Blocked games - WTF???

[Sammuelsama]

I originally leave in Vancouver, Canada and I pre-ordered Wolfenstein - New Order when it was about to be available on Steam, then I got it and played it, that means last year. I applied for a new position in Germany few months ago and then I moved there recently for maybe one year or 2.
Now my game is locked because I am not in the right area for my serial key or whatever...
What does that mean?
I pre-ordered the game and I bought the game, the game is mine, why I can't play it anymore?
The game was a lot expensive too, it was not a cheapest game to buy...
Maybe the game is subversive because it's about ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Hitler stuff, I don't care, I paid for this game...
I did not get the game as a gift or whatever ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea Steam might have about my game...

I submitted a support ticket about this decision to block my game and I never got a response...
Is it legal to do it?

In the first place I've never ask to get into Steam, I was forced to get into Steam like a hostage because all the PC games need Steam now in order to work, like some games with Origin.

If really Steam continues like that, punishing honest buyers without verifying correctly where somebody got the game and furthermore not responding to support tickets, then I won't buy any more games from Steam and it's a promise.

[Forcen]

Dont try to bypass country restrictions, you get a disabled account instead of a disabled game.

OP, you are pretty unlucky but you are allowed to play when you back to Canada in a year or two.

[Discussions_Acc]

Complain to Bethesda. It was the decision of those blockheads to completely prevent it from being played with a german IP. There is no legal reason to do so. Every other publisher except Square Enix knows that.

I had to play my copy with the three letter solution too. There's no other legal choice after all. And no, playing that other game which is also called "Wolfenstein: The New Order" is not an alternative.

Originally posted by Forcen:

Dont try to bypass country restrictions, you get a disabled account instead of a disabled game.

Yeah yeah whatever. Everyone says that but nobody ever showed any proof of a disabled account because of bypassing anything.
You are fine as long as you don't try to buy anything.

[Sammuelsama]

Well I will wait for them to contact me, I still have my support ticket open. I know by stopping buying games from them won't affect them much because there's a lot of players out there, but in terms of loyalty Steam will lose many customers like me by doing such stupid operations.
Most of the big games are already available on Origin too...
I won't try to bypass the country restrictions, it's not my type, I am too far honest, even if honesty doesn't pay... lol

[Discussions_Acc]

Originally posted by Sammuelsama:

Well I will wait for them to contact me, I still have my support ticket open.

Waste of time. They'll just tell you that it's Bethesda decision and that they can't do anything about it.

[ KARR™]

The only thing Valve can do is remove the game from your account and let you buy it again! They MIGHT if you were lucky change it to the german version, but usually it's a re-purchase.

It's all down to the banned imagery and references:

"In Germany, we've removed all Nazi symbols and references. Unlike films and other works of art, video games in Germany are forbidden to use such symbols and references as they are classified in Germany as toys and not media art."

[Discussions_Acc]

Originally posted by Rȯckȯn:

you just need to get the german version

I'm not going to act like this censored thing even exists.

Originally posted by K.A.R.R.:

It's all down to the banned imagery and references:

"In Germany, we've removed all Nazi symbols and references. Unlike films and other works of art, video games in Germany are forbidden to use such symbols and references as they are classified in Germany as toys and not media art."

So? That doesn't mean they have to completely block imports too. It's just Bethesda being dumb.
There is no game in any version that you are forbidden to play by law in Germany.

[Sammuelsama]

Well I think it will be an issue again I will return to Canada. I think they need to think more wisely, the game is not supposed to change because you're going abroad for holidays or work. When you purshase the game, the game belongs to you, it's not a rental game. It's a digital copy because you bought it from Steam but for what reason they block it to be played on your computer? Is Steam a kind of Microsoft BS??? The computer is mine, not Steam stuff...

[Discussions_Acc]

Originally posted by Sammuelsama:

When you purshase the game, the game belongs to you, it's not a rental game.

Umm... yes. You're not buying a rental. You buy a license. Not that this makes much of a difference. Valve can basically change, revoke or do whatever else they want with that license at any time for any reason.

[Sammuelsama]

Then if they can do whatever they want with the games we buy from them, they are able to answer support tickets too, giving us a proper response and if needed refund the blocked games. What is the point for me of having a game that I can't use anymore or except in 1 or 2 years, a game that was not given to me as a gift, I full paid it when it was on the way to be available and I played it. It's not like I just bought it from fresh...

[DanTheKraut]

Originally posted by Hotblack Desiato:

Well that's messed up. You did, indeed, move to place that censors games, or parts of games, but as you point out: you already owned it, and all the relevant files were already on your drive. To deny you access to them seems to be going a bit too far.

Preventing their sale is one thing. "This book can't be sold in Germany." This is more akin to busting your (virtual) door open and confiscating that blasphemous material, which I think is going a step too far. "This game can't even be played in Germany."

But this isn't the first time that we've been reminded that Steam doesn't give a flying ♥♥♥♥ where you came from or where you made your purchases. All that matters is where you're logging in from at any given time. Take your own advice and shop elsewhere if it suits you.

To clarify this:
Germany does not censor any games in fact a rating is not even needed to sell a game or movie here so publishers could release their games unrated for Germany if they want.

What can happen to unrated games is that they may get indexed by the BPjM then public commercials and sales are restricted. Those games can still be legally bought by every adult but only shops who deny access to minors are allowed to public display and sell those games (compare this to adults stores in the US). Normal stores can sell those games too but you have to ask for them.

In rare cases a game which was indexed can get restricted by a court but again you are still allowed to import/buy, own and even to sell those games then only commercial is really forbidden (thx to the Bbasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany which disallow any form of censorship). Nothing is banned in Germany as many people say well nothing except child- and youthporn like in the rest of the world (and even here it was a big discuss as it may violated the basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and took years to really ban those stuff) . Many people believe stuff gets banned here but in fact that is not the case. Public use can get restricted in rare cases.

B2T:
Bethesdas decision is simply based in on a lack of knowledge about our laws. Nazi stuff is only allowed to be used public under some circumstances but as shown above a geolock is not necessary. There is no law in Germany which forces publishers to integrate a geolock so also the text on the german Steamstore is misleading because it is a simple lie. Luckily for german Steamusers only Bethesda and Square Enix are clueless.


What can the OP do?
Steam as a program is protected by the law in Germany (UrhG) but Steam as a protection system which it is in this case not.

Edit:
I would also suggest you try our Autobahn without speed limit :D

[Sammuelsama]

Hahaha good one...

Originally posted by DanTheKrautDanTheKraut:

I would also suggest you try our Autobahn without speed limit :D

And furthermore, it's a game... I am not judging Germans or what they did in the past, all the civilizations had a dark past, it's over... If we have to remove or to block content stuff in games for whatever reason, then had something to enable or disable the "bad content". When I play a game, I just play the game, of course it adds more credibility/realism if you have the right stuff in the games but that's it... It's like you remove historical events from WAR games, like Hiroshima, WWI and WWII, no tanks, no planes, no Kamikaze, etc... There's no point... Then do Candy crush games and don't sell games that look nice for the rest of the world except for Germans... They know their past but past is past, it's over...

[HLCinSC]

This is a long shot, but if you had it installed already when you arrived in Germany maybe try using offline mode.

[Sammuelsama]

Well it's installed in the Steam directory but it's like they got it uninstalled from my Steam library, it's greyed out and I get the button to Install it. Unfortunately it says that I am not in the right region to use the serial key provided with the game. That sounds crazy I know, the got uninstalled without me knowing it... Steam is definitively not Charlie...

[HLCinSC]

how long have you been in Germany?

[Sammuelsama]

Since November 2014 but I did not realize that my game was not working at that time, it's just when I saw the Winter sales on Steam about the game. I wanted to play the game and it was like uninstalled and I got the message about the region block. :(