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Would You Pay for Steam?
dasmurf asks: "Many users have discussed this possibility. Now that Steam has pioneered the biggest online game delivery system to date, is it as simple as that? Read my concerns about the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Has anyone else read this agreement? Should Valve change it? If you love Valve's games but you've never religiously kept an eye on your credit card statement, maybe this will give you more reason. ;)"
Valve's Steam just released 3 software packages you can buy. It's great to be able to play CS:S while Valve and Vivendi duke out their legal battles. However, I have some concerns about their Subscriber Agreement - in particular, section 4.
Most people dismiss agreements like this. EULA's are probably discarded on a per-minute basis around the world, but this SA is slightly different. First, the games being offered are
not for "purchase" but rather available for "access" via a "Subscription fee". If this doesn't fuel the fear that Valve will turn Steam into a huge subscription-based monster like Evercrack, I don't know what would (I'll leave the debate whether subscription based games are the future or not for someone else - read: don't discuss that here, thx). Even if Valve doesn't morph into a subscription-based system, the usage of the term certainly keeps this open (as if the terms in 4B doesn't). And second, there appears to be a "forced subscription" model in place - meaning that if you don't say "NO" loudly enough, you probably will have to foot a "bleeding from the wallet" fee.
In it, 4A suggests that the end user agrees to maintain up-to-date credit card information with Valve. Other than a pre-authorized payment subscription type plan, I don't know why else that would be required. Section 4B states that Valve offers a 30-day period for announcing changes to their fees and billing methods and that "non cancellation" of their services automatically means you agree to and authorized payment of the new fee(s) and/or billing method(s).
The concern of 4B is not limited to this Steam Powered SA and is apparent in many subscription and pre-authorized payment plans, albeit probably not in the exact wording. And if you're not careful, you may have ended up in this kind of credit card "trap" before.
By "trap", I mean that the credit card owner ends up paying for new and different services he or she may or may not have wanted in the first place. And that redressment, reimbursement, reversal of charges, or credit of any kind is not possible, as stated in the SA. I hate to be cynical, but you can hear laughter from the Swindler's gallery snicking "We've covered our butts, but we've prevented you from covering yours!"
This reminds me of the opt-in/opt-out warefare in the courts not too terribly long ago. The most recent in my memory is the Telemarketing do-not-call plan.
Here's an example of the Valve SA gone bad:
John Doe "buys" the Gold package and gets the merchandise 2 months later, all the while enjoying CS:S and awaits HL2 and other games when they're out. Then, he stops playing Steam games for some reason or other. Maybe it's going to Iraq for 6 months. Maybe he's KIA and his family's a mess trying to get his body back from some third world country. Maybe it's being laid off an no net connection. Maybe he's got a new baby and he has no time for the computer. Maybe his wife has cancer and he doesn't want to leave her side. Maybe he's in jail for insider trading. Maybe he's found a new game and dropped Steam games like a bad habit. Maybe he's just forgotten his password and given up on the damned thing. Or maybe he's installed a anti-spam software, e-mail filters, firewalls, anti-spyware, and disables services and system functions on this computer so that the accumulative effects prevented the announcement of a change in the fees and/or billing methods from ever being read.
Anyhow, Valve's new fee/billing method is not known for months until the credit card bill is examined. While the saavy credit card holder who bought the Gold Package may immediately know where to cancel, the poor widow of GI John Doe might take weeks to find out who the hell Valve is and put a stop to the incessant monthly billing. SORRY, NO REFUNDS!
The first thing you might laugh at is the assumption that John Doe doesn't read his credit card bill every month. Some people watch it like a hawk, and some people aren't as diilgent. It's a fact of life. But is it just to make such per
I'd rather write a game engine (open-source) which updates itself as you play. I have 2 mbit DSL, there's no reason Steam should make me wait to download an entire HL level when only 50 feet in front of me is visible. Make it use bytecode (java, perl6, c#), open-source it (all the major client-side attacks you'd get from an open-source game engine have already been done through GL hacks)...
With this system finished and used by major game studios, all games would be developed faster and run on any major platform without any modification. I'd be willing to pay a subscription fee for that. Not Steam -- I have Doom 3, I don't care about CS, so HL2 is all I need -- I'd subscribe for a week, then lose it.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
I think the main thrust of the fear by the article's submitter was the whole "negative billing" aspect, and the subscription based thing.
First to address the negative billing (We add new stuff and you pay for it unless you tell us otherwise), I've been hit by this wonderful "feature" before, the cable company up in my neck of the woods (thanks Rogers! Go burn in hell for me, wouldja?) practiced it until enough customers made a royal stink in the media about it and the provincial government threatened to step in on their behalf. Nothing like opening up your cable bill to find that you've had 10 new channels for the last month that you didn't want, and were charged $7 for the privilege. And it's only easy to get a refund for that *AFTER* the government threatens to kick the cable company between the legs. Somehow with Steam I don't think there'd be anyone stepping in. It took dozens of people picketing for weeks on end to get action with the cable thing, I just don't see that happening over such a decentralized customer base like Steam's. Steam's agreement IS set up to potentially allow negative billing. That's enough for me to never consider using it.
The subscriber aspect is also not so good. If in fact the software you download only works while your account is up to date, what's the point? I spent $180 over a year and a half playing online games with nothing to show for it the second I closed out my account. I'd feel like a real chump paying to use Steam for 6 months, just using Half-Life 2, and then cancelling and having nothing, instead of taking that same money and buying a box from the local software shop. And also, does this mean that each time you fire up the game it has to authenicate against Steam to see if it's allowed to run? Good luck playing it without a net connection then...