If it were one or two accounts I'd probably have some degree of skepticism, but when it gets to be more than that I tend to buy into it.

Remember this is the same Valve that claimed that VAC was infallible and refuses to undo VAC bans and then had to issue an apology to thousands of players that were inadvertently banned by VAC.

Ultimately, you also have to keep in mind that Valve isn't exactly known for being fair minded, just ask all those folks that have been banned for bad mouthing Valve on their fora, whether or not the badmouthing was justified.

Actually it's just that requesting for chargeback generally puts you into credit card company shitlists, and therefore several others. Just don't do it. Seriously, rather go into a bit of debt than request for chargeback. Latter one causes almost unrecoverably issues.

It's true that many accounts make it seem more plausible. And it seems unlikely that there wouldn't be SOME true "horror stories." I mean, that's just how these sorts of things work, be it the criminal justice system or be it gaming distribution. But seeing as I myself haven't experienced any of these issues, nor has anyone I actually know and trust, I'm going to stay skeptical. The internet is far too full of people willing to create and perpetuate stories that make big gaming corporations look bad for me to trust its hearsay.

The CC company doesn't care, they just take the money back from the vendor, except in rare occasions they're better off issuing the charge back. They benefit from the goodwill of the cardholder without having to do much for it.

I'll keep this in mind, for those of us that aren't fabulously wealthy it's piss poor advice.

Just to clarify: I'm not saying that the Steam horror stories DON'T happen...I'm just not convinced that they are worth getting as upset over as people on here get.

Who's upset? :D :D :D :D Lalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! /singingHappySongs

Oh, I haven't even STARTED with you and your whole RPS hate :3

That's always the question. Nobody really knows. The accounts could be true. Or they could be half-true considering that actual offenders are likely to downplay their offense and exaggerate any perceived wrongdoings of other parties. The accounts could also be planted by hired detractors to damage Steam's reputation (such practices exist, video game marketing has become a very dirty affair over the last two decades).

But no matter what you think about the reliability of these reports - one sad, simple, and objectively verifiable truth is that Steam _does_ reserve the right to do such things through its license. Even if you don't believe that they're exercising this right right now, you should be aware that you in fact did (by agreeing to the license) give Steam the power to take your purchased games away from you whenever it pleases them.

There is no need for such a provision in the Steam license. In fact, the Steam license could easily be much, much more customer friendly. But most customers don't seem to care, so Steam takes as many rights away rom the customers as it can get away with. Origin does the same, the only difference is that Origin is worse at determining what it can still get away with.

I think it's honestly just a flaw in their system that they don't want to bother fixing until the media forces them to. The more attention the better, then.

I'm just going to say this.

Payment disputes, bypassing regional restrictions, forced requirements to use the service or hacking online games is not the same as banning people for (alleged) forum abuses.

We could be having this discussion right now on EA's forums. A mod gets pissy at me for my attitude and tone, the mod bans me for my posting, and that it's I'm done. No EA forums, no Origin account usage, no games.

If you want to say Steam's abuses do not receive enough attention; fine. But it's not the same issue. One has it's basis in legitimate issues. The other has it's basis in forum posts.

Agreed x100

again... jesus christ.

RPS thread about EA.

You talk how RPS is bad and how steam also suck.
what's wrong with you?

Back on topic.
Moderators are people. They can ban for calling them dicks. One loses possibly hundreds of dollars just because a mod hit his head in the shower. That is simply unacceptable. No action, no matter how vile and rule breaking should not affect your games in anyway.

Lack of EA response kinda proves that it is true and the system is set up this way.

Yes, I agree. I'm mostly just saying that I don't see a reason to start decrying Steam as Satan incarnate because a bunch of faceless internet posters claim that they've been cheated by it. My parents were (and still are) in business as landlords. And if there's one thing I've learned from that growing up, it's that people will ALWAYS blame "the man" for issues that might have in fact been completely their own fault.

Agreed x103