If a Cancel a Refund and Ask for It Again Will It Cause Problems or No on Steam
Dev calls out thespian who refunded his game after saying it was 'amazing,' thespian apologizes and rebuys information technology
By many accounts, Before Your Eyes is a smart and affecting game, and the control arrangement seems cool: It uses your webcam to determine when you blink. Information technology's also a short game, and at least one role player took reward of that fact by completing it in under 2 hours and and then refunding it on Steam.
Steam's refund policy allows users to render games "within two weeks of purchase and with less than ii hours of playtime" for whatsoever reason. It doesn't thing whether or not they finished the game, or if they liked it. Before Your Eyes lead designer and programmer Bela Messex knew someone had refunded the game despite enjoying the whole affair because they left a Steam user review, calling Before Your Optics "amazing" earlier getting their money back.
"Aye nosotros made a short game," wrote Messex, responding to the review in a widely shared tweet. "I think there should be more than short games. I remember short games shouldn't become refunded for delivering an astonishing experience."
aye we made a short game. I call up there should be more curt games. I think short games shouldn't get refunded for delivering an amazing experience motion-picture show.twitter.com/bdngjVUpBDApril 12, 2021
A day later, the reviewer, whose name is Travis, repurchased the game and added a new paragraph to the review.
"Yes, the game is curt, just it has an underlying reason for this," wrote Travis in the edited review. "Life itself is short and tin can be gone in the blink of an middle, which kinda seems to be the point of making the game controlled by blinking in the outset place. It's worth your $ten and even if you vanquish the game in plenty fourth dimension to do so, y'all shouldn't exploit Steam's system and refund it."
Separately, Travis apologized to Messex on Twitter, proverb that it had been "scummy" to refund the game after finishing and enjoying it, despite being on "a bit of a budget."
The contend nearly refund policies
Steam and Epic say they may stop accepting refund requests from those found to be 'abusing' them.
That was a squeamish ending (and we must cherish them when we see them), simply the conflict between refund policies and brusque games is ongoing. Valve doesn't publish detailed data about refunds, so I can't say for sure whether or not short games are actually refunded more than oft than long ones, but it'southward been a concern since Steam introduced the policy in 2015.
"What bugs me is [it's] a one-size-fits-all return policy that's pretty clearly designed for 'large' games, the sort that are $60 on launch day," Drinking glass Lesser Games founder Megan Fox told PC Gamer at the time. "2 weeks and two hours makes perfect sense if you're talking about Far Weep 4, merely and so wait at something like The Stanley Parable. It'southward a game you tin can easily 'beat' in under two hours, the offset time you lot sit down with it, and likely walk abroad feeling satisfied. Or something like [PS3 exploration game] Journey, where y'all literally take to beat it in one sitting, since there'due south no saving."
In office, Steam'due south refund policy exists to comply with regional regulations. In the European union, for example, consumers must be allowed to render online orders within two weeks of purchase "for any reason and without a justification." Notwithstanding, that EU "right of withdrawal" dominion ends as soon as the buyer uses the product. For a shirt, that would include removing the tags or putting it in the washing car. For software purchased online, downloading information technology is enough to terminate Valve's refund obligation.
That means Valve'south refund policy is more permissive than Eu law calls for, and the two 60 minutes rule isn't even a hard rule. If y'all've played a Steam game for more than ii hours, you tin notwithstanding submit a refund request. It won't be approved automatically, but Valve will review it and may corroborate it.
The Epic Games Shop's refund policy is almost identical to Steam'south: Request a refund within 14 days of purchase and with under ii hours played, and information technology's yours. GOG's refund policy is more than generous than Steam and Epic's, giving players 30 days to request a refund and specifying no maximum playtime. However, GOG can't truly 'have back' a game anyhow, every bit information technology merely sells DRM-free software which is yours then long equally you go on a copy of the information. Any stipulations nigh playtime would exist based on the laurels system.
None of the stores mention the length of the games beingness refunded, but they practise put vague caveats on their policies. GOG says that information technology may deny refunds that it believes are being requested "to hurt the developers that put their fourth dimension and heart into making cracking games." Steam and Epic say they may end accepting refund requests from those found to exist "abusing" them. Individual players have been criticized earlier for refunding a game after finishing information technology, simply I haven't heard much about mass refund abuse over the past half dozen years.
If the histrion hitting a button within five seconds of that timer reaching two hours, the game would leave and they'd go a Steam achievement.
According to its support statistics page, Steam receives over 100,000 refund requests a day, and given that volume information technology'south somewhat surprising that there hasn't been more controversy over refunds. Information technology helps, perhaps, that they're very popular among Steam users: The ability to return games that don't work out has been great, peculiarly considering user-specific technical issues tin render $60 purchases worthless.
For creators of curt games, though, the system can be read as a suggestion that their work isn't worth annihilation. Two hours and under? That's a free game, for those willing to make it one.
A pitch for "Refund This Game"
When he tweeted well-nigh the Before Your Eyes review, Messex had wanted to defend curt games, not bring on a mass scolding of Steam or Travis. In a couple of other lighthearted tweets, he also pitched an thought for a new Steam game, which I hope he really makes.
The game would exist called "Refund This Game," and would display a timer that counts out two hours in real fourth dimension. If the thespian striking a button within v seconds of that timer reaching two hours, the game would go out and they'd become a Steam achievement. If they let the timer run by ii hours, cypher would happen—except that they'd have a harder time getting a refund. Messex'south proposed price for Refund This Game is $99.99.
Messex actually could brand Refund This Game, although I wonder whether Steam would let its release. When Valve opened upwards Steam to all game submissions in 2018, it made 2 rules: nothing illegal, and no "trolling." Valve could allocate Refund This Game as trolling, or make a new rule that metagames which involve Steam's policies and client service systems aren't allowed (information technology'd be kind of hard to blame them).
I just submitted "Refund This Game" to Steam. Sentry a timer count to 2 hours and quit within the last 5 seconds for an achievement. Proposed price $99.99. Release date TBA. moving picture.twitter.com/xaywcZ86mjApril thirteen, 2021
It's a funny idea, though, and I hope Messex tries to release it for real, if just to see if Valve reacts at all. For at present, he'due south not too serious about it. "We've spent years making Before Your Optics into the emotional journey that people finally got to experience last week, and I want that to be the focus of my energy correct at present," he said.
On that annotation, Before Your Optics is $10 on Steam. Or, information technology's $10, and then $0 afterward yous refund it, and then $10 once again later on yous feel guilty about refunding it and repurchase it—however you lot want to get near information technology. At the time of writing, Before Your Eyes has 537 reviews with an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/before-your-eyes-steam-refund-two-hours/
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