Stinger
Aug 29th, 2005, 01:12 PM
I have noticed the recent rash of steam accounts and HL2 being trading on RFD and just as many moderators shutting them down becuase according to the steam EULA, trading accounts it not allowed. Just for the heck of it I decided to do a little research on the subject. Here are my findings. Now please correct me if I am wrong.
Here is the Steam Subscriber Agreement (http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=subscriber_agreement)
This is the only mentioning of anything about selling your account:
"Your Account and Subscription(s) are subject to the Agreement. You may not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise share or transfer your Account."
In the case of selling a steam account to others, it is not your account they are accessing. When you complete a transaction in any bisuness setting, the store/company/person, does not own any of your item. It becomes fully yours. Therefore, when selling a steam account, you are not allowing someone to access your account for a price, your are allowing someone to access THEIR ACCOUNT!
Also "otherwise share or transfer your Account."
That means Valve/Steam is in DIRECT violation of there own policy!!!! For a 10$ fee you are able to transfer your key to another account, would that not then be doing excally what they deny others of doing?!?!
And thirdly, here is an excerpt from a news report that did some research on the topic themselves:
"Here's where it gets complicated. The Half-Life 2 EULA is pretty standard, and doesn't actually prohibit the transfer of the game. Point 4 explicitly provides for it, stating that a transfer can take place if the seller removes the programme from the computer and transfers all of it, including any 'code used to unlock the programme' - that means CD Key.
But, arguably, you can't transfer the CD Key without paying the $10 Steam charge, because otherwise it's still registered to you at Valve, meaning you haven't truly transferred ownership to the buyer.
However, here's something else. No mention of the Steam software is made in the EULA for Half-Life 2. This means that the terms of the Steam EULA that you agree to when installing that software are almost certainly not incorporated into the contract you agree to when installing Half-Life 2. Consequently, the $10 transfer fee would not be enforceable because it isn't in the HL2 contract, and Valve would be acting illegally in blocking any sale of the game from one person to another. "
What this all leads me to believe is that there is no way that Steam can legally enforce there rule of not selling steam accounts, UNLESS of course the account has been hacked. They themselves have gone against there own rules by allowing the transfer of accounts, which ALSO fly directly in the face of the HL2 EULA.
My Point Being; Steam should not legally be able to deny the selling of legit accounts and THE HALF LIFE 2 PRODUCT! And therefore threads selling these should not be locked....
Please post if you have comments on this topic, or wish to correct me. But I ask that you please do it in a repectful manner, and merely to provide insight and not to bash me, or any other posters in the thread
Here is the Steam Subscriber Agreement (http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=subscriber_agreement)
This is the only mentioning of anything about selling your account:
"Your Account and Subscription(s) are subject to the Agreement. You may not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise share or transfer your Account."
In the case of selling a steam account to others, it is not your account they are accessing. When you complete a transaction in any bisuness setting, the store/company/person, does not own any of your item. It becomes fully yours. Therefore, when selling a steam account, you are not allowing someone to access your account for a price, your are allowing someone to access THEIR ACCOUNT!
Also "otherwise share or transfer your Account."
That means Valve/Steam is in DIRECT violation of there own policy!!!! For a 10$ fee you are able to transfer your key to another account, would that not then be doing excally what they deny others of doing?!?!
And thirdly, here is an excerpt from a news report that did some research on the topic themselves:
"Here's where it gets complicated. The Half-Life 2 EULA is pretty standard, and doesn't actually prohibit the transfer of the game. Point 4 explicitly provides for it, stating that a transfer can take place if the seller removes the programme from the computer and transfers all of it, including any 'code used to unlock the programme' - that means CD Key.
But, arguably, you can't transfer the CD Key without paying the $10 Steam charge, because otherwise it's still registered to you at Valve, meaning you haven't truly transferred ownership to the buyer.
However, here's something else. No mention of the Steam software is made in the EULA for Half-Life 2. This means that the terms of the Steam EULA that you agree to when installing that software are almost certainly not incorporated into the contract you agree to when installing Half-Life 2. Consequently, the $10 transfer fee would not be enforceable because it isn't in the HL2 contract, and Valve would be acting illegally in blocking any sale of the game from one person to another. "
What this all leads me to believe is that there is no way that Steam can legally enforce there rule of not selling steam accounts, UNLESS of course the account has been hacked. They themselves have gone against there own rules by allowing the transfer of accounts, which ALSO fly directly in the face of the HL2 EULA.
My Point Being; Steam should not legally be able to deny the selling of legit accounts and THE HALF LIFE 2 PRODUCT! And therefore threads selling these should not be locked....
Please post if you have comments on this topic, or wish to correct me. But I ask that you please do it in a repectful manner, and merely to provide insight and not to bash me, or any other posters in the thread