"gaymers"
intentional or not?
this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2025
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I was not given a refund when MH World launched on PC in a broken, framelocked, constantly disconnecting state.
I tried and I was not granted one.
Steam refused to issue refunds for a long, long time. In the end they started allowing refunds for everyone because governments started requiring it and it was easier to just allow them for everyone than having to do the legal footwork to have different policies based on geography.
This is such a controversial person to discuss. On one hand, loot boxes, the steam market for trading, and a lot of gambling and profiteering going on. At the same time, all of the OP comments are also true.
Out of all the billionaires, I dislike gaben the least. The net good he's done for gaming may not balance the scales entirely, but at least there's a discussion to be had whether what gaben has done is for the better, or for the worse. Which is more than I can say about most billionaires I know of.
Hot take: ...but it's just fucking gaming tho... He's not fucking with manifesting some bullshit ideology throughout the world, he's not trying to leave his mark on history... And if he is, it's as a chill dude who gave us all a better alternative to piracy.
Gabe was already wealthy with Microsoft money when he founded Valve, so when his new private startup found success he didn't feel the pressure to go public, expand, dilute, and cash out. He made the judgement call that they already had enough talent internally to keep playing the hits while keeping all the profit for themselves, and he was right. I'm sure a little bit a business ideology reinforces Gabe's long-term outlook for Valve, but he's ultimately enabled by a happy intersection of pre-existing wealth, great timing, and careful hiring choices.
I mean, he is developing the brain chip with his Starfish Neuroscience company but its supposed to be minimally invasive and let's be real if its between his and Elon Musks (which is NOT minimally invasive and requires surgical implantation) I'm definitely going with his.
I wouldn't say at this point its all about gaming though. Valve is, but not necessarily Gabe. Which I don't mind but I could understand how some people wouldn't like it.
I remember back around 2010 period, maybe a bit after that, Valve and reddit were both hiring economists. We can see exactly why, now.
The power vacuum this man will leave behind sucks.
They only began giving refunds when the European Union mandated it, back then only Origin (EA) gave refunds. Some times the EU is useful.
The EU definitely helped. I'll add that this was actually kicked off by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2014. They took Valve to court over their insistence that they can ignore Australian Consumer Law rights - in particular that if a product is 'not fit for purpose' then the buyer is entitled to a full refund, with respect to games. Valve offered no possibility of refund at the time. The case dragged on, but Valve eventually lost and was told to pay several million in fines, they appealed it to the High Court of Australia in 2016 - and lost also on appeal.
The judge was pissed at Valve, and wrote in their ruling:
“Valve’s culture of compliance was, and is, very poor”. Valve’s evidence was ‘disturbing’ to the Court because Valve ‘formed a view …that it was not subject to Australian law…and with the view that even if [legal] advice had been obtained that Valve was required to comply with the Australian law the advice might have been ignored”. He also noted that Valve had ‘contested liability on almost every imaginable point’.
Valve are generally a very positive force in gaming, but they're definitely not the saints that OP image text implies.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/australia-fines-valve-over-steam-refunds
I have a pro-Valve bias because I do like them. But I still do want to make a fair argument and would like to be corrected if I fail to do so.
So, yes, Valve's refund policy in the past was bad, and yes, they were forced to change. But since then they have fixed their mistakes, and have arguably the most generous refund policy out there. Last time I bought digital content from Nintendo store I had to waive my refund rights.
They could have limited refunds to Australia but they didn't. This has to count for something, right? Valve is a for profit company in a capitalist system, and yes they have bad practices. But surely we can agree they are one of the better ones?
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As a fan of TF2, I'll quote another greentext: "does nothing, competition keeps shooting themself in the foot." It was about Overwatch vs TF2, but it's mostly similar.
People saying that when Gabe dies so does Steam seem to be missing a piece of the puzzle.
From everything I've read and can tell they work using an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program). Meaning each employee working there today is becoming partial owners in Valve. If you think they will allow some new face to show up when Gabe dies and flip the table you are missing the piece where the owners of this company are extremely well compensated today and a core part of making Valve successful today.
A ton of companies have ESOP, but that doesn't stop enshitification because the employees generally don't own enough shares to exert control.
My company is an ESOP and shares don't give us voting rights or any actual control, it's just a monetary incentive. The C-suite/board still control everything and unilaterally makes all the executive decisions.
Those shares are also generally for sale for a high enough price. Given the immense current value of the brand, when Gabe dies vultures of every variety will start circling. If they offer employees 2x their share price to sell, enough of them will do it to lose control to investors that just want to enshittify everything and milk it's brand for every last penny as they drive it into the ground.
I'm sus on GabeN
Gaben and steam are not perfect, but are monumentally better than what we would be stuck with on sony-soft
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