Poll: Digital Refund - Should it be an Option?

[bells]

Let's start by stating the obvious. Games are expensive. More so in the recent years perhaps. With the advent of Digital distribution we saw a weird paradox forming... sometimes the digital version of a game will be just as expensive as the physical copy but sometimes lacking more content...

here is the thing though, if i buy a game in it's physical form and i don't like it, i can return it. I can even get a refund. Trade ir for another game! Sure, i don't get full value back... but i can at least move up a game i don't like or don't want anymore in favor of something i do want.

Not with digital distribution though...

and why DLC doesn't fit in that category? Is it not a item i bought? Is it no an essencial part of a product? So i can return and get a refund from a physical game i bought but i don't have any right to request refund out of DLC i bought for the same game?

Why?

This is something i think people should be a little more vocal about... pro or con, either way, this isn't discussed. Big companies are shooting their crap at the wall non stop just to see how far they can go and nobody says a word about it. We just take it, or complain about it AFTER giving them our money...

Here is the thing people keep forgetting... Once you payed for the game or the DLC, your importance in the eyes of the developer is muuuuuuuuch lower then it was when you had the money in hand and they the game for sale. You already bought it. They already profited. You might complaing, but PR can spin it freely and make it a "vocal minority that is always present" since most of the people who actually buy the games don't stick around for the online debates... they just buy it and like it or not. Most are not vocal but most has more value then few. Because it's always about the bottom line. You don't speak with your wallet, the company doesn't have to give a damn... they can always make new games, new Ip's, new licensing, recycling old games...

They can register any Digital purchase you make to your account. Why can't they refund me if i change my mind on some DLC i don't care for anymore? Or a Digital copy of a game?

Now, of course, this is only my opinion, and i would certainly like to hear more from others, so have at it!

 

[Racecarlock]

Yeah. Anytime. If a game is broken, it should be able to be returned. Physical or digital. All of these new no refunds policies from both physical game stores and digital distribution platforms piss me off. If you get ripped off, you should be able to get a refund. Fuck that buyer beware bullshit, especially in this day and age where many companies aren't above flat out lying to the customer. If ed, edd, n' eddy can't get away with it, neither can you.

 

[lunavixen]

i believe there should a refund system in place for full games purchased digitally, even if it is just partial refund, but with DLC it gets a little harder, especially if it is an expansion pack, a character pack or something similar. It is harder to draw the line with digital purchasing. i don't know if there is some way of making a digitally purchased item defunct on a system, a bit like blocking SIM cards in stolen phones or blocking bank accounts in fraud cases, but i think if a game was refunded, the system access to the game could be blocked until deleted as the company would have a systems details from the purchase information. But then again that poses a problem too, because say, if that process was hijacked whats to stop them jacking up epoples systems.

It'd be a messy concept to enable, it's a nice idea for sure, but i don't think it's wholly practical.

 

[bells]

I'm pretty sure that if the companies see the need to do it (like some do to plaster "DRM Free" on their games as a selling point now... they can find a way to do it for sure.

Think of the new Batman Arkham City DLC... it's Story content for the game. It's not a patch nor a update. It's Optional and payed for. Some people didn't like it. Were not happy with it. So... just because it's DLC i should be out 10 bucks for it? Why should the developer give a damn about my complaints if they already sold me on the thing i can't return?

That's the real push here... Big companies dislike the Game Trading business and the reselling of games and are using DLC and Digital offerings as a way to dissuade games from those... but from a Customer's Right point of view, aren't you getting literally ripped off if you buy a product you can't evaluate beforehand by yourself, and that it only works with a product you bought previously AND that you can't possibility return if it doesn't meet your satisfaction as a paying customer?

Maybe i bought costume packs for my characters only to find out that they were already on the disc, as a Customer i might find that it's my right to reverse this purchase and get my money back... i mean, why not? "Because it's hard to do" is not really an answer that satisfies me as a cosumer.

I see no need or reason to care for Digital games are some sort of special goods that doesn't have to answer to Consumer Rights... same for Physical ones.

 

[veloper]

Sure we all love to get refunds even for games we've completed a hundred times before we got bored with them.

Not going to happen though. Nothing more than a gamer's daydream.

 

[distortedreality]

They can register any Digital purchase you make to your account. Why can't they refund me if i change my mind on some DLC i don't care for anymore? Or a Digital copy of a game?

Sorry, in DD you aren't buying the game - you are buying the licence to play the game. So: "no refund for you" (said in a Soup Nazi voice). You're lucky they don't just revoke your licence.

Fuck, I wish people would realize how DD services like Steam are a golden ticket to having our rights as consumers trampled. Enjoy your discounts now ladies, cause once physical copies are obsolete, we're all fucked.

It's pretty much the same with a physical copy though. You own the physical disc, box, manual etc, but you don't own the contents of the disc.

OT - broken games can be refunded if purchased digitally (with Steam anyway). Shouldn't be able to get a refund for any other reason. If you don't like the game, you shouldn't of bought it.

 

[endtherapture]

I've bought some games which don't work at all (Oddworld games on Steam) and I'm not aware if they can be refunded so yes I think they should be refunded.

 

[bojackx]

Currently, there's a lot of ways around it so that people could get free stuff, but if we can get a reliable system in place, then yeah definitely.

 

[Yopaz]

Unless the game doesn't work (not because the computer is too weak to handle it) I don't think the customer deserves a refund. Over here we can't get refund for physical games either. As soon as the box is open we have lost all for a refund so there's not much difference between physical and digital here. Also returning a game because you played it and didn't like it? That's a weak excuse for a refund.

 

[brunothepig]

There is at least one [a href=http://www.greenmangaming.com/]service[/a] that offers this. I've never used it, but a friend has and essentially you do have the option of trading in your cd key, and getting a bit of credit to spend on other games. Not sure if you can extract the credit as actual money, but there you are. It is entirely possible, it's as simple as taking the cd key away from you and making it available again.

As for why more services don't do it, I don't know. I imagine it opens you up to a whole range of exploits, which is a major headache, and I don't know about elsewhere but in Australia the PC market doesn't have much of a used game section thanks to the proliferation of activation limits and shit. And of course, with cracks it means one can get games for very cheap. The equivalent of renting a movie to rip it. Buy the game, install it, sell it back straight away, crack it, and start playing your new game. Not hard at all. This is much harder to do with console games, and consequently may be the reason retailers seem determined to not resell PC games, or to pay out very little for trade-ins.

Having bought Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead recently to try out Day Z, only to find I can't for the life of me get them to work properly I would like to be able to get a refund for that. But I don't think it's a huge deal, like I said physical versions don't often get resold either, it's more an opportunity for DD services, since you're assured you will be able to activate the game, and it's not going to be scratched.

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't bought a physical copy of a PC game in years... Except BF3, off a friend. So my knowledge of the PC market may be a bit off by now. But I do occasionally have a look when I'm getting a console game, and I rarely see any second hand PC games.

 

[Ranylyn]

Disclaimer: I have never once traded games in before this generation of gaming. This gen? Over 40. So I understand, and understand DAMN WELL, that games aren't great this gen. I feel strongly about DD - and in the negative sense - in the wake of having a small, limited bandwith to SHARE, so I'm effectively locked out of games with large downloads unless I want to pay double the price to cover my internet.


That said, I'll use Mass Effect as an example. ME2 is 19.99 on the PSN. Let's say I've never played a shooter before but love RPGs, and heard a lot about the systems in place and was curious about it. So I pay for it, and download it (wasting 12 GB, might I add) and within 2 hours realize "Damn, this game really isn't for me." Well not only am I out 20 bucks simply since I can't trade it in like a physical copy, but I'm also out that much bandwith.

(About ME: I've never had a chance to get into it, but I do want to. I love the concept so I used it as an example. I don't mind shooters, so don't all gank me for being a closed-minded bigot, it's just an example.)

There definitely SHOULD be a system in place to get SOME sort of return. Even if it's only half, that would be credit that could go towards another game, and thus more sales. Companies would still keep the first half of the purchase profits so they still make a profit, while enabling more consumers to have access to their products, which makes them even MORE profit.

That, and PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. So let's say I have a 120 GB Hard Drive for my 360. I have 8 GB left from all the games I've bought. I clearly need to delete stuff to make more room, and reinstalling stuff later would, you guessed it, waste bandwith as well. So what the hell would be wrong with "trading" some of that content in?

I'm thinking a percentage, based on how long you've had the game...

1-2 days: 70%
1 week: 50%
Over a month: 30%

 

[SlaveNumber23]

I don't think it should be an option, the only real reason to get a refund for something is if it is broken, and this problem is solved with digital media as you can just download the files again. Getting a refund for a game because you don't enjoy it or your computer can't handle it is just wasting the time of the people who sold it to you, it is your own fault for not researching the system requirements of the game and verifying that your computer meets them.

 

[kingthrall]

no 2, is the most plausible option. However I think there should be some sort of digital clock. I mean programs such as steam CLOCK your hours of gameplay, so maybe make it if you pass the 24 hour mark the game is yours?

 

[Valdus]

Yes. In Britain we have consumer rights which entitle us to a refund if the produce is not fit for purpose. It doesn't matter what the product is, if it's not fit we get a refund. Oddly enough, you can get round this by providing a service (so a game which has a monthly subscription won't offer a refund) but anything you buy directly (such as DLC and games digitally) are still applied.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

No matter what a company says, in my country you are legally entitled to and may demand a refund if the product doesn't work or perform as described. It doesn't matter what they say in an EULA or if the store says they don't do refunds, if it doesn't work as described, they have to refund you. No ifs ands or buts. Failing that, you can threaten legal action (which you could win) and they will give in.

 

[baddude1337]

The only time a digital refund would be appropriate would be if the game/download itself was broken, rendering you unable to play it. Returning because you are bored of it doesn't really work for a digital platform. How would they resell a digital copy?

 

[Starik20X6]

Yeah, but only under certain circumstances:

- If the game is in any way broken
- For a brief 'grace period' after purchase, after X hours of playing (as in, you can't play through the whole game then ask for a refund)

You can't just expect companies to be all "it's ok, you played through our entire game, here, have your money back now". The best comparison I can think of is a restaurant: If you take one bite and don't like it, they'll happily fix it up for you, but after a certain point you've eaten the meal and they won't refund it. I know it's not a perfect analogy, it's tricky because there's no physical product involved, but the same basic principle applies- you consumed X amount of this product, which is too much to now get it refunded.