Posted October 15, 2024
high rated
I’ve never bought much on GOG, simply because my friends are on Steam and I’ve had my account there for about 17 years. However, besides not feeling like I truly own everything I’ve purchased, I also have to mention the restrictive refund policies, especially regarding non-functional or abandoned Early Access games. The maximum time to request a refund is two hours of gameplay, after which you’re completely out of luck if you discover that the product is defective beyond that timeframe. I don’t have many friends on Steam, but we’re all adults, married, and we remember the old days when the CDs you bought were yours forever, without the need for online activations, launchers, or anything like that. Do you know how frustrating it is to feel robbed when you ask for a refund for a game full of bugs or other issues, only to be told, "You’ve exceeded two hours of gameplay, so the refund is not applicable"? As a paying customer, it’s very disheartening to feel cheated, especially when you’ve paid full price for the game.
I was just talking about these things with my friends and how we don’t really own anything. It’s not just about the refunds, but about how we’re treated. Over the years, we’ve even had licenses for some games revoked without any warning, simply because the publisher removed the games from the store and revoked the keys. Nobody refunds you for that, either. Because you don’t own anything on Steam—it’s like renting a movie on Netflix. I have over 700 games that aren’t really mine. The same goes for my friends; I can’t even let my daughter play on my account because the rules prohibit it. Yet, strangely enough, Family Sharing is allowed, which is essentially the same thing since she would still be using my licenses. But oh well, Valve’s rules have always been controversial, contradictory, and against its own users. I certainly can’t say that Steam is the best platform. The only difference is the quantity of games it offers, nothing more.
The forums over the years have become a gut punch for anyone who frequent it, and they’re best avoided, especially due to the lack of moderators, or the few useless paid bots, since anyone can write whatever they want, and the punishment will be light or nonexistent. We really wish GOG would expand its game library further because my friends and I are all moving over here, a decision we made this days. I already have several games on GOG, some duplicated between Steam and GOG, and repurchased on GOG, like the full version of Bloodstained and the Little Nightmares series (1 and 2), which I just repurchased on GOG, along with other games. From now on, future purchases will be made here instead of on Steam.
I’m sorry for this rant or critique of Valve, but as buyers, we aren’t protected at all. GOG probably has its own issues that we aren’t aware of, but certainly far fewer than Steam, and from what we see, GOG is much cleaner and more honest. In the past, several of us were banned from Valve’s forums for criticizing these practices, with no distinction made between constructive criticism and an attack, which are two very different things. The most recent result, though, was yet another massive fine for Valve, which shows just how unclear and controversial their purchase policy was and still is. But it was never a purchase, only a rental.
A rented product that doesn’t work should be refunded regardless of the time played, because defects can appear also after two hours of playtime. The regulations in some countries even require this, which is why Valve has faced so many fines. Anyone offering digital products should be fully aware that they are entirely responsible for what they sell or rent, and the platforms that publish these products should be equally accountable to paying users. This is something that doesn’t happen on Steam.
The platform’s convenience—profile levels, customization, screenshots, badges, emoticons, etc.—has nothing to do with the platform’s true purpose, and it doesn’t justify whether it’s better or worse than others. Why should we pay full price for a product that isn’t even ours, as used to be the case? I decided to write this post here to try to explain what’s really happening and how the majority of users, especially younger ones, are unaware and indifferent. I don’t really care what other Steam users think, who are probably here too. The point is to be able to understand. We come from the older generation, and we believe GOG is still following the path that no one else does anymore.
All we ask is just a bit of honesty.
I was just talking about these things with my friends and how we don’t really own anything. It’s not just about the refunds, but about how we’re treated. Over the years, we’ve even had licenses for some games revoked without any warning, simply because the publisher removed the games from the store and revoked the keys. Nobody refunds you for that, either. Because you don’t own anything on Steam—it’s like renting a movie on Netflix. I have over 700 games that aren’t really mine. The same goes for my friends; I can’t even let my daughter play on my account because the rules prohibit it. Yet, strangely enough, Family Sharing is allowed, which is essentially the same thing since she would still be using my licenses. But oh well, Valve’s rules have always been controversial, contradictory, and against its own users. I certainly can’t say that Steam is the best platform. The only difference is the quantity of games it offers, nothing more.
The forums over the years have become a gut punch for anyone who frequent it, and they’re best avoided, especially due to the lack of moderators, or the few useless paid bots, since anyone can write whatever they want, and the punishment will be light or nonexistent. We really wish GOG would expand its game library further because my friends and I are all moving over here, a decision we made this days. I already have several games on GOG, some duplicated between Steam and GOG, and repurchased on GOG, like the full version of Bloodstained and the Little Nightmares series (1 and 2), which I just repurchased on GOG, along with other games. From now on, future purchases will be made here instead of on Steam.
I’m sorry for this rant or critique of Valve, but as buyers, we aren’t protected at all. GOG probably has its own issues that we aren’t aware of, but certainly far fewer than Steam, and from what we see, GOG is much cleaner and more honest. In the past, several of us were banned from Valve’s forums for criticizing these practices, with no distinction made between constructive criticism and an attack, which are two very different things. The most recent result, though, was yet another massive fine for Valve, which shows just how unclear and controversial their purchase policy was and still is. But it was never a purchase, only a rental.
A rented product that doesn’t work should be refunded regardless of the time played, because defects can appear also after two hours of playtime. The regulations in some countries even require this, which is why Valve has faced so many fines. Anyone offering digital products should be fully aware that they are entirely responsible for what they sell or rent, and the platforms that publish these products should be equally accountable to paying users. This is something that doesn’t happen on Steam.
The platform’s convenience—profile levels, customization, screenshots, badges, emoticons, etc.—has nothing to do with the platform’s true purpose, and it doesn’t justify whether it’s better or worse than others. Why should we pay full price for a product that isn’t even ours, as used to be the case? I decided to write this post here to try to explain what’s really happening and how the majority of users, especially younger ones, are unaware and indifferent. I don’t really care what other Steam users think, who are probably here too. The point is to be able to understand. We come from the older generation, and we believe GOG is still following the path that no one else does anymore.
All we ask is just a bit of honesty.
