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Accounts that have spent less than $5 on Steam now have limited access
- Thread starter Sendou
- Start date
This is a really good idea and I think Valve was fair with what they limited. The features being limited were being abused or could be abused. Keeping scammers off the marketplace is a good thing, as another user posted keeping greenlight voting from being influenced by fake accounts is a good thing, same with workshop content voting, and as is limiting workshop content uploads that could keep potentially malicious mods off the workshop (i don't know if its possible but better safe then sorry).
You don't have to spend a dime to play your game collection, or get skins, mods, and maps for your games on the workshop, you can still chat in steam discussion boards, friends can still add you, and you can chat with them with the overlay (i'd say a majority of users chat there most often). It does suck for people that only use humble store, green man gaming, cd keys, and the like, but its not really the end of the world, your still getting the best steam features without giving valve a dime.
You don't have to spend a dime to play your game collection, or get skins, mods, and maps for your games on the workshop, you can still chat in steam discussion boards, friends can still add you, and you can chat with them with the overlay (i'd say a majority of users chat there most often). It does suck for people that only use humble store, green man gaming, cd keys, and the like, but its not really the end of the world, your still getting the best steam features without giving valve a dime.
IndieJones
Member
I think it's akin to a store not letting you use their bathroom until you buy something, which i think is reasonable, although I'm sure someone will take issue with my analogy in no time.
Sorry I couldn't resist
.. A better analogy is, The store will let you use the bathroom but you only get to use toilet paper, no bidet, and you can wash your hands but you can't use any fancy moisturizing hand lotion or perfumes.bluecapsule
Member
So the only thing being limited is some basic social media features? Seems reasonable to combat the spam and Greenlight abuse. I'm not understanding where all the anger is coming from. Even if you never spend a single cent, does the new update do anything to actually limit anything you do in-games?
Servizio
I don't really need a tag, but I figured I'd get one to make people jealous. Is it working?
It's interesting that it's come to this, but I suppose not surprising. Any other resource you could use to prove your humanness can basically already be spoofed by automated programs. Captchas and two step authentication have apparently already failed. Most other measures I can think of would be something like time played or achievements gained, but we know those have been defeated by idling and achievement servers. A credit card raises too many barriers for all sorts of players.
The unfortunate thing, and I'm sure Valve already knows this, is that players who have never directly spent a dime but still play a lot provide a very real value to their games; they give you someone to play with when you might not otherwise. There's a load of games that cost a lot more than 'free' that don't have active and enthusiastic player bases. It'd be a real shame if this puts a dent in their community.
Hopefully the rules will be adjusted intelligently so the least amount of genuine players are affected while still discouraging bot abuse.
The unfortunate thing, and I'm sure Valve already knows this, is that players who have never directly spent a dime but still play a lot provide a very real value to their games; they give you someone to play with when you might not otherwise. There's a load of games that cost a lot more than 'free' that don't have active and enthusiastic player bases. It'd be a real shame if this puts a dent in their community.
Hopefully the rules will be adjusted intelligently so the least amount of genuine players are affected while still discouraging bot abuse.
Neverforget
Member
On one hand it's great feature against bots, but on the other hand, my little sister account has at least 100 games, all of which were a gift from me and she will be forbidden from using some basic features... I'll of course buy her something from her account to unlock it, but it's kinda unfair for the others steam users in the same situation as her.
CecilRousso
Member
Trying to find a single case where I can have sympathy for those not wanting to pay, but I just can't find it, at all.
*You have to make a one time deposit of $5, which you can spend on what you want on Steam, when you want it.
*Otherwise you cannot send friend invites or use the mobile chat.
*In pretty much all other regards, everything stays the same, you get a great service completely free.
And this really is a practical problem for some people?
Which functions that she has actually used before, can't she use anymore? Has she used friend invites or mobile chat before?
*You have to make a one time deposit of $5, which you can spend on what you want on Steam, when you want it.
*Otherwise you cannot send friend invites or use the mobile chat.
*In pretty much all other regards, everything stays the same, you get a great service completely free.
And this really is a practical problem for some people?
Which functions that she has actually used before, can't she use anymore? Has she used friend invites or mobile chat before?
jim-jam bongs
Member
If your sister is very young, you're really just keeping her safe from predators. It's called "The Nintendo Solution".
I believe she can still receive invites
Fredrik
Member
A $5 one time fee is still better than paying every month as it is on PS4 and XB1. Could've been even higher, aren't most serious PC gamers paying more than that after one single week or even day of Steam Summer Sale?
EatinOlives
Member
Holy shit I've only had like 5 bots add me. Looking at lists like these, yeah this restriction was absolutely necessary.
Visualante2
Member
Comparisons to playing for Live or Plus are frankly ludicrous.
then you are not the target audience for steam. Even if you only play Dota, Valve wants you to spend Dollars on it. And IF you play Dota for a good amount of time, you should get enough items to sell, so that your steam wallet funds get over 5 Dollar.
tiggerkiddo
Member
Didn't know this was an issue...then again I don't buy much on Steam but I think I've spent at least 5 bucks on Steam...lol
Maintenance
Member
Agreed, you cannot play online without Live and Plus - except for a few F2P games, which you can do the same here.
PS: For somebody that said:
I guess you couldn't resist.
Mithos
Member
Problem is, you're blocked from using Steam Marketplace until you have spent $5, so you can't sell those items to get the $5.
No need to block. Just reject their friend request. I haven't had any of them reask me.
That would make more sense
Because it means those older phishing accounts get grand-fathered in as "a-okay" instead of being shutout.
Sucks for those with accounts they use with "free to play" PC titles, but at this point: If you haven't spent at least $5 on Steam somewhere (badges, games, skins in CS/TF2/etc.) you aren't a part of the "Steam community" in Valve's eyes so why should you be able to participate and scam people in the community?
DOBERMAN INC
Member
Great news, Getting a spam friend request every other day recently.
https://store.steampowered.com/account/store_transactions
did you bother reading the op? its not a subscription and the limitations are nothing like ms/sony. honestly its not really a big deal, i wish the title would be changed so people don't overreact.
https://store.steampowered.com/account/store_transactions
It is not a subscription fee. You can still play online or free to play titles absolutely FREE with no charges.
It's 5 bucks. If you're not spending $5 a year on Steam somehow I doubt you would care anyways.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I had my first encounter with one a few weeks ago. And like any friend request that comes out of nowhere on any platform it immediately got blocked.
What is the intention of Steam spam bots? Flooding your activity page with ads, propping up greenlight stuff, or something more sinister?
It locks features behind a paywall how is that not a one time subscription fee?
ScepticMatt
Member
Steam -> Settings -> Account - > View Account Details (top right) -> Store/Game/Market transactions
Trying to get peoples passwords so they can get expensive CS:GO and TF2/DOTA2 skin/guns/whatever.
Because those features are community features. Gameplay functions are completely ignored/not fee'd. You can, once again, PLAY ONLINE with no charge. That's not a "subscription fee."
It's more a "join the community to be able to trade" fee. Similar to ante'ing up at a Poker table.
Pellegri Testament
Member
Sure, if you have no idea what a subscription is. This is literally a one time fee that only locks you out of a few features, it does not lock you out of the games you own. It's laughable that anyone could think that a single $5 fee is even close to comparable to $40+ a year, they definitely paved the way alright.
There's no paywall. You're not paying for the services. They just want to make sure you're actually a customer. If you get all the PS+ features for just buying stuff on the PS Store, it wouldn't be a subscription service either.
nkarafo
Member
I don't get it... I bought 2 games on Steam, Portal 2 and Dark Souls. I got Portal 2 for 40euros when it was released but it doesn't show it anywhere. It only shows Dark Souls which i bought for 4.99 euros. I hope that count's for more than 5 dollars, yes?
Also, this sucks for me. I have more games on Steam like Alien Isolation and Serious Sam pack that i couldn't buy by myself (i didn't have access to a computer) and i just gave some money to a friend to buy them for me and send me as gifts....
Edit: Oh, it was the retail version of Portal 2... so it doesn't count? Nice. I also bought the Orange Box, that lists it as "Complimentary" i don't know what that is.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
So they're trying the ye olde "messaging you with a 'we work at Steam lol you need to enter your password here'" trick - or something else?
Did you buy it as a gift and then redeem? Should be in the "gift" section.
I just looked and my Portal 2 PS3->PC code is on my transaction list as a non-gift. So it shouldn't be missing unless you gifted it to yourself (thereby it's a "gift" purchase) or it's on another account.
More "HI CAN YOU PLEASE ACCEPT MY TRADE REQUEST!? http://stearncommunity.com/id/whateverhere"
I don't get it... I bought 2 games on Steam, Portal 2 and Dark Souls. I got Portal 2 for 40euros when it was released but it doesn't show it anywhere. It only shows Dark Souls which i bought for 4.99 euros. I hope that count's for more than 5 dollars, yes?
Also, this sucks for me. I have more games on Steam like Alien Isolation and Serious Sam pack that i couldn't buy by myself (i didn't have access to a computer) and i just gave some money to a friend to buy them for me and send me as gifts....
4.99 euro is over 5 USD so you are good to vote on stuff and use the marketplace
So services that a user with an account from pre fee that don't qualify now because they haven't spent enough money have to pay to unlock those features that they did have as part of their account and it's not a subscription fee?
Personally I have spent enough on steam that it doesn't affect me and also never had a problem with spam accounts (the so called "reason" for this).
I do however think it's a shitty practice designed to get valve free money.
nkarafo
Member
No i bought the DVD and activated through Steam. It says "retail" so it doesn't count
.I also bought the Orange Box and is listed as "Complimentary"
The only thing that shows the price i paid is Dark Souls (4.99 euros).
Fucking sucks.
Hope so.4.99 euro is over 5 USD so you are good to vote on stuff and use the marketplace
MagnoSauce
Member
How did you get into Hideki Kamiya's steam account?
Pellegri Testament
Member
Do you understand what a subscription fee is? A single fee is not the same thing as paying over time to continue a service. You are literally only paying this fee once, you are not being asked to continue to pay that amount so you can keep said features.
I'm also going to assume that you have done little to no trading/playing games that you can get items of value from, because that's what it takes to get on a bot list. I don't play any of those and have done little trading, which is why I haven't gotten any spam. But 2 of my friends used to be pretty heavy into that shit and are constantly hounded by bots. Just because you don't see them yourself, doesn't mean they don't exist.
Then the only thing there that counts is the 4.99 Euros. The retail key can't be "transaction'd" by Valve because how can they know how much you paid for it? For all they know, you were given Portal 2 retail as a gift.
At worst, you'll need to get a Steam wallet/pre-paid code of $20 (whatever that is in Euros) and then redeem that to instantly get past the $5 fee. But convert the Euro's into dollars (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=4.99 euros to us) and you get... 5.39 US Dollars currently as the trade-off, which SHOULD count.
LMAO. How the hell is this giving Valve more money? Anyone that is wanting to participate in the Steam community is more than likely already going to pay more than the $5 "fee" as you call it to buy games or items in CS:GO/et. al. already. Anyone that isn't can still play those free to play (TF2, DOTA) titles ONLINE. WITH NO FEE. The only thing they can't do is participate in the community and trade those items as protection against scammers.
No, it's an imperfect system designed to get rid of the huge inconvenience of spambots which have been affecting tons of actual users for a long time now. Most people recognize this fact and know that it will benefit the majority of users. A tiny minority might be inconvenienced, and it is unfortunate, but the intent is not to make them pay, the intent is to mass block the spambots.
OK I shouldn't have used the word subscription. It doesn't change the point I was trying to make.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I like to think that Steam's userbase has a level of tech-savviness that would negate this sort of thing. But then again there are people here who think that this is some sort of subscription or service fee, so I guess idiots can and will exist everywhere.