Abandoned Games

[Celebrindan]

Games that have been abandoned by their developers need to have a special notification or label in the Steam Store.

Tired of getting shafted with crap code, only to find the developers have left town and will never fix the problems.

[Start_Running]

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

Start_Running님이 먼저 게시:

Did you attempt a refund? Or rather did those who purchased the game within 3 -6 months of the game's server shut down request a refund?

I didn't- I owned the game and had too many hours in it to even remotely have a chance at a manual refund.

In the case such as that ythe time played would have no bearing. THe product became inaccessible and unusable in a planed fashion shortly after purchase. and the planned action was apparently not ciommunicated.

In most countries this would entitle tyou to a refuend just on the grounds that the developers withheld information that was critical to your purchase decision.

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

No idea if folks who bought the game after the shut-down notice was published tried for and got one. Though, TBH, if the announcement was published and they bought the game anyway... kinda on them if a refund attempt got rejected. Just pointing out that "3 months notice" isn't a requirement, or at least it wasn't back then.

If it was announced then those who purchase after the announements tare not covered since the change was communicated and the decision to purchase was still made.

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

And a quick edit- the game was still in Early Access- my mistake there. I didn't look at my review or the store page, just the news announcements- my bad.

Ah well that stickies the wicket a little methinks. SInce in Early Access you pretty much consent to buying a product who's feature set may or may not change further. That would kinda undo that refund protection since in purchasing you kinda consented to the possibility of such changes.

Another reason i prefer to wait for games to be finished!

[Celebrindan]

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

Celebrindan님이 먼저 게시:

You must be a noob, because it's been going on ever since Devs paid-off Congress to pass the DRMA in 1998.

And you must be a noob calling the DMCA "DRMA"- though the DMCA does have a section in it regarding DRM in digital content, including but not limited to video games.

You do understand that the DMCA applies to not only video games, but movies, TV shows and clips, music, photographs, digital art, articles published online- really anything that is or can be published or posted online can be potentially covered by the DMCA- not just video games.

Though I do not really understand what a copyright protection act has to do with whether a game is shovelware, abandonware ,or simply facing a lengthy development delay if it still has an Early Access status on its store page.

I don't know when it was re-branded, but when it was passed in 1998 it was officially called the DRMA.

You might not know, or remember, what it has to do with software, but the new law made it illegal to return crappy code IF YOU OPENED THE BOX the software disks came in.
Opening the box was required to use the disks to install the software.
Even if the code was broken and would not work, the customer was screwed, and completely without recourse.

[Start_Running]

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

Start_Running님이 먼저 게시:

Already exists. Basically you're required to give notice of things like server shutdowns of at least 3 months. FOr most regions it's 6 months. Otherwise any purchase made within that period are eligible for full refund.

Also can you point to an example of such a scam? Because I get the feeling that we'd just see you know and best a crappy game that's hit EoL.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/252770/Vox/

Developer made a skeleton project,

And people legit bought it?

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

grabbed the money and ran, and then vehemently defended his right to keep the game listed on Steam despite admitting to the exit scam.

His defense was apparently unsuccessful.

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

EDIT: It's called Vox. It seems Steam is disabling links to it even though retired games can otherwise be shared just fine.

Game is no longer available for sale.
But here's tyhe thing and why I make a point of being Aware.. if you buy something that looks bad, at somepointg you have to ask yourself "why?"

Celebrindan님이 먼저 게시:

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

And you must be a noob calling the DMCA "DRMA"- though the DMCA does have a section in it regarding DRM in digital content, including but not limited to video games.

You do understand that the DMCA applies to not only video games, but movies, TV shows and clips, music, photographs, digital art, articles published online- really anything that is or can be published or posted online can be potentially covered by the DMCA- not just video games.

Though I do not really understand what a copyright protection act has to do with whether a game is shovelware, abandonware ,or simply facing a lengthy development delay if it still has an Early Access status on its store page.

I don't know when it was re-branded, but when it was passed in 1998 it was officially called the DRMA.

[CITATION NEEDED]

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

You might not know, or remember, what it has to do with software, but the new law made it illegal to return crappy code IF YOU OPENED THE BOX the software disks came in.

Yeah, because stores tend not to accept returns on things like books, magazines, vhs tapes etc, unless there is some physical defect that prevents usage.
STore owners aren't dumb m8. They caught on pretty quick. that some people were just copying the disks .

Your statement can also be debunked in the simple fact that this practice has been more or less world wide since the mid 90's read as, since the average user had easy access to floppy drives.

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

Opening the box was required to use the disks to install the software.
Even if the code was broken and would not work, the customer was screwed, and completely without recourse.

There was always recourse...if the customer could prove that the code was indeed broken.

You're not very good at this are you m8. I mean seriously.

Again the DMCA concerned management of and protection of copyright.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Celebrindan님이 먼저 게시:

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

And you must be a noob calling the DMCA "DRMA"- though the DMCA does have a section in it regarding DRM in digital content, including but not limited to video games.

You do understand that the DMCA applies to not only video games, but movies, TV shows and clips, music, photographs, digital art, articles published online- really anything that is or can be published or posted online can be potentially covered by the DMCA- not just video games.

Though I do not really understand what a copyright protection act has to do with whether a game is shovelware, abandonware ,or simply facing a lengthy development delay if it still has an Early Access status on its store page.

I don't know when it was re-branded, but when it was passed in 1998 it was officially called the DRMA.

You might not know, or remember, what it has to do with software, but the new law made it illegal to return crappy code IF YOU OPENED THE BOX the software disks came in.
Opening the box was required to use the disks to install the software.
Even if the code was broken and would not work, the customer was screwed, and completely without recourse.

Most definitely still called DMCA https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/digital_millennium_copyright_act#:~:text=Digital%20Millennium%20Copyright%20Act%20(DMCA,harbors)%20that%20protect%20Internet%20Service

[Drax]

SteamDB has a browser extension that shows when the game was last updated under its release date. If it hasn't been updated in over a year, it shows in red text with a warning symbol. Also tells you its lowest recorded price and when it was last on sale so you don't get shafted.

Honestly a really great tool to look for games with.

[dandykong]

Start_Running님이 먼저 게시:

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/252770/Vox/

Developer made a skeleton project,

And people legit bought it?

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

grabbed the money and ran, and then vehemently defended his right to keep the game listed on Steam despite admitting to the exit scam.

His defense was apparently unsuccessful.

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

EDIT: It's called Vox. It seems Steam is disabling links to it even though retired games can otherwise be shared just fine.

Game is no longer available for sale.
But here's tyhe thing and why I make a point of being Aware.. if you buy something that looks bad, at somepointg you have to ask yourself "why?"

Celebrindan님이 먼저 게시:

I don't know when it was re-branded, but when it was passed in 1998 it was officially called the DRMA.

[CITATION NEEDED]

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

You might not know, or remember, what it has to do with software, but the new law made it illegal to return crappy code IF YOU OPENED THE BOX the software disks came in.

Yeah, because stores tend not to accept returns on things like books, magazines, vhs tapes etc, unless there is some physical defect that prevents usage.
STore owners aren't dumb m8. They caught on pretty quick. that some people were just copying the disks .

Your statement can also be debunked in the simple fact that this practice has been more or less world wide since the mid 90's read as, since the average user had easy access to floppy drives.

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

Opening the box was required to use the disks to install the software.
Even if the code was broken and would not work, the customer was screwed, and completely without recourse.

There was always recourse...if the customer could prove that the code was indeed broken.

You're not very good at this are you m8. I mean seriously.

Again the DMCA concerned management of and protection of copyright.

1. I think your quotes are broken, because half the stuff you posted there was written by someone else and not me.
2. That was the last time I ever bought a game in early development because the roadmap looked both impressive and realistic. Except for CP77, which was a brutal reminder for me. After that I never got burned by an exit scam or botched release again.

[Start_Running]

Always be cvareful about games in development. If you've looked into the development story of any game you'll find the roadmap was generally all over the place. The games sometimes change quite drastically in producrtion.

EG Diablo was for the first third of it's development life designed as an excom style turn based dungeon crawler. Main reason Ideas get scrapped is they are too ambvitious for the talents and tech, and because they realized it didn't playwell with some other feature.

PS I'll fix them quotes in the nmorning.

[LizardWizard]

You could try finding a Steam curator that you like, but Steam can't arbitrate or go after developers down to that level without fallback and massive costs. Best thing to do is to get into the practice of checking out YouTube Let's Plays of the game you are interested in before buying.

[SHOKO]

everything eventually dies and these days everything needs a battlepass to be even a little relevant

[IFIYGD]

Celebrindan님이 먼저 게시:

IFIYGD님이 먼저 게시:

And you must be a noob calling the DMCA "DRMA"- though the DMCA does have a section in it regarding DRM in digital content, including but not limited to video games.

You do understand that the DMCA applies to not only video games, but movies, TV shows and clips, music, photographs, digital art, articles published online- really anything that is or can be published or posted online can be potentially covered by the DMCA- not just video games.

Though I do not really understand what a copyright protection act has to do with whether a game is shovelware, abandonware ,or simply facing a lengthy development delay if it still has an Early Access status on its store page.

I don't know when it was re-branded, but when it was passed in 1998 it was officially called the DRMA.

You might not know, or remember, what it has to do with software, but the new law made it illegal to return crappy code IF YOU OPENED THE BOX the software disks came in.
Opening the box was required to use the disks to install the software.
Even if the code was broken and would not work, the customer was screwed, and completely without recourse.

And again. DRMA was never an act passed in 1998 in the US. DMCA was.
DRMA is an acronym with varied meanings, and usages: https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/DRMA#:~:text=Damaged%20Return%20Merchandise%20Authorization,.com%2C%20All%20rights%20reserved.
I think you are confusing things with various laws on RMAs, which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, varies in different industries, varies from country to country, and that I could only find legislative/legal references to in various legal firms' publications (US). A sample publication on "RMAs": https://www.mondaq.com/advicecentre/content/4410/Return-Material-Authorization-Reference-Guide

TL;DR I can find absolutely no history for the DMCA ever having been called DRMA. If you can- please share that documentation.

[Celebrindan]

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

Start_Running님이 먼저 게시:

And people legit bought it?
His defense was apparently unsuccessful.


Game is no longer available for sale.
But here's tyhe thing and why I make a point of being Aware.. if you buy something that looks bad, at somepointg you have to ask yourself "why?"




[CITATION NEEDED]


Yeah, because stores tend not to accept returns on things like books, magazines, vhs tapes etc, unless there is some physical defect that prevents usage.
STore owners aren't dumb m8. They caught on pretty quick. that some people were just copying the disks .

Your statement can also be debunked in the simple fact that this practice has been more or less world wide since the mid 90's read as, since the average user had easy access to floppy drives.



There was always recourse...if the customer could prove that the code was indeed broken.

You're not very good at this are you m8. I mean seriously.

Again the DMCA concerned management of and protection of copyright.

1. I think your quotes are broken, because half the stuff you posted there was written by someone else and not me.
2. That was the last time I ever bought a game in early development because the roadmap looked both impressive and realistic. Except for CP77, which was a brutal reminder for me. After that I never got burned by an exit scam or botched release again.

Confidently, but completely, incorrect.
Talking out of the side of your neck isn't the flex you think it is.

[Celebrindan]

$HOKO ヅ님이 먼저 게시:

everything eventually dies and these days everything needs a battlepass to be even a little relevant

You've become hopelessly consumerized.
I'm not throwing away my Chess or my Go sets.

[Celebrindan]

dandykong님이 먼저 게시:

SteamDB's browser extension does this. It adds a "last depot update" entry to every store page, and turns it bright red if the developer hasn't updated in years.

Though this also affects a lot of classic games, especially dinosaurs like HL1, which rarely get updates because of their age.

Thank you for alerting me to this bit of information.
I will look for it in the future.

[vinny]

You have a better chance of avoiding the issue if you look over reviews more. Many people will post reviews regarding game issues that haven't been fixed or whenever they know the Dev's have no more plans for the game's future. With that being said, I think it's a neat idea and would be open to it.

[Celebrindan]

Tell us 'the reviews' on these games.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/vq1vrr/ubisoft_said_that_starting_september_1st_we_wont/