Are Steam games your property?

[Azernak0]

There are a lot of games that people play wherein you do not actually own what you are playing. The prime example are MMO's; if Blizzard wants to shutdown my account because they want to, they can. I don't actually own my characters, their stuff, etc. Owning something gives you quite a few rights with it, mostly along the lines that you can more or less do anything you want with it. The biggest thing is that the property cannot be taken from me without really good reason, like not paying a bill on it (so I didn't actually own it) or committing a crime with it (you don't get to keep your gun after murdering someone with it).

This got me thinking on virtual purchases on an actual product. Half-Life 2 is an actual product but I only own a virtual copy. In this sense, do I own it or can Valve just go "nope" and take it away from me? More and more games are not going to have actual releases or not be widely available from physical stores so I am quite curious on who owns a virtual copy; the consumer or the publisher.

Cheers.

 

[Michael Hirst]

If you grossly violate Steams Terms and Conditions your account can be banned and you can lose your games along with it.

 

[tobi the good boy]

MMO's are more the equivalent to renting while steam is more like buying shares. You don't physically hold shares but you do own them if you've spent money on them.

 

[RaffB]

Technically, when you buy any software you are only buying one license to use it, so im pretty sure you don't own any of it.

However, in practice, no company is going to pull that crap unless you really piss them off.

Also, steam have said that should they ever go bust, they will set up a system so that all games are still playable.

 

[zehydra]

the thing is, concepts such as property need serious revision when it comes to digital media, because the difference between property of "information" (1s and 0s), and intellectual property is a bit ambiguous.

Some game developers want to say that the game is their property, because of intellectual property, or the mp3 on your computer belongs to the record label that produced it.

In reality of course, you have a copy of the digital information on YOUR computer. That is, it doesn't make much sense to say that you OWN a computer, but you don't own its contents. So I would say that if you have a copy of ANYTHING at ALL on YOUR computer, then you OWN a physical copy of it, but you do not have intellectual rights to it.

 

[castlewise]

No, they are not. I'm not super happy about this trend but everything seems to be moving towards "licencing" software, and not purchasing it.

 

[Dogstile]

Surely they wouldn't take away the game, they'd take away the license if that's what companies are selling /hurr durr

Yeah I consider them my games. I've paid for them and if steam ever does die or pull a dick move and remove them from me, i'd probably get them back. Don't look at me like that, you'd probably do the same.

Spoiler

Oh and I don't support piracy or la de dah <required clearing of name, besides, i don't think redownloading something you paid for is really piracy

edit:

or, you know, this:

the thing is, concepts such as property need serious revision when it comes to digital media, because the difference between property of "information" (1s and 0s), and intellectual property is a bit ambiguous.

Some game developers want to say that the game is their property, because of intellectual property, or the mp3 on your computer belongs to the record label that produced it.

In reality of course, you have a copy of the digital information on YOUR computer. That is, it doesn't make much sense to say that you OWN a computer, but you don't own its contents. So I would say that if you have a copy of ANYTHING at ALL on YOUR computer, then you OWN a physical copy of it, but you do not have intellectual rights to it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If you can't hold it in your hand or, if you don't own a physical manifestation of the game you've purchased than I wouldn't say so. I own Half-Life 2 on the Xbox 360 in the form of The Orange Box bundle and can play it whenever I please, lend it to whomever I chose and, use it on every Xbox 360 that can read discs released in the U.S. With Steam, I own Team Fortress 2 but with that...well, it's more like steam. It's more complete than the Orange Box version but I can't play it offline and, can't lend it out (of course, that game is free now so lending it out wouldn't be an option anyway)

 

[BeerTent]

If you grossly violate Steams Terms and Conditions your account can be banned and you can lose your games along with it.

Way to not answer the question. At all.

No, they are not. I'm not super happy about this trend but everything seems to be moving towards "licencing" software, and not purchasing it.

This is how it has always been in regards to software. Those floppy disks with Wolfenstien 3D in your attic? You don't own the software, id does. It's still just a license. You don't even own your operating system.

Typically, when you "own" software, your the person(s) who created it.

 

[chif-ii]

Yeah, this is gonna be the next big thing for this generation - how much of our stuff do we actually own?

I'm in two minds about this. The whiny, selfish 8-year-old part of me doesn't want my games to be taken away from me. At the same time, if you got caught pirating games off of Steam or something, I don't see any way to punish that guy other than to take them away (Which is a scenario that actually happened, I think. It wasn't pirating, but the guy was gifting Steam games to people living in other countries for money [it worked because of the exchange rates at the time or something]).

 

[Handbag1992]

Also, steam have said that should they ever go bust, they will set up a system so that all games are still playable.

This pleases me.

But no, you own the privilege to use the games, which can be taken away from you if you violate the terms of service.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I'd like to think that in both the case of physical and digital that we own something that entitles us to the game. But as far as I'm aware software on a disc has never truly been "yours". The pysical CD may have been but not the sofware; the purchase was the right to use it.

Just like when you buy a book or a DVD, you own the paper and disc but you don't own the intellectual property it contains. But one would think that with all of the user agreements we agree to, somwhere in there is a clause that covers our own arse. The value of videogame data is practically zero as it can be copied infinitely, the cost of a plastic case and a DVD are negligible. Everyone pays a similar arbitrary price for a parallel product, usually the digital version is cheaper to compensate for the lack of a case or disc.

Either way laws need to be updated to acclimate for digital distribution, perhaps in the future we'll see a review and get a straight answer (legally speaking).

 

[zehydra]

Technically, when you buy any software you are only buying one license to use it, so im pretty sure you don't own any of it.

However, in practice, no company is going to pull that crap unless you really piss them off.

Also, steam have said that should they ever go bust, they will set up a system so that all games are still playable.

No company has the right to confiscate my computer or the information on my computer regardless of whether or not I accepted their EULA.

They can try, but I will take that to court. Also, for someone else who mentioned Steam, steam can't take the games away from you, just your ability to play them, unless they were jerks and made it delete the files off of your computer.

 

[Scars Unseen]

If any company (Valve included) decided that they wanted to revoke your ability to play a game you paid for, they would have introduced one of the very few situations where I could see piracy as being justified. EULAs notwithstanding, I pay for something and it's mine to use, whatever legalese babble they think gives them control. In the end, we are the ones they depend on, not the other way around. DLC and DRM have proven that we gamers will tolerate a lot, but there is a limit to that tolerance.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

No, you don't own the games, you own a license to download and play the games whenever you want.

If you violate the terms of service, then your steam account will get banned, and the majority of your steam games will no longer work.

On the other hand, if Steam ever goes under, Valve has stated that they will release a patch that will allow all of your games to work independently of steam, and this will mean that you will have actual ownership of the games at that point.

So the answer is that at the moment you don't own the games, but Valve promises that you will if they ever go bankrupt.

 

[Hazy]

Steam acts as a indefinite (or not so indefinite) rental service.

They are not your property - like your friend's pool. You might have 24/7 privileges to use it, but if you piss him off, the pool goes with him. You don't own it.

 

[somonels]

Whenever that annoying little box with a lot of boring, technical text called an EULA appears you can be certain that you do not own it.

 

[Rude as HECK]

If we define "own" in this context to mean having permanent access to a usable, functioning copy of a game, that can't be taken away through, say, licensing issues or bankruptcy of a third party (like how they can't take a book you've bought and have in your possession away from you just because it's been banned for being obscene or whatever, then it seems to me the answer is clearly no.

That's the long and short of it, the real interesting question is if we, as consumers, should be demanding our goods delivered in such a way, so that we are guaranteed not to lose access to the products we buy.

 

[gigastar]

Well on the Steam front i know i have the right to play the games that i paid money for, but if i were to be a colossal idiot and violate the Steam terms of service i would lose the right to play said games. I would expect it to be the same for other digital distibutors.

I also happen to know that if Steam were ever to close Valve would release a final patch that would turn off the Steam DRM on all games, so im not going to lose my Steam games that way.

Since i possess a rather extreme lack of competence at all kinds of computer work, im unlikely ever to violate a terms of service on purpose.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

If you can't hold it in your hand or, if you don't own a physical manifestation of the game you've purchased than I wouldn't say so. I own Half-Life 2 on the Xbox 360 in the form of The Orange Box bundle and can play it whenever I please, lend it to whomever I chose and, use it on every Xbox 360 that can read discs released in the U.S. With Steam, I own Team Fortress 2 but with that...well, it's more like steam. It's more complete than the Orange Box version but I can't play it offline and, can't lend it out (of course, that game is free now so lending it out wouldn't be an option anyway)

You actually CAN play TF2 offline on Steam. Of course since you're offline though, you won't be connected to an servers, so you'll only be able to play against bots.