Steam users held hostage

[Shadowcat]

Steam has always had the power to take away the games you bought from them. You knew that from the beginning (even if you ignored it), so complaining about it only now seems a little pointless.

If you don't like it, don't use it. Or just refuse to spend more money with them than you're willing to lose (which is pretty much my approach).

[redrain85]

In reference to the section vH is bitching about (which, I admit, also disturbs me somewhat), there's a notice in the agreement stating:

SECTION 12 CONTAINS A BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. PLEASE READ IT. IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES, SOME OR ALL OF SECTION 12 MIGHT NOT APPLY TO YOU.

So, if you live outside the U.S., you likely won't have to go through arbitration and will be able to take advantage of local laws to resolve disputes.

@catbarf: Aside from the fact that Steam can lock you out of all your software while a dispute is in process, which is wrong IMHO, I believe that most people feel arbitration is not an entirely fair process and tends to favor the company rather than the individual, more often than not.

[catbarf]

@catbarf: Aside from the fact that Steam can lock you out of all your software while a dispute is in process, which is wrong IMHO, I believe that most people feel arbitration is not an entirely fair process and tends to favor the company rather than the individual, more often than not.

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Still, what would you have done previously if you had a problem with Valve? Arbitration may not be the best solution but I don't see what other recourse there is/was, short of a class action lawsuit.

[redrain85]

I guess small claims court would be your only other option, particularly if you live in the U.S.


@Shadowcat: The only problem with "if you don't like it, don't use it" is that more and more titles are coming with Steamworks now. Even if you buy retail, or at another digital distributor. You're being tied down to Steam, regardless.

Like, take Dishonored for example. It's coming with Steamworks. So that would mean taking a pass on the game. I wonder how many people are going to go through the tough decision of whether they are willing to skip Dishonored and not support Arkane, because of their dislike for Steam.


Myself, personally, I'm not up in arms because of this change. As long as one's Steam account is in good standing, there shouldn't be any problem. But I can see why people might be upset. If your account gets hacked, then the fun begins.

[dethtoll]

So don't fucking give your password out to phishers.

(Just FYI don't join the Deus Ex Steam community for this reason)

[Yakoob]

I agreed to the EULA since if I did not I would've forfeited access to all games on my account but its not like I will ever buy/subscribe to another game/app/movie/music/greeting card from them now or in the future.

Steam/Valve seems to be one very long video game rental, terribly overpriced rental fee at that.

While I agree them treating you as a mere "subscriber" is shite, I would not lose sleep over it. If Valve decides to unreasonably withdraw a certain game from the userbase without offering a refund, knowing the internet, it would result in a massive clusterfuck and nerdraging that would not go unnoticed. I don't think Valve would even attempt to try such a stunt.

Maybe I'm missing it, but can someone explain to me what's bad about the new agreement?

The issue with the agreement has been explained above. What strikes me, tho, is the fact that if you "disable" your account for whatever reason you will never be able to re-active it and re-gain your games at a later time, which sounds not only unreasonable, but wholly unnecessary.

So don't fucking give your password out to phishers.

Really dethy, stolen accounts aren't aaalways 100% user's fault :/

[dethtoll]

Oh no? The most common ways for your Steam account to get hacked are:

Giving your deets to a suspicious-looking website
Giving your deets to a "Steam representative" (there's a reason every Steam IM window says never give your password to anyone)
Downloading suspicious-looking software that for example claims to unlock every game on Steam for you.

Do any of these and you're an idiot. Sure, the Steam server got briefly hacked last year but Valve were upfront about it which is very important. So, if not 100% of the time, 99%.

[Yakoob]

Oh no? The most common ways for your Steam account to get hacked are:

stolen accounts aren't aaalways 100% user's fault :/

So basically you agree with me?