Being able to gift games to others if you have played them for a short amount of time

[Koishi]

I think it would be a nice idea to be able to gift a game to another person if it isn't working out for you, rather than returning it for a refund. There might be a shorter time limit, maybe 1 hour of gameplay, to be more fair to people who make shorter games. For example: if you thought the game would work on your specs but it didn't for whatever reason, it would be cool to have a simple gift feature where you could give the game to someone with a better computer. Or even if the reviews and lets plays made you feel like you would like the game but you didn't once you actually played it, you could gift the game rather than waiting for the funds to be returned. It would also allow for more freedom in being experimental with buying new games and branching out, because you wouldn't be as afraid of being deemed abusing the refund system with that other option there.

[999999999]

The gift rules changed for a reason. By allowing what you suggest, it would be abused all over again.

[Koishi]

Originally posted by 999999999:

The gift rules changed for a reason. By allowing what you suggest, it would be abused all over again.

So it is more efficient and has less potential for abuse to get the game, decide you didnt like it, get a refund, and buy the game once again for another person? It has the same or even less potential for abuse as the refund system, there would be less gameplay time as a requirement and you would get nothing back as a reward besides the gratitude of your friend. You could even limit it to just one gifting so it isn't an endless chain of sending a gift from one person to another.

In real life, if you have a physical game, and you don't like it, you can give it to your friend and have them try it out. These are digital items and we can't trade them or borrow them, we can't even sell them back even at a discount without restrictions. I know Steam cannot operate the same way as physical games IRL, but it would balance things out considerably to have a simple gift system like this.

[999999999]

A gift can never be refunded to the account it was gifted to.

I'm talking about the option to give it to another user. To do that would create more users abusing the system to try to sell the game to others which was the reason for the game gifting changes.

[riggz666]

when you buy a game on steam you obtain a licence (subscription) to have it placed in your library and bound to your account. once this is done it cannot be gited, sold or transferred in any way.

[Koishi]

Originally posted by 999999999:

A gift can never be refunded to the account it was gifted to.

I'm talking about the option to give it to another user. To do that would create more users abusing the system to try to sell the game to others which was the reason for the game gifting changes.

How would they be able to sell the game to others if only one gifting were allowed, and it stopped there? If you couldn't re-gift items that had had gameplay upon being gifted? The first person who bought the game originally would make more money just getting a refund.

[Koishi]

Originally posted by riggz666:

when you buy a game on steam you obtain a licence (subscription) to have it placed in your library and bound to your account. once this is done it cannot be gited, sold or transferred in any way.

How much of this is hard mechanics and how much of that is simply Steam's decision making process? This is in suggestions for a reason.

[riggz666]

it's to prevent items which are obtained from grey market resellers, by scamming or otherwise 'illegally' from being able to move those items quickly and easily. thats the main reason it's part of the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
don't forget, you are buying a licence not a game. once its bound to your account, that's it.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Hachikuji:

Originally posted by riggz666:

when you buy a game on steam you obtain a licence (subscription) to have it placed in your library and bound to your account. once this is done it cannot be gited, sold or transferred in any way.

How much of this is hard mechanics and how much of that is simply Steam's decision making process? This is in suggestions for a reason.

When you buy a license it is bound to the account. permanently even if you refund the game the license remains attached. It's just flagged as inactive. What you're suggesting is that steam creat two or more licenses for the price of one.

It's a quirk that with digital distribution the need for a clear paper trail is more important. Also simpkly put. This does not benefit steam or the publishers who sell their games.

[Koishi]

Originally posted by riggz666:

it's to prevent items which are obtained from grey market resellers, by scamming or otherwise 'illegally' from being able to move those items quickly and easily. thats the main reason it's part of the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
don't forget, you are buying a licence not a game. once its bound to your account, that's it.

Steam's so called "refund for any reason" policy that says one thing and does another, and punishes users if they don't like games and want their money back, is a big reason grey market resellers are so popular to begin with.

[riggz666]

i agree with your original suggestion to some extent, on the face of it its not unreasonable. the problem is scammers are always looking for loopholes and any other way to expoit the 'system' and steam users. such a system would be abused 100s of times a day, that's the issue i have with it. there's no way to do what you are asking and avoid it being exploited.

[Koishi]

Stand by my original suggestion. Don't think it could be abused any more than the current system is, and it would bring in more money for Steam and open people up to new games.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Hachikuji:

Stand by my original suggestion. Don't think it could be abused any more than the current system is, and it would bring in more money for Steam and open people up to new games.

Actually it's rather hard to abuse the current system since after a certain threshold they simply remove your ability to refund.

[zaphodikus]

Complexity is your enemy.

[Radene]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by Hachikuji:

Stand by my original suggestion. Don't think it could be abused any more than the current system is, and it would bring in more money for Steam and open people up to new games.

Actually it's rather hard to abuse the current system since after a certain threshold they simply remove your ability to refund.

A "chain of refund-buy same game as gift" is very possible tho.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Hachikuji:

Steam's so called "refund for any reason" policy that says one thing and does another, and punishes users if they don't like games and want their money back, is a big reason grey market resellers are so popular to begin with.

The refund policy does exactly what it says.