermore, 42% of all mentions of bugs are found in positive reviews, suggesting that game bugs do not necessarily lead to a negative rating.
Sometimes players do get upset about bugs:
Negative reviews on Steam contain more useful information than positive ones
How was this result determined? In March 2016, the researchers looked at a sample of over 10 million reviews from more than 6000 games on Steam and evaluated them.
In general, the study concludes that developers could derive more benefit from negative reviews. They contained fewer descriptions classified as “not helpful”, but instead provided qualified feedback and more indications of existing bugs.
Criticism comes faster than praise
Also interesting is that the researchers found that negative reviews are typically created significantly earlier than positive ones. Negative reviews are generally written within an average of 7 hours, while positive reviews take up to 13 hours to appear. An exception to this is Free2Play titles, which often receive reviews after only one hour of gameplay.
What about you? Do small bugs not bother you, and is game design your main concern? Or do even the smallest errors drive you to frustration?
