Tag: Valve

[Warning] Steam Page Caching Goes Rogue


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[Update: Valve has shut down the Steam store.]

MMO Fallout can confirm that Steam has experienced a major client bug, causing players to be able to access other accounts at complete random. Speculation is running rampant on the cause, which some are pointing toward a simple caching error, however it is possible to view random users Steam details, including their wallet, owned games, purchase history, and the last digits of their credit card on file.

We tested it on our own systems and managed to log into multiple accounts, although the service is presently barely functioning and crashing pretty regularly.

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The good news is that users cannot do anything with the account, be it make purchases, change passwords, etc. It is also possible to access accounts that are protected by Steam Guard.

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[Column] Shovelware Makers On Steam Should Be Afraid


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Today marked the day that Valve took a leap forward for the cause of customer service and announced that players would be allowed to return their games, no questions asked, within two weeks or two hours of game time, whichever comes first. There are certain caveats to the deal on what can be returned and what can’t, but as far as the crucial details go, two weeks or two hours is all you really need to know.

Before I start to get critical, I’d like to point out that I have been calling for a refund system on Steam for years, as their “all sales final” policy has been more and more problematic when coupled with their laissez faire policy on curation allowing broken games to make their way into the store space. Valve already does what it can to deny these games front page coverage, but this policy will be the silver bullet to possibly knock specific developers off of Steam forever. You know the ones I mean.

I also don’t see this as a big problem for independent developers putting out cheap games at low prices. As has been echoed by other voices on the web, I feel that anyone who would buy a short indie game to play it for an hour or so and then refund it wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of buying it in the first place, and would likely pirate it. The only measurable notice that the dev will see are the sales going up, and then slightly coming down.

One are where I do see this having a harmful effect on a legitimate developer is in the realm of review bombing, an issue that is already prevalent on free to play and low cost items, but will now be easier if groups of people can buy easily buy a game, bring the overall rating down, and then all request a refund and walk out without a loss of their own. Review bombing is a problem as it is.

For PC gamers, this system is great. The small demo or benchmark download is, with some exception, just about extinct, and with the variety of PC builds available, there is no way of knowing for sure if a game will run on your system without forking over the sixty bucks and praying. Additionally, it also knocks out a good source of income for developers releasing poor quality games and cashing in before word of mouth spreads.

Which brings me full circle to the point of this article, Valve has put a bullet in the head of fly by night developers peddling their wares on Steam. Not only do they struggle to find an audience, thanks to a lack of presence on the main page, but now their source of income (ill informed customers) has been cut off at the neck.

I’ll end this by recommending that you don’t assume that every developer that has concerns about the system is hiding bad intentions, just as well that any customer who applauds the system is just looking for some easy free games. Valve’s lack of specificity and reminder that each refund is handled case by case means that we’ll need to wait until the system is actually used to see where it is ripe for abuse, and where Valve draws the line.

Overall, this system is a major leap forward for Valve as a company and Steam as a platform.

Steam Introduces 14-Day Refunds


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Valve has surprised us again with the reveal of a new refund policy, allowing customers to get a full refund on their purchase, for any reason, withing two weeks of the purchase. Bought a game and can’t play it? System not powerful? Game broken beyond playable? Didn’t like it? Not a problem. Valve will be honoring refunds for any game, so long as the game hasn’t been played for more than two hours and the request is made within fourteen days.

Refunds will not be given for 3rd party purchases (steam keys, wallet cards, etc), movies (for obvious reasons), games that have been VAC banned, and gifts that have been redeemed by the recipient. The good news is that you should also be able to get a refund should a game you just purchased go on sale.

Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games. If it appears to us that you are abusing refunds, we may stop offering them to you. We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.

(Source: Steam)

Alganon: Mostly Negative Reviews And QOL Backlash


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Alganon on Steam currently holds a “mostly negative” rating, with 31% of 108 reviews painting the game in a positive light. Many of the negative reviews appear to focus around the game’s one-time purchase to remove certain account limitations, along with players who had been banned from the forums writing a review about the company’s banning policies.

Quest Online’s Derek Smart posted a warning that Valve is already on the case to curb toxic behavior including forum trolling and review bombing.

Valve is aware that they have a serious problem with this, and have started taking steps to curb this behavior (and the “review bombing”). Once serious actions (I’m all for Steam account bans. It’s the only way to be sure) start being taken here on Steam, hopefully that will send a clear message that we simply cannot allow a select group of anti-social people to ruin our gaming communities. Especially this, being one of the largest eclectic gaming communities.

(Source: Steam)

TERA Declares Itself #1 MMO On Steam


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En Masse Entertainment has declared TERA to be the #1 MMO on Steam, based on peak concurrent players compared to other MMOs on the digital platform.

Since launching on Steam on May 5, 2015, TERA has seen explosive growth, with new and returning players pushing the total number of accounts to over 4.5 million in North America and 20 million worldwide! And those players have been busy—killing an average of 6 million BAMs (Big-Ass Monsters) and clearing 70,000 dungeons a day.

You can read more about TERA’s launch on Steam with this handy infographic.

(Source: En Masse Entertainment press release)

[Less Massive] Shuttered Game Still Being Sold On Steam


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Steam Early Access has seen a lot of criticism, from the fact that most games don’t see completion, to the sale of titles that are at best misleading and at worst engaging in outright fraud. It has also become the source of indie devs putting games up for sale only to engage with the community for a few months before disappearing with whatever money they had managed to gain in that time frame. Customers, on the other hand, generally have no recourse if their purchase turns out to be for nothing.

Such is the case again with Into The War, developed and abandoned by the now absent Small Town Studios. According to Steam reviews, the servers for Into the War haven’t been operational going back to early April, possibly even further. The developer’s website is offline, and their social media has gone silent.

In addition, the game’s forum currently contain a sticky telling players to not just avoid buying the game, but to report it to Steam (typos left intact).

On the store page you will see a Flag icon at the right side of the page. Use it to report the game and describe it as abandoned by the developers.(use the “Broken” option) and it’s nothing more than a scam now, with the devs running away, deleting their site and social media presence, while the game remains unplayable.

Despite the servers being offline and the developer unreachable, the game is still up for sale as of this publishing for $4.99. Those who bought the game may have a glimmer of hope, as Valve has issued refunds for other early access games abandoned by their developers and left in a broken state.

For critics of Early Access, this is just another example in an ongoing demand for more curation on the Steam platform.

(Source: Steam)

Valve Shuts Down Paid Skyrim Workshop, Refunds Everyone


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Valve’s controversial decision to introduce a system where mod makers could put their creations up for sale is dead in the water just a couple of days after it was introduced. Last week Valve announced that creations in the Skyrim workshop would be able to charge a fee for use, with the creator taking a 25% cut of earnings.

The resulting backlash inspired groups of customers boycotting Valve, protest creations popping up in the Steam workshop, and a Reddit AMA by Valve’s own Gabe Newell.

In an announcement posted to the Steam Community, Valve admitted to underestimating the differences between the revenue sharing models in their previous ventures (TF2/DOTA cosmetics) and the mod community.

We’re going to remove the payment feature from the Skyrim workshop. For anyone who spent money on a mod, we’ll be refunding you the complete amount. We talked to the team at Bethesda and they agree.

Going by the announcement, it seems that this isn’t the last we will hear from paid mods. Perhaps Valve will introduce some donation method to help mod creators.

(Source: Steam)

 

[Not Massive] Criticism Mounting of Paid Mods Program


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[Update]: Tripwire Interactive has expressly forbidden the use of paid mods in its EULA for Killing Floor 2.

Your Mods must be distributed for free, period. Neither you, nor any other person or party, may sell them to anyone, commercially exploit them in any way, or charge anyone for receiving or using them without prior written consent from Tripwire Interactive.

[Original Story] About a day has passed since Valve’s announcement of paid mods on Steam, beginning with Elder Scrolls Skyrim, and the backlash is mounting against the new system. A petition on Change.org to remove the mod shop has drawn over forty thousand signatures at the time of this publishing, while a number of people are flooding paid mods with bad reviews.

Fears that Valve’s hands-off approach to curating content would result in stolen content being listed were confirmed when a fishing mod was pulled for using assets from another mod without permission. The creator of Fore’s New Idle Animations, a mod that many other Skyrim mods rely on to function, has expressed his opposition against mods being released for money.

Valve has also seen criticism over its policy of taking a 75% cut of revenue.

Steam Holiday Auction Exploited, Temporarily Suspended


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The Steam Holiday Auction is a temporary event encouraging players to recycle their unused items for gems, which can then be used to bid on games and other Steam goodies. As it turns out, players almost immediately figured out a way to farm gems at no cost to themselves, vastly deflating the value of the gems and causing hyperinflation on the price of even the cheapest games. As a result, Valve has shut down the auction for the time being.

Sorry, but there have been some issues with Gems and the Steam Holiday Auction has been temporarily closed. The elves are working franctically to get the issues sorted out, and the auction will start again as soon as they’re done.

More information will follow as it becomes available.

(Source: Steam)