deleting account

[mud]

please explain to me why i lose the games i have paid for if i delete my account. i have paid for them so i should own that copy yes? how is this considered legal for steam to not allow me to keep the games i have bought?

[Aachen]

If you own, rather than license, software, you can pay someone to modify it as you see fit (or do so yourself).

Not all products on Steam use its DRM, fWiW.

[Thordred]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

a person buys a game and does everything they need to (register the game with the code given on steam or another service) that means the game code for that given game will be used and no longer able to use elsewhere correct? so if i decide to go off line with my games and no longer use or want steam on my pc (just using steam since we are on here already, could be any service like this, epic gog what have you) and i am not taking it anywhere other than to my own pc, i lose all rights to play said game just because i do not wish to use the service we are forced to use. yes i say forced since we seemed to not be able to do anything else. i buy game from walmart, it gives me code to register the game, but i have to register it on a given service (such as steam) which then dictates that i must use steam just to play that said game. is this correct?

Yes, that's basically correct.
Except GOG. All games sold there are DRM free.

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

Walach님이 먼저 게시:

Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}님이 먼저 게시:

if you buy consumable food and throw it away or eat it, do you still own it?

Technically, yes. Else where would the "cut-off point be?" :P

same applies to steam library then

[mud]

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

[Johnny Stokino]

It's how most cloud services work. If you want standalone games, there are plenty of services that offer those although some games will have their own launcher. I imagine if steam were to allow people to access games sans account, they would run into copyright issues when multiple people start using that copy since there would be no way to authenticate the original owner.

Cheers

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

the user is the one who decides to delete their account, so if user decides to give up on items he/she bought then its on the user NO ONE ELSE

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

ok so i guess i will be losing my games then. i remember when at one time you used to actually own the game you bought, but i guess we only really rent them till we decide to leave.

Incorrect.....you never owned them on Steam. same goes for EA, Ubi Connect, Epic etc.

[Brian9824]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

That's how every digital service works. If you delete your Amazon, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple account, etc you lose the stuff on it.

Simple solution don't choose to delete it as there is no reason to

[GobboKirk]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

That would be their choice to delete it though.If steam suddenly went poof, well then that would be a moral discussion, that has been had already.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

What if you buy a cd with a game, and decide to delete the cd? The game wont run any more. Is that effect moral?

[Your Mom's Oshi]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

well, since we all agree to the terms of service and user agreement, then yes there is nothing a person can do other than lose what they have bought if they decide to delete their account. does that make it legal? yes, but does that make it (for lack of better words) "moral"? debatable to be fair, but hardly imo. but to each their own.

Why? It's your choice to delete the account that those non-transferable licenses are ties to. If you want to keep the licenses that you bought for the account then the obvious answer is don't delete it. Steam is not forcing you to delete the account that they sold you licenses on.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

please explain to me why i lose the games i have paid for if i delete my account. i have paid for them so i should own that copy yes? how is this considered legal for steam to not allow me to keep the games i have bought?

Let me explain it in another way so you're able to understand. So imagine you have a DVD binder holding all your movies, and you wanted to get rid of the binder, but you kept the dvds in the binders for whatever reason, and set that binder on fire burning everything away then you question why did you lose all your movies in the binder, that what you're asking.

The issue is that game license are bound to your account, you can't get access to the games without an account that has the license, you delete the account you lose the license that simple. No you can't transfer license to another account.

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

ok so i guess i will be losing my games then. i remember when at one time you used to actually own the game you bought, but i guess we only really rent them till we decide to leave.

Why would you, just don't delete your account as there no reason to delete it in the 1st place. Are you not explaining something that you should be telling? Is someone threating you they delete your account? We need more context to your story to understand if you want help.

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

funny i remember a time when someone paid money for a product that the person who bought it owned that item (guess we are only actually buying the media and license) sadly though with digital information this is the normal thing is what i am gathering. maybe there should be some changes to this industry then. yes they legally have the right because of their agreement, but i am surprised so many people are willing to let it be like this. i know one thing. i will no longer be using steam (or any digital store) for buying my games anymore. thank you and good day.

Yes we buy HARD copies of the game that standalone DRM free, the game license is bound to that HARD copy storage format either a disc, or cartridge. If this what you wanted, you should stick to console, PC mostly move away from this since 2010, as 99% games that release in stores on disc are DRM only that reuqires a live service, and account bound.

Strawberry님이 먼저 게시:

let me put it this way. i know we do not own the rights or copyright of a game when we buy the copy of the game a company makes. so when we do buy a game then we are not actually buying a copy of the game per-say but more the right to use/play it? if the cost of the game is going toward tempory/limited licensing, etc. then ok, but then there is the side i see which it is also the idea of a developer not having to depend on the "one time purchase price" to keep making further developments etc. but yet we only pay the one time for a game (excluding dlc's or what have you) so then where is this money coming from if we are only paying the one price. that part seems like a catch 22 idk. i am not trying to punish steam or whatever you may think or come up with. why i may want to delete my account is my personal choice, in fact where is it said i was going to delete my account. i said IF. a person buys a game and does everything they need to (register the game with the code given on steam or another service) that means the game code for that given game will be used and no longer able to use elsewhere correct? so if i decide to go off line with my games and no longer use or want steam on my pc (just using steam since we are on here already, could be any service like this, epic gog what have you) and i am not taking it anywhere other than to my own pc, i lose all rights to play said game just because i do not wish to use the service we are forced to use. yes i say forced since we seemed to not be able to do anything else. i buy game from walmart, it gives me code to register the game, but i have to register it on a given service (such as steam) which then dictates that i must use steam just to play that said game. is this correct?

Sure you can choose to delete your account, but don't see how that will benefit you, as you only lose the account, and games you had on it. So either way if you're doing it because you want to be offline, you do realize Steam can go offline mode, and still play your games offline... I mean if you want DRM free offline installers, then can stick to Gog only as they do that, but either way it up to you at this point.

If by chance if this is about Windows 7 / 8 support being dropped in 2024, FYI same games works for Windows 10 / 11 so just incase didn't know, and yes upgrade is still free, and on going even in 2023 right now.

So best of luck whatever you figure out your problem, I could say you can just leave your account, and come back whenever your good, and ready without losing anything as you don't need to be active on your steam account, can leave it for years if you wanted, and still be there for you.

[Joe Pascal]

You do not "own" the games.

Just as you do not "own" your new car (the manufacturer can remotely disable it if you use it in a way they do not approve of or try and repair it outside of their licensed workshops).

Truth is the great reset happened years ago.

Come one... you must know how this works by now.

[ReBoot]

There's a dang-simple solution to that conundrum: don't delete your account if you don't want to lose all the games. Problem solved.

[Hellstorm]

Go make a game, congrats you own the game