|
On October 16 2011 00:23 Roeder wrote:
Just to put an end to this.
The actions they took was removal of the game from the account without any refunds of course.
Everyone's happy - with a warning that next time it is deletion of the Steam account with all games included.
Always something, but I'm pretty darned sure if this went to court in Scandinavia you would actually have the right to the game you bought from this or that homepage, it should not matter at all. So if you feel like it you can always just proceed to court or require them to reinstate the game.
|
On October 15 2011 04:17 Roeder wrote:
It just feels extremely unfair, that Steam is legally able to remove the games of your possession due to something like this. Especially when the rest was bought legally from the official Steam store.
They would be in their rightful mind to take away the specific game that was illegally bought, but ALL your games? Your whole account? I knew the actions they could take with VAC bans which is basically the same thing (removing your possibility to play the certain game)
But again, all games?
All software is like this; Steam just has the ability to enforce it.
|
Ugh, I had no idea about this, but I still have something not entirely clear. Does this mean that ANY cd / product key acquired outside of steam, (for example Amazon, play.com or retail seller) can and should not added to one's steam account?
I ask because I preordered BF3 and had planned to add the key to my steam account (if they finally allow BF3 to go on steam) once i got it.
|
The Steam ToS states that Steam may disable your account as they wish, without providing any reason whatsoever. My account was disabled in December 2009 because I was "sharing my account". During that month the old modem had been slowing down and I had temporarily resolved the slow internet by resetting the modem, which also reset my external IP. Because several IPs were shown as logging on to my account, it was disabled and in response to the ticket I submitted, they said they would not reactivate it for any reason. My account had $400 worth of games on it.
My advice to any Steam user is to get several accounts and spread your games out among them, so that you lose as few as possible if one account gets disabled for some reason. Note that it is also against the ToS to own multiple accounts, but they don't really enforce this rule because it doesn't cut into their profits like sharing accounts would.
|
If they are going to treat their customers like shit just pirate their games. Simple enough.
|
On October 15 2011 04:20 Aelip wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2011 04:17 Roeder wrote:
It just feels extremely unfair, that Steam is legally able to remove the games of your possession due to something like this. Especially when the rest was bought legally from the official Steam store.
They would be in their rightful mind to take away the specific game that was illegally bought, but ALL your games? Your whole account? I knew the actions they could take with VAC bans which is basically the same thing (removing your possibility to play the certain game)
But again, all games? You should read the ToS before agreeing to it. They have every right to remove every single game in your steam library if they feel like it. As already stated, you rent the games, you do not own them. You can always try talking with steam, but there's no guarantees. What were you thinking anyway, buying from 3rd party sellers? It's common knowledge that such things isn't allowed, just look at items and such from wow, diablo, and such.
QFT. Read the ToS people, simple as that. You didn't and now you got screwed because you went against the rules. Blizzard takes the same stance with WoW. You do not own your account at all, you are simple "renting" it from Blizzard, they can choose to take it away at any point from you and delete everything if they wanted.
|
On October 15 2011 05:03 Nyovne wrote:
I just wrote my master thesis on this EULA/ToU crap. Long story short, in the EU this wouldn't fly, in the US it will.
The ignorance on software user licensing even in a gaming community is painful. Time to wite a series of blogs about it when I have time.
edit: I'm absolutely amazed what kind of stuff passes as 'ok' with US judges and the Supreme Court in the department of boiler plate agreement terms and consumer protection especially. Big business owns your country.
I would really love to get a copy of that. I like long dry reads. (atleast that is what a thesis on EULA and ToU would seem like to me.)
|
Actually you don't own the games that you buy on steam nor the account so they are actually allowed to ban everything, the fact that they would ban you for that however is just disgusting but considering how "evil" steam is doesn't surprise me, it always seem that steam policy with this kind of thing is one of the "main" reasons that drives ppl to pirate more.
Then again I ( happily ) don't own a steam account nor i would ever buy a game that requires a stem account to be played ( online or otherwise ).
|
MrHoon
10183 Posts
On October 16 2011 14:42 Aterons_toss wrote:
Actually you don't own the games that you buy on steam nor the account so they are actually allowed to ban everything, the fact that they would ban you for that however is just disgusting but considering how "evil" steam is doesn't surprise me, it always seem that steam policy with this kind of thing is one of the "main" reasons that drives ppl to pirate more.
Then again I ( happily ) don't own a steam account nor i would ever buy a game that requires a stem account to be played ( online or otherwise ).
you must play very few games then considering how majority of the games nowdays require steam as a loader
|
On October 15 2011 03:57 Roeder wrote:A friend of mine has had Steam account suspended/banned for buying CD-keys from an unauthorized source (Steam wrote), and has the last couple of days been unable to log onto Steam whatsoever. The source for CD-keys was this site http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/First, is it common knowledge to know that 3rd party sellers was illegal? It surely surprised me in a bad way, that he got his account suspended. What I fear is, that my account is worth ~$1000 and I've bought a few games from similar sites. Second, if this is illegal - is Steam allowed to completely lock down an account, which still contains 100% 'legally' bought games bought from the Steam store? Basically, as it seems right now, they're allowed to legally take away any game you've legally bought through Steam just because of one game being bought from a doubtful source? Opinions, experiences and solutions - please share.
ROFL. I'm pretty sure I know what the site linked is.
Some hacker is stealing CD keys from people en masse (either has access to or has himself infected a fairly large pool of computers) and selling them off of some website he wrote. Read the FAQ, it's pretty obvious: http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/gv_faq.html
gmail contact, "How do I pay you", "When can I contact you"
The use of second person language here is pretty suspect, I don't think i've ever seen it on a legit website. The "support chat" mentioned in the FAQ is probably connected to some IRC bot
|
On October 16 2011 14:50 TutsiRebel wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2011 03:57 Roeder wrote:A friend of mine has had Steam account suspended/banned for buying CD-keys from an unauthorized source (Steam wrote), and has the last couple of days been unable to log onto Steam whatsoever. The source for CD-keys was this site http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/First, is it common knowledge to know that 3rd party sellers was illegal? It surely surprised me in a bad way, that he got his account suspended. What I fear is, that my account is worth ~$1000 and I've bought a few games from similar sites. Second, if this is illegal - is Steam allowed to completely lock down an account, which still contains 100% 'legally' bought games bought from the Steam store? Basically, as it seems right now, they're allowed to legally take away any game you've legally bought through Steam just because of one game being bought from a doubtful source? Opinions, experiences and solutions - please share. ROFL. I'm pretty sure I know what the site linked is. Some hacker is stealing CD keys from people en masse (either has access to or has himself infected a fairly large pool of computers) and selling them off of some website he wrote. Read the FAQ, it's pretty obvious: http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/gv_faq.htmlgmail contact, " How do I pay you", " When can I contact you" The use of second person language here is pretty suspect, I don't think i've ever seen it on a legit website. The "support chat" mentioned in the FAQ is probably connected to some IRC bot
![[image loading]](http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/images/security.gif)
Any site that fakes the verisign trust symbol is not to be trusted lol
|
Well actually as we all learned from the stephano case, contracts arn't valid unless written in the country of the consumer, right?
I think you should sue them. Sue 'em hard!
Then again they probably have good enough lawyers to convince any jury that you actually are from whatever country they want you to be, and then you're gonna end up paying the bills of the lawsuit 
|
Your friend should take it to court, despite whatever their agreement is, the law is a higher code and of higher importance.
Your friends ignorance could be argued due to the fact that it is implausable that he would know if the keys were stolen or not.
Even if he were shown to have known, then the company in question would have to return him his money in full primarily because they were giving a service already paid for.
Its like if you paid up front at a restaurant, and while you were eating they take your food away because you are eating to loud. If this happens then they HAVE to give you compensation.
Since this is the online world where refusal of service is logical (hackers/cheaters/spammers) it makes sense that they should have the ability to refuse service but they should also do so responsibly or face consequences themselves.
|
On October 16 2011 15:11 deek wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2011 14:50 TutsiRebel wrote:On October 15 2011 03:57 Roeder wrote:A friend of mine has had Steam account suspended/banned for buying CD-keys from an unauthorized source (Steam wrote), and has the last couple of days been unable to log onto Steam whatsoever. The source for CD-keys was this site http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/First, is it common knowledge to know that 3rd party sellers was illegal? It surely surprised me in a bad way, that he got his account suspended. What I fear is, that my account is worth ~$1000 and I've bought a few games from similar sites. Second, if this is illegal - is Steam allowed to completely lock down an account, which still contains 100% 'legally' bought games bought from the Steam store? Basically, as it seems right now, they're allowed to legally take away any game you've legally bought through Steam just because of one game being bought from a doubtful source? Opinions, experiences and solutions - please share. ROFL. I'm pretty sure I know what the site linked is. Some hacker is stealing CD keys from people en masse (either has access to or has himself infected a fairly large pool of computers) and selling them off of some website he wrote. Read the FAQ, it's pretty obvious: http://www.gamekeysbuy.com/gv_faq.htmlgmail contact, " How do I pay you", " When can I contact you" The use of second person language here is pretty suspect, I don't think i've ever seen it on a legit website. The "support chat" mentioned in the FAQ is probably connected to some IRC bot Any site that fakes the verisign trust symbol is not to be trusted lol
lol, good catch . The site is actually pretty funny. The live chat icons on the upper right directs you to yangxb1028@hotmail.com and coldfire0078 on Skype.
|
According to many peoples' posts on here.. they can't ban your account if you're hacking...
|
On October 16 2011 16:12 Euronyme wrote:Well actually as we all learned from the stephano case, contracts arn't valid unless written in the country of the consumer, right? I think you should sue them. Sue 'em hard! Then again they probably have good enough lawyers to convince any jury that you actually are from whatever country they want you to be, and then you're gonna end up paying the bills of the lawsuit
To sue (vilja ha skadestand) someone in Sweden is very difficult, for it to work the other person/part must have had ill intent with the actions they took. Instead you have the right to compensation (ersattning) which is there to cover what expenses you had in general with the trouble that occured as part of the other parts negligence.
So not much money can be gotten by doing this, although once again you would most likely win if you ask for compensation for your losses.
|
Third party sellers aren't necessarily illegal. For example, buy a game in a brick and mortar store, and you can input the CD key to activate it on steam, or another example, humble bundled games provide legal CD keys.
DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT buy from a third party seller who you aren't absolutely positive you can trust. That would include pretty much any seller that is not endorsed by the game developer themselves.
Steam CD keys can be spoofed, much the way you can spoof CD keys with a CD key generator on warezed software. However, sooner or later, steam will track down such stolen CD keys, and the account will be banned. What many of these third party companies are doing, is generating illegal CD keys, and then either selling them, or using them for deceptive advertising (fill out this survey and get a free copy of X game!) They may actually give you the "free game" but there is no guarantee that it won't get your steam account banned a few months down the line.
Valve customer support is pretty generous, there may be some hope that if you explain your situation (that you, the user, was scammed) they might just remove the illegal products from your account and allow you to keep your account. But they are not obligated to do that in any way. By breaking the terms of service you have effectively waived your rights.
|
On October 16 2011 08:50 kleetzor wrote:
Ugh, I had no idea about this, but I still have something not entirely clear. Does this mean that ANY cd / product key acquired outside of steam, (for example Amazon, play.com or retail seller) can and should not added to one's steam account?
I ask because I preordered BF3 and had planned to add the key to my steam account (if they finally allow BF3 to go on steam) once i got it.
1. Amazon / play.com / retail sellers are legitimate sources of CD-keys. The OP bought CD-keys from a random site that gave mass discounts that were too good to be true. Its like buying a stero from a guy in an alley and then being arrested with stolen goods on the way home.
2. BF3 is never going to be on steam, you can add it as a non-steam game but it will be on EA's Origin the steam competior, notice all EA games are off of steam Dragon Age 1/2 Mass Effect Allice Madness Returns... EA pulled them from steam, you can still play / install them from Steam or Origin though. But BF3 is not coming on Steam unless origin dies, and then you have a stupid browser based game search.
|
On October 16 2011 17:25 Yttrasil wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2011 16:12 Euronyme wrote:Well actually as we all learned from the stephano case, contracts arn't valid unless written in the country of the consumer, right? I think you should sue them. Sue 'em hard! Then again they probably have good enough lawyers to convince any jury that you actually are from whatever country they want you to be, and then you're gonna end up paying the bills of the lawsuit To sue (vilja ha skadestand) someone in Sweden is very difficult, for it to work the other person/part must have had ill intent with the actions they took. Instead you have the right to compensation (ersattning) which is there to cover what expenses you had in general with the trouble that occured as part of the other parts negligence. So not much money can be gotten by doing this, although once again you would most likely win if you ask for compensation for your losses.
Op's from Denmark, and us Swedes if anyone should know what madness is going on down there.
Madness I tell ya!
Apart from that, I was being ironic.. Who's sue steam to get their account back? Call customer service and be very nice and it should work out. If it doesn't call another time to someone else. Bet they can work it out if they feel like it.
|
Those games are 50% to 80% cheaper than others sell them. Didn't that ring bells?
On topic, contact customer service.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
