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Valve Locking Out Gamers Who Buy Orange Box Internationally
Via Opposable Thumbs, a post on the Consumerist site notes that some enterprising gamers who bought the Orange Box in a territory different than the one they lived (to save a few bucks) have now found themselves unable to play the game. "One user, Todd, explains that thousands of crafty North American gamers looking for a deal have 'bought the product (and hence, the serial numbers) at well known international game stores' at a significant markdown. Activation of the purchased titles went off without a hitch. However, Valve apparently has taken issue with the region-specificity of some international versions and has begun locking out accounts of those living in North America, but owning international serial numbers with the message that the purchased game is in the 'incorrect territory.'" Worse, folks who tried to 'make it right' by buying a local copy have found they're basically SOL. I've been a big fan of the Steam concept since it launched, but this is the sort of thing you need to communicate to your users before you sting them.
I've always said that Steam was the devil. And this is exactly why. You can buy hundreds of dollars with software - If Valve goes out of business, you can pretty much forget ever playing your games again. Or, more likely, Valve gets a bug up their ass for whatever reason and starts revoking games like in this article, or even better, revoking the account itself for some arbitrarily identified violation of the TOS. That's just the client side. Remember "Hot Coffee" in GTA3? How about Valve comes out with something that's deemed offensive one day and gets taken to court over it, and an injunction against the software is won. If released on Steam, it would probably mean that no one could play the game until a patch was rolled out, if ever again. Somehow I doubt they'd offer refunds.
I remember when HL2 came out there were people dumb enough to put in warezed serial keys into the same accounts in which software that was legitimately purchased lived. Valve went through and terminated the accounts of everyone who had done this, no questions asked. Harsh justice for filthy pirates, but it could have just as easily been someone's kid brother screwing around - Valve did not care. "Buy the software again" was Valve's mantra. What are we buying again? Because I could swear it's an admission fee to see Valve wave its scepter over our heads with a flourish and bless us with the privilege of playing its latest precious game - but only for so long as it chooses.
I was rudely introduced to the evils of steam when I purchased Half-Life 2 and was forced to load that Steam crapware on my system. Since then, I've refused to give another dime to Valve. And here I thought Microsoft was evil. Valve took all of Microsoft's wildest licensing fantasies and made them come true.
-R
I know what you mean. I HATE Stream. It is a POS.
I bought HL2, the game play is great, the development is great, and the story is great. It is an amazing overall game. In fact, I love the whole HL series. I have nearly every game. But that stopped with HL2. Because of Stream (and I got a slow PC) I haven't bought any of the latest mods.
I don't have a state of the art PC, so the game took forever to install and LOAD. I actually uninstalled after one or two gameplays and quickly found a hacked version. Hey I have a legal key, why shouldn't I be able to obtain a hacked copy. BTW, I knew about the hacked version, and had access to it before the game hit the stores, but I liked the game so much that I was willing to wait and actually spend money supporting it.
Anyway, the hacked version took less than half the time to find, download, AND install than it took to get the legal one to just install!! Now Valve, you are obviously doing SOMETHING wrong when the hacked version is so much better than the commercially available one! Also, this isn't just me, a LOT of CS fans left because of Stream. Whole clans disbanded because the whole experience was ruined by Stream.