Valve starts locking out Orange Box users...

stealthgeek · 26 Oct 2007 at 13:34

Tom0 said:
Wonder why russia..

YOU MUST SAVE ZE MOTHER LAND GORDINK!

lol

with his crowbarski

and instead of ant lions, its decadent westerners in business suits carrying brief cases! Oh, hang on a minute.... :confused:

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:14

Psycho Sonny said:
what goes around comes around

on a more on topic note

i bought my orange box from an asian website for £15, i reckon this is why valve are clamping down on this, but it isnt fair is it, why shoould i have to pay £35 when some guy in thailand can buy it for £10, everything should have the same price in the world regardless

Indeed... i was being ironic.

And no, everything should not be the same price. That's called communism. It would also destroy the world's economy

Orange box is £26. You work for at least £5 an hour. People in Thailand work for £5 a day, if that. I dont see how anyone in your position can complain that this "isnt fair". I can only imagine what would happen if Rice in Africa and China cost the same as a packet of Uncle Bens from Tesco.

Also, you're not very on topic yourself.
What Valve has done is clamped down on some Distributors that have broken their terms. They are not punishing people for buying abroad. Did you read their posts or jump on the anti-valve bandwagon without thinking?

ACESHIGH · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:25

Have heard of a couple of people who purchased their copies from Thailand cheaply & now appeared to have their accounts closed.

Is it stated in the EULA that this is not allowed?
If not then isnt what Valve are doing illegal, as people are entitled to buy products from wherever they see fit? Thats what a free market is all about.
If not stated in the EULA i feel a class action coming on.

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:43

ffs read what Valve are doing.

I will type it in big letters for the reading impaired.

VALVE ARE NOT PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR BUYING GAMES FROM FOREIGN WEBSITES. THEY ARE LOCKING DOWN THE GAMES THAT HAVE BEEN BOUGHT FROM CERTAIN DISTRIBUTORS THAT HAVE BROKEN THEIR TERMS OF AGREEMENT.

FrostedNipple · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:44

DampCat said:
ffs read what Valve are doing.

I will type it in big letters for the reading impaired.

VALVE ARE NOT PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR BUYING GAMES FROM FOREIGN WEBSITES. THEY ARE LOCKING DOWN THE GAMES THAT HAVE BEEN BOUGHT FROM CERTAIN DISTRIBUTORS THAT HAVE BROKEN THEIR TERMS OF AGREEMENT.

so why have peoples accounts been closed, what happens to the games, shorely having them taken off you is a punishment?

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:49

Then the issue is between the End User and the Distributor. The Distibutor is illegally selling these games. (i dont know if they are illegally selling the games, but they have broken the terms so they are not ALLOWED to sell them. I am not a lawyer and wont pretend to know about international laws)

What do you think would happen if McDonalds started selling The Whopper without asking? Or ATI suddenly released an 8800GTX with RADEON pasted across it? The manufacturers/publishers would withdraw the product. If you had paid for that product, you would shout at McDonalds/ATI.. not Burger King or nVidia.

ACESHIGH · 26 Oct 2007 at 14:55

DampCat said:
ffs read what Valve are doing.

I will type it in big letters for the reading impaired.

VALVE ARE NOT PUNISHING PEOPLE FOR BUYING GAMES FROM FOREIGN WEBSITES. THEY ARE LOCKING DOWN THE GAMES THAT HAVE BEEN BOUGHT FROM CERTAIN DISTRIBUTORS THAT HAVE BROKEN THEIR TERMS OF AGREEMENT.

Valve apparently ARE punishing people for buying games from foreign websites as those people appear to have had their accounts closed (id say that is punishment).

If the distributors are breaking the terms of agreement why not punish them instead of people who paid good money for a product in good faith & now have nothing to show for it?

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 15:03

See above?

DampCat said:
Then the issue is between the End User and the Distributor. The Distibutor is illegally selling these games. (i dont know if they are illegally selling the games, but they have broken the terms so they are not ALLOWED to sell them. I am not a lawyer and wont pretend to know about international laws)

What do you think would happen if McDonalds started selling The Whopper without asking? Or ATI suddenly released an 8800GTX with RADEON pasted across it? The manufacturers/publishers would withdraw the product. If you had paid for that product, you would shout at McDonalds/ATI.. not Burger King or nVidia.

Also See Below:

Valve said:
We are not locking down all keys to the area in which they were sold. There was however a situation recently with a distributor violating our agreement with them and selling keys outside of their area. Some of the keys alloted to them have been locked down to their specific region as a result of this.

If you are experiencing this error message then you should do two things:

1) Open a support ticket so you're specific key restriction can be investigated and we can respond

2) PM me your accountname (just the accountname) and I'll take a quick look at the first 10-20 I receive to ensure that it doesn't look like we have a bug causing this to affect accounts that it should not. Please realize that I may not be able to respond to everyone personally, so you should make sure you do #1 above and open an actual support ticket.

Sorry for the confusion. We are most definitely not locking down accounts in general and if you have purchased through a legitimate retailer or through Steam directly you should have no reason to fear any sort of new region locking.

If you need any help with that, let me know.

snowdog · 26 Oct 2007 at 15:14

DampCat said:
Indeed... i was being ironic.

And no, everything should not be the same price. That's called communism. It would also destroy the world's economy Orange box is £26. You work for at least £5 an hour. People in Thailand work for £5 a day, if that. I dont see how anyone in your position can complain that this "isnt fair". I can only imagine what would happen if Rice in Africa and China cost the same as a packet of Uncle Bens from Tesco.

It's not called communism, it's called free market and globalization.
Prices will eventually even out around the world wether you like it or not.

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 15:19

There will be no demand for a product in an economy that can't afford it. I'd rather take the economics debate to a different forum.

lordfletch · 26 Oct 2007 at 15:29

DampCat said:
Unlike the British who never took over the world, created a fascist empire, or invented slavery? Who clearly didnt then become the most ridiculously over-priced, stupidly politically correct country with foolishly open borders to any foreigners?

heh.

we didnt invent slavery

snowdog · 26 Oct 2007 at 16:49

^ Yep I believe the egyptians did, the egyptians and romans did it before you anyhow

.

There will be no demand for a product in an economy that can't afford it. I'd rather take the economics debate to a different forum.

There will be demand for it from elsewhere, in this case from europe or the us.
I don't know why I should pay 35 € for it when I can get it for 15 elsewhere, we're living in 2007, It's not like it's impossible to get something shipped from elsewhere.

DarkShadow · 26 Oct 2007 at 19:10

I've ordered my copy from the place in Asia. When my copy arrives and if it's locked am I entitled to a refund or is it tough ****?

DampCat · 26 Oct 2007 at 19:45

You will have to talk to the people you bought it from. It IS their error of course, so bear that in mind.

And Snowdog, i didnt say you shouldn't buy it from elsewhere so im not sure where you're going.

peetee · 26 Oct 2007 at 21:20

Hmm this is a bit of a dodgey one, yes why should be have to pay more. But really, if someone is earning £5 a day in thailand i really dont think they are going to have a computer, let alone one capable of playing any orange box games?
Its not like graphics cards are scaled pricewise over there is it?
Dodgey one this to be honest!