tabletop simulator purchased via green man gaming

[gxnpt]

So -
I just (a few days ago) adjusted my retired at 120% of poverty level budget last week by skipping the normal tacos-to-go-for-2 $8 usual weekly expense last week in favor of getting an $8 Tabletop Simulator from greenmangaming.com so I could make a TTS version of the prototype of my most recent retirement hobby designed game Mind Game instead of just having it as print-and-play and a Vassal module http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Mind_Game -- I had been planning on also making a TTS version of Alchelemenal also http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Alchelemental and after learning more about TTS perhaps one for Fleet Admiral - Singularity (which is currently only PnP and not really suited to Vassal - some doubts about suited to TTS as well) and (when finish converting images to all public domain sourced) Sky Pirates and the Quest for Helium.

But, it seems that Valve/Steam require me to allocate $5 as a total waste of cash in order to have a fully active account - no refunds for wallet and any purchase would be a waste at this time and quite possibly a waste forever as far as I am concerned.

Naturally, I currently hold both Green Man Gaming and Steam at fault for the situation and am not a happy camper. Green Man for not mentioning the hidden $5 cost on their website and Steam/Valve for having the crudely implemented wears a claims to be an anti-spam measure figleaf no human review involved policy which appears to serve no purpose in this case other than to try to pry another $5 from my Social Security fixed income budget.

Who thinks they will surprise me with anything other than a "must follow our corporate policies" response?

[Jerry]

You are free to play the game you did purchase the way you want. The 5 Dollar minimum only affects the use of certain community features of Steam as a platform, but does not touch the possibilities to use games and programs. Therefor, there is no "added cost" to your game.

[844mrzilla]

I am so sorry that I haven't been able to come up to steam and check all my messages please forgive me God bless and thank you

[gxnpt]

Actually, the ability to make something public for all to be able to see - vs limited public so only friends who must invite me in order to become a friend can see it - was intended to make it easier to find players/playtesters via Reddit or BGG forums since Vassal is not as popular a game engine.

The advertising indicated this could be done after purchasing TTS (which seems true if was purchased via Steam in the first place but seems false when purchased outside of Steam).

This disjunction creates the "added cost" to have all features that are indicated for the Tabletop Simulator software.

If I am incorrect about a "full" account being able to make a workshop game visible to all vs friends only then my major issue of contention vanishes and my own understanding must examine itself (having someone invite you as friend vs inviting them is minor since same sort of interaction is required - them being able to see it without "friending" them was the original intention - like referring them to a Vassal page).

Tabletop Simulator is not itself a "game" and my purpose in having it is as a game perototyping and playtesting tool which is having its functionality limited for its intended purpose.

[gxnpt]

Purely as an update:

Obviously I am not happy that marketing and sale price by greenmangaming have proven to be deceptive in this particular case and it seems that the makers of TTS (which seems to have multiplayer via web limited to steam) and steam/valve (as willing participant in this situation) are equally infected by this moral malaise.

Ergo, TTS is not to be considered my preferred game engine for prototyping boardgames.

On the plus side, since my workshop items are NOT "submitted" by this definition of limited account, steam/valve has no rights to use any of my workshop items for any purposes whatsoever.

Guess I am going to have to teach myself Udemy after all or go back to localhost/LAN/web designs for server/browser based prototypes.

I looked over the "things for sale" at steam and nothing in the under $10 range is anything I would want to buy. No utilities that would be useful. Not even seeing any item packs (that would save some time making custom items) for TTS. Expensive no way my budget would purchase game engines. A couple of free things that would not count for eliminating the "limited".

I see no purpose in parking $5 (that it states is not refundable) in a wallet to purchase nothing and wait for either steam/valve or myself to die at which time I (or my estate) would seek restoration of said $5 from the wallet.

I greatly resent the TTS/Steam workshop limitation regarding being able to post a link to my prototype game workshop page that can be seen without someone being a "friend" and having steam already - should allow all to see as a public page even if the viewer does not already have steam installed. Would not need to be integrated any other way into steam, just allow direct linking to TTS game workshop pages and the major issue with TTS would be corrected.

It will be interesting to see if there is any further response from "management" on this, but I expect little.