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[Visualante2]

Globalisation is a one way street that only the capitalists can walk down.

Valve what the hell is wrong with you lately??

As Steam gets bigger you have to start questioning who is calling the shots. Valve or Steam's managers?

 

[1-D_FTW]

My bad, didn't mean the attitude. We just have a huge number of people refusing to read in this thread.

I think it's more trolls who either are EA plants or who don't play PC games and are hyperventilating at the prospect of being able to rip the "enemy".

 

[Volcynika]

Valve what the hell is wrong with you lately??

They've not been a fan of people using VPNs to circumvent their region for self-gifting for a while. This isn't a thing that's been happening "lately."

 

[iNvid02]

Globalisation is a one way street that only the capitalists can walk down.

As Steam gets bigger you have to start questioning who is calling the shots. Valve or Steam's managers?

also its likely the publishers who are behind this

im sure valve could put their foot down and try to defend consumers, especially considering how much power they yield, but more money is always better

 

[Des0lar]

So it's the Reddit VPN story? Nothing to see here, move on folks.

 

[Takuan]

I'm sure publishers don't appreciate Steam allowing for one region to poach sales from another.

Still, dick move. This is probably the primary reason for that new TOS.
Oh, the VPN stuff. Meh!

 

[Parham]

For what it's worth, I have gifted somewhere around 150-200 games and DLC packs over the past eighteen months to non-US Steam users and I haven't received any complaints from Valve.

 

[Burekma]

Pardon my ignorance, but can't spoofing IP address to buy stuff from other regions be illegal?

I mean, if I buy stuff pretending to be from a US state that doesn't have any taxes, and there being no customs for digital goods, isn't that technically tax evasion?

Always wandered about this, so if there's any lawyers here it'd be good to know.

 

[epmode]

It's hypocritical of Valve to use the advantages of globalization, while prohibiting it’s users from doing the same.

Nearly every company in every industry that has been affected by globalization pulls this bullshit. The lesson is: Fuck corporations.

It's sad to see Valve going down the same anti-consumer path as everyone else, though.

 

[jediyoshi]

Smart move. It is not like you can sue them anymore. :|

What does class action mean?

 

[RockTurtle]

Country A is a highly religious country that would not allow ANY sort of videogame in the 1st place. Over the years young people got sigantures and support and let the coutnry's adamant figureheads to allow them their videogames as long as its devoid of sexual images or gore.

This is a small victory that will allow them to ask for more in the future. baby steps. Steam (or any other vendor) is finally allowed to have a license to sell their games

BUT THEN country A's figureheads have found out their youth have been playing the uncensored versions. they see their rules have been broken, and will use that as justification to remove all videogames and make them illegal. or they sue Valve for allowing this to happen.

It's all the publishers' rules people. they dictate what Valve can do with their properties. and Valve has to adhere to any country's laws/publisher contracts.

come on guys, i expect less logical thinking from gamefaqs....

 

[Schweinehund]

Gaben can never be too rich it seems.

I guess he made all the games and gets all of the money made off of them.

No wonder THQ is going out of business, valve is taking all their profits off steam.


...

I don't use the practice, but it really isn't a surprise to me that they would start cutting down on it.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I'm sure publishers don't appreciate Steam allowing for one region to poach sales from another.

Still, dick move. This is probably the primary reason for that new TOS.
Oh, the VPN stuff. Meh!

Yeah. There's nothing you can do about it. It's called living in the real world. There's a lot of tuff guys living in their ivory towers on the internet, but Publishers aren't going to put up with it. Valve can either accept their terms to prevent people from exploiting the prices in poor, piracy laden markets, or have those publishers pull their products.

 

[JaseC]

Nearly every company in every industry that has been affected by globalization pulls this bullshit. The lesson is: Fuck corporations.

It's sad to see Valve going down the same anti-consumer path as everyone else, though.

This has practically nothing to do with Steam's gifting system and everything to do with the misuse of VPNs to purchase games for oneself from the store of another region wherein said games are notably cheaper. User A in Region X is still perfectly free to gift games to User B in Region Y.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

I will just say that IF this is true and IF this isn't just one particular customer who basically acts as a middle man for many MANY people, I have a HUGE problem with this. Straight up bullshit.

 

[Patryn]

Pardon my ignorance, but can't spoofing IP address to buy stuff from other regions be illegal?

I mean, if I buy stuff pretending to be from a US state that doesn't have any taxes, and there being no customs for digital goods, isn't that technically tax evasion?

Always wandered about this, so if there's any lawyers here it'd be good to know.

If you're from the US, then you'd be required to declare those purchases on your state tax return. If you didn't do that, then you'd be violating the law.

 

[toastyToast]

While I doubt this is true, how would they enforce this?

I mean, they'd have to check whether the person redeeming the gift is in the correct region. The AppIDs tends to be universal save a few occassions such as L4D2 in Germany/Aus and of course Russian copies. Steam as it stands now, would not be able to distinguish a foreign gift from a local one.

 

[EternalGamer]

I think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy,” Newell said. “Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24/7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the U.S. release and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.

That about face was quick.

EDIT: Nevermind. After reading the thread I see that this is overblown misrepresentative bullshit.

 

[Dunlop]

Smart move. It is not like you can sue them anymore. :|

 

[blitzcloud]

Nearly every company in every industry that has been affected by globalization pulls this bullshit. The lesson is: Fuck corporations.

It's sad to see Valve going down the same anti-consumer path as everyone else, though.

In a businessman forum, elsewhere:

Globalization and attempting to bring fair prices to all the markets just leads to exploiters that benefit from both parties.

The lesson is: Fuck consumers.


It's not about corporations, it's about a evergrowing base of users using methods to circumvent their purchases as if they were in a poor country where the developers are kind/smart enough to reduce the price. If anyone drives any of these measures, it's the consumer... not the corporation.

Why do you think some companies blocked languages on UK release of games. It's not (only)because they are "greedy", it's because the consumers were expoliting an advantage due to the pound fall of the recent years. Fair enough, then if you're not going to support the localization for your country by purchasing it there so we can track if the next game will have a translation for your language, we will make the UK version a barebones english version. Fuck corporations?

I'm sorry, I must be an apologist or something because I consider them to be doing the right thing to defend their clients (publishers who put their games on steam), and it affects nothing those playing by the rules.

 

[Corto]

That's why they hired the economist!

 

[Rebel Leader]

Valve what the hell is wrong with you lately??

Apparently he used a VPN

Which is against Steam's TOS/TOU

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Apparently he used a VPN

Which is against Steam's TOS/TOU

Steam's TOS can suck my dick.

 

[Forever]

So the TOS was indeed a sign of things to come.

Valve has gone to the dark side.

 

[Interfectum]

lol this thread is hilarious.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Steam's TOS can suck my dick.

You must never agree to them (from anywhere) seeing as you're being as "badass" as you think you are.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

You must never agree to them (from anywhere) seeing as you're being as "badass" as you think you are.

I can barely handle how bad my ass is.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Why now? I guess we're bored this summer as gamers.

 

[JaseC]

Apparently he used a VPN

Which is against Steam's TOS/TOU

To be clear, Valve is known to only take action when a VPN is used to circumvent local pricing. I occasionally use a VPN to unlock games "early" (i.e. when the Aussie unlock date is later than that of the US/UK) and have never had any problems.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I can barely handle how bad my ass is.

Well played haha

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Well played haha

Real talk, though, I just enjoy a good rabblerousing.

 

[Forever]

Did the powers-that-be at Atlus and Valve, two of the most beloved corporate entities in the business, get together over beers mid-July and decide to shit the bed reguarding their reps or am I seeing things?

"Some call me a terrorist, but I consider myself a teacher. Lesson number one: There are no heroes."

 

[Boss Doggie]

So essentially VPNs are sort of "masking" your IP address?

 

[water_wendi]

The whole gifting thing seems like a very weak spot.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Oh, this is just using a VPN? Nothing is new folks. This has always been something which could get your account locked. This isn't about gifting people games from other regions. A mod should update the title of this thread accordingly.

 

[chickdigger802]

hmmm i bought like $20 of games during steam sale while in china, no email yet.

This shit is kinda ghetto.

If this is going by Gabe's philosophy of buy instead of pirate cuz it's easier, then...

 

[JaseC]

The whole gifting thing seems like a very weak spot.

The people finding themselves with their accounts restricted were using VPNs to purchase games from a cheaper Steam Store abroad and then self-gifting to their main account. The terms regarding the proper use of the gifting system have not changed.

So essentially VPNs are sort of "masking" your IP address?

Essentially.

 

[water_wendi]

The people finding themselves with their accounts restricted were using VPNs to purchase games from a cheaper Steam Store abroad and then self-gifting to their main account. The terms regarding the proper use of the gifting system have not changed.

i mean in a security sense.

 

[JaseC]

i mean in a security sense.

How so?

 

[Htown]

has this actually happened to anyone here, or are we taking an anti-Steam website's word for it?

 

[Aguirre]

honestly, i haven't seen so much hate for valve lately since the 2k4 event when they forced users to play half life 2 through steam. well.. maybe it's nowhere near as bad as that. there are however a bunch of valve threads on here, on reddit, and other forums full of people taking issues with their policies.

 

[Drencrom]

Thanks for the thread change!

 

[Rapstah]

i mean in a security sense.

Paying for someone to gift you things out-of-region is indeed shady if you aren't doing it with people you know - like on GAF. I suspect this uncertainty - Valve can't be held responsible for payments not occuring outside of their systems - is a reason why gifting can be as open as it is currently. If everyone gifted every game from the cheapest region then they'd probably restrict it more.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Thanks to whichever mod updated the title.

 

[Joni]

What does class action mean?

That you violated your Steam user agreement because you filed one?

 

[Interfectum]

honestly, i haven't seen so much hate for valve lately since the 2k4 event when they forced users to play half life 2 through steam. well.. maybe it's nowhere near as bad as that. there are however a bunch of valve threads on here, on reddit, and other forums full of people taking issues with their policies.

A lot of the hate is just for the sake of fueling fanboy wars. Read this thread and the venom spewed over a VPN issue.

Valve is so loved that there is a growing population of haters that feel they must counteract or 'wake up' the fanboys.

It's pretty hilarious. Some of the people in this thread should be ashamed of their posts.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

So essentially VPNs are sort of "masking" your IP address?

VPN = Virtual Private Network. It makes your Internet connection appear in a different country. In this case, someone is US is cheating the system by using Russian VPN. It's not the same as gifting, at all.

 

[davepoobond]

Steam has been doing lots of unwanted moves lately.

more like they're getting in line with what other businesses already do and stopping people from taking advantage of them.

 

[funkystudent]

Well that sucks but its understandable.

People have been exploited the hell out of gifting. Cant be nice for Valve since I am sure they would be under pressure from 3rd parties to make it stop.


If they are only clamping down on the hardcore cross Continental gifters and not joe gamer who only does it once and a while I am ok with it I guess.

 

[Htown]

That's not what they're doing.