STEAMED@

[radioguy]

As I said, I play all my videogames offline. A few months ago or so,
I
legally bought a perfectly legal offline videogame, "Sin episode
1:Emergence" from
perfectly legal retailstore, "Half-Price Books". When I tried
installing it on my computer, it wouldn't let me install it unless I
went online.
Iwasn't able to get on thr internet at that time since I didn't have
a
phone line at that time. I thought "surely you don't need to go
online
to
just install and play a offline game. Since a LOT of people don't
have
the internet at all and a LOT of people who play computer games don't
have
the internet at all.
although since I figured that someday I might be able to get back
online, I kept it. Now that I have a phone line again, I
recently tried
installing it. It made me register for Steam first. But when I put in
the key code number for the game, it said it was already registered
and
wouldn't let it play on my computer.

Steam's service said they'll release the codfe if you give them a
copy
of your receipt (plus some other stuff) within a certain time for any
game bought at a retail store.


However, they wouldn't have released it even if I had returned it the
same day or the next day, because Steam's service said they won't
releaae
it if it was bought at a store which sells used games.


So now So now I can't even play my legally bought videogame. And
Steam
contradicted itself since I did buy the game at a legal retail store.


It's both Valve and Steam breaking the law. The law clearly says it's
legal to sell and buy used merchandise. Inclding software and other
copyrighted material.


The law is also clear that once a copyrighted item is sold, that the
original seller is not allowed to keep any part of the original and
that all things with the original must be turned over to the new
owner.


So by keeping the code number linked with the old owner instead of
turning the code number and account over to the new owner instead of
Valve and
Steam are the ones breaking the laws. Thry're criminals.


They're the ones breaking the copyright laws. It is illegal to not
transfer any parrt of a game or other copyright material over to the
new owner
when it's sold to the new owner and after it's sold to the new owner.


The law is also clear that signing a contract does not make illegal
things in the contract legal. (despite what the videogame companies
say).


If it did, then that makes all the CC&rs in HOAs preventing selling
homes to people because of their race perfectly legal even though the
law says it' s not legal, because they signed a contract agreeing to
those illegal things and so they're bound by law to do those illegal
things
because if they don't do those illegal things, then they're breaking
the law.


Nope. That's NOT how it works, even though it's how the videogame
companies want it to work.


And since I can't play my perfectly legally bought videogame, and am
out the money I spent, guess what?


Now after I finkish my Sims2 collection I already started, I'm never
ever ever ever going to buy any more pc computer games ever.


And I'm telling everyone I can about it.


Yes, it's a shame the innocent videogame companies also have to
suffer
because of the guilty videogame companies besides just the guilty
videogame companies suffering. But I don't have any choice.


It's just like when I was in school and the teachers would punish the
whole class for sometthing one person did and said it was fair to do
so.


I disagreed and I always said and thought I would never be like that.


However,as I said, now I don't have any choice.


And even if I did, I still won't ever buy another pc videogame ever
again.


There was no warning on the outside of the case or box that online
registration was required, and no warning on the outside of the case
or
the box that Steam was required. There was no mention of Steam
anywhere until after I put the disc in my computer after I had
already
bought
it.


There wasn't even any mention of it on the cases or boxes when it was
brand new in stores.


So since there's no posssible way for me to know ahead of time
whether
a game requires online registration, or uses Steam or Securom, an
don't want
to risk losing any more of my money, I'm
just never ever ever ever buying another computer game from anywhere,
ever. And all you innocent videogame companies have Steam, Valve, Ea,
and


Securom
to thank for your businesses suffering and possibly going out of
business.


I'll go back to the good old-fashioned board games we already have
around here.


yeah, if we go by the excuses the videogame shills have already said
and posted on the internet, playing old board games you already have
is illegal and stealing from them.


They're full of a bunch of bull.


Even the MPAA shills in the newsgroups said that going out without
any
dvds of movies at all is stealing from them since they're not making
any profits from
you on the dvds they put out.


yes, the MPAA shills said not buying any dvd movies when they're
released and going completely without watching them is stealing
from them since they're not making profits off of you they would have
otherwise made when releasing it.


They're also full of a bunch of bull.


In the U.S., it is NOT against the law to not buy something you don't
want and to go without it.


Maybe it is in old communist Russia that the MPAA and MPAA shills
seem
to love so much.


Thanks to Valve and Steam and EA and Securom, I no longer care if ALL
of the videogame companies go out of business and now will actually
be glad when they all go out of business.


And since they have me so steamed with their illegal activities, I
will now tell the cbers how to eliminate the distance limit.


Start a petition to eliminate the distance limit on cb and allow
cbers
to talk as far as they want to on cb, make sure it says both,
get enough people to sign it so that it can be put on the ballot as a
consttutional amendment. And if more than three quarters of the
states
ratify it ( At least I think it's three quarters or more. I'm not
sure
about the exact number), it becomes law no matter what the ITU says
because just like the videogame companies' illegal contracts and HOA
CC&R illegal contracts requiring discrimination against blscks,
hispanics,
or whatever other races, the ITU agreement is an illegal agreement
made ABOVE the authority of the U.S. Government.


The U.S. Constitution does NOT give the U.S. government the authority
to enter into agreements or treaties made ABOVE the U.S. governmennt.


It does not even give the U.S. government the authority to enter into
agreements or treaties EQUAL to the U.S. government.


The U.S. Constitution only gives the U.S. government the authority to
enter into agreements and treaties made UNDER the authority of
the U.S. government.


So that the U.S. Constitution is always the highest law in the land
over Americans and the U.S. government.


So there's nothing the ITU can legally do since the ITU is an illegal
agreement or illegal treaty in the first place.


They have no place telling American cbers they can't talk over a
certain distance on CB when the U.S. Consttution clearly says they
can
if the majority of Americans want to do so by voting on it to do so.


The ITU is NOT above the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme law of the
U.S.


And you all have Valve and Steam to thank for my new attitude along
with EA and Securom aka Suck-u-rom


After installing Steam, it wouldn't let me uninstall it, I tried
restarting my computer and got an error message
whch said Steam was preventing my computer from restarting.

[David L. Martel]

Radio,

If I understand you correctly you purchased a second-hand video game.
This game requires some sort of on-line certification before it can be used.
That certification was provided to the original owner who did not include it
in the sale. You were not made aware at the time of the sale that such
crtification was necessary and that the game was useless without it. You did
not use the game immediately after your purchase because you lacked an
internet connection.
I'd head back to the store. They are the ones who should make good on
this problem. I hope that you have your receipt and that you have not let
too much time pass. I do agree that a game that requires an internet
connection should list that requirement on the packaging.
I do not see that the manufacturer has failed you, I think this is the
retailer's fault.

Good luck,
Dave m.

[Lil' Abner]

radioguy <radioguy222@yahoo.com> wrote in news:e62d6969-4dbd-44ff-903f-
db45f3340c88@z6g2000pre.googlegroups.com:

<------------------------------ snip ---------------------------->

Careful you don't run the batteries down in your pacemaker!

--
--- Where did my libigo? ---

[radioguy]

On Dec 14, 12:23*pm, "David L. Martel" <marte...@verizon.net> wrote:
> Radio,
>
> * *If I understand you correctly you purchased a second-hand video game.
> This game requires some sort of on-line certification before it can be used.
> That certification was provided to the original owner who did not includeit
> in the sale. You were not made aware at the time of the sale that such
> crtification was necessary and that the game was useless without it. You did
> not use the game immediately after your purchase because you lacked an
> internet connection.
> * *I'd head back to the store. They are the ones who should make goodon
> this problem. I hope that you have your receipt and that you have not let
> too much time pass. I do agree that a game that requires an internet
> connection should list that requirement on the packaging.
> * *I do not see that the manufacturer has failed you, I think this isthe
> retailer's fault.
>
> Good luck,
> Dave m.

nope. Half Price Books did not do anything illegal, and to file a case
in court against them (which I can't addord to do anyways) and win, I
have to prove
their actions were illegal. But I can''t because they did NOT do
anything illegal.

But the manufactuterer clearly did.

And of all of the stores I've been to which sells videogames, which
were plenty, as I'm sure you're already aware of, NONE of them accept
returns on
videogames. They allclaim this was at the insistence of the
manufactutrer which put itinto the contracts the stores had to sign
with the manufactuters of
the videogames. So it does g back to it being the fault of the
vidogame manufacturers.

Eveb Half Price Books doesn't accept returns on videogames.

And except for Half Pric Books, NONE of the stores allow exchanges on
vidfeogames unless it's the exact same title. Once again, they say
they have
to do rhis at the insistence ofthe manufacturers. And that it's
against the law if they allow you to exchange to it for another title
(according to all the stores selling brand new videogames) because of
the contracts they had to sign with the manufacturers before they
could sell the games. So it still once againgoes back to it being the
fault of the videogame manufacturers.

Now since there was no warning on the cases, how do I know that the
game I exchange it for won't also secretly require online
registrayion? Since
most of the new games are supposedly using it, chances are very high
that aNy other title I exchange it for aat the used store will have
the same
exact problem.

An d what about the people buying the games brand new from stores, who
can't afford or don't have an internet connection?

When there's no warning on the outside of the game that it requires
online registration, they legally have a reasonable expectation that a
one player
offline videogame will automarically work offline and not require
online registration.

But when the poor kids find out they can't use their brand new
Christmas gifts since theey reqyuire onlie registration and take it
back to the stores
for a refund, the stores won't let them return it, they only let them
exchange it for the exact same title, if even that. And then the poor
kids still
can't play their brand new Chrismas gifts on their computers, since
they require online registration on the internet which the poor kids
can't afford to have

The poor kids are once again screwed over by the videogame companies.

So you trying to get me to keep on buying new computer videogames
isn't going to work. Steam and Valve have already done the damage.
Among
others. As you can see, and already knew, people buying the games new
also get screwed over. Along with peope reeceiving the games as gifts
since
the person buying them had no idea they required internet access since
there's not any warnings on most of the ones that do until AFTER
they're
already opened up.

I even seen myself while at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart not letting a person
exchange a game who did have a valid receipt showing the game
purchased there
within the amount of time allowed for returns because of "it's against
the copyright laws".

I'm nNOT going to risk LOSING any more of my money by buying any
videogames brrand new.

Or used.

Steam and Valve have already done the damage. Along with EA and
Securom.

It's too late now.


Youshould have thought of the consequences of your actions before
imposing such illegal measures.

It's over the 30 day limit to return it to half Price Books and it is
NOTmy fault because

1. Since there was no warning on the outside of the case or game
itself that it required online registration and it might not work
used, I legally had
a reasonable expectation that it would work offline.

2. Rven after installing it, and finding out Steaam was online, there
was no warning that it might not work if someone else had already
registered it,
so I legally had a reasonable expectation that I would be able to
install and play it whenever I could afford to get back online in the
futre.

3. Half Price Books did NOT do anything illegal. They legally bought
it and legally sold it, both of which they are legally allowed to do
under U.S.
law.

4. The original owner did NOT do anythingillegal. Under U.S. law, he
is legally allowed to buy and sell it. Also, under U.S. law, you can
not be held
liable for not following the illegal parts of a contract you agreed
to.

Just becauseyou signed an illegalcontract doe NOT make the illegal
parts of that contract legal, just because the videogame company say
it does.

If that were so, then it is still legal for ALL of those people under
HOA CC&R contracts stating they're not allowed to sell their houses to
black people or Hispanic legal to refuse to sell their houses to black
people or Hispanic people even though Federal law says different
because they signed a contract
agreeing to it in order to move into their homes since there's almost
nowhere left in the U.S. to get a home without HOA CC&Rs.

I think the Federal Trade Commission might like to hear about Steam
and Valve. And maybe the Attorney Generals also.






..

[David L. Martel]

Radio,

It's not a question of legality. They sold you a product that does not
work for it's intended use. In a sense it is defective. As a customer
service they will want to help.
The decision is, of course, yours. I think it far more likely that you
will achieve satisfaction via the retailer than via the manufacturer.

Good luck,
Dave M.

[ionus]

the store u bought it at is the problem u a) bought a used game that has a cd-key (which is a big no no unless your feeling very lucky). and b) is the stores fault because they didnt test to make sure the key was a) clean and b) unused

this one time i bought a copy of doom3 from a legit store and found its key in use i returned it with a few choice words for them. i suggest u tell them as i did that to sell u stuff already being used is like trying to sell a stolen car..just plain dumb. i suggest buying from stores with good reputations though in the usa/euopre thatd be gamestop in canada thats ebgames. in other countries sorry got no idea. i used to shop major name stores but then quit when walmart tried to sell copies of an MMO that had its service discontinued and refused to change after numerous attempts to tell them. i finally filed a complaint with head office and it was responded to with a generic thank you message (meaning haha w/e). so u want to shop focus and brand name stores not tiny mom and pop shops. if u live in north america try your local 7eleven they just started selling games.