[DEBUNKED] Windows 10 updates can disable pirated games and unauthorized hardware

[MegaDave91]

 

 

And no, I also do not believe that "Well I'm 12 and can't get a job" counts either. Get mommy or daddy to buy it, or do chores for family/neighbours for money.

I agree wholeheartedly. My simple and frank response to those who make that argument is a blunt "Tough shit".

 

Wait until you are old enough to work or as you said- chores.

[StareX]

Meh, I hijacked Ori and the blind forest and some other stuff, no problems here.

[dalekphalm]

Yeah, sure buddy. You have to buy it first! I'm not paying a single cent until I know what the game is like. Why? Take a look.

 

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/08/is-it-possible-to-get-a-refund-from-steam-in-australia/

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/553607/valve_sued_by_accc_over_steam_refund_policy_/

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1739410

 

Best-case scenario: Sure! You get a refund! Everything is puppies and kisses!

Likely scenario: Lol fuk u m8 u were stupid enuf 2 buy de gaem lololol

Errrr....what?

 

Your first two sources are from 2014. Your last source is from 2011!!!

 

See this:

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

 

You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it.

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours.

 

And this:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2930476/steam-now-offers-refunds-for-any-game-within-certain-conditions.html

 

Your information is quite out of date.

[Cainn]

You can argue piracy all day, but that policy covers WAY more things then Xbox. It is stating that if you continue to use any of the programs covered at the bottom of the policy you are agreeing to the policy terms. 

Most of those programs are on pc.

From what i read, using skype even allows them to do this regardless of what OS you're using.

[6God]

And?

 

I don't see the point.

 

Yes, they won't be a "lost sale", but I don't buy that argument. Games, like anything else that isn't food, water, and shelter, are a luxury item.

 

If you can't afford it, you don't need it. As I mentioned, there are plenty of free-to-play or straight up free games for someone who is destitute to play for relaxation. If they cannot afford the game, that is an economic incentive for them to better their lives so that they can afford to play it.

 

And no, I also do not believe that "Well I'm 12 and can't get a job" counts either. Get mommy or daddy to buy it, or do chores for family/neighbours for money.

 

This feeds back into the mentality that I see even on this site - people think they are OWED software, hardware, games, movies and music and whatever else. They think its their right to steal it if they want it. 

 

I too think that in Western civilizations, you have no excuse to really pirate a vast majority of what is for sale. IF you truly need it, the price is a nonissue. If the price is a issue, then did you really need it at all? People should ask themselves that before they assume they can just take content they have no right to. 

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Errrr....what?

 

Your first two sources are from 2014. Your last source is from 2011!!!

 

See this:

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

 

And this:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2930476/steam-now-offers-refunds-for-any-game-within-certain-conditions.html

 

Your information is quite out of date.

"Your last source is from 2011!!!"

 

Stone the crows! Yes, I realised that after I posted. I removed it.

 

 

"Your first two sources are from 2014"

 

Good lord! ... That was only last year.

[Shin-Gouki]

You don't do anything illegal? Alright so we can put cameras all over your house and track your every movement right? You shouldn't mind, it's not like you break the law anyway!

 

 

Yes why would i need to do anything illegal?

I have quite high morals.If you want something buy it

 

I really don't think you are getting his point there. 

[dalekphalm]

"Your last source is from 2011!!!"

 

Stone the crows! Yes, I realised that after I posted. I removed it.

 

 

"Your first two sources are from 2014"

 

Good lord! ... That was only last year.

Yes, it was only last year. And a lot has changed since then Please see the two links I posted. Steam sales are now fully supported, worldwide, within 14 days of purchase or less than 2 hours of gameplay.

 

You now have no reason not to buy a game you might like, then refund it if it fails to deliver.

[Shin-Gouki]

This just really applies to some people in this thread. 

[Psykomantis00]

Yes, it was only last year. And a lot has changed since then Please see the two links I posted. Steam sales are now fully supported, worldwide, within 14 days of purchase or less than 2 hours of gameplay.

 

You now have no reason not to buy a game you might like, then refund it if it fails to deliver.

 

I didn't think about that, but yes, you're totally right. Unless it's like Fallout 3 that never launches from steam I don't see a need to pirate games anymore unless you're just cheap.

[Zah]

This does not apply to windows 10, seriously does no one read the articles anymore?

 

Here is a list of services those conditions apply to:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesagreement/?s=ecym#serviceslist

 

IF you look closely you will see it applies to xbox and windows games and xbocx live,  it is basic DRM, nothing new.

Who would let "facts" get in the way of a good shitstorm?

[Misanthrope]

Yeah pirate copies, whatever. The real issue here is unauthorized hardware: since when is Microsoft a fucking authority when it comes to my choices of hardware? This is just so they can basically charge everyone to go through a pointless certification but serves no actual purpose at all. Unauthorized hardware is way too fucking broad: basically most chinese mice and keyboards, a lot of off brand GPUs and optical drives, virtually all usb flash drives, etc. could potentially crap out on you just because they didn't pay the motherfucking Microsoft tax?

 

No, fuck them. Fuck this OS, nobody should fucking use it.

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Yes, it was only last year. And a lot has changed since then Please see the two links I posted. Steam sales are now fully supported, worldwide, within 14 days of purchase or less than 2 hours of gameplay.

 

You now have no reason not to buy a game you might like, then refund it if it fails to deliver.

 

Fair enough, but honestly I don't really trust Valve enough to do what they said they would with my money. We all know how terrible Steam Support is. I'd rather spend my money on things I know are good in the first place than having to rely on Valve's policies.

 

YouTube it is for me, until that ship finally sinks.

 

Edit: Anyway we're going off topic. All I said in the first place is I don't think Microsoft should have the right to enforce piracy laws (even as shitty as I believe they are), it's not their fight.

[dalekphalm]

I didn't think about that, but yes, you're totally right. Unless it's like Fallout 3 that never launches from steam I don't see a need to pirate games anymore unless you're just cheap.

In the case of Fallout 3, if the game never launches, and support is unable to get the game to launch, I would request a refund. That is of course assuming you were still within the 14 days.

[Solkia]

This.If you cant afford a game you shouldnt just pirate it.its like going into a shop with no money and stealing a can of coke.

 

I get the analogy but you are aware people very much do steal to survive right?

[Silent_Xaxal]

It's one thing to have anti-piracy crap (No issue for me, most of my games are paid for). 

 

It's another thing to BAN FUCKING HARDWARE. Good gosh.

[Cainn]

Who would let "facts" get in the way of a good shitstorm?

Read what's right in front of your eyes. Click the link.. the one you quoted. It says, right there in front of your face. That list of programs is much more the xbox xbox live and a few windows games.

You are that exact person that he's talking about not reading the article.

 

• Account.microsoft.com
• Advertising.microsoft.com
• Bing
• Bing Apps
• Bing Desktop
• Bing Dictionary
• Bing in the Classroom
• Bing Input
• Bing Maps
• Bing Navigation
• Bing Reader
• Bing Rewards
• Bing Search app
• Bing Toolbar
• Bing Torque
• Bing Translator
• Bing Webmaster
• Bing Wikipedia Browser
• Bing.com
• Bingplaces.com
• Choice.microsoft.com
• Citizen Next
• Cortana
• Default Homepage and New Tab Page on Microsoft Edge
• Device Health App
• HealthVault
• Groove
• Maps App
• Microsoft account
• Microsoft Family
• Microsoft Health
• Microsoft Translator
• Microsoft Wallpaper
• Microsoft XiaoIce
• MSN Dial Up
• MSN Explorer
• MSN Food & Drink
• MSN Health & Fitness
• MSN Money
• MSN News
• MSN Premium
• MSN Sports
• MSN Travel
• MSN Weather
• MSN.com
• Next Lock Screen
• Office 365 Consumer
• Office 365 Home
• Office 365 Personal
• Office 365 University
• Office Online
• Office Store
• Office Sway
• Office.com
• OneDrive
• OneDrive.com
• OneNote
• Onenote.com
• Outlook.com
• Picturesque Lock Screen
• Pix Lock
• Skype
• Skype in the Classroom
• Skype Manager
• Skype Qik
• Skype WiFi
• Skype.com
• Smart Search
• Snipp3t
• Spreadsheet Keyboard
• Sway.com
• Translator
• UrWeather
• Windows Live Mail
• Windows Live Writer
• Windows Movie Maker
• Windows Photo Gallery
• Xbox and Windows Games published by Microsoft
• Xbox Live
• Xbox Music
• Xbox Music Pass
• Xbox Video

Saved you some precious time.

 

Oh, and you agree to this if you use Microsoft wallpaper.. 

[dalekphalm]

Fair enough, but honestly I don't really trust Valve enough to do what they said they would with my money. We all know how terrible Steam Support is. I'd rather spend my money on things I know are good in the first place than having to rely on Valve's policies.

 

YouTube it is for me, until that ship finally sinks.

YouTube is an excellent resource for getting a first impression of an upcoming game. Just make sure to never buy before a review embargo is over, so that you can get honest, independent reviews and gameplay.

 

I highly doubt that ship is going to sink anytime soon. And if it does, another service will jump in to replace it. Look at Vessel - and now places like Facebook are trying to be competitors to YouTube.

 

If YouTube "died" tomorrow, a place like Vimeo or whatever would try and capitalize on that missing market.

 

Certainly, you have to trust Valve to a certain degree, but it's not like they are outright evil people. The Refund system is 99% automated. You fit all the criteria? Bam - refund - often within 2 hours. If your account has a ton of refunds on it, you might get a person reviewing your file to make sure you aren't abusing the system (Eg: Someone repeatedly buying a game, playing 1 hour and 59 minutes of gameplay, then refunding it, and never actually keeping any game they buy).

 

But in most cases, your refund doesn't even go through the Support personnel. No waiting on emails. No waiting on the quite shitty support department. Thank God.

 

That is one place Valve needs to fix ASAP. Valve, look at Origin for proper support. If EA is beating you at something, then you know you've fucked up. EA even beat Valve to refunds too - and their refund policy is more generous than Valve's (Though I personally feel like 2 hours is plenty for most games).

[Solkia]

This is completely unnecessary now. Steam offers FULL REFUNDS on every game they sell, worldwide, within 14 days of purchase, or 2 hours of gameplay (whichever comes first), this has been around for several months now.

 

This just in: Steam is the only gaming platform in the universe, all those absurdly priced games like Fire Emblem Path of Radiance or the original Shantae never really existed.

[Sunako]

Seems to me that the hardware one is good as long as they are using it for the correct reasons.

Keeping off brand USB drives from auto installing software. Also keeping hardware deemed to be

an advantage in xbox games.

[Nademagnet]

Sooooooo, USB butt plugs are no longer supported?

[You_are_a_cunt]

I'm also going to play a bit of Devil's Advocate in favor of Microsoft. I have close friends that have worked in game and software development as either indies or within a company. Many have struggled when it came to piracy and all of the ones that could easily call themselves indie game devs have found themselves either going bust or having to sell their IP to other dev studios. I've dabbled into some light game development at some point and I can safely say it's not an easy or highly rewarding activity (financially), specially when your game/software only gets a couple of sales every now and then while a pirated version gets downloaded more frequently than you actually make a sale.

 

Steam has made purchasing games far more accessible through their sales and if you're not willing to support the developer(s) then you aren't entitled to play the game. If you're unsure if the game is worth spending money on you can find alot of reputable reviewers out there (TotalBiscuit springs to mind) that will lay out in clear therms why you should or shouldn't buy the game. This isn't the 90s or early 00s when saying that you want to try the game before buying it was a somewhat good excuse to pirate it (hell, even back then you could just get a demo and see if you liked the game before buying it!).

 

I'll admit to having pirated back when buying games was hard (mostly due to ridiculous pricing or availability issues), but once the ability to actually support the developers arised I've started buying the games and have never looked back (sure, I slightly regret jumping onto the pre-purchase bandwagon for a couple of games, I've learned my lesson about pre-purchases, buying games in early access that have a high chance of never actually being finished and released and so on).

 

When it comes to software, I'll admit that many developers have set their pricing far too high and I see a legitimate reason for people to pirate certain products. Adobe is one such company that has ridiculous pricing for their software ($20/mo for Dreamweaver? Pass. I'll keep using Notepad++ for my web development needs). Microsoft themselves charge, imo, far too much for Office (the fact that they have a yearly subscription for it doesn't help either).

 

While I won't condemn Microsoft for resorting to this as a way to reduce piracy, they did pull a pretty dickish move.

 

In what regards unauthorized peripherals - I'm not sure what that boils down to. Does it mean you can't use that $2 made-in-china backup mouse or does it simply mean you can't use some cheapo controller that you somehow made Windows to recognize it as an Xbox controller? This can be highly debatable and if Microsoft starts charging manufacturers authorization fees for their hardware everything will go downhill, since extra fees mean extra r&d and production costs that will reflect on the end-user as higher pricing for hardware, and I don't think Microsoft is stupid enough to dig its own hole, build its own coffin and jump into the grave.

 

This won't really deter me from using Windows 10, but it does arise some concerns regarding the direction Microsoft is heading towards 

 

 

 

Woah. I just realized (after posting) that my rant went full wall of text. I'm almost proud of myself of being able to be coherent BEFORE I've had my morning coffee

[dalekphalm]

I get the analogy but you are aware people very much do steal to survive right?

Yes, but:

 

1. Most people who live in western society, in a country with a good average wage and cost of living, don't have to steal to survive.

2. Those people, who do live in such a society, can get social assistance from the government to survive, so that they don't have to steal. This is universally available in pretty much every European nation, and even in dreaded capitalistic 'Murica.

3. Anyone who lives in an impoverished nation who has to steal to survive likely does not even own a PC, and likely has more important things to worry about over which new AAA game to pirate. I also specifically exempted impoverished nations from my statements against piracy, since that's a whole different issue.

 

We are talking about luxury games and services, on a luxury device. Not someone stealing to eat so that they do not starve.

[Solkia]

 

We are talking about luxury games and services, on a luxury device. Not someone stealing to eat so that they do not starve.

 

I dunno, the post I replied to was very clearly equating the two.

[Cainn]

Yes, but:

 

1. Most people who live in western society, in a country with a good average wage and cost of living, don't have to steal to survive.

2. Those people, who do live in such a society, can get social assistance from the government to survive, so that they don't have to steal. This is universally available in pretty much every European nation, and even in dreaded capitalistic 'Murica.

3. Anyone who lives in an impoverished nation who has to steal to survive likely does not even own a PC, and likely has more important things to worry about over which new AAA game to pirate. I also specifically exempted impoverished nations from my statements against piracy, since that's a whole different issue.

 

We are talking about luxury games and services, on a luxury device. Not someone stealing to eat so that they do not starve.

# 3 is way out of line. The first thing you do is steal a pc to order dominoes online with your stolen credit cards. Enjoy your golden palace my friend.