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[Yoshi]

So, people who only buy physical copies of games on PC are now effectively even more fucked, because not only do they need to activate most of those games on Steam, but they cannot use online multiplayer properly?

 

[Sendou]

So, people who only buy physical copies of games on PC are now effectively even more fucked, because not only do they need to activate most of those games on Steam, but they cannot use online multiplayer properly?

Why's that?

 

[KHlover]

Just got another fried request from a Lv. 0 bot with a private profile. Seems like they didn't implement this yet.

 

[Sendou]

Just got another fried request from a Lv. 0 bot with a private profile. Seems like they didn't implement this yet.

Just heads up: every private profile appears as level 0. They're not all bots.

 

[Yoshi]

Why's that?

Sorry, I'm not playing on PC and only have a Steam account for some games a friend gifted to me, so maybe I understand this wrong, but, in order to manage your friendslist you need to have spent 5$ on Steam funds and without a friendslist you cannot play online with your friends (if not by chance), or am I missing something here?

 

[Sendou]

Sorry, I'm not playing on PC and only have a Steam account for some games a friend gifted to me, so maybe I understand this wrong, but, in order to manage your friendslist you need to have spent 5$ on Steam funds and without a friendslist you cannot play online with your friends (if not by chance), or am I missing something here?

The only restriction in place is that a person who has not spend $5 on Steam store (or added those funds to their Steam wallet) can't send friend requests. They can receive them or be invited to play sessions without restrictions.

 

[Yoshi]

The only restriction in place is that a person who has not spend $5 on Steam store (or added those funds to their Steam wallet) can't send friend requests. They can receive them or be invited to play sessions without restrictions.

But two friends who only pay for retail games are fucked with their legally bought retail games just because Valve decides to change policy?

 

[SigSig]

You are not unable to play online without the ability to manage your friendlist.

Also, thank god for this, this hopefully will significantly reduce the amount of bots and scammer accounts.

 

[Panajev2001a]

There are already tons of active spambot accounts. I get spammed by a new one a few times a week.

I personally think that $5 USD seems a little low, but it is a good starting point and should at least limit the spam.

I know it should be like $5 each month, you know... to protect you .

I am skeptical this measure will work, this is effectively saying the value those spammers get is less than $5 per account which I find low too. Trouble is that raising it much more would not go down well with users.

 

[CecilRousso]

But two friends who only pay for retail games are fucked with their legally bought retail games just because Valve decides to change policy?

They're not fucked. One of them are just required to add $5 to his or her Steam wallet, if they want to able to each other to their friend lists. Don't see how $5 for two people is "being fucked".

 

[Nokterian]

The only restriction in place is that a person who has not spend $5 on Steam store (or added those funds to their Steam wallet) can't send friend requests. They can receive them or be invited to play sessions without restrictions.

The amount of confusion is staggering to hilarious.

 

[a Master Ninja]

But two friends who only pay for retail games are fucked with their legally bought retail games just because Valve decides to change policy?

Fucked? Spending $5 on digital games one time is, at worst, a minor inconvenience. And how many more years do you expect buying only retail PC games to be viable?

 

[Palette Swap]

But two friends who only pay for retail games are fucked with their legally bought retail games just because Valve decides to change policy?

They can still play online together, just not add each other to their respective Friend Lists.

To be fair, if they can't spend 5 bucks on the Steam Store, I don't know what systems they'd be otherwise playing these games on.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

But two friends who only pay for retail games are fucked with their legally bought retail games just because Valve decides to change policy?

Also these two friends have yet to add each other. Had they added each other some time ago they would still be friends, right?

 

[Yoshi]

They're not fucked. One of them are just required to add $5 to his or her Steam wallet, if they want to able to each other to their friend lists. Don't see how $5 for two people is "being fucked".

If you don't buy digital ever, you're paying 5$ for an arbitrary rule that might change whenever Valve wants to, potentially demanding another donation, for online play on a system that prides itself with its openness.

They can still play online together, just not add each other to their respective Friend Lists.

The friends list is not needed for that?

To be fair, if they can't spend 5 bucks on the Steam Store, I don't know what systems they'd be otherwise playing these games on.

PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PSV. That exact game? Probably none, because MS and Sony demand money for online play, however, you pay directly for online play, not for digital content and obtain the right to use the online mechanisms of games arbitrarily, too.

 

[Sendou]

If you don't buy digital ever, you're paying 5$ for an arbitrary rule that might change whenever Valve wants to, potentially demanding another donation, for online play on a system that prides itself with its openness.

Yeah if you ignore completely why the restriction was made in the first place. You said you don't know much about Steam but still come on.

PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PSV. That exact game? Probably none, because MS and Sony demand money for online play, however, you pay directly for online play, not for digital content and obtain the right to use the online mechanisms of games arbitrarily, too.

I have to say I don't understand what that last sentence means.

 

[spindoctor]

I have to say I don't understand what that last sentence means.

I believe he's implying that MS and Sony charging you $50 every year to be able to play online is better than Valve asking you to buy yourself a $5 game once to be able to use some tertiary features on their network.

Because MS and Sony didn't force you to buy digital content.

They just straight up charged you to access online features on their networks.

 

[Ikuu]

If you don't buy digital ever, you're paying 5$ for an arbitrary rule that might change whenever Valve wants to, potentially demanding another donation, for online play on a system that prides itself with its openness.

Before you know it Valve will be forcing people to pay a monthly fee!

 

[CecilRousso]

If you don't buy digital ever, you're paying 5$ for an arbitrary rule that might change whenever Valve wants to, potentially demanding another donation, for online play on a system that prides itself with its openness.

What might happen or not happen is just speculation.It's very unlikely that they would raise that sum or restrict more features, since would just mean that this system isn't actually working. To refuse to accept this now because of such speculation would be pretty silly. If you do, then I would say that you're fucked as a PC gamer because of your own ideas, not because of what Valve does.

 

[The Red Wizard]

I wonder if those people who claim that this is the first step towards Valve charging a monthly fee are familiar with how popular Games for Windows Live was when it introduced a subscription fee for online gaming.

 

[duckroll]

Sorry, I'm not playing on PC and only have a Steam account for some games a friend gifted to me

Okay so this doesn't affect you at all and you clearly don't care about this and have no personal investment in this issue. Why are you still posting in this thread?

 

[Durante]

I believe he's implying that MS and Sony charging you $50 every year to be able to play online is better than Valve asking you to buy yourself a $5 game once to be able to use some tertiary features on their network.

Because MS and Sony didn't force you to buy digital content.

They just straight up charged you to access online features on their networks.

Sounds reasonable.

 

[IndieJones]

Two mornings now I've woken up, blearily fumbling for the latest news on GAF, and thought, "Surely that dumb Steam thread can't still be a thing, page after page of the same circular arguments, devil's advocates, and willful obtuseness," and yet, here we are.

 

[DayEnder]

I know it should be like $5 each month, you know... to protect you .

I am skeptical this measure will work, this is effectively saying the value those spammers get is less than $5 per account which I find low too. Trouble is that raising it much more would not go down well with users.

I'll take some barrier to spammers over none at all (I already know what no barrier is like). Valve is offering a service and spending $5 once (on games/apps/wallet) to protect other paying customers really isn't too much to ask. I think it has been handled pretty well as they are only limiting access to a subset of features.

This change was transparent for me as I had spent money buying games before (after all Steam is an online store).

 

[duckroll]

I know it should be like $5 each month, you know... to protect you .

I am skeptical this measure will work, this is effectively saying the value those spammers get is less than $5 per account which I find low too. Trouble is that raising it much more would not go down well with users.

You can't think of each "account" as a "per account" value for spammers. They operate bot farms which easily replace accounts when they are banned because new accounts on Steam were basically free. If to do what they need to do now, they have to pay 5 dollars per account replacement, that will definitely change the bottom line. For example, how many spam accounts do you think get banned before they make a single cent?

 

[Leafhopper]

Two mornings now I've woken up, blearily fumbling for the latest news on GAF, and thought, "Surely that dumb Steam thread can't still be a thing, page after page of the same circular arguments, devil's advocates, and willful obtuseness," and yet, here we are.

I'm glad someone is in the same situation as I am.

Not to mention the new people that keep coming into this thread not reading anything prior.

 

[Itachi87]

This is fantastic news. I'm really surprised at some of the responses in this thread. $5 is barely anything and if it means less bots/phishing attempts than I'm all for it. I pay more for lunch every day for crying out loud.

 

[BeesEight]

Two mornings now I've woken up, blearily fumbling for the latest news on GAF, and thought, "Surely that dumb Steam thread can't still be a thing, page after page of the same circular arguments, devil's advocates, and willful obtuseness," and yet, here we are.

This thread is my early morning guilty pleasure. The arguments are hilariously staggering.

I find it fascinating how "Can't send friend requests" has turned into "Impossible to play games without paying an upfront fee." When I played TF2--back in the days you had to buy it--I didn't friend anyone from the game because there was no need. With dedicated servers you can simply hop on to the same one time after time and see all the old faces. The steam chat function wasn't necessary.

My biggest loss would be my smurf account in Dota 2, except it's really easy to get my friends to add my smurf account instead of having to send the requests myself. While I'm not a fan of hiding features behind paywalls, this is the most elegant way to deal with spammers while not impacting the free to play player pool that keeps these multiplayer games alive.

So, yeah, the doomsayers are funny. I think some people just like complaining.

 

[Broder Salsa]

As someone who buys all his games retail (mostly because I greatly enjoy the smell of the manual), I agree with Yoshi, and I am very offended. This is why I only buy nintendo products these days, a company I can trust, unlike these anti consumer companies like Valve.

 

[Leafhopper]

As someone who buys all his games retail (mostly because I greatly enjoy the smell of the manual), I agree with Yoshi, and I am very offended. This is why I only buy nintendo products these days, a company I can trust, unlike these anti consumer companies like Valve.

Lmao.

 

[CosmicQueso]

As someone who buys all his games retail (mostly because I greatly enjoy the smell of the manual), I agree with Yoshi, and I am very offended. This is why I only buy nintendo products these days, a company I can trust, unlike these anti consumer companies like Valve.

Really can't tell if serious.

If serious, well, Thanks, Internet! You never cease to amaze and astound.

If not serious... well played.

 

[Spookie]

As someone who buys all his games retail (mostly because I greatly enjoy the smell of the manual), I agree with Yoshi, and I am very offended. This is why I only buy nintendo products these days, a company I can trust, unlike these anti consumer companies like Valve.

World class.

 

[Panajev2001a]

You can't think of each "account" as a "per account" value for spammers. They operate bot farms which easily replace accounts when they are banned because new accounts on Steam were basically free. If to do what they need to do now, they have to pay 5 dollars per account replacement, that will definitely change the bottom line. For example, how many spam accounts do you think get banned before they make a single cent?

Not sure, we will see if the math works .

 

[AcceptableGhost]

So, people who only buy physical copies of games on PC are now effectively even more fucked, because not only do they need to activate most of those games on Steam, but they cannot use online multiplayer properly?

(from a Freedom Planet thread a while back that I remembered)

Why are you even posting in this thread?

 

[King Gilga]

Good Idea, I've been getting super invited this year.

That said they should add thing about unlocking it after a certain amount of Retail keys are added, so people who play play humble bundle or retail stuff aren't screwed.

 

[Slime Scholar]

I can't complain about anything that makes account phishing more difficult. Anyone getting worked up over this policy doesn't know how bad it's gotten.

I must get fake friend requests once every week or two. And I've got a friend who (years ago) had their account stolen and had to get it back. 5 dollars is a minor inconvenience if it helps to stop this.

 

[Ghazi]

This is like people complaining about having to pay to remove 3DS browser restrictions, it's only a precaution. A one time, small fee. Hell, you can go buy a $15 card for Steam one time to buy a game or DLC and you're past it.

 

[BasilZero]

Good - I have been getting requests from spam its as well.

 

[Stumpokapow]

This is like people complaining about having to pay to remove 3DS browser restrictions, it's only a precaution. A one time, small fee. Hell, you can go buy a $15 card for Steam one time to buy a game or DLC and you're past it.

Well, and the difference is that the browser restriction thing is a fee. This is a minimum purchase.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

I don't use any of those features.

 

[The Red Wizard]

(from a Freedom Planet thread a while back that I remembered)

Why are you even posting in this thread?

Phil Fish is Yoshi. Yoshi is Phil Fish.



Einhorn is a man.

 

[inm8num2]

I'm surprised Valve didn't do something like this sooner. To the best of my knowledge they had made requirements for participating in sale events (min level 8 or similar), but these anti-spam and anti-phishing measures are sorely needed.

 

[Leafhopper]

This is like people complaining about having to pay to remove 3DS browser restrictions, it's only a precaution. A one time, small fee. Hell, you can go buy a $15 card for Steam one time to buy a game or DLC and you're past it.

The browser they probably don't even use.

 

[sixghost]

I'm surprised Valve didn't do something like this sooner. To the best of my knowledge they had made requirements for participating in sale events (min level 8 or similar), but these anti-spam and anti-phishing measures are sorely needed.

They did something kind of similar a while ago with TF2. If I remember correctly, you couldn't trade items unless you had spent $5 on that account. This was done to prevent people from running a bunch of TF2 item farming bots.

 

[Koh]

I don't get it. It's this an aversion to digital purchases? Even if you only buy retail, can't you take this as the cost of convenience and find something worth $5 to you? The amount and variation of content on steam is incredible. There is literally something for everyone.

 

[RionaaM]

As someone who buys all his games retail (mostly because I greatly enjoy the smell of the manual), I agree with Yoshi, and I am very offended. This is why I only buy nintendo products these days, a company I can trust, unlike these anti consumer companies like Valve.

Last thing I heard, Nintendo required me to buy a very specific $200 machine in order to access its features and online network. That's as anti-consumer as one can be, in my book.

 

[Nzyme32]

I don't get it. It's this an aversion to digital purchases? Even if you only buy retail, can't you take this as the cost of convenience and find something worth $5 to you? The amount and variation of content on steam is incredible. There is literally something for everyone.

If you don't want to get the wallet money via steam or using your details online, you could go out and buy a physical steam wallet card, and type the code into steam to add the steam wallet credit and remove the restriction to send invites. Even if you were averse to using steam with your own card, there is a solution in place

 

[KHlover]

The browser they probably don't even use.

Is that restriction even in place outside of Japan? I just visited pornhub and watched a video to test it, worked without a problem. Also never heard about it again after the European and US launch of the New 3DS. I don't think the restriction exists for us at all.

 

[L.O.R.D]

did they implement this already ?

i just made a test

i have another account , with 3 games in it , all from humble bundle
so they should make it limited access , by i just manged to vote on green light and sent a friend request to random user

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Is that restriction even in place outside of Japan? I just visited pornhub and watched a video to test it, worked without a problem. Also never heard about it again after the European and US launch of the New 3DS. I don't think the restriction exists for us at all.

I think this part of the swapnote controversy is basically the reason why:

...Yomiuri Online doesn't specifically mention Swapnote and says that the girl used the 3DS's online function to access an online dating site...