Steam: The end of used video games?
Recently I wrote up a rant about how Valve's latest game Left 4 Dead should have only been released as a multiplayer game since in my opinion the single player aspect was extremely boring and repetitive. As I usually do with games that don't appeal to me, I immediately posted it up on Amazon as used and within twenty-four hours had already sold and shipped it out to the buyer for almost the same price I paid for it. Normally that is where the story would end, but this time around I got fucked royally, and not buy the online transaction, but by Steam.
A few days later the buyer contacted me that he had installed the game but was unable to play it do to a "duplicate cd key" error. He had contacted Valve's Steam support about the issue and they had replied with the following:
We do not reset CD keys from auction sites or in cases in which the game has been resold by another individual.
The buying, selling or trading of Steam accounts/CD keys is a violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
I recommend you return the game and inquire about a refund.
My first thought was literally, WTF. I thought that the buyer was either trying to scam me or that Steam was really fucking confused. After all, I had purchased the DVD version of the game on purpose rather than use the downloadable content, yet as it turns out, the online activation is all the same for either. Following up on what I thought would be a mistake, I decided to contact them myself explaining that I had recently bought and tried the game and was giving it to my brother. Here's what I got in response:
Per the Steam Subscriber Agreement, Steam game subscriptions / CD keys are nontransferable and cannot be reset / moved between Steam accounts.
This has to be a joke, right? To confuse matters even worse they attached a link to their "CD key reset process" which completely contradicts what I was just told. Investigating a bit further I find that, yes, you can have your cd key reset, but ONLY if you receive the duplicate message yourself on the game that you bought yourself and not on someone else's account. So let me get this straight, I have to pay an extra $10 on top of the $50 I just paid in order to reset a key that no one else is supposed to have. Huh? And what is even worse is that they send me this directly below a statement that reads that cd keys "cannot be reset"!
Deciding that it wasn't the poor kids fault that I sold the game to I decided to just refund him the money once he sent it back, but this whole ordeal really left a bad taste in my mouth. I've been a faithful user of Steam for at least four years now and always thought the idea of immediate downloadable content was awesome, but if we have to completely sacrifice purchase freedom we're doomed. When I spent my $50 to try out a game I didn't know much about, I was expecting to be able to sell it if I didn't like it. After all, with the plethora of underdeveloped and broken game turds on the market there is a much larger chance of finding a bad game than a good one. With Steam's online account activation, you are permanently married to your purchase! There is no possibility of selling or even GIVING the damn game away. You're fucked! Say goodbye to your hard earned money and say hello to a game you have absolutely no interest in.
Not only might you be stuck with a game that you don't want, but encouraging single purchase media like this is also encouraging price fixing. One of the great things about used games is the ability to buy shitty games at a cheaper price. People might want to pay $50 on release day for the latest epic FPS, but when the $50 turd shows up people wait until sales fall and pick it up new or used for $25 or less. With Steam's single purchase philosophy they can effectively set the price they want you to pay for it! Even if the game has been out for a year and would normally sell for half it's original price, if you can't pick it up used Valve has you by the balls. They can drop the price $5 and call it a sale when normally you'd force them to bring it down $10 or maybe even $15 off list for a new purchase to compete with the used market. The final coffin nail then comes in the form of increasing game prices for increasing less game quality. Suddenly $60 is the base price, or $70, or $80, because there is no used market. Just look at the latest consoles. Granted they have a used market, but was anyone shocked when console games suddenly jumped from $50 to $60?
Normally I would expect similar bullshit standards and trickery from electronic media, but not from hard copies. This is just totally unacceptable and unfortunately follows the trend of game developers these days. I shouldn't be forced into a game purchase because of gestapo licensing rules, I should be able to see if what you're releasing is actually a quality product first! We constantly hear from game developers how pirating and online distribution is killing game sales to the point where they can't stay above water, yet at the end of the day this is not the way to address it nor is it the problem. Shit games = shit game sales. Myself and most other people I know own the games they really love. You don't hear about amazing games like Fallout 3 and Half-Life 2 having bad sales due to pirating. No. Instead you hear about record sales. On the other hand you do hear about how games riddled with DRM like Spore become the number one pirated game. People pirate because of shitty game play and ridiculous online activation systems, DRM, and key restrictions exactly like Steam's.
Don't believe me, check out this torrentfreak article from back around Spore's release. By implementing these absurdly restrictive use rules, gamers would rather download the game for free than chance being cheated out of their money... and this is only the beginning of full frontal screwage! EA is becoming increasingly more hostile towards the legitimate user community, all while claiming to be protecting us against pirating.
So where does this leave me? Out of $50 and stuck with a game I hate... all in the name of ending game pirating. One thing is for sure, I will not be buying any more Steam games on a whim without thoroughly battle testing them first. If systems like this continue you can say goodbye to the used game market or "try before you buy" rentals. If this seems super restrictive now, wait until you see what will happen when game developers start getting their way. It's only a matter of time before even console games require online activation. Just look at the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 now. Both have constant internet links, as well as updates. Whats to stop them from requiring key activation? Nothing.
Comments
Oh, yet another reason to
Oh, yet another reason to dislike Steam.
"Just look at the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 now. Both have constant internet links, as well as updates. Whats to stop them from requiring key activation? Nothing."
There have been a few articles on Slashdot about just that, how some companies are having exclusive content for first owners, and second owners get less content.
One example of this is Dead
One example of this is Dead Space for the XBOX 360. A great game, but when it first came out, users who bought early recieved a really nice suit which made most other in-game suit useless(e.g. Scorpion Suit)
I just bought my son a game
I just bought my son a game from Steam that does not run well on his PC. After reading this post Steam is off the list of PC Game vendors for me and all my sons.
When digital media can no longer be resold by the owner that is the time when "everyone" should stop buying. However, if someone's buying then they'll keep selling.
I wouldn't mind Steam and
I wouldn't mind Steam and other download schemes if the games were priced right.
If Left 4 Dead were $20... I wouldn't care about reselling it. But they still want the full $50... and you're screwed if you don't like the game.
So I won't be buying any Steam/Valve games again. Other means are now necessary. ;-)
I actually like Steam. When I
I actually like Steam. When I buy a game, I keep it. I have no need to be able to resell my games, so the fact that the games are locked with your account doesn't bother me. I also like being able to download and install the games on any computer I'm on. without the need for the original disc. My favorite part about Steam is the week-end and holiday deal specials. Thanks to an after-Christmas special, I was able to buy Bioshock and Portal for $5 apiece.
I don't like Steam
I don't like Steam disalowwing resell or give away games. But if you wanna play some Valve's game like Counter Strike you can simply download and install non-steam patch to the game.
What bullshit...I can't
What bullshit...I can't believe steam wouldn't allow you to reset the CD key. I also that you could bypass the system through buying a hard copy...but i guess they've changed that. I've never heard of this problem before. Well, shitty luck my friend...my advice to you is download a demo of the game before you buy it (or watch game play videos).
--
Frank
Car accident lawyer
This is complete bullshit. I
This is complete bullshit. I boughta hard copy of Portal a while back, and that was before my computer broke. I never got a chance to use it. I was sort of desperate to try it out, so I went over to my friend's house and installed it. Big mistake. Now he owns the game and I don't. Thanks alote valve. You cheated me out of $20 already. Do they honestly think that I'm just going to head back to the store and buy another copy of the same game so I can play it on my computer once I get it, or even another computer in the house while I wait? Steam sucks, end of story. Looks like I'm just going to have to turn to bittorrent again.
Let's just hope that after all this time, they eventually learn their lesson. They already did with music, as we've seen, but just how long will it take for them to take the DRM out of games?
Here is some food for
Here is some food for thought... would there be any way to register your game under a Steam Account... And THEN sell the Steam User account and Password to the highest bidder to have access to the games and material you no longer want? Basically make an account that you want to keep and only buy the games you know you'll keep. Then create another dumby account that you would just sell the login info in order to sell the games your unsure about? Eh..
Sure, it sucks that you can't
Sure, it sucks that you can't resell games that you buy on Steam, but this isn't anything new. If you actually read the EULAs on the games you buy, you'll notice that most of them say something along the lines of "_____ grants you the non-transferable right to install and use the product..." which means that, Steam or not, what you wanted to do was illegal. By agreeing to an EULA that has a non-transferable clause in it, you give up your right to resell that game. The only way to legally resell a game is to do so before you've agreed to the EULA (before you've installed it), which sucks, but it's not the game company's fault that nobody reads the EULA. Likewise, it's your fault that you didn't read the EULA for Steam when you signed up. Nobody did anything wrong here except you :P
another comment by a Steam
another comment by a Steam employee. Or EA Games.
Well as for me i will no longer purchase games that use steam. I promise this.
End of story!!!!
I said end of story!!
Steam constantly bombard me with advertising crap! Of new games crap.
System hog.
Cant play unless conected to a interenet.
go srcew yaselves. U bastards i was just listing my game on ebay and now i read this!! Goodbye 50$
I have run into this same
I have run into this same problem and I THINK I may have a solution. From now on when I buy a steam game I actually create a NEW fake steam account for each new game I buy and write down the user name and password and put that with the game. Then when I goto sell it I simply include the steam account name and password. now Steam will have many extra fucked up accounts. IF this is how they want to play, fine, I'll play!
Dude, I hear your frustration
Dude, I hear your frustration but why not check out a game rental service? Everyone has heard of Gamefly, but Gamemine is a pretty excellent service - below is a link to a review:
Dave
Gamemine Mail Order Video Game Rental Review
This is a scary trend. We
This is a scary trend. We don't own the games we buy anymore. Steam owns them and lets us run them(only by connecting to its service). I would think this would violate some consumer laws somewhere. While the lending and giving aspect is bad enough, what happens if steam ever goes down. All your purchases are gone.
The real problem with this
The real problem with this kind of mindset, whether your talking about steam style or just the regular EULA crap, is that it is in direct violation of the first sale doctrine, which is a law.
The other stupid thing is, it's a proven fact that having a good second hand market makes for a healthy first hand market. By killing second hand sales, they're killing their own first hand sales as well. I'm not nearly as ready to fork over my money if I know they prevent me from selling it again if I don't like it.
Thankfully the matter of EULA's supposedly making it illegal to sell used games is still considered bogus in most courts, so you can legally sell a used game on ebay without a care to what the idiots who wrote the EULA think about it.
I just found out the hard way
I just found out the hard way about steam. I bought HL 2 the big deluxe issue game a few years ago. Tried to run it but it would not run well on my old computer. So last week I find the game in my old CD, DVD storage box reload it but guess what, I load it up create a new steam account but know it want take my game because I forgot I made a steam account years ago so I never will get to play a game i payed for.
On Steam I buy only games
On Steam I buy only games witch I'm sure I will keep Orange Box (TF 2 mainly) and CS. I use stem to play demos too, because it is easy.
This is fucking bullshit, I
This is fucking bullshit, I just bought 3 used games and because they are related to steam, they were invalid... I have a solution for that if they think they are cool and funny, and simply money hungry. My solution was going to my local frys, opening each new game that I bought used and taking the instruction manual and simply entering that product key code into my steam account and woolah!!! a free game and if I am caught I just say I wanteed the manual, who would take you to court for that unless they actually knew what you were doing, pass this on because I did it for fear2, half life 2 episode 1 and 2, etc. so I dont really need to buy games anymore just get instruction manuals to get the game free electronically!!!
I just went and bought star
I just went and bought star trek D.A.C. First I pay for this Steam software crap unknowingly. I believed I was paying for an actual game. No where on the package did it say it was a bridge of software to an online game market! Wasn't only, till i installed it and ran the software did i find out I am supposed to now purchase the game! This is my first experience with them and I did read terms and conditions. Basically, telling me that I have no rights to a refund, they are allowed to change the terms and conditions at any time and they are not held liable for any computer crashes, file damage, or any other pc damage that their online games may cause! I have not paid for any new games yet online, and I will be returning this piece of shit software for my money back. They are definitely not the kind of people i want to do business with. Thanks to everyone and their posts and to who ever made this site possible.
I purchased Empire: Total war
I purchased Empire: Total war & because my brother in-law used my pc to play one of the games he has until his pc was fixed & i installed Empire: total war & completely forgetting about who was signed into the steam account, the game key became bound to his steam account. After explaining this simple mistake & providing all the images to prove i own the game, they refuse to release the key so i can link it to my steam account.
Because of this, i own a fairly expensive game i legally purchased that i cant play because of a DRM measure in the form of a 3rd party installer being bullies & trying to make me spend more money to play a game i rightfully own to play in the first place, forced me to illegally download a cracked version of this game thats been fully edited to cut out the need for steam & if i have a valid cd key, to use a key changer to insert this & then use GameSpy to play the game over Multiplayer.
Good job steam!!
Well in all fairness that DVD
Well in all fairness that DVD box set you buy is worth pretty much nothing compared to the game itself which took 1000's of hours of people's time to make. They should be fairly compensated for each time that the game is played by a different person.
This happened to me with Metro2033, which isn't even a valve game in any form but it's activated through steam so the same rules apply. Next time I buy a game that has steam written on it anywhere, I'll make sure to take into account the fact that whatever I pay for it up front is how much the gaming experience will cost me. For some games this will be worth it and some I will wait until several price drops kick in.
Valve should make it abundantly clear on the game box that you will not be able to resell the game once you've installed it.
Furniture is hard to make
Furniture is hard to make too. Furniture makers should be properly compensated for the time and effort they put into the furniture they make. But I don't have to call the furniture company each and every time I want to sit down. Nor do I have to worry about guests in my house not being able to sit in it.
STEAM is an indefensible scam. It's a means of denying ownership of a product to consumers, instead retaining ownership in the hands of a third party. The worst part is the sneeky way it's done - purchasers, unless they research a game product online, have no way of knowing that it does or doesn't require a STEAM license to run.
I hope some greedy lawyer figures out how crooked this is and launches a class action suit against STEAM. And I hope he makes a ridiculous amount of money in the settlement. Until then, I'll be very, very careful before making any game purchases from now on.
I just found out the hard way
I just found out the hard way also. Sold the game not knowing that I couldn't transfer the game to someone else. No one should even have to think about whether they can sell something that they've bought and paid for!!!
This is totally screwed up and I'll NEVER purchase another STEAM game again!! They should be totally banned as is the same with ANY company that bans the sale of a game you've purchased from them!
Boy, i'd love to put the screws to them big time!!
Wow I tried to load a steam
Wow I tried to load a steam game on my computer and it wouldn't work because I didn't have a good enough graphics card. I sold the game on E-bay, but when the guy I sold it to got the game, he complained that I sold him an invalid CD key and said that I had ripped him off and demanded a refund. Now I have to go through the procedures of refunding him and I'm stuck with a game I can't even play. I'm not going to buy a new graphics card just so I can play this one game and now I can't even get rid of it.
Now I know to avoid steam games in the future.
This has cost me $50 and hours of my time.
What a pain in the ass.
Has anyone ever heard of game
Has anyone ever heard of game demos? If you're not sure about a game download and install the demo first. NEVER buy a game without first downloading and installing the demo 1st to see, if not for anything else, that it actually WORKS on your system. If it doesn't have a demo, look for a reliable review on the game in question.
It's only common sense, if you don't have it, I'm really sorry for you.
I had to write after reading
I had to write after reading the post above mine about demos.
A**hole, you miss the point. If I buy a u2 OR Madonna album and I nolonger want it, then I can sell it!! If I buy any other pices of software and i no longer want it, I sell it!! I cannot believ no one has taken this racket firm to court. If they rented the game to you for $2 and it had an expiry date, everyone would understand that you paid $2 and not $50 like everyone else. However in this case peole paid the same price as retail and some even purcased physical media like a cd or dvd and they don"t actually own it?!?!? Thsi has to be stopped. What next you buy a movie at a yard sale and it doesn't play?!! I'd be willing to help and participate in a class action lawsuit. If you bought it is yours and you can do with it as you please. It should have some resale value. There are so many ways to approach this legally.
The games industry is a
The games industry is a ridiculous joke. If people can't sell the stuff they "own", they've less money to buy new stuff. Everyone loses including the games industry.
Ok, I've used Steam for a
Ok, I've used Steam for a while.
I sacrifice the right to sell a game so that I don't have to worry about losing the disk or the key. Steam represents a level of security (btw if Steam servers go down, all your games still work in offline mode) in that respect.
All the people who installed it on the wrong account, well, hard luck. Pay attention next time.
The other people who just "found out the hard way" I'm just not sure about. I'm not sure if they are ignorant, stupid, or just genuinely didn't know that that's how Steam works.
The last thing is re-iterated above, but with most games having demos, or betas, or free-play weekends on Steam, and you still just buy it without trying, then shame on you for being a consumer bitch and just gobbling up what they throw at you.
no, no, shame on you. That is
no, no, shame on you. That is not the point. The point is I would buy the game. Play it. Like it. Then at some point, I am done, I'm bored, Has no more Replay value, need to sell it for some cash, drugs, grandma has hospital bills, garage sale. whatever.
What Steam does is an attempt to circumvent your consumer rights. by supporting it, you are just making it acceptable that things like, first sale doctrine, contract of sale, etc voidable, and are allowing what amounts to big business to fuck you in the ass.
these copy protection laws are there to protect YOU from being taken advantage of.
I could care less about selling the games myself, it is a matter of principle and my rights being circumvented.
I wish that I had found this
I wish that I had found this page prior to going out and buying a second hand copy of COD MW2... I hit Activision support up about the lack of a disclaimer, warning or any type of notification to me, as the consumer, that upon purchasing this game I would be unable to use it and am now trying to chase the seller up for a refund...
They don't give 2 sh*ts about it either as no one at Activision Support or Steam / Valve support wanted to provide me with any information that explains where I would have learnt about this prior to purchasing a used game? the fact that the games packaging does not disclose this information is against the duty to disclose advertising laws:
_ _ _ _ _ _
"Failure to Disclose
It is considered false advertising under the Lanham Act if a representation is "untrue as a result of the failure to disclose a material fact." Therefore, false advertising can come from both misstatements and partially correct statements that are misleading because they do not disclose something the consumer should know. The Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.A. § 1051 et seq.), which added several amendments to the Lanham Act, left the creation of the line between sufficient and insufficient disclosure to the discretion of the courts."
_ _ _ _ _ _
There is no evidence at all that they are making an effort to inform the consumer that once they purchase the game on Steam, that they are bound to it... For those of you that are saying 'Hard Luck' can you please explain where someone such as yourselves is supposed to find the information that states "Your game Serial Number is bound to your STEAM ID, once registered and cannot be unbound after doing so, it is there indefinitely, preventing resale of said game." or what about a disclaimer on the video game box that says this so that you at least are informed prior to purchase? How is someone supposed to learn this unless they go through this utterly frustrating experience?
Someone goes through the class action lawsuit count me in.
you are stupid and obviously
you are stupid and obviously dont understand how steam works. it is actually a great game vendor, one i trust and love. you cant resell a steam game, its copyrighted stuff anyway, it would be like buying a music cd, then burning multiple copies and selling them, its illegal.
Well, I think the whole point
Well, I think the whole point of this entire thread is that Steam catches people off-guard because it turns on its head the traditional idea of ownership. Steam is a system where you pay for the right to play the game, not a copy of the game. This becomes confusing when you go to a store, say Walmart, and buy a physical disc that is on a shelf next to a vacuum cleaner. What isn't apparent to people is that the disc is not a copy of the game, its a key to allow you to play the game.
I find the Steam model underhanded and I'm quite uncomfortable with it. I have used it (because many studios release their games only via Steam), but I prefer not to use it.
Not being able to sell-on, or transfer games licenses to another Steam account should not be a legal model. I can't really blame Valve for this, since its a smart business move. I blame the politicians who set the law up this ridiculous way.
Look at all the corporate
Look at all the corporate bitches make excuses.
You people would find a good reason for your vote being taken away - better to justify our pathetic consumer society than try to change it right? Easier on the mind and all that.
I do understand the motivation to rationalise it all away - but it still makes you weak individuals who are easily abused.
VALVE is trying to do for PC
VALVE is trying to do for PC gaming what cable TV did for free TV - monopolize legacy content, charge fees based on time increments rather than one-shot ownership purchases, and generally move control of content out of the hands of consumers and into the hands of a single corporate entity.
I don't want STEAM. It's not because I'm stupid - frankly, quite the opposite. I'm bright enough to know what's down the line for this bait-and-switch scam. I've seen it unfold before.
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