I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Valve.

Tonight I revoked my Kickstarter pledge to Planetary Annihilation. It was a reluctant and unhappy decision. Had I considered HOW the game would be published and distributed beforehand, I wouldn't have made the pledge at all. What occurred tonight is that I realized this game will only be playable through Valve's Steam system. That ends my support of this game, because I won't even be able to play it or participate in the alpha and beta processes. That inability is because I'm not able to use Steam any more.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that contractual clauses restricting class action litigation were legal. More recently, Valve thought it would be a grand idea to monetize that ruling to reduce their legal defense budget, and modified their Steam contract to include that prohibition. Let me state the obvious that even our own Supreme Court can't seem to grasp: it is the providence of a (hopefully) impartial court of law to decide the worthiness of class action litigation, not a self-interested corporation that fears being a defendant in such lawsuits and thus has a vested interest in denying ALL such lawsuits regardless of actual merit.

I had perhaps a month before created a Steam account and purchased licenses to several games. When the inevitable Steam TOS update arrived and demanded my assent, I refused on principle. As a result, I can no longer play the games I had already licensed through Steam, not even in offline single-player modes. I asked for a refund for those games I can no longer play, and was almost quite literally told to frack off.

Why would I fund another game that will only be usable through an online system that I can no longer use because of an unethical breach of contract? I'm certainly not going to fund and buy another Steam game I can't even play. Aside from the selfish impact on me, while I recognize the popularity of Steam and the obvious economic benefit to Uber of jumping into bed with Valve, the simple fact is that what Valve did is unethical and by proxy Uber is now supporting that behavior.

Regretfully, I'm done.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Wait, where does it say PA will only be available on steam?

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

What are you talking about? Uber has said they intend Steam to be one of many ways to get PA, assuming Valve accept . They have their own distribution platform (Ubernet) which will obviously feature PA. There has never been any suggestion that Steam would be the only available platform.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Uh, it won't be JUST on Steam, Ubernet will have it as well. And if I recall correctly Steam is only a maybe yet.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

So why exactly did you refuse the TOS in the first place, give me a specific answer not a general one.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

This is simply not true.

Learn to read.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Considering they're releasing a linux version, it should be obvious that it will be available from a source other than steam.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

I must assume yall be trippin.

The game is supposed to be available by multiple methods, likely Steam Uber Net Direct Download and possibly other services.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

So how often where you planning on suing Valve anyway?

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

A for effort, but F on execution. Needs more original research.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Not sure if trolling
Or just bad with researching.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

You’re a ******* dickhead. If you have ever felt entitled to class action because of a bloody computer game then I feel sorry for you. Except I don’t, because you’re a dickhead.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Something tells me he won't be coming back to realise that he is wrong...

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

That's what I don't get. Even if he is planning on suing Valve, he's not restricted from doing so. They've just set some ground rules that prevent wasteful class action suits, but still let you take action directly.

This is the same kind of person that doesn't use Facebook because of "privacy" concerns (even though they have some of the best privacy controls out there). It's ok to have principles, but don't try to stand firm on something that's a huge reach.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Avoiding getting into a discussion about Facebook and their privacy controls (because their controls are nowhere near the best) - because that is not actually what the issue is about - I have nothing against people who refuse Steam or Facebook on principle.

But the class action suit is a weird principle to refuse any service on, as they seldom benefit anyone but lawyers. There are many reasons to hate Steam, but the class action lawsuit is not one of them.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

lol

trolls everywhere, about zoom, about steam, about... what next?

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

agree. wish you would have a picture with your avatar, with the face of fry with this text!

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

I can try. The text may be too small to read, though.
Always a chance....
I'll just put it in my sig.

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

too much of a frenzied lynch mob mentality in this thread, how about discussing the topic?

vulcantourist is talking about this> see informative LA times article

This is interesting since I am still following the patching progress of Sword of the Stars 2 which in case you dont know was launched on steam a year ago as a very rough and broken alpha build but without advertising the fact that it was essentially a buy in beta, as it was sold as a complete game. It raised all kinds of questions about what can pass for a computer game in law and what your rights are as a consumer if you are sold a turkey. While the SotS2 release was apparently an act of desperation and not intended as deception primarily as the devs are making solid progress to date on putting it right, there were a lot of lynch mob types clamouring for their heads on a plate and if class action lawsuits had been a possibility I dont doubt they would have been considered by some. As it stands there were none and I am quite glad because the game is being completed and I am happy for the devs to have my money while it is being done, but it leaves the door open for more and more shoddy releases which I dont think any gamers really want.

Personally I wouldnt take it out on Uber since they are pro DRM free approach and clearly a pro studio period. I wouldnt take it out on myself either since I like the look of the game and I want to play it, I wouldnt take it out on steam since as the article states, what reasonable company wouldn't. But I would not take it out on vulcantourist either because protest is a perfectly valid response to the situation and it deserves discussion.

In fact I wouldn't take it out on anybody because taking it out on anyone is wrong and I think everybody deserves the security of justice and civilised treatment, even those who disagree with the majority. But I would remark that US law has uncovered a problem with this ruling and customers of US companies, mostly US citizens are characteristically not content with being denied justice nor should they be. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out and how justice is served.

In the meantime... I'm gonna be playin' the alpha, laa_laa_la_laa_laa

Re: I really wish Uber hadn't decided to get in bed with Val

Erm...

You didn't read the FAQ on the Kickstarter page.