Pretty much every EULA ever has this clause.  At some point you are just raging against the entire software game industry.

christ people like to whinge about big bags of fucking nothing, lol.

That last section was pretty hidden: That's enough for me to tolerate and not boycott (I wasn't going to boycott forever anyways)- but valve is now a last resort purchase for anything over say $5.

Hopefully Stardock doesn't make Steamworks mandatory in future, though I have a bad feeling about this given how Rebellion did.  I'd pay more for a non-Steamworks version.

Only people negatively affected by lack of class action lawsuit are lawyers, so I dont care.

If needed we (individual users) can still take Valve to small claims court.

island dog, the ONLY steam game I have (and it is restricted to watercooled computers only(I only have one)) is sins rebellion, and it is the ONLY steam game I will be getting, so if you move all your development to steam then you WILL lose me as a customer.

harpo

I'm not speaking on behalf of Stardock here.

I think it's quite silly not to purchase a game because it's on Steam, or it's on GameStop, etc..  I hate to tell you, but retail for PC games is over, it's done.  Steam, GS, etc. are the future and they aren't going away. 

I'll make the same point I've made in every one of these "Steam-is-evil" threads (seriously, it's like 1 a week now).  Without Steam, most of PC gaming doesn't exist in 2012 (and certainly not in the next decade).  People can pretend to take proud stances about the evils of Steam, but if you are a PC gamer in any form, you benefit from Steam, indirectly at least.  Especially if you're someone who likes to play less mainstream games like Warlock: Master of the Arcane or Legend of Grimrock.  Without Steam, the majority of those games don't exist.  So be proud and mighty all you like, but at least acknowledge that you're also benefiting from the "evil Steam".  

As for the lack of class action, I don't personally care one whit.  In the last month I've gotten 6 or 7 excellent games (AAA titles or things like Legend of Grimlock) that cost me $4 to $6 each.  On other sites (Amazon digital for example) they were all $19.99 or $29.99.  The savings on those 6 or 7 games alone crushes any settlement I'd ever get in a class action suit against Steam.  And if I have a class-action style problem with Steam, which I won't because most class-action problems are bullshit, I still have the right to small claims court, which suits me just fine.  

Any individual that ever feels compelled to litigate over a computer game is probably in the wrong hobby.

I don't think that's the point though, at least it isn't from my pov.

Boycotting Steam is really just step one, the real boycott is against the company which chooses Steam only.  Don't buy their game at all.

Personally I don't need every single game out there, no matter how cheap they may be, and I don't need to deal with Steam or whatever I don't want to deal with.  It's pretty simple really.  If that means I can't play certain games, oh fucking well.

Are we seriously at the point where people are so addicted to Steam that they couldn't live without it?  This isn't some 'get off your ass and go outside for a walk' point either.  This is asking the question that if Steam went away people (Kantok...) seriously think they wouldn't be able to get their gaming fix?  Do you honestly believe that without Steam PC gaming would be dead or would die?  That's a pretty strong statement, and a patently ridiculous one as well.

Why is it silly? There are already other threads on this site describing in detail why a great number of people will not purchase games through an online client like Steam.

If a game developer considers that population base acceptable losses for the sale of their game....well, that I think is silly.

As to your comment about retail sales; it's conjecture. If people decide not to buy games online, I'll bet you game developers will switch back to retail in a heartbeat.

“On Steam, whenever a customer is unhappy with any transaction, our first goal is to resolve things as quickly as possible through the normal customer support process. However in those instances in which we can’t resolve a dispute, we’ve outlined a new required process whereby we agree to use arbitration or small claims court to resolve the dispute. In the arbitration process, Valve will reimburse your costs of the arbitration for claims under [$10,000]. Reimbursement by Valve is provided regardless of the arbitrator’s decision, provided that the arbitrator does not determine the claim to be frivolous or the costs unreasonable.”

“Most significant to the new dispute resolution terms is that customers may now only bring individual claims, not class action claims. We considered this change very carefully. It’s clear to us that in some situations, class actions have real benefits to customers. In far too many cases however, class actions don’t provide any real benefit to users and instead impose unnecessary expense and delay, and are often designed to benefit the class action lawyers who craft and litigate these claims. We think this new dispute resolution process is faster and better for you and Valve while avoiding unnecessary costs, and that it will therefore benefit the community as a whole.”

OMG, so evil!  If you sue them they are willing to pay your court cost, even if they win!  Bastards!

You know I used to have a problem with steam but have since changed my mind. Looking at this really reinforces my view that valve is one of the good guys. I can't see any reason why you would ever be wanting to get more than $10,000 out of valve. And they're offering to pay your legal costs. Besides for the most part courts are crap and as a form of justice laughable. I'd rather have arbitration and small claims court as my options especially if they're willing to pay for the arbitration.

Again, this is me speaking for myself.

The few people who refuse to buy a game because it's on Steam, GS, etc. are FAR outnumbered by the amount of people that a platform like Steam brings in.  

As the other person said, there is hardly any retail space left for PC games.  Been to a GameStop store lately?  How about Best Buy?  Every time I go to BB their PC section gets a bit smaller.  Lets not even get into the fact they will probably be out of business in a few years.  I stand by what I said, retail for PC games is over.  

This internet thing seems to be sticking around, so I would place serious money on developers sticking to online distribution.