The suspense is killing me!

I just wish they hired a composer!

Programming is a use it or lose it skill. Eventually the programming skills of these LLM output reviewers will atrophy to the point where they are no longer qualified to review LLM output. Not to worry, I’m sure big-tech will have a shiny new LLM output review automation for rent soon.

I'm pretty sure they can afford it. But I'd be happy for the tag system to continue being meaningless if they would just hoist genre out into a separate system curated only by Valve.

Yes, they can afford to ensure the quality of their systems.

The tag system has been so badly abused that you can’t do this without collateral damage though. It’s not fit for purpose. I have mixed feelings about Valve curating games… but I think they should absolutely curate the tags.

I think you are assuming that the vendor must be the one doing the lock-in. Not all developers have the skills/budget to decouple from Steamworks. This is just a reality of software development. It's not Valve's fault and it's not "nefarious". The same problem applies to Tantrum Tim's cloud services... doesn't matter how loud he shouts "bbbut it's free*".

Remove them!

Seems to me that Steam is embracing it rather than working on it. None of their discovery tools will ever be effective as long as they are built on the hopelessly flawed tag system.

They’ll just put aircon in their bunkers.

Preaching to the choir… I’ve always been an album listener. Playlists (and the associated loudness war) are a crime!

And I can relate… I’ve only managed to find 2 of my 50 or so CD collection. I know most of them are long gone but I could’ve sworn I’d kept more than 2!