[YASR] Yet another Steam rant

[Lützow]

Up to past year I used an age-old freemailer account where most of my services were linked to, and from one day to another suddenly could not login anymore. Suspecting the account was either hacked or access got revoked by GMX (since I always disregarded promos), I contacted their support and they refused to restore it, unless I would provide all the infomations which got imparted with original registration. Of course I couldn't remember anymore what details I gave back in 1997 and so I simply unchained everything (like Paypal, VISA, Apple, Blizzard, etc.) from GMX and assigned it to another mailer.

Well, not everything, as for this action Steam demands you to have access to both mail accounts, old and new one. I didn't consider it as a biggie though, because I still own the login information and don't like to receive their newsletter anyway. Until yesterday, when I wanted to fire Fallout NV once again and was learned that Steam meanwhile established some security service, called Steam Guard, which requires to prove identy by sending an authentification code from your mail account.

To make a long story short, I now have to beg support for granting me access to my legally acquired property. If I learned something from this, it's that I never will purchase a product anymore linked to this company. Not that I used them voluntarily, but some games unfortuntaly require subsequently Steam registration, even purchased elsewhere.

[Gilmer]

I have a bad feeling I'm about to go through the same thing you just went through.

[Terminus]

This is not a "YASR", but a "YASW" (Yet Another Steam Whine).

[parusski]

Whine it is. I have quite a few games from Steam and I have never had one problem. Once again we see the "HATE STEAM", "HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH STEAM" arguments. [>:][>:][>:]

[ilovestrategy]

I think this year In gonna just sit back with my bag of popcorn.

[parusski]

LOL, +5.

[Jeffrey H.]

I hate steam and I've not had any problems with them, so there !

[Perturabo]

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

I hate steam and I've not had any problems with them, so there !

Same here[:D]. Mainly because I don't have Steam account or any Steam games[:D]. Actually, I don't have a single game that would require online activation or stuff like that.

[parusski]

Maybe I hate my games, but have no problem with Steam. [:D]

[gillzManiju]

I don't think this is steam's fault just rather unfortunate circumstances.
_____________________________
There is both a Rock Star Mickey and dance star mickey app on itunes.

[Scott_WAR]

ORIGINAL: Lützow

If I learned something from this, it's that I never will purchase a product anymore linked to this company.

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase. But it seems everyone likes to blame someone else when they make a mistake.
So lets see,...the free e-mail you used wont give you access.................obviously steams fault.
You cant remember the info requested to get that account working again.........clearly steams doing.
Now you dont have, but need access to the e-mail that you gave steam to use,....in case of situations just like this..........steam should be ashamed of themselves wanting to use the email you gave them.......

Clearly this is all steams fault,...and you bear no responsibility at all.............................

[parusski]

Good point Scott_WAR. Once Steam forced me to buy a game I did not want. They are so evil.

[Perturabo]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

ORIGINAL: Lützow

If I learned something from this, it's that I never will purchase a product anymore linked to this company.

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase. But it seems everyone likes to blame someone else when they make a mistake.
So lets see,...the free e-mail you used wont give you access.................obviously steams fault.
You cant remember the info requested to get that account working again.........clearly steams doing.
Now you dont have, but need access to the e-mail that you gave steam to use,....in case of situations just like this..........steam should be ashamed of themselves wanting to use the email you gave them.......

Clearly this is all steams fault,...and you bear no responsibility at all.............................

Or simply don't buy games that create possibilities for such problems by forcibly linking them to online services. Somehow every game that I have works without internet and without need for existence of/access to some special accounts and servers.

[E]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase.

If that's the lesson, it's only half the lesson. He should also learn to never move and need to change ISP's.

[Fallschirmjager]

You can verify your account through payment details and get them to send you the confirmation e-mail your your new account. If you do not feel comfortable providing details through e-mail you can call them.
And by payment details I mean the date of purchase and amount spent.


And speaking of Steam. Their summer sale is going on now [:D]

[Scott_WAR]

ORIGINAL: E

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase.

If that's the lesson, it's only half the lesson. He should also learn to never move and need to change ISP's.

I have changed internet providers,...changed my IP address many times,...and have never had an issue with steam or any other online game or service.

[E]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

ORIGINAL: E

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase.

If that's the lesson, it's only half the lesson. He should also learn to never move and need to change ISP's.

I have changed internet providers,...changed my IP address many times,...and have never had an issue with steam or any other online game or service.

Then help him out! Tell him how you did it without access to your old account(s)! (which is the context of the thread)

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: Scott_WAR

What you SHOULD learn from this is that you should NOT use a free e-mail account for important things,....such as contact info for ANY purchase. But it seems everyone likes to blame someone else when they make a mistake.

Meanwhile I possess my own domain and can issue as many mail addresses I want. That won't necessarily safe me from future hacks but at least my isp would be pledged to restore this account. Can't see how it was my mistake though, unless you blame everybody who uses freemailer for gaming services, like the vast majority does.

I don't accuse Steam for that I forgot my account info. Point is that I can't access it anymore by providing a valid username / password, and thus I blame them. Their recently introduced Steam Guard is not an opt in but an opt out service. Once Steam client got deinstalled and browser cache cleared from cookies, this guard inevitable will be triggered next time you try to login. Other than that, it's common that if one alters account information, as I did, he receives an auto generated mail to the new address - not to the old one. So even their lazy customer service (36h and no answer yet) bothers to remove Steam Guard from my account, I still could not change mail info and would run into a similar problem every time they change something on their security scheme which requires confirmation.

To summarize it: it has to be sufficient if one provides a valid login or a valid e-mail. Steam demands either and and by losing the latter one, you lose your account as well. That kind of DRM is even worse than limited installations or a mandatory internet connection for a particular game, because it affects your account as a whole. Fortunately, with Shogun 2 and Fallout NV there were merely two worthwhile titles registered and since I own DVD's for both ones, Google will show me how to make it work without the Steam crap. Anyway, they can keep my account and I look elsewhere from the get-go next time a game requires activation. Taking this as a $ 100,- lesson to not support Steam anymore.

[Scott_WAR]

  When so many people have no problem with steam,...yet a handful cant seem to figure it out,...the problem is with the handful.  And when that handful wants to blame everything BUT themselves,...there is no helping them.

The answer here is simple. DONT use free emails for anything important,.... dont forget your log in info,...and dont forget the info you used to register with. None of which is steams responsibility.

As for customer support not getting back with you yet,....take a look at a calender.  It will be tuesday before anyone is doing anything in the USA.

[Scott_WAR]

Ok, I looked, and I am protected by Steam Guard,......and I never had to do anything at all,...no confirming, etc.. SO,....what did you do to make SteamGuard NEED confirming?


EDIT-E......when I changed internet providers, I changed my e-mail adress instead of not worrying about it. Laziness is the #1 reason people have problems like this. People dont bother to keep their account info up to date, then want to get mad when something similiar to this happens.