Buying anything during Steam Sale?

Indeed, so if you're not buying anything from steam. You have no reason to be in this thread.

 

I actually laughed. But this is getting off topic so I'll shut up now.

 

Back on topic people, I just bought Slender: the Arrival. Wasn't that made in Unity?

 

In reality, big businesses begin to get closer to actual monopolies. It is irrelevant if Steam is officially a monopoly, or pretty much a monopoly. The common saying "They have a monopoly on the market." has a different definition than a literal monopoly.

You insult me saying I am daft, quite needlessly (Sorry, did I hurt your fanboy feelings when pointing out the truths about Steam? My apologies. I was not aware you identify your very essence with the Steam service.) Who is more daft? Someone who fails to see how big businesses monopolize products, destroy small businesses, and then either unite together or singlehandedly screw consumers over, or the person who uses a more common form of the term 'monopoly' alongside a very strong argument supported by facts and clearly defined rhetoric?

You can nit-pick a single word I used and attack my understand of that word... or you could actually talk about the idea and topic I propose. Yet you ignored the topic. You ignored the concept I put forth. You might as well resort to less subtle ad hominem and attack me directly while ignoring the actual problem I am discussing. Why not just say "You are an idiot. What is the topic again? I forgot because I hate you."

You must be very lacking in education about game developers. Many, MANY indie game developers dislike Steam's monopoly because their success will literally be determined by Steam.
Do you even read about indie dev sales or post mortem articles? Clearly you do not. A significant portion of them are literally "We made no money. Then we got on Steam and made a ton of money."

When a single business has an enormous amount of the market, being denied by that service means the literal death of an indie studio. When greenlight was first introduced, it was not easy for indie devs (of even good games) to get accepted. And what human being wants to risk his livelihood on the condition that a big business picks up their product?

You can attack the literal definition of monopoly all you want, but you lie in ignorance while Steam monopolizes PC gaming to the point of crushing many indie developers, small businesses, etc. There is much more to it than simply "Steam harms indie devs" but I won't get into those realities on how a single business becoming too large is bad for the consumer. Except for the fact I already mentioned many problems with Steam, which become standard problems for all consumers across other businesses as well (ex. a common no refund policy, which hurts the consumer just so the company can profit a tiny bit more at the expense of their ethical treatment of the consumer).

An ethical business with integrity can help set a standard to protect the consumer and better their treatment. If Steam started to be less heavy handed in refunds for broken or S*** games, if Steam didn't insist on forceful always-on DRM, or if Steam said "We do not support developers who want to scam consumers for cash." then competition (what little there is) would be more likely to provide the same services in the future. If scam devs cannot get on Steam, they would most likely go elsewhere because most of their scam income is FROM Steam.

Some of them might as well just sell donuts, compared to the money Steam makes.

You act as if indie developers can simply put their game on Uplay, Origin, or any other store. You ignore that these other vendors, such as Origin, are also funded by big business which has worse reputations than Steam when it comes to screwing the consumer for greed. You also ignore that getting on Origin is not this easy thing for indie developers. One does not simply "Place their game on Origin."

Putting your game on Humble Bundle doesn't give you all this money to survive as an indie developer. Do you know WHY? It is because Steam owns the majority share of consumers. Steam has more money, more popularity, more brand loyalty.

Like I said, you really need to educate yourself. Goto gamasutra and read postmortems relating to sales.

You obviously didn't read anything I stated. This has nothing to do with the false advertising which they refunded purchases. It has to do with what happened a week (and months) AFTER they admitted their fault. When the media stopped tracking the story, and they were no longer forced to reverse their bad PR. It has to do with the game being a scam, and Steam not only advertising the scam on their front page, but doing so multiple times, then allowing the scam to change its now (approving of their strategy to TRICK consumers into buying it, despite how it remains a scam).

Your ethics are questionable, when you give no blame to a party who ACTIVELY ADVERTISES a scam to their consumers, multiple times, INCLUDING using tricks and deception to get people to buy the scam by ACTIVELY TRYING TO FOOL THEM into thinking it isn't a scam.

You are truly naive if you think Steam had no say in WAR Z changing its name to "Infestation: Survivor Stories" and you support scamming gullible consumers if you support Steam not JUST allowing the name change, but HELPING to scam more people just for money.

Even if Steam did not approve of the scam, even if Steam allows any game (no matter how horrible it is for consumers), it is not the developer but STEAM who is directly responsible for advertising the scam on their front page, in hopes more people will buy the scam because they are tricked into thinking it is a different game.

Why should any product be allowed refunds?

Hmm, let's see... when it breaks, when it doesn't work, when it's nothing like advertised, when it's a scam, when you buy it for $30 and then you die after 10 minutes of playing and it says you have to pay more money to continue playing or else wait several hours? There are endless reasons.

Also, you lose this argument. European Law already protects consumers, forcing Steam to give refunds when products don't work. Steam only does this, the thing they SHOULD DO, because they are forced to BY LAW. The same laws do not exist to protect consumers outside of this area of the world, so Steam exploits them.

Contrary to your childish view of "screw the consumer, they don't deserve to be treated right" other nations disagree.
Sorry, but Consumer Protection Laws > Anti-Consumer Opinion.

You are more ignorant than I gave you credit for.

You do realize that even when you buy from Humble Bundle or Green Man Gaming, the very few alternatives, most of the time you get a STEAM KEY, and the only way to get the game is to install steam, download it through steam, and then go through Steam's DRM.

Even indie developers who you buy their game from directly, will simply email you a Steam Key.

Yea, that's not close to a monopoly. Because monopoly is that strict definition you cited. It can't possible be similar to a monopoly, or a subtle monopoly.




Thanks for addressing all of the problems. Now I get to see how fanboys defend Steam's (and other businesses like Origin's) unethical practices. You defend it mindlessly, without reason, most likely due to extreme ignorance or a very poor understanding of ethical treatment of consumers.

Blame the consumer when the product doesn't work. They want a refund? They shouldn't have been so stupid to be scammed in the first place right?

"It's not the vendor's fault for selling the scam. It's the consumer's fault for not knowing it's a scam!"

Yea right... *rolls eyes*

 

This is on topic, since the very conversation devolved from buying through Steam, and Steam in general. If people want to ask questions, I will gladly respond to educate them. I also do not feel the need to create a new topic bashing Steam, when this thread will suffice since it is directly related to buying things from Steam. Since not buying things and the reasons behind it has to do with that question, it is not anymore off topic than any other chatter.

So I ask people to defend Steam's unethical practices, and they do so by attacking or insulting me, laughing, or putting forth an almost non-existent rebuttal.

Just goes to show that I am right, and should double down on my belief that Steam fanboys mindlessly defend Steam for absolutely no reason.

I am sorry, but pointing out flaws or faults of Steam has absolutely nothing to do with you or your sensitive ego. Please do not get personally offended when someone points out that Steam lacks integrity and has become a source of greed.

You are not a bad person to like Steam. If Steam is unethical, and you like Steam, that does NOT mean YOU are unethical. Do not identify yourself with a service or organization to the point of taking personal offense when someone questions said service or organization.

 

Yeah, right....

Anyway thinking of picking up wolf among us today

 

Ah, nevermind. My wall of educating text is a bit pointless now than all of the posts insulting me or asking questions to me were all deleted.

Now it just looks like I'm ranting at myself, hahaha

Edit: Beyond weird. Several people just *vanished*. A bit confusing to say the least, but totally ACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Lemongrab rules!!!!!!! lol, he's SO my fave)

Edit2: Boy am I an idiot, hahaha. I just have them on ignore, that is why I am not used to the way this forum handles ignored users. Even their quotes disappear. Nifty feature.

 

Seems you and CD Projekt Red have a lot in common, I'm not a fan of DRM and never saw the point in it TBH. Somone will crack your game sooner or later, so why I should waste time and money trying to avoid it I can't fathom.

Also you should always get refunds for faulty products, it's not your fault you bought something duff. But I've known steam give refunds in the worst case scenarios.

But meh! It's one of the best channels to get games you want through. I'll buy through GOG if I can though, I suppose steam have helped indies.

I've bought Tomb Raider, Kingdom of Alamur and something else that couldn't of been that good because I've forgot . Edit: Bioshock Infinite, that's it. Not usually my soft of thing, but I'm interested.

Also like someone says on the other page, I think I'll buy the forest A) Because I like supporting other devs B) I want to see if they really have pushed Unity and what all the fuss is about .

 

Battleblock Theater and Planetary Annihilation here

 

(i added some comments in bold, in the quote above).

Thanks for your support though. Especially with the No-DRM support.

DRM alone is the most idiotic idea ever invented. I don't understand why AAA companies pour so much money into such a pointless endeavor. Nearly always, before the game is even released, it is leaked and fully cracked. Even Steam's DRM is a joke.

It is so sad that when consumers who have paid for the product, are better off downloading it from a torrent site, than downloading it through a service like Steam or Origin. Usually what I do is I buy the product, make sure it's payed, and if it's not a simple download & play setup, I crack it immediately.

Meanwhile, all my friends and family are constantly complaining about the ridiculous DRM. I tell them there's nothing unethical about paying full price and then downloading the crack elsewhere. Everyone gets their money, and the indie dev saves on bandwidth costs too! Haha


EDIT: Also love GoG for this reason as well: "In regions where there’s a price difference for The Witcher 3, GOG will make up the difference in game credits." I love them.

 

Hahahaha, I had no idea who that was. Then I found out.

You've got that right. Before I even learned they were working on a GoG exclusive deal with their game, I already had that idea in mind.

Sounds like we think exactly the same in more than just one way, hahaha


The only difference is that I was thinking more along the lines of a title-exclusive to GoG, for at least a set amount of time. In this way, I as an indie dev can support GoG by giving them first dibbs. If the game is not popular or only a tiny bit so, it's not much. However the more popular it is, the more I get to support GoG, so at least there's always that chance they score big.

 

Well I'm glad you put so much effort into your reply. I can see your opinion isn't changing, so I'll leave you alone and keep my opinion. I still fail to see how WarZ is still a scam? It's a S*** game! Anybody that watches a "Lets play" or even looks over the steam page should be able to tell that, but it is NOW as it is advertised and not lies. It isn't steam job to keep people from their own stupidity.

I can sell dog S*** to people for money and as long as I tell them "hey this is dog S***" I don't see what the problem is. If they want to buy it, not my job to force stupid people to keep their money. Now, tricking people into buying fake Microsoft windows warranties for their pc is wrong, as you're telling people lies and that is a SCAM. Selling people S*** games, while clearly and accurately displaying that the game is S*** is not a scam.

Steam has helped indies instead of hurting them, all these big early access games are only possible because of steams "evil death giving monopoly".

No reply is needed, I'm done for today.

 

Still buying stuff pointlessly. I guess I need a lot of rainy days to make use of all these purchases. BTW can people stop reporting each other over minor stuff? it's a waste of mod time and we won't respond just because people don't like the tone used by another poster.

Actual insults might get a response but why waste our time guys? quit reporting each other over trivial things and enjoy a passionate discussion - but keep it civil as always.

 

REPORTED, off topic and tone is slightly to high pitched.

The issue with Steam is I just never play any games so I don't buy them. In situations when normal people play games I open up Unity and do some developing, so their is no point of games.

 

REPORTED, off topic and talking to a moderator like he isn't a god among men. (HELLO? Where is your [worship] [/bowdown]

I truly wonder how many people actually play the games they buy from Steam. It would be hilarious if 99% of Steam's revenue was from marketing to people who never used the product...ever.

I'm pretty sure I hear 10 people for every 1 who say they have hundreds of games on Steam they never play. I am among one of them, lol.

 

I think its a shift in the way it works, my hypothesis is that while games sell lots more now, they sell for much less so companies are not necessarily making more or less money (Though common sense would suggest they make more) In regard to people who actually play the games I'd think numbers are quite similar as more people buy it but don't play it.

 

Man, I wonder what other markets think of the video game industry. It is probably only in their wettest of dreams that consumers buy their products and never use them.

"No one ever complains about our vacuums. Of course, no one ever uses them either, but we sell thousands every day!"

 

Indeed, especially when people buy a full series and never play a single one, just to complete their collection

 

I'm sorry. I wasn't going to keep this up but I can't resist replying to this post:

Yeah. So to be wealthy, I just have to sit on my butt and watch capitalism bring me riches? Every millionaire is a millionaire for a reason. The stereotype is that wealthy people just roll in a bunch of cash that they don't deserve. But how did they get to where they are now? They got there through genius ideas, innovation, and hard work, in most cases.

This is where anti-capitalists go wrong. The underlying assumption is that wealth should be divided evenly among the people. Sounds great right? Everybody should be treated equally. Everybody's happy. This is socialism. Socialism works great in a perfect world. But guess what? This isn't a perfect world. Not even close. People naturally are lazy, they want to go the easy route. With socialism, there is no motivation to succeed, innovate, or better yourself. Nobody cares, because everybody knows he's going to get his "fair" share of the wealth.

I don't know if you live in the United States or not, but if you do, then why don't you leave? Go to some socialist or communist third world country where people literally do die in the streets. Wherever you are, you have to admit the facts: 1-2 million immigrants come to the USA every year - for a reason. Why? Because capitalism sucks. Oh wait... that doesn't make sense. No. It's because people want to be in a system where they have a chance to better themselves and others by working hard - instead of knowing that the fruits of their labors will be wasted on those who won't pull their own weight.

Anyway, I realize this is off topic but after reading that post over and over... I couldn't resist. Also realize that I mean in no way for this to be an attack on you BigB, and I hope you'll take this in the most respectfull way possible.

 

That is sad.

What is even more sad, is....


*raises hand*

Guilty....

 

I think Ctrl+Alt+Del has the right idea for how to deal with buying games and realizing you never play them.

http://www.cad-comic.com/sillies/20140621

 

After seeing the image you posted of your Steam summary, I went and found mine. Big mistake. Looking at my total hours played, I really understand the quote below now:

"In the amount of time i spent playing Animal Crossing, i could have MADE Animal Crossing." --Ryan Henson Creighton

 

Actually, most wealth is inherited and/or passed around pre-existing class lines. This is why so many people are in poverty and so many people can not escape poverty. Capital inherently travels upwards, which means that things like higher education and health care are only available to the wealthy. It's not people who are upwardly transported in capitalism, it is capital alone.

Nothing you've said here is backed up by any historical evidence. In fact, programs like mincome were verified by later studies to typically only reduce the workforce in single mothers and teens who were working to support their families.

People are dying in the streets in America right now. Or did you forget about the homeless problem? Or the fact that 16% of Americans are living below the poverty line because minimum wage laws don't provide a liveable wage? Did you also forget that most of the people coming to America from south of the border are doing so because of a borderline civil war in Mexico?

 

Do you all know what sounds like a good idea? Talking about Valve taking all the money instead of the good old Socialist Vs. Capitalist talk.

 

This is way to deep bro.. *Reaches coffee, opens Steam*..

 

Why don't we change the topic and talk about Obama... It'd Atleast be amusing...

 

I am going to report you for asking me to stop reporting people.

 

This is where you are wrong. Innovations would still have happened, only with a slower and much healthier pace. There are always people who want to improve something. Besides most innovations today are irrelevant, no one needs the latest technologies of whatever you can imagine every single year... e.g. "This year we offer 1/3 more pixels on your eye cancer screen! Our new car model has a third backlight!". People are put under pressure to develop on one day, which is dumped the other day. It's sick. I'd rather enjoy an existence without the stress, pushiness, modern slavery, that we are now. And capitalism is one of the root evils.

 

One of those people - Steam Bad. Steam Evil.

Really? Integrity, morality and ethics by choosing where to buy to GAMES. I'm amazed then you're not running around naked in a forest foraging for food cause if you think that way about buying games then every company is somewhere down the line going to have something you dislike about it and to keep that integrity and moral high ground thats where you'll need to go.

No I'm not a fan of DRM nor a fanboy of Steam but Steam is much more than a DRM platform. It adds things like hats.

Steam employees don't play a game before they accept it. Not anymore since greenlight became a thing. It's an automated process now. Hence why S***e like Air Control gets through. I won't disagree that Steam has a responsibility about what it sells but the consumer also has a responsibility to find out something about what it is buying.

Steam didn't have a hand either in re-naming WarZ it was too do with that small film that came out a while back with a similar name that forced a re-change. Of course games are going to slip through the cracks now and then but its not exclusive to Steam. See games like Aliens: Colonial Marines and other console titles.

Yeah I've seen sales figures and who are these many, MANY devs that hate Steam. You can't blame them either for how gamers choose to purchase their games. I fail to see how Steam has harmed indie games if anything its given people the chance to succeed to a level they couldn't have without it.

What about the app store or google play or whatever the F*** other store there is out there how are they any different to what you're painting steam as.

EU law does not extend to getting a refund because you thought a game was S***. If it's not fit for purpose or as advertised(which is ye know what the law covers) then I agree you should get a refund but wanting one because you thought it was pish. Come on that would abused to hell and back and as Landon pointed out you should be taking a look at a review or the forums or whatever before deciding whether or not to buy something rather than just buying it straight up without knowing a thing about it.

Steam is hardly unethical. A few bad games and suddenly raaaaggghhh! Evil!. It's got its share of problems more that are creeping

CDProjekt doesn't need to work with GoG to make an exclusive deal for The Witcher 3. They own GoG they could make exclusive if they wanted to but it would be stupid for them to do so.

You still dodged the question of whether you'll be putting your game up on Steam.

 

So its cool to use the platform then just not buy from it? Pfft.

 

UK, Canada, Denmark etc etc Say hi.

 

I always found this argument interesting, somebodys got to get ripped off to find out what it's all about. It's not like you can trust the people throwing out this rubbish to be honest. ..

 

USA says Bye ... (unfortunately)

 

I just bought the mount and blade collection. Played for 10 min and uninstalled. It's a great game but I need to focus on my ' even better ' game lol. Oh steam, you can take my money any day

EDIT:
I did happen to snag a few things from the Unity asset store sale as well. I plan on doin a jam with those assets this weekend. I will post in the showcase form on Monday

 

this year summer sale is not as good as past years

 

I like this thread. It let's me filter out the mindless types or people who don't grasp what integrity is.

I've yet to see any argument that even remotely discusses the unethical practices of steam.

And no, saying "nuh uh!!!! Is not an argument.

 

Dude holy crap, can you just stop? Are you like 12 or something? Almost every forum I see you arguing and reprimanding everybody. You are so self-absorbed that you just get a thrill from yelling at everybody. Guess what? You are wrong. Your opinions are wrong. So please stop! Please! You are a plague to these forums and you are just as annoying as Lemon Grab (maybe even more).

 

I wasn't going to say anything but you're right. Even though we're all just "mindless types or people who don't grasp what integrity is." Insulting people will get you nowhere.

 

I understand what integrity is. I'm smart like that but claiming you have it because you choose not to buy from Steam but still use it as platform to get games on is laughable.

I've yet to see you trot out another example other than WarZ or answer the question of whether you'll be putting your game up on Steam or Greenlight.

Anyhoo. So far I've picked up X-Com expansion and Metal Gear.

 

Steam sales

Good for game collectors since ages ago.


re: @CarterG81... pretty much just skip past his post's...

 

i picked up fallout New Vegas, farcry 3, batman arkham origins, hit man absolution and witcher 2 lol....i went a little crazy but these are titles i loved but never beat or haven't playing(arkham origins is the only one not played and, i beat fallout once but come can we say replay value lol and also didnt play those fallout dlc so yea) and since i only have a PS4 now im glad steam had a sale

 

I've gotten myself Sleeping Dogs (because I like seeing how games represent real cities, HK in this example), and Tomb Raider 2013 because I'm looking into female protagonist design for my current project.

 

Sleeping dogs was a great game (another i didnt finish , i see a pattern here lol) and tomb raider omg one of the best mainstream games of last year

 

and if anyone is a big steam player add me! "dawizkid21"

 

will do

 

what are you talking about? I dont use steam as a platform to get games on.......if you actaully read what you responded to...youd know it is quite clear I oppose steam for many reasons... how can you even participate in this discussion if you fail to grasp I am against steam? Holy bannanas...

 

I dont see any problem with steam.

I do however have a problem with the sh1tty clones that popped up after it... origin, uplay, etc

The thing that annoys me THE most, is when I buy a game through steam, start the game, it loads uplay... err.. k!

 

Lemons, surely.

 

Your Simian-ness just dislikes the negative use of bananas!

We all know you favor the side with the most bananas!

*Squeezes lemon juice in the Simian's eyes, and runs away to find more banana...plants?*

 

You're a really spiteful citrus. I'll get you once I find you!