I thought this was worth a laugh

[function9]

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=74&threadid=772041&start=0
Edit:
Sorry still reading through it, the drama seems to start around pg 15:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=74&threadid=772041&start=280

I searched around on a couple of the boards and this didn't come up. I don't know, it doesn't matter if you're a kid, an adult or what. But seriously if $15-$20 is going to make or break you on a video game, I really don't think you should be playing games in the first place.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Heh, Sucks to be them. lul.

 

[Pesmerga]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=481

 

[kirovman]

That is a bit underhanded of Valve. Do they post a warning on the box to tell you that you can't play your games in another country? What if you were from Thailand and emigrated with your copy of HL2?

I remember I used to get my games from the US because they were cheaper there than here. It would be immensely frustrating if they didn't work once they got home.

I guess this is the dark side of Steam... they have the ability to take it away from you again and monitor all your usage of the game.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Buh?

What legal grounds are Valve doing this on? This is like PC games being region coded or something...

 

[Calhoun]

It would appear that you could purchase a Steam product in another region and activate it and then use that product without a single issue. That is, until recently, when Valve found out that people would the Orange Box was available from Zest, for $17 USD, and that people would purchase from Zest rather than Steam or a retailer which sold it full price. If word spread on the pricing at Zest, I don't know of any person who would still buy from Steam or another retailer which did sell it full price, considering the fact that Zest is entirely legitimate.

I would like to say that there is another reason, considering Valve would be the last I'd expect to do something questionable like this, except, allegedly, products which were purchased from Zest and registered onto Steam worked until recently, no matter where the user registering the product was located. This is an indication that Valve only recently, within the past few days, disabled the ability to register from another region, and they would not have done this without a reason.

Games purchased in Thailand or Russia can only be played from those countries. If you purchased a game from Thailand or Russia and you do not live in one of those countries, you need to contact the seller for a refund.

I do not see the reason for this, at all, or how it is true. Steam is supposed to, judging by what Valve has said in the past, allow a person to create an account and purchase a game, and play that game, at any time, at any place in the world without a hassle, so long as the content is loaded or, if not, you have internet access. I guess that has changed today.

 

[function9]

I'm not sure because I'm not big on movies/dvds, but aren't there regional settings for dvd players that will allow content to be played only from certain regions?

The way I see it is if the system (Steam) detects an "out of region" user, in the case of someone moving to another country, it might not be flagged. Then you have hundred(s) of "out of region" users in the same time frame, that's going to set off some alarms. Thats how banks work, they don't detect fraud unless it reaches across many accounts around the same time.

You have to look at too whether or not Valve has agreements with their distributors and retailers that they're only authorized to sell their copies of the games in their local region. Which would makes these retailers the ones at fault. I don't know of too many retailers that will so easily give up a refund for software (cd keys in this case) if they feel they are not doing anything wrong. So I'm having a hard time seeing how Valve is "evil" or whatever.

 

[Calhoun]

I'm not sure because I'm not big on movies/dvds, but aren't there regional settings for dvd players that will allow content to be played only from certain regions?

The way I see it is if the system (Steam) detects an "out of region" user, in the case of someone moving to another country, it might not be flagged. Then you have hundred(s) of "out of region" users in the same time frame, that's going to set off some alarms. Thats how banks work, they don't detect fraud unless it reaches across many accounts around the same time.

You have to look at too whether or not Valve has agreements with their distributors and retailers that they're only authorized to sell their copies of the games in their local region. Which would makes these retailers the ones at fault. I don't know of too many retailers that will so easily give up a refund for software (cd keys in this case) if they feel they are not doing anything wrong. So I'm having a hard time seeing how Valve is "evil" or whatever.

I would imagine that if it weren't acceptable to purchase and register a product from another region, that it wouldn't have been possible to register any product in the first place. It would appear that only now, since Zest started their bargain sale, that Valve disabled the ability to register a product purchased from another region, and the products registered.

A major feature of Steam, too, which seems to be contradicted partially by this recent change of not being able to register a product purchased from another region, is one which I've heard promoted often by Valve. Allegedly, as claimed by Valve, you may purchase a game via retail or through the online store available through Steam, and once it is registered in your account, access it from anywhere in the world. The origin of the product should not affect this, in any way.

 

[Laivasse]

...FFS. I hate it when companies try to penalise consumers for completely legitimate practice. I know a lot of people who buy stuff - electronics, media, whatever - from the US via the internet, since prices are so unreasonable here in the UK. What Valve have done here would be like the equivalent of retroactively breaking all those goods because they don't like losing the revenue.

However, it does sound as if the boxes might have had warnings on...? Useless to internet purchasers of course, but then it would mean the resellers are at fault for screwing people over by not warning them. If there weren't any warnings then Valve has screwed these retailers big time. I'm really not sure of the details, but the way Valve have gone about it is very shitty. I'll be looking to see how this is resolved.

 

[Asus]

I read you can buy just the CD-key from Zest. How are they selling those? Open a retail box and email you the key?

 

[Laivasse]

Not sure. It does sound fishy but these Zest/Luckito places are apparently legitimate distributors - just that they may have violated some kind of agreement with Valve by selling out of their region.

Edit: What sounds like a good summation from a Digg comment:

1. People buy Orange Box keys from a Thai site for $18.
2. Keys validate in Steam and allow people to play Orange Box.
3. Valve drops the hammer and disables Orange Boxes with these keys; doesn't (yet) allow a way to reregister with a USA key and continue playing with same Steam account.
4. Some games not registered with those keys are taken out as collateral damage.
5. Gamers wonder what is going on, since either the keys are legit and Valve is retroactively enforcing region protection, or the keys are fake and Steam is a bastard for accepting them in the first place.

 

[PvtRyan]

Well, Valve/EA were undercutting themselves so it's logical they want to prevent you from buying your games in Thailand if you don't live there. Due to piracy, they can't sell a game for Western prices in those places so they have no choice but to reduce prices there. This is purely meant for those countries because they can't get any sales there, you're not supposed to get your Orange Box for half the price if you're from Europe/US. And especially with Steam, the threshold to just go to a Taiwanese site is so low, because all you need is a CD-key and then you can legally download the game through Steam.

I can sympathize with Valve "region coding" their games, otherwise they're just shooting themselves in the foot. What I don't like is how this has been done retroactively, they should have just prevented from Taiwanese keys being registered on Steam, not actively banning those that are already registered. I wonder what the motivation is behind doing that, and if it's even Valve's doing. The harm has already been done, banning their key and kindly asking the users to buy another "legit" copy is not going to work, you'll just drive them into piracy and for future Steam games as well.

 

[Laivasse]

If you follow that FatWallet thread through to the end it seems to be the case that Valve eventually reactivated the games for the purchasers of those Thai keys. It shows good flexibility on Valve's part, yet it's also an acknowledgement that they were flat out of order to block the games in the first place.

An interesting consequence of this is that some people who got refunds from Zest/wherever, now also have access to all their Orange Box games. :| So those people get a free OB; funny old world... I wonder why Valve reversed their action though - whether it was the potential bad press, a mistake in the first place, or due to some unseen negotiations.

 

[Hellrider]

wtf is the big deal about ?

 

[Jintor]

Unfair sales practises, apparently.