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A Spooky Entity 28 Sep, 2021 @ 10:21pm
Point Shop Restrictions Based on Games You Own on Steam - Why? Why ONLY Apply This To The Cheapest Items?
The restriction only applies to the cheapest items in store, but unless you own the game and have a certain number of hours in it, you can't buy the some of the point shop items from that game.

Why does this restriction exist and ONLY on the cheapest content? I can buy as many animated backgrounds from games I've never heard of as I like, BUT since I've only owned and played Dark Souls III for hundreds of hours on console, I can't get the Dark Souls III backgrounds? (What about if I send a picture of my copy of the game to Steam Support? If not why not? I own that game, and am willing to provide proof.)

Points are currency I accumulate spending money in Steam's store - to then turn around and essentially tell me "Oh no, sorry you'll need to spend MORE money in our store to use this currency on the item you want" seems like an outright scam tbh.
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Showing 1-15 of 32 comments
Seretti 28 Sep, 2021 @ 10:35pm 
Ask the devs. They are the ones who created these items and put a restriction on them.
#1
Crazy Tiger 28 Sep, 2021 @ 10:40pm 
Originally posted by UwU Senpai:
Why does this restriction exist and ONLY on the cheapest content?
Because that's the stuff you also can get on the community market. The animated things are points shop only, therefore purchasable by everyone.

Originally posted by Seretti:
Ask the devs. They are the ones who created these items and put a restriction on them.
No, that restriction is by Steam. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/tradingcards

Steam Points Shop

With the introduction of the Points Shop, there is now a more direct way for users to acquire these items. Users must own the product and have at least two hours worth of playtime in it before they can redeem Steam Points for emoticons or static profile backgrounds.
#2
Seretti 28 Sep, 2021 @ 11:10pm 
Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
.

Originally posted by Seretti:
Ask the devs. They are the ones who created these items and put a restriction on them.
No, that restriction is by Steam. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/tradingcards

Thanks for correcting me. I was sure it was the devs but I guess you learn something new everyday. :)
#3
crunchyfrog 29 Sep, 2021 @ 12:06am 
Just to add to what Crazy Tiger rightly points out...

The reason why there's this restriction and the two hours thing is very simple, as it's the same reason for a whole host of other restrictions on Steam - FRAUD and ABUSE.

Note that it's two hours played - so that you can no longer request refund for the game automatically. You can imagine what a pain in the arse it is for Valve to clean up after some scammer buys a game, unlocks or buys stuff, then refunds the game, can't you?

So yeah, as per so many things on here, it's there to restrict abuse.
#4
A Spooky Entity 7 Dec, 2021 @ 12:58am 
Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
Just to add to what Crazy Tiger rightly points out...

The reason why there's this restriction and the two hours thing is very simple, as it's the same reason for a whole host of other restrictions on Steam - FRAUD and ABUSE.

Note that it's two hours played - so that you can no longer request refund for the game automatically. You can imagine what a pain in the arse it is for Valve to clean up after some scammer buys a game, unlocks or buys stuff, then refunds the game, can't you?

So yeah, as per so many things on here, it's there to restrict abuse.


So purely to stop a person paying actual money, to get the points, to get the basic background, to then list on the community market place for a fraction of a cent, meaning they'd need how many again to make up the cost of the one background they'd buy? This doesn't seem like it's exploitable, mostly because you're exploiting it for negative money by a significant amount each time?

And in the process stopping me from accessing content, that again, I've already had to pay money to access, and only give a ♥♥♥♥ about because I've previously paid money for that game as well...Unless of course I give Steam the cost of the game again? Still feeling scammy to me.

Wouldn't a far more appropriate fix be to stop the reselling of points content on the marketplace?
Last edited by A Spooky Entity; 7 Dec, 2021 @ 12:59am
#5
ReBoot 7 Dec, 2021 @ 1:05am 
Originally posted by UwU Senpai:
So purely to stop a person paying actual money
If that person pays money to have the game, not to play it, then yes. Then this person indeed is stopped despite having paid money.

But why the ♥♥♥♥ would a sane person do that? Buy a game because you want the game, play it, viola, problem solved. And if you really can't be assed to play the game you just bought (because you, let's say, heat your house with money because you've no idea where to put yours), then you can always idle the game.
#6
Cheezus Crisp 7 Dec, 2021 @ 1:12am 
I've never seen this before. Just noticed it on the point shop. Is this a new thing they added?
#7
Crazy Tiger 7 Dec, 2021 @ 2:13am 
Originally posted by UwU Senpai:
Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
Just to add to what Crazy Tiger rightly points out...

The reason why there's this restriction and the two hours thing is very simple, as it's the same reason for a whole host of other restrictions on Steam - FRAUD and ABUSE.

Note that it's two hours played - so that you can no longer request refund for the game automatically. You can imagine what a pain in the arse it is for Valve to clean up after some scammer buys a game, unlocks or buys stuff, then refunds the game, can't you?

So yeah, as per so many things on here, it's there to restrict abuse.


So purely to stop a person paying actual money, to get the points, to get the basic background, to then list on the community market place for a fraction of a cent, meaning they'd need how many again to make up the cost of the one background they'd buy? This doesn't seem like it's exploitable, mostly because you're exploiting it for negative money by a significant amount each time?

And in the process stopping me from accessing content, that again, I've already had to pay money to access, and only give a ♥♥♥♥ about because I've previously paid money for that game as well...Unless of course I give Steam the cost of the game again? Still feeling scammy to me.

Wouldn't a far more appropriate fix be to stop the reselling of points content on the marketplace?
Items purchased on the points shop cannot be sold on the community market

The points shop is a loyalty program, so it's not a stretch that it rewards actual ownership of games for items that can also be purchased on the community market. You can get the items on the community market and if you own the game, also on the points shop.

Valve added the restriction of 2 hours because people were purchasing games, buying the items in the points shop and then refunding the games again. What people don't realise is that Valve eats the payment processing costs for every purchase and refund, so it meant that Valve was actually losing money on refund abuse.
#8
crunchyfrog 7 Dec, 2021 @ 6:16am 
Originally posted by UwU Senpai:
Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
Just to add to what Crazy Tiger rightly points out...

The reason why there's this restriction and the two hours thing is very simple, as it's the same reason for a whole host of other restrictions on Steam - FRAUD and ABUSE.

Note that it's two hours played - so that you can no longer request refund for the game automatically. You can imagine what a pain in the arse it is for Valve to clean up after some scammer buys a game, unlocks or buys stuff, then refunds the game, can't you?

So yeah, as per so many things on here, it's there to restrict abuse.


So purely to stop a person paying actual money, to get the points, to get the basic background, to then list on the community market place for a fraction of a cent, meaning they'd need how many again to make up the cost of the one background they'd buy? This doesn't seem like it's exploitable, mostly because you're exploiting it for negative money by a significant amount each time?

And in the process stopping me from accessing content, that again, I've already had to pay money to access, and only give a ♥♥♥♥ about because I've previously paid money for that game as well...Unless of course I give Steam the cost of the game again? Still feeling scammy to me.

Wouldn't a far more appropriate fix be to stop the reselling of points content on the marketplace?

That's because you're assuming wrongly.

You're looking at ONE tiny example of exploit and not seeing the value. That does NOT mean there aren't many other different scenarios that do add up to worth doing.

What actually happened in most cases were people buying the games, getting the points, using them, then refunding. They've already spent the points, so they're up on the deal.

Now YOU might not see much value in that but others did enough to exploit it.
Last edited by crunchyfrog; 7 Dec, 2021 @ 6:17am
#9
cringE 7 Dec, 2021 @ 6:46pm 
Devs choose what will be public and what will be restricted. Take it up with them
#10
Mad Scientist 7 Dec, 2021 @ 6:53pm 
Few ways to get points shop stuff.

-Own the game, spend points.
-Buy the thing on the community market.
-Craft the badge from trading cards for the game.
-Sell trading cards, buy the item from the community market.

Don't overthink it. Devs decide if you need to own the game or not to get the items.
#11
A Spooky Entity 7 Dec, 2021 @ 11:50pm 
Originally posted by Mr. Gentlebot:
Few ways to get points shop stuff.

-Own the game, spend points.
-Buy the thing on the community market.
-Craft the badge from trading cards for the game.
-Sell trading cards, buy the item from the community market.

Don't overthink it. Devs decide if you need to own the game or not to get the items.

I'm getting this response and, "No it's Steam cause exploits" in about equal measure here :|
#12
A Spooky Entity 7 Dec, 2021 @ 11:55pm 
Originally posted by crunchyfrog:
Originally posted by UwU Senpai:


So purely to stop a person paying actual money, to get the points, to get the basic background, to then list on the community market place for a fraction of a cent, meaning they'd need how many again to make up the cost of the one background they'd buy? This doesn't seem like it's exploitable, mostly because you're exploiting it for negative money by a significant amount each time?

And in the process stopping me from accessing content, that again, I've already had to pay money to access, and only give a ♥♥♥♥ about because I've previously paid money for that game as well...Unless of course I give Steam the cost of the game again? Still feeling scammy to me.

Wouldn't a far more appropriate fix be to stop the reselling of points content on the marketplace?

That's because you're assuming wrongly.

You're looking at ONE tiny example of exploit and not seeing the value. That does NOT mean there aren't many other different scenarios that do add up to worth doing.

What actually happened in most cases were people buying the games, getting the points, using them, then refunding. They've already spent the points, so they're up on the deal.

Now YOU might not see much value in that but others did enough to exploit it.


No, really, I'm not missing much here, there's not a lot of scenarios except that exact one where you might be able to cheat the system because the content is worth so little otherwise.

Assuming you and the others stating it's Steam are correct, this is still fixable without the restriction - revoke the contents they got with it. If i refund something I haven't spent the points for, I lose the points - it's one extra step to revoke the content brought with said points if they've already spent it really.

So why not do it that way, if it's not about making extra money? Again, assuming it is Steam, because as I mentioned to the other guy, I'm getting about an even number arguing it's Devs as are arguing it's actually Steam.
#13
Crazy Tiger 8 Dec, 2021 @ 2:53am 
It's not an assumption that Steam has set the restrictions. It's in the Steamworks documentation, which I linked in an earlier post (I quoted the relevant part, but it's in the first part of the linked page (the overview part)). That documentation is for the partners (ergo developers and publishers) for how they use Steam from their side and set up everything, basically the manual for them.
Last edited by Crazy Tiger; 8 Dec, 2021 @ 2:54am
#14
A Spooky Entity 8 Dec, 2021 @ 11:44pm 
Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
It's not an assumption that Steam has set the restrictions. It's in the Steamworks documentation, which I linked in an earlier post (I quoted the relevant part, but it's in the first part of the linked page (the overview part)). That documentation is for the partners (ergo developers and publishers) for how they use Steam from their side and set up everything, basically the manual for them.

K, so again, why not just refund all content associated with a purchase when/if that purchase is refunded? It big stoopid. I just want my Dark Souls bg without buying the game AGAIN.
#15
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Date Posted: 28 Sep, 2021 @ 10:21pm
Posts: 32
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