Steam "Support"



  • Due to a recent purchase of a new Geforce card, I had one voucher for The Witcher 3 lying around which I didn't want to use because I prepurchased the game several weeks before.

    So, I asked friends if they were willing to exchange the voucher for another game on Steam in the ~20€ range. One friend offered Satellite Reign which I accepted.
    He was able to activate and play his new game - I was not so lucky. Upon trying to add the gift to my library I only got the message:

    Unable to add the gift to your library. The gift may have already been redeemed. Please try again later.

    Since I didn't think that my friend was pulling one over on me, I suspected Steam of having some problems. A short Google search showed that to be the case - several other people had ran into this issue in the past, some being able to solve it, others... not.

    Because I wasn't exactly willing to blindly fumble around, I opened a ticket at Steam Support and described the problem.

    Several days passed, during one of them I tried to activate the game again. This time it worked, the game installed and I was able to play. This fact will become important shortly.

    About three days later I finally received an answer by Steam Support. They stated, and I quote:

    This is the international version of the game. This version is not available in your region. It is impossible to remove this restriction.
    We cannot refund you but only remove the game from your account.[...]

    Seriously?



  • Okay, that raises a question. They control everything that goes on in this world, amirite? (that's not the question) The :wtf: question is:

    If they know you can't use the game, WTF would they let your friend give it to you as a gift? ("We're sorry, you cannot give gift -x- to -person-, because -person- cannot use gift -x-.")

    And the answer is: just plain pure robbery! 😡 Your friend paid for the game, gave it to you, and now it's been confiscated. Steam keeps the money, "Yay for :facepunch: Steam!"



  • What's especially sad is that for all their faults, EA's support are absolutely amazing to deal with.

    Steam's are an embarrassment.



  • Steam's support is excrement. Even when dealing with stuff that could land them in legal trouble. (Like pricing errors.)


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @blakeyrat said:

    Steam's support is excrement.

    So would you say it's... A STEAMING PILE OF SHIT?

    EH?

    Guys?





  • What are you, auditioning for CSI "glasses come off for the punchline" guy?



  • I was working hard on coming up with a good response to that, but then I ran out of steam.



  • Too much pressure?



  • Watt? That's enough steam puns, we don't want to put off any Newcomen.



  • Or accidentally get any of them steamed...


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    Oh... steam puns.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @lightsoff said:

    Too much pressure?

    Actually, technically, if you run out of steam, you'd have less pressure WAY TO RUIN THE ENTIRE THREAD JERK!



  • Am I the only one who does not understand "international version" <-> "your region"? Which country on this planet is not part of "international"? That sounds quite a bit oxymoronic.



  • @YellowOnline said:

    Which country on this planet is not part of "international"?

    Japan or North America. Sometimes both.
    Oh, and Germany + Australia are sometimes also not part of "international".


  • area_deu

    Yeah, because God forbid we see any more swastikas. It would turn us all into insta-Nazis. Even if pretty much noone that saw the real thing back then would play first-person shooters now.



  • Well, it's not just that, stupidly enough! I could live with shooting down people with purple pentagrams or whatever on their arms.


    Filed under: ["Killerspiele" is one of my most hated words, ever.](#tag), [Also, every parent who allows a primary school kid to have a GTA game deserves to be hanged](#tag), [Fucking hell, people, if you got your shit together, us adults could have a much better life](#tag)


  • Well, I'm playing "Sniper Elite III" right now, which is the first WW2 game I play since I moved to Germany. I was wondering if my version would be censored in any way. Admittedly, I haven't seen any swastikas yet, but on the other hand: I bought my version in another country (Belgium).



  • Make that yellow pentagrams on their chest and I think you will be sued soon ^^


  • area_deu

    You mean like this?



  • I still think that some people saw antisemitism there - or at least shock value - where there wasn't any. Because they sold that T-shirt in Germany and Israel - two countries very sensitive to the theme - without much ado until the Reddit army saw similarities, I feel that few people really found it so reminiscent of the holocaust until the internet forced them to. As I child I also played cowboy with a striped shirt and a yellow star. Very sure I wasn't subtily making fun of the concentration camps as a six-year old.



  • @Lorne_Kates said:

    Actually, technically, if you run out of steam, you'd have less pressure WAY TO RUIN THE ENTIRE THREAD JERK!

    Too much pressure -> a pipe (or a Valve if you prefer) bursts -> run out of steam


  • area_deu

    I know I literally went "WTF" all on my own when I saw that picture, but only because I couldn't imagine someone being stupid enough to sell or buy something like that. I never seriously thought there was any antisemitism intended.
    But yes, I think Germans today are over-indoctrinated with that whole NS topic. Back in "high school" (Gymnasium) I had two whole years where Nazis and WW2 where discussed at length in like four classes/subjects. I would rather have a country where your kid could run around wearing stuff like this and people would think cowboys, not jews and concentration camps. Sometimes it's just better not to remember shit, especially if the people directly involved will all be dead in a few years anyway.



  • @YellowOnline said:

    Am I the only one who does not understand "international version" <-> "your region"? Which country on this planet is not part of "international"? That sounds quite a bit oxymoronic.

    There are many idiots here in the USA who use "international" as a synonym for "foreign". In their view, there is them people in the USA and then there is them foreigners. But foreigner became a "bad word" a while back, after which those same people started substituting "international".

    So his friend gave him a game intended for use in some country(ies) outside the USA, and that game cannot be used inside the USA, probably because Steam charges $ for the foreign country and $$$$$$$ for the USA version.



  • @aliceif said:

    Well, it's not just that, stupidly enough! I could live with shooting down people with purple pentagrams or whatever on their arms.

    In Justice League, they used a single SS S.

    ... uh.

    Yeah, the SS logo was in this distinctive font where the S looked like a squared-off lightning bolt, and then two of them were side by side. When the Justice League cartoon needed family-friendly Nazis they took just one of the S's as their logo. Apparently that's enough to get past the German censorship board (motto: "censoring Nazi symbols in a way that would make actual Nazis proud").



  • Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

    Sorry, dude, but letting people forget about it is about the worst thing you could do.



  • @CoyneTheDup said:

    So his friend gave him a game intended for use in some country(ies) outside the USA, and that game cannot be used inside the USA, probably because Steam charges $ for the foreign country and $$$$$$$ for the USA version.

    It's actually the other way around, Steam uses a $1 = 1€ conversion. Plus, ever looked at Australian prices?



  • @ChrisH said:

    Yeah, because God forbid we see any more swastikas. It would turn us all into insta-Nazis. Even if pretty much noone that saw the real thing back then would play first-person shooters now.

    Besides, the easy answer is to associate the swastikas with idiocy 😛

    Filed Under: Chaotic Stupid National Socialists


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @tarunik said:

    Besides, the easy answer is to associate the swastikas with idiocy

    That sounds like you're teaching the wrong lesson. Smart != Good and Dumb != Evil.



  • @boomzilla said:

    That sounds like you're teaching the wrong lesson. Smart != Good and Dumb != Evil.

    What I'm trying to do is make people point and laugh at them...


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @tarunik said:

    What I'm trying to do is make people point and laugh at them...

    Still wrong. Many people think words like "evil" are anachronistic. This sort of fop laughed at Bush when he named the Axis of Evil. They have trouble recognizing things like that and they think phrases like, "Men have penises and women have vaginas" is real evil (if you believe their own words, at least).



  • @boomzilla said:

    Still wrong. Many people think words like "evil" are anachronistic. This sort of fop laughed at Bush when he named the Axis of Evil. They have trouble recognizing things like that and they think phrases like, "Men have penises and women have vaginas" is real evil (if you believe their own words, at least).

    sigh -- I'm trying to come up with a way to make them appear as universally "you don't want to be them" as possible...


  • BINNED

    @tarunik said:

    sigh -- I'm trying to come up with a way to make them appear as universally "you don't want to be them" as possible...

    I have good news and bad news: the good news is that "you don't want to be them" is painfully obvious to everyone who's not them; the bad news is that our education system (especially college) is pushing everyone they can into being one of them.



  • @Rhywden said:

    It's actually the other way around, Steam uses a $1 = 1€ conversion. Plus, ever looked at Australian prices?

    Oh, well, it must be something else then. Maybe something too offensive for here in the good ol' states?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @boomzilla said:

    Still wrong. Many people think words like "evil" are anachronistic. This sort of fop laughed at Bush when he named the Axis of Evil. They have trouble recognizing things like that and they think phrases like, "Men have penises and women have vaginas" is real evil (if you believe their own words, at least).

    The current holders of the “most evil crew on Earth” title probably are ISIS, despite strong competition from elsewhere (some of the armed groups in Africa are really awful). There's also quite a few regimes who have a high ranking in the old Lawful Evil stakes…



  • @aliceif said:

    Also, every parent who allows a primary school kid to have a GTA game deserves to be hanged

    Do you forbid them from playing cops and robbers on the wrong side too?

    Seriously, in primary school, especially in later years, kids can figure out there's a difference between blowing shit up on screen and blowing shit up IRL. Kids are generally dumb fucks, but not that dumb of fucks.



  • @Maciejasjmj said:

    Kids are generally dumb fucks, but not that dumb of fucks.

    You seriously overestimate kids. Don't forget, I'm talking about up to 12-year-olds. They are dumb fucks.

    See, the thing is: Age recommendation exist for a reason - the higher ones (16, 18) even more so.
    If parents + grandparents would acknowledge them more, there would be a lot less of an urge to keep violent things out of Germany entirely.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    Kids are generally dumb fucks, but not that dumb of fucks.

    Kids aren't dumb. Lacking in knowledge, experience and (unfortunately) judgement, but not dumb. Except for the dumb ones; some people, kids or otherwise, really are just stupid. The kids who have problems figuring out that GTA isn't real have other problems too, and it's hardly a new problem. Alas…



  • @aliceif said:

    They are dumb fucks.

    @dkf said:

    Kids aren't dumb.

    Stop presenting opposing points to me, I don't know who to argue.

    @aliceif said:

    If parents + grandparents would acknowledge them more, there would be a lot less of an urge to keep violent things out of Germany entirely.

    Don't get me wrong, your censorship laws are batshit insane. But I still don't think keeping kids sheltered from bad things because they're young is a good idea.

    They'll get around to them sooner or later - and I think it's better for that to happen a) before they enter the adolescent "fuck everyone and everything" phase, and b) with their parents able to iron out the misconceptions instead of relying on the neighbourhood kids to have blind lead the blind.

    (also, I played violent shooters since I was like 12 and didn't have the urge to get a gun and shoot people around me until I became a software developer, so there.)


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    I played violent shooters since I was like 12 and didn't have the urge to get a gun and shoot people around me

    😮

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    until I became a software developer

    Ah! Normality restored… ;)



  • @dkf said:

    @Maciejasjmj said:
    Kids are generally dumb fucks, but not that dumb of fucks.

    Kids aren't dumb. Lacking in knowledge, experience and (unfortunately) judgement, but not dumb. Except for the dumb ones; some people, kids or otherwise, really are just stupid. The kids who have problems figuring out that GTA isn't real have other problems too, and it's hardly a new problem. Alas…

    Youths, on the other hand, are quite frequently dumb. But that's a neurochemical/-physical problem and they can't really help it.



  • @Maciejasjmj said:

    (also, I played violent shooters since I was like 12 and didn't have the urge to get a gun and shoot people around me until I became a software developer, so there.)

    Well, I started playing them with 16.
    Feel free to interpret that however you want.



  • @aliceif said:

    Feel free to interpret that however you want.

    I choose to interpret that as a sexual euphemism.


    Filed under: this forum gets a lot funnier when you do that


  • area_deu

    @Rhywden said:

    Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

    Telling kids "Nazis were evil and killed lots of people" over and over and over again ad nauseam and in excrutiating detail might get counter-productive after a while.
    How many hours do US pupils discuss Vietnam? Is every High School class required to visit Hiroshima at least once?

    Sorry, dude, but letting people forget about it is about the worst thing you could do.
    No, the worst thing would be glorifying it. You know, like certain other nations do with their genocides.

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dkf said:

    The current holders of the “most evil crew on Earth” title probably are ISIS, despite strong competition from elsewhere (some of the armed groups in Africa are really awful). There's also quite a few regimes who have a high ranking in the old Lawful Evil stakes…

    They're certainly making a run for it. The Kims of North Korea will be difficult to surpass.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dkf said:

    Kids aren't dumb. Lacking in knowledge, experience and (unfortunately) judgement, but not dumb.

    Yes, they are dumb. Some are very bright for their age. Maybe there has been a prodigy here or there who broke out of this state, but I have never known one.

    @boomzilla's fundamental theorem of childhood: kids are idiots.

    Some obviously never grow out of this, but spend some time around children and you'll see the truth in this. It's just a natural part of that time of life.


  • BINNED

    @boomzilla said:

    Some obviously never grow out of this

    👋


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    But I still don't think keeping kids sheltered from bad things because they're young is a good idea.

    No, it's definitely a good idea. Kids don't have the tools to understand many things and won't deal with them properly, which can lead to real issues immediately and later in life.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @ChrisH said:

    Telling kids "Nazis were evil and killed lots of people" over and over and over again ad nauseam and in excrutiating detail might get counter-productive after a while.

    Depends on how much, I guess. That's pretty much what I tell my kids.

    @ChrisH said:

    How many hours do US pupils discuss Vietnam?

    Not much, IME. History classes almost never get that far.

    @ChrisH said:

    Is every High School class required to visit Hiroshima at least once?

    I've never heard of it (not that you thought it did). I have taught my kids that without Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) the world would have been a lot worse. Many more Japanese would have died (especially women and children). Ditto for Americans, and given my grandfather's role in the planned invasion, possibly we would never have been born.

    @ChrisH said:

    No, the worst thing would be glorifying it. You know, like certain other nations do with their genocides.

    +뿧...though it's not clear if you think Vietnam / Hiroshima fall into that category.


  • BINNED

    @boomzilla said:

    History classes almost never get that far.

    :wtf: and I felt bad because I couldn't remember if we handled Congo during high school. The History books even handled the falling of the Berlin wall and at that time it was less then 10 years down.


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