Yes, that is correct. We’re the ones to blame for Valve suddenly going the way of Sony and Microsoft in its latest Steam TOS…more like a POS. Keep in mind that while the thing about class action lawsuits are nothing new (not that it makes it okay for someone to take such a draconian approach to the whole thing), the thing that came up about them possibly being able to completely and permanently lock you out of games you bought if you don’t agree to the terms IS something new, and is the genesis as to why this has become such a red button topic right now. Not to mention that this is coming from a company known for putting customers first.
We’re to blame for one reason only: we’ve come to accept things like this, and even somewhat encouraging them. Yeah, we understand the dangers of piracy and everything else, but do we seriously need to have everyone trample over consumer protections in order to combat something that could be considered a scapegoat when a game doesn’t sell well? In some gamers’ minds, yeah, it has to be. But it shouldn’t have to.
I had the same issue when Sony did this. The more people accept it, the more things like this are going to happen. Yeah, Valve poured the gasoline on the fire, but let’s look at who set the first to begin with. Let’s be honest, if we had called foul on Sony’s way to scamper past the lawsuits over the PSN downtime and whatnot, then we wouldn’t be in this state.
However, what did we do instead?
We allowed and encouraged people to say that George Hotz (oh, I’m sorry, I forgot we called him “Frodo” here) should be mutilated and unspeakable things done to his corpse, letting the comments fester for days on this site without even a hint of a moderator doing anything about it, and then two users that seemed to really hate Geohot get promoted to mods at a real suspicious time (no censoring became of it, but the timing was bad for that to happen as the two in question were shooting at the mouth about how Hotz was some disgusting excuse for a human being...nothing personal towards those people, but still...). We in the same breath cheered Sony on and encouraged them to use backdoor and nearly illegal tactics to win the case that ended up getting settled.
We argued over and over about the legality of homebrew on the PS3. Regardless of your view on that, bottom line is that the furor got as heated as the Geohot thing did.
The EFF, who was praised before, suddenly got slammed for filing for the DMCA exceptions (which are expected to be ruled on this year along with the phone jailbreak renewal).
The group Anonymous…well, how many times did we have to hear about that one.
And when the PSN went down last year…well, how many times did anyone who dared to question of what took so damn long get treated with endless vitriol?
Then, the class action lawsuit happened, and everyone cheered Sony on.
Then that TOS came down, and we KNEW what was in it. A few stories on this very site showed us exactly what they were doing. Did we call Sony out on it? Did we say that it couldn’t be true and that Sony was in the wrong, as we are doing with Valve now?
HELL NO! We PRAISED them for putting something like that in. We WANTED them to be immune from class action lawsuits.
Well, sort of. Sony did something that Valve isn’t doing now, which was give you the option to opt out with no harm done. And even if you didn’t agree with the TOS, you were still allowed to play the games you owned offline, at least.
But here came Valve with a megaton of an admission. Now, let’s be clear here that this came from a Steam Support clerk, and it was not the best worded answer in the world. So unless there’s enough furor over such an announcement that Gabe has to come forth and say something about the topic, as I’m sure there has been, we won’t be sure if this is the case or not. However, assuming that it is, this is the most draconian way to get you to say yes to something that effectively circumvents your rights.
Now, let’s also be clear that while class action lawsuits are not the best method in the world to get monetary compensation from a corporation that has done you wrong, there is an effect that it has, and that is that the reputation of said company gets put into question.
The movie Erin Brockovich dramatized the real story of a small town lawyer who was able to get PG&E to pay $333 million amongst over 600 plaintiffs after those 600 plus got sick from pollution in the groundwater from their doing (the details are in the movie). It was the highest amount paid in an arbitration case.
While each plaintiff probably didn’t get as much individually as they probably would’ve had if they each filed their own suit, there was financial damage done to PG&E, as well as reputation damage. How much attention do you think would get paid to an issue if so many people are willing to sue you? Look how much attention got paid to the lawsuit against Sony last year? Yes, class action lawsuits are something that companies don’t want to be defendants of because they have a MUCH harder time winning them because of the sheer volume of people willing to sue you. It’s easier to beat one person than twenty or forty of them.
So it would make sense, to them, to make sure that is taken out of the question (Valve even went as far as to post a Steam blog trying to paint a different picture about their decision). That in of itself isn’t okay because where is the exposure that they’re up to no good going to come from?
However, throw in the lock out of everything you paid for off of Steam and you got the recipe for disaster. To me, that’s what blew the lid off of this thing, and what could’ve made people wake up to TOS’s like this, and how far people are willing to go to make sure you accept their draconian measures.
Problem is, if only we woke up sooner…
Games Asylum: "Before starting this review, I attempted to research the time management genre, inadvertently discovering an unexplored world filled with countless colourful farming and cooking games for PC and mobiles – most of which have either the word ‘frenzy’ or ‘mania’ in their titles. The Kindeman Remedy falls into the same genre but is the polar opposite, commencing with a warning screen for its graphic content, while also featuring a morally dubious – although intriguing – premise. Those hooked on Farm Frenzy are probably going to go through life blissfully unaware of The Kindeman Remedy’s existence; it’s for a very discerning audience."
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Turtles unite! Wrath of the Mutants brings the shelled foursome back to all formats with a shiny arcade release. But is it cowabunga or cow pat? JDR orders pizza for today's review.
Look up sevarability. Most states and even countries protect the individual from such agreements, making that portion of the EULA null and void through the use of severability.
They are adding this into their EULA just as a way to avoid it, and sadly video game manufacturers are not the first to do it. It's been in most software for years now. But, even with it, the court can easily overturn this licensing agreement portion if just cause were presented as to why it would adversely affect the users.
***The movie Erin Brockovich dramatized the real story of a small town lawyer who was able to get PG&E to pay $333 million amongst over 600 plaintiffs after those 600 plus got sick from pollution in the groundwater from their doing (the details are in the movie). It was the highest amount paid in an arbitration case. ***
40% of that money, which they didn't get until years and years later, went to the lawyers.
Wow, your blog went in the WRONG direction to gain support against this kind of action. For starters, Sony didn't "start" this action. As cgoodno stated above, it has been present for quite some time in the PC world of software.
Two, your views on what happened during the PSN downtime show a huge bias against Sony and no fact.
Three, Sony implemented their version of that TOS due to the people trying to file a flawed class-action suit against them for the removal of OtherOS, and then another flawed ATTEMPT at a class-action suit over the PSN hack. Their TOS states that you agree to NOT file a class-action suit against them, or if you do you lose access to PSN. That is a reasonable term. Why would A)You continue to use the service of a company you are suing, and B)That company ALLOW you to use that service especially when you pay nothing for it. The TOS doesn't prevent you from filing a class-action suit, it states that if you do then you understand you waive your right to access PSN.
Similarly, any company with this kind of TOS can't actually prevent you from filing a class-action suit, but they CAN deny you access to a service for the duration of that suit unless you pay for that service. And even, in some cases, if you do pay for it they can deny you access because, let's be serious here, why would someone allow you to use something when you're attacking them in court over it?
People need to actually pay attention to all the language in these EULA/TOS agreements. When they don't, and they get all into a huff about it, all it does is make them look like they are sue happy people upset that they can't make money off a company if something doesn't go their way. There's fighting for consumer rights, and then there's just trying to make an easy buck off a company.
Microsoft was already moving in this direction at the start of this year when they forced anyone who wanted to play on Live to give up any right to sue Xbox or Microsoft for any reason. Basically, if your Xbox 360 got up, killed your family and gave you AIDs, you would just have to suffer for it. Oh, any other reasons you might want to sue them were also included. So this was an obvious next step for them.
On a good note, the tighter they put their grip on their customers, the more their customers are going to start looking elsewhere. And that could mean the rise of a completely new gaming system. From adversity great things will come.