How does one decide which
game to play when one settles
down for a quiet evening
enveloped by the warm glow
of a PC screen? You could try
something new, or default
to the same handful of titles
you know and love. You could
create a list of games you want
to play, then work through
it in order. If you’re nuts, youcould create a detailed 289-
row Google Sheets database
assigning various weighted
scores to games in order to
figure out the optimal playing
order. (It’s me, I’m nuts.)
Valve’s been figuring out
the best way to get players to
buy something new on Steam,
rather than playing a free-
to-play battle royale for the273,054th time. This is Steam
Labs. From personalized
search functionality to AI-
generated six-second trailers,
it’s been a wild ride.
Valve’s Community
Recommendations is a new
feature where an automated
system pulls popular user
reviews for games and slaps
them on Steam’s homepage.Unfortunately, this is flawed;
popular reviews aren’t always
positive, nor are they that
child-friendly. A skim through
some revealed swearing and
crude jokes galore, along with
a number of simply damning
reviews. Valve claimed it
sought to foster Steam’s
knowledgeable community, but
this isn’t what it had in mind.INDUSTRY INSIDER
LAST YEAR, for my 28th birthday, I decided
to spend it in Norway. It was a big plus for
me because I don’t like being the center of
attention, especially around that day, and
I’m quite an introvert too, so getting away
from everything was perfect.
In October, myself, my fiancée, and two
of my friends flew to Bergen, and then
drove from there to a quiet little town called
Stranda in Møre og Romsdal. Honestly, it
was the most relaxing experience of my
entire life. We didn’t really do much, but
nonetheless the country had quite the
effect on myself and my future wife.
To that end, we’ve both decided to move
there one day, and make it our (forgive
me, I hate this phrase) “forever home.”
At least, we will when the time is right
for us to start a family. Whether it’s the
language, the food, or the culture, it alljust meshes with us both really well, and I
have family roots there too. I know it’s not
an easy thing to do, I’m no stranger to the
difficulties involved in moving to another
country, but it’s something we both want.
This is years and years away for sure,
I’m not about to leave Maximum PC any
time soon. However, if I do want to do this,
there’s a ton of work that needs to be done
to get myself ready for that moment. The
older I’m getting, though, the more I’m
beginning to realize that I just don’t have
the same amount of free time as I used to.
I can’t pour hours and hours into gaming
like I do today.
To that end, I’m going to relegate it to
one night a week, just so I can be more
productive. After all, I’ve got a magazine
brand to bring back into the digital world,
a relationship with future Mrs Storey tomaintain, a language to learn, and I even
want to start collecting Warhammer
miniatures again (don’t ask). Don’t get me
wrong, I’m still going to be building PCs
like a maniac, but if I really want this, I have
to make that commitment.Letting go of gaming
Not Enough Time
ZAK STOREY, EDITOR©^
GETTY^ IMAGESNorway’s one of the most beautiful
countries I’ve ever seen.78 MAXIMUMPC SEP 2020 maximumpc.com
in the lab