Valve Wants Customer Disputes in Small Claims Court

[creamy5000]

I don't plan on or want to sue Valve, but I resent being forced to sign a contract or lose all my digital games. By that way of thinking, Valve can constantly decide to change the agreement I originally accepted and hold my games hostage if I refuse to agree.

This is why I hate corporations, they own the US, US law, and can constantly remove rights from their customers with impunity.

P.s. I plagiarized most of this post because I agree with it.

 

[gardian06]

I think I should just do this for all future "Company X did something that is anti-consumer"

well don't just ***** about it on a forum. in the US there is a government entity whose sole purpose is to take down complaints, forward them to jurisdictions, and then have those jurisdictions file a case on the behalf of the consumer(s) who filed the complaint. they are called the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ just to be clear the more complaints they receive about a company performing an anti-consumer action the more likely they will pressure those jurisdictions to act.

here is the really fun fact: its the jurisdiction that covers the cost of the trial. granted you don't get your money back, but when all is said and done, and the company loses (which happens often for quality claims, and can set precedences better then any civil/class action suit) then that company is given a fixed time frame to change their practices, or be forced to close and/of pay massive penalties/sanctions.

and these claims can be levied against any company that does business in the US.

SO QUIT YOUR BITCHING, AND DO SOMETHING

 

[MiriaJiyuu]

For all you people who have decided to no longer use Steam because of this I have to wonder... what are you doing that the TOS and EULA actually makes you care, are you planning to sue Valve or something? If so then don't use their service in the first place.

 

[frizzlebyte]

The only thing that I don't like is that, unlike Sony's Arbitration Clause, I can't opt out of it.

Still, I'll be a Steam customer for a long, long time to come.

 

[viranimus]

what are you doing that the TOS and EULA actually makes you care,

Being free citizens who legally purchased licenses and had them held hostage until voluntary compliance?

Trying to stop a business practice that will hurt every gamer as well as the industry?

Trying to stop a massive overreach in power?

The question I must ask is.. why is defending what you have purchased in an industry you love, indicative of motivations for profit?

And

Why is it people are not more upset over multiple companies attempting to negate consumer rights?

Seriously.. We have people all across the country up in arms about the mere perception of denial of rights related to a chicken sandwich... but even with it coming from steam it is still barely registering a blip.

This isnt just steam. This sort of corporate overreach is a symptom of the current economic crisis. We keep allowing these corporations to have more and more power and allow them to use it unchecked, and we wonder why they end up doing bad things with that power. All because too many people thought "Y U mad bro? this doesnt effect me."

At some point you have to draw a line.

 

[Meight08]

Judging from the fact that they explicitly brought up the EU in their message, I can't help but assume this is specifically to stave off a class-action suit over the fact that users can't resell their games. A class-action suit is pretty much the only way anyone could ever take them to task for what is now a blatant violation of EU law, and they want to stop it before it can happen.

Very clever. And stupid.

Nah they WILL have to do it but the laws concerning digital resale still need to be written, I give it a few years.

 

[felbot]

I mean, sure, all three cases is basically the companies covering their asses, but whereas Sony had to use it's hands in a hurry, Valve did it with a sheet of cloth, while EA did it by shoving it's ass in our faces, so we get a better smell of their shit.

Which, in spite of the reason they're 'covering their butts', makes me wonder where the logic is in giving Valve a pass while Sony and EA (EA especially) are all but declared the unholy spawn of evil companies when all three are supposedly doing the exact same thing.

i fail to see why you wouldn't get it, valve wants to take away your right to a class action lawsuits, and then they go and say that this is somehow better for us.
this is he kinda shit that ea pulls, not valve.

 

[Pinkamena]

So, uh. How is this a problem?

 

[Meight08]

Well Class action lawsuits don't really exist where i live so i didn't lose anything
Also EU so this shit does not fly.

 

[Cowabungaa]

It doesn't matter if Valve's gonna pay your lawyer fees to sue them.

It does. It means the bar to sue Valve isn't raised. In EA's case it's pretty clear that they just don't want to get sues. They're making it more difficult for consumers to sue them. Valve doesn't, they're keeping a line open to the courts for the customer. They don't seem to want to actively hinder the consumer. They'll actually facilitate you by paying for your costs.

So yeah, you can still sue Valve. EA says fuck you we don't want your bitching. Valve says bring it on, we'll just do it in another room. And really, don't customer disputes belong in the small claims court? We're talking about disputes concerning, what, a couple hundred bucks? Maybe two thousand-ish?

 

[MiriaJiyuu]

what are you doing that the TOS and EULA actually makes you care,

Being free citizens who legally purchased licenses and had them held hostage until voluntary compliance?

Trying to stop a business practice that will hurt every gamer as well as the industry?

Trying to stop a massive overreach in power?

The question I must ask is.. why is defending what you have purchased in an industry you love, indicative of motivations for profit?

And

Why is it people are not more upset over multiple companies attempting to negate consumer rights?

Seriously.. We have people all across the country up in arms about the mere perception of denial of rights related to a chicken sandwich... but even with it coming from steam it is still barely registering a blip.

This isnt just steam. This sort of corporate overreach is a symptom of the current economic crisis. We keep allowing these corporations to have more and more power and allow them to use it unchecked, and we wonder why they end up doing bad things with that power. All because too many people thought "Y U mad bro? this doesnt effect me."

At some point you have to draw a line.

You bought the right to use the game as long as you comply with the ToS.

It's just Valve covering their asses, like anyone else, I have no plans to enter a lawsuit with Valve though so I have no problem agreeing to it. Your right, it doesn't affect me and I therefore don't care. I don't consider it to be forfeiting my right, especially since Valve will pay my fees as well as their own.

 

[viranimus]

You bought the right to use the game as long as you comply with the ToS.

It's just Valve covering their asses, like anyone else, I have no plans to enter a lawsuit with Valve though so I have no problem agreeing to it. Your right, it doesn't affect me and I therefore don't care. I don't consider it to be forfeiting my right, especially since Valve will pay my fees as well as their own.

Except.. thats the thing. I never agreed to that provision of the Terms of service, nor would I. Literally this is little more than


Only difference is even if you agree to it, that will not put a stop to it. This is not restricted purely to valve. However because we have watched this slippery slope turn into gradual reality we have to stop it in order to push it back out of all of these platforms. It is wrong for any company anywhere at any time to demand for you to give up legal rights in order to access something you have already purchased. Before this provision started to surface with Sony, XBL, Origin and now steam, none of us agreed to willingly give up our rights that are part of consumer PROTECTION.

You are entitled to not consider it forfeiting your rights, but it IS giving up voluntarily the right to engage in class action law suit. Getting duped into accepting paid for arbitration is failing to understand divide et impera And in doing so your also negating my and every other gamers rights.

Just as if resistance were mounted and ended in valve rescinding this, our actions of resistance effected you by restoring your right that you may or may not ever use. So too do your actions of not resisting undermine any attempt at stopping this from happening and thus protect all consumers including yourself. It most certainly does effect you.

Freedom is like money. It has value attached to it. It cannot be mutually shared effectively. If you give it away because it has value attached to it, those you gave it to have no reason to give it back, and every reason to use it for their own benefit. Just because you willingly gave it away does not mean you will get something comparable or even anything in return for it.

So the question is incredibly simple. Even if you know you unequivocally would never utilize freedom why would you ever give freedom away? By your indifference and not caring, you are not only willingly giving freedom away, it hinders my ability to fight for both my rights and yours.

 

[IndianaJonny]

In-depth break-down of OTHER changes to the EULA.

Wow...actually, that's rather frightening.