Selling account

[Witherfinger]

Hello! Apparently Steam has forbidden it's members from selling their accounts. Why is that exactly? They don't provide a reason. It is the users account is it not? Why should they not be able to sell it to someone else?

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

from what i gather in past posts...

you could sell your account and then have the right to reclaim it as lost or stolen...

so scamming abuse is the problem as always... .

[Radene]

The reason is simply "they don't want to support that", maybe with an added "because nobody does".

That may or may not change in the next fifty years, but for now, it's like this.

[Amne]

seeing as everything you buy on steam (in terms of games) you never really own. and selling something that isn't yours is not allowed

[Witherfinger]

Surely steam could set up a process to do that IN steam? Rather than relying on a 3rd party website or say, something like facebook marketplace. They could even take a % off as a fee for securing the transaction. Sounds to me like they woul rather you keep the account you aren't using very often, so whoever wants the games on your account has to buy them fresh. So, you don't own the games, you just have a license to use them.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

Surely steam could set up a process to do that IN steam?

Not really. Not without going through a legal nightmare and miles of red tape.

[Aachen]

What does your license for the IP say about transference?

[Radene]

Originally posted by Aachen:

What does your license for the IP say about transference?

It's not "your" licence, it's actually "your account's license".

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

Hello! Apparently Steam has forbidden it's members from selling their accounts. Why is that exactly? They don't provide a reason. It is the users account is it not? Why should they not be able to sell it to someone else?

they dont have to provide a reason. show me what company allows you to sell accounts, because I dont know any.

you only rent the account, you dont actually own it. steam can nuke the account at any time they want for any reason they want (and for no reason if they want). and they dont have to provide any compensation for the account being terminated.

[Witherfinger]

well how disappointing. I guess all one can do is not buy steam games anymore.

[Washell]

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

Hello! Apparently Steam has forbidden it's members from selling their accounts. Why is that exactly? They don't provide a reason. It is the users account is it not? Why should they not be able to sell it to someone else?

When you buy a game, you're actually buying a license and a means to get the data or a data carrier. The license comes with terms, and those terms included a prohibition on selling your license. This dates back to the 80's, when it was completely unenforceable. The internet changed things.

If Valve would let you sell your steam account, they'd first have to strip it of all content you're not allowed to resell, so you'd basically be selling an account with no games, which few people will be interested in. So there's no point in setting up a process or anything, because anything of value on an account that can be sold (your inventory) can be traded or put on the market.

So it's not so much Valve that is forbidding to sell your account, it's a logical consequence of the license terms of the games they sell.

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

well how disappointing. I guess all one can do is not buy steam games anymore.

You're not allowed to sell your games anywhere. And yes, I know Gamestop made billions letting people break their license terms.

[Aachen]

Originally posted by Radene:

It's not "your" licence, it's actually "your account's license".

Sorry about the imprecision!

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

well how disappointing. I guess all one can do is not buy steam games anymore.

so you are planning on pirating games or just not playing computer games anymore? the SSA is pretty much the same as everyone else's terms for making and having an account. EPIC, Blizzard, EA, etc, are all almost the exact same when it comes to what you can do with the account.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Aachen:

Originally posted by Radene:

It's not "your" licence, it's actually "your account's license".

Sorry about the imprecision! :lunar2020ratinablanket:

But that's the thing; if an account were to be "legally sold"; then all the licenses on it would be transferred with it. Because they're tied to the account, not the user.

And we're definitely going to see pressure to create a "legally legit" market for these things in the future, because already such accounts are often considered to be commodities (despite technically that not being the case). At some point, a framework for such a market might emerge.

But I'd say not soon. Twenty years, at least, for that one.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Mr. Snrub:

well how disappointing. I guess all one can do is not buy steam games anymore.

This goes for literally every online account in every possible domain from games to music and other media. If you don't like these industry-wide terms then it's best to stay offline.

[nullable]

I expect software publishers will fight tooth and nail against reselling of licenses.

I'd also expect there being all sorts of schemes to cripple licenses where you can sell an old license, but no one is obligated to accept it. Sort of how you can't use old Half-Life CD keys any more and redeem them on Steam.