According to some programs in Gnome, the version number is
"bumped up," even though there were no changes.

This ideology seems odd to me.    

Example the Gnome game, "Hitori."


And while I have your attention,

I still have not figured out
the game-launcher "Athenaeum."     I can't get any of the
games installed with that to update.     Is there a separate
updater inside the game-launcher ?     Maybe they are up
to date, but Gnome Software does not think so.     Try
Hitori for example, since it is so tiny, and you might be
able to verify my issue.     I have not yet check in terminal
to see if the version number matches what Gnome Software
is claiming.

David Locklear