Steam is now Regionally restricted

[Noblemartel]

Hell there's an article from IGN in December about the fact that stuff was region locked..https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD4QFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ign.com%2Farticles%2F2014%2F12%2F17%2Fsteams-region-locks-games-to-fight-currency-exploits&ei=NAQDVY6aM9KhugSVk4KIAw&usg=AFQjCNGbZwUL-ZMclpVnbEHWHtzAg2j0gw&bvm=bv.88198703,d.c2E

(I may be bad at posting links in case you cant tell)

Edit: I also just noticed that the region locking was only affecting certain areas... which include Indonesia and for some stupid reason Singapore.

 

[CaitSeith]

Meh. Still better than Origin, I guess...

 

[Recusant]

What people were doing was essentially tax evasion, so I understand why valve would do this. It's easy to get upset at them because you lose a way to pay less for games, but I see it as an unfortunate but necessary action.

What people were doing was globalization, the same as what Valve is doing- you lower the price in a given region, people get it from that region. Now Valve's upset that consumers have figured out their trick and is changing the rules. Though certainly a scummy thing to do, Valve's entirely within their rights to do so, but don't go claiming that what these consumers were doing is any worse than what Valve was doing in the first place: taking advantage of the fact that a product that needs no manufacturing or shipping costs needs no manufacturing or shipping costs.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

My question is what if you take your laptop (or even big boy PC) on a big trip to a another region and the trip last longer than the two week time limit for Go Offline Mode? (Is GOM still a thing?) Or, you want to buy a game with on vacation/business in another region?

Steam should just look at the person's address on file and compare to where they are. If the regions match, let the stuff work. If the regions don't match, but the computer was registered in the address's region, let them at least play their games, if not also buy new games. (Safety measures would have to be in place so no one can cheat the system by purchasing games for cheaper than what they would normally play.) Finally, there should be a way to keep (most of) your games but change your region because you moved. That one should have severe limitations but at least allow you to do it at least every so often, even if it was a hidden option and you had to contact Steam Support to do so. (Think about business people, military personnel and families, diplomats and their families.)

I've never had any trouble with Steam, online or off. Okay, I have a couple of times some time ago but for the last couple of years it's worked fine for me.

My credit card is registered to NY, USA. When I initially visit the site, I see everything in GBP. When I login, it switches to USD. I'm in London, UK but buy in USD from US store without issue. I just came back from three weeks in HK and Indonesia. Steamguard kicked in when I tried to use the site (despite my laptop's browser being authorised previously), but let me in once I put in the code (Holy crap are games cheap in Indonesia! I wish I had an Indo credit card for the amount I'd save!). I'll admit I did go online once or twice (installed some small, indie games over slow, free WiFi) but mostly offline.

There was one change I noticed. Previously, once switching to offline mode Steam would simply always start offline thereafter until manually going to Online mode. Now every time it's started it asks which mode you want, if it was offline previously (or if it was online previously but no Internet connection is available). I used the client to buy GTA5 and a couple of other things while I was away.

So I think any such suggestions are rather unnecessary. Saying that, the restrictions on gifts actually came in some time ago. I think I got lucky with timing when I traded some TF2 keys for a Mafia 2 DLC not available in the West, with a player in E. Europe who could buy and trade it. I didn't see there was an issue with "playing" said games till this post.

For the overwhelming majority of people, this won't be an issue. Most players buy from the store and play from their library. Those that trade, usually do so within the "regions" so there's not so much crossover. And these restrictions likely only apply to few games. I expect it's to do with third party sites selling russian keys (I think my copy of BL2 on Steam came from one of those).

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Far as I'm aware the restrictions have always been imposed on CERTAIN regions and only some games are restricted. Russia is an example - most games are less than half their RRP in Russia because of how much of a thing piracy is over there. However, those games are also region locked. There is a warning on the store page if a game you are about to buy is region locked. There is no way Valve would suddenly lock your existing games. The ensuing lawsuits would be too much to handle, even for them. I don't know where you got that bit from because it doesn't say it in the article.

NOTHING in the article suggests that your existing games would stop working if you moved out of your country. In fact, it isn't even talking about games on your account at all. It's talking about gifts and new purchases. In CIS countries. It isn't even news. This has been a thing for ages. In fact, my worst experience with steam was when I got (without warning) a CIS-restricted game in Slovakia, which isn't even a part of CIS.

Now Valve changing their gifting policy isn't surprising, given the insane price differences between some regions. Not to mention the entire gray market thing. It is entirely understandable.

Valve aren't stupid. Give them some credit. And read things properly before you comment.

 

[Zannah]

And I'm just here wondering what exactly it'll take for people to stop claiming valve was founded by jesus himself.

 

[DrOswald]

I never got the point of region locking. I mean how does ANYONE benefit? It feels like being a dick for the sake of being a dick.

In this particular case the reason is that region locking in this very specific manner allows people in 3rd world countries to have access to video games at a price they can reasonably afford.

See, digital distribution has changed the rules a lot on how games can be sold profitably. The cost of selling another unit is virtually zero. This means that sellers can adjust their price to the region they sell it in. So if you have some region where people are poor you can sell the game for $5 instead of $60. You don't make a ton of money off of it, but you make something (better than the nothing you were getting before) and these people get to play your game at a reasonable price. It is a win-win.

However, this variable pricing structure is dependent on the fact that people in the rich region must purchase at the rich region price while the people in the poor region can purchase at the poor region price. The company cannot afford to sell their game at the poor region price everywhere or they will not be able to make a profit and they go under.

Now, Steam formerly didn't have this type of region locking. They instead ran on the trust system, trusting everyone to buy the game at the price decided on for their region. However, opportunists took advantage of this system, purchasing game keys in the poor region and then selling them to people in the rich region at a large markup, which is still very cheap for the rich region (300% of $5 is a lot less than $60.)

This eliminates any profit (and more) that would come for serving the poor region, making this a bad business decision. So companies stop offering their games to these poor regions at an adjusted price. These poor regions stop being able to have quality games at reasonable prices. The selfishness and greed of the few turn a win-win into a lose-lose.

So Valve builds region locking into Steam to prevent this sort of abuse of the system. You will notice the locking is very specific - it only applies to keys purchases in a poor region, gifted and then played in a rich region. It is laser targeted to prevent the very specific abuse of the system that leads to companies withdrawing their products from less prosperous regions

This is not Valve being assholes to their customers. This is Valve preventing the asshole rich effectively stealing from the poor.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

I never got the point of region locking. I mean how does ANYONE benefit? It feels like being a dick for the sake of being a dick.

In this particular case the reason is that region locking in this very specific manner allows people in 3rd world countries to have access to video games at a price they can reasonably afford.

See, digital distribution has changed the rules a lot on how games can be sold profitably. The cost of selling another unit is virtually zero. This means that sellers can adjust their price to the region they sell it in. So if you have some region where people are poor you can sell the game for $5 instead of $60. You don't make a ton of money off of it, but you make something (better than the nothing you were getting before) and these people get to play your game at a reasonable price. It is a win-win.

However, this variable pricing structure is dependent on the fact that people in the rich region must purchase at the rich region price while the people in the poor region can purchase at the poor region price. The company cannot afford to sell their game at the poor region price everywhere or they will not be able to make a profit and they go under.

Now, Steam formerly didn't have this type of region locking. They instead ran on the trust system, trusting everyone to buy the game at the price decided on for their region. However, opportunists took advantage of this system, purchasing game keys in the poor region and then selling them to people in the rich region at a large markup, which is still very cheap for the rich region (300% of $5 is a lot less than $60.)

This eliminates any profit (and more) that would come for serving the poor region, making this a bad business decision. So companies stop offering their games to these poor regions at an adjusted price. These poor regions stop being able to have quality games at reasonable prices. The selfishness and greed of the few turn a win-win into a lose-lose.

So Valve builds region locking into Steam to prevent this sort of abuse of the system. You will notice the locking is very specific - it only applies to keys purchases in a poor region, gifted and then played in a rich region. It is laser targeted to prevent the very specific abuse of the system that leads to companies withdrawing their products from less prosperous regions

This is not Valve being assholes to their customers. This is Valve preventing the asshole rich effectively stealing from the poor.

I would rather have the purchased gifts lock to my account and only sellable for steam dollars that way what the hell are these companies going to do with mountains and mountains of steam dollars?

 

[DrOswald]

I never got the point of region locking. I mean how does ANYONE benefit? It feels like being a dick for the sake of being a dick.

In this particular case the reason is that region locking in this very specific manner allows people in 3rd world countries to have access to video games at a price they can reasonably afford.

See, digital distribution has changed the rules a lot on how games can be sold profitably. The cost of selling another unit is virtually zero. This means that sellers can adjust their price to the region they sell it in. So if you have some region where people are poor you can sell the game for $5 instead of $60. You don't make a ton of money off of it, but you make something (better than the nothing you were getting before) and these people get to play your game at a reasonable price. It is a win-win.

However, this variable pricing structure is dependent on the fact that people in the rich region must purchase at the rich region price while the people in the poor region can purchase at the poor region price. The company cannot afford to sell their game at the poor region price everywhere or they will not be able to make a profit and they go under.

Now, Steam formerly didn't have this type of region locking. They instead ran on the trust system, trusting everyone to buy the game at the price decided on for their region. However, opportunists took advantage of this system, purchasing game keys in the poor region and then selling them to people in the rich region at a large markup, which is still very cheap for the rich region (300% of $5 is a lot less than $60.)

This eliminates any profit (and more) that would come for serving the poor region, making this a bad business decision. So companies stop offering their games to these poor regions at an adjusted price. These poor regions stop being able to have quality games at reasonable prices. The selfishness and greed of the few turn a win-win into a lose-lose.

So Valve builds region locking into Steam to prevent this sort of abuse of the system. You will notice the locking is very specific - it only applies to keys purchases in a poor region, gifted and then played in a rich region. It is laser targeted to prevent the very specific abuse of the system that leads to companies withdrawing their products from less prosperous regions

This is not Valve being assholes to their customers. This is Valve preventing the asshole rich effectively stealing from the poor.

I would rather have the purchased gifts lock to my account and only sellable for steam dollars that way what the hell are these companies going to do with mountains and mountains of steam dollars?

And how would you do that? So they are only sellable for steam dollars in steam itself. So sell it for 1 steam penny and deliver the key after the person sends you $15 cash. Your solution doesn't close the loophole. In fact, all it does it prevent people in that region using the gift function.

 

[snekadid]

Don't you just love it when companies treat their customers like criminals? If this is as bad as it looks I hope Jim calls them out on Monday.

Is there a new rule I'm not aware off? How did Fappy get anything for this post which is neither offensive nor violating any rules that I've seen.

 

[Fappy]

Don't you just love it when companies treat their customers like criminals? If this is as bad as it looks I hope Jim calls them out on Monday.

Is there a new rule I'm not aware off? How did Fappy get anything for this post which is neither offensive nor violating any rules that I've seen.

Ethics in game journalism.

 

[Vigormortis]

Nuclear Kangaroo....I am disappointed. If you're going to bring up this topic for discussion, at least do yourself and everyone else the favor of reading up on what is and isn't going on and presenting the topic without a misleading thread title. Thanks.

The moment I saw the thread title, I knew what it was going to be about. I was all set to clarify to people, of whom I knew were going to misunderstand what was actually going on, what the real issues were and how 'not as bad as you think' the whole affair was. (though it's still kinda bad)

I expected maybe a handful of posters who would resort to hyperbole, and of whom wouldn't have actually bothered to read into the actual story behind this news. I didn't expect over half the fucking thread to do so.

I'm not wasting my time quoting two dozen posts to explain the realities of this issue. Screw that. I'm out.

Spoiler

 

[Fappy]

Nuclear Kangaroo....I am disappointed. If you're going to bring up this topic for discussion, at least do yourself and everyone else the favor of reading up on what is and isn't going on and presenting the topic without a misleading thread title. Thanks.

The moment I saw the thread title, I knew what it was going to be about. I was all set to clarify to people, of whom I knew were going to misunderstand what was actually going on, what the real issues were and how 'not as bad as you think' the whole affair was. (though it's still kinda bad)

I expected maybe a handful of posters who would resort to hyperbole, and of whom wouldn't have actually bothered to read into the actual story behind this news. I didn't expect over half the fucking thread to do so.

I'm not wasting my time quoting two dozen posts to explain the realities of this issue. Screw that. I'm out.

Spoiler

I red the actual article before posting and there are some pretty scary implications described in it. What's your take on it? I may just be misinterpreting the article.

 

[ZiggyE]

I'm pretty sure this has been a thing on Steam for awhile. It's not the first time I've seen this being talked about.

 

[Vigormortis]

I red the actual article before posting and there are some pretty scary implications described in it. What's your take on it? I may just be misinterpreting the article.

My take?

The region locking only applies to game gifting and trading, and only from certain EE regions. That purchasing games from the Storefront or other 'legit' stores in any region does not lock those games to those regions. That people are blowing it way out of proportion and misunderstanding what the real ramifications are. That the only cited source for the region locking applying outside of a limited niche of trading is one post from some random Reddit poster.

Is it bad? Of course it is. Region locking is almost always, universally bad, and Valve deserves criticism over it.[footnote]And while I understand why they've implemented the restrictions, I feel there may be better solutions to the problem.[/footnote] Is it even a tenth as bad as people are saying it is? Not even remotely.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

It's not okay just because it might only apply to gifted versions. That's still someone's game they might have had for a year by now being suddenly and arbitrarily taken away. I could understand them removing the ability to gift between countries with very different pricing but that should have been enough, end the practice and then write off the loss, don't take people's games away!

But at least I'm not going to be affected, nobody's ever gifted me on steam.

 

[DrOswald]

Snip

Such a nice theory. Maybe you could show it to Valve, it sounds a lot better than what they're doing currently.

Seriously, their regional pricing is broken. Most eastern European countries have to pay the same prices as countries like Germany and France despite having less than half the average income. The only reason they did such a drastic price cut in Russia because literally noone was buying games in a country of a 140 million people.

That's not even getting into countries with their currency being represented on Steam, almost all of them have to pay a lot more than/as much as people in the US, despite them ranging from somewhat more well off than the US, to significantly less so. (Guess which category most of these countries fall into.)

Oh, and Valve isn't enforcing simple conversion ideas like "1 euro is does not equal 1 USD", because, you know, why the fuck not (+free cash for them to boot!).

You want a can of worms to look into check their regional pricing in South America, it's almost comedic when you take into account the region restrictions there.

So yeah, it is Valve being an asshole to it's consumers for the umpteenth time, it's been a win-win only for them for a long time and nice job twisting smart consumer practices as a criminal act (Buying is stealing now? Really? Have you read what you wrote?).

Next time maybe look into how Valve completely failed to execute their own idea before calling people who dared to use globalization for their own benefits for once "rich assholes" who "steal from the poor".

Did I say valves practices were perfect? No. But if you cared to actually read the recent changes in region locking on Steam, IN THIS CASE the changes are justified and all about countering this specific type of opportunism.

And yes, taking advantage of globalization in a way the screws over the poor for your own benefit is effectively stealing from the poor. See, I am a radical thinker like that. When I see someone ruining a system designed to benefit the poor for their own greed I don't tend to split hairs on if they are literally picking pockets.

Seriously, if you are going to "take advantage of globalization" in this way, just have the decency to pirate the game and steal directly from the company instead of claiming it is legit because you fucked over the poor on the way.

 

[gigastar]

Doesnt affect me in the slightest, because im a tool who only buys from the One True Storefront and intends to live in England for the rest of his life.

And I'm just here wondering what exactly it'll take for people to stop claiming valve was founded by jesus himself.

Probably starting a Nazi-esque concentration camp for console gamers. That would would probably turn off alot of people.

Seriously though, im willing to bet that the people you see complaining in this thread were already in the anti-Steam camp.