Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Sometimes character creation can take up the majority of that time.

If you're testing, quickly make a character.
Most likely only need about a minute or so for character creation as its typically limited to the same feature selections.
Else hit randomize and play the game if you want to see if its for you.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Then by the time you start playing you realize this is just not the game you though or was promised in the trailers. Maybe 10 day and 5hr or 5day 10hr stipulations could be looked into.

Gameplay videos, livestreams, review etc can help make that known without a purchase.
2 hours in 2 weeks prevents people from speedrunning and refunding games.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

at the very least there should be a store credit so I can find something else.

You can still attempt a manually reviewed ticket, "I have a question about this purchase", but no guarantees about them giving a refund, consider their response the final say when using that method.

Agreed. GOG’s refund policy is far more lenient. Steam should take notes, IMO. And take notes from Fanatical regarding helpfulness of customer service.

Oprindeligt skrevet af KrakenGreywolf:

Agreed. GOG’s refund policy is far more lenient. Steam should take notes, IMO. And take notes from Fanatical regarding helpfulness of customer service.

Note GOGs policy is far worse as they make you go through a gazillion hoops to 'fix' the problem before they will refund anything

Refund policies are not satisfaction guarantees.
They are to ensure the product works.

Do your research BEFORE you buy.
Watch videos, read reviews.

Also if you spend 2 hours in a character creator for a game you are not even sure you're going to like is a YOU problem.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Am I the only one who feels that the refund policy is a little one sided with the 14day / or 2hr rule?

No.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Sometimes you can easily exceed the 2 hour before you find it is just not the game for "you". Sometimes character creation can take up the majority of that time. Then by the time you start playing you realize this is just not the game you though or was promised in the trailers. Maybe 10 day and 5hr or 5day 10hr stipulations could be looked into.

Keep dreaming.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

For example I just purchased a game recently On Nov 30 but I played it for 5hr. Once I got past the character set up and into the game I realized the I did not like many things about the games mechanics, so I instantly applied for refund, However I do not think I will be getting it. at the very least there should be a store credit so I can find something else.

Why? Because you want to amend the refund policy after the fact?

Here's an idea, shop at a store with the refund policy that aligns with your expectations. You haven't looked? Or no one does a system like you want? Why might that be?

If a game is a borderline case with a decent likelihood that you will need to refund it after trying it out for a bit to decide if it's worth the money, you should be speed playing those first two hours as though you have to beat a clock because you do.

It is a little one-sided, yes, absolutely, and there is room for improvement there. But the system needs some limitation to thwart abuse cases and manage use of the system at the scale of hundreds of thousands of users.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Am I the only one who feels that the refund policy is a little one sided with the 14day / or 2hr rule?

Refund policy is not there for you to testing games, it's there to remove risk of you ending buying a game that don't work on your system for which 2 hours is enough for. You are supposed research the game (by reading reviews and watching YouTube videos) and ensure it's something you want to play BEFORE you purchase a game.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Anonymous Helper:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Am I the only one who feels that the refund policy is a little one sided with the 14day / or 2hr rule?

Refund policy is not there for you to testing games, it's there to remove risk of you ending buying a game that don't work on your system for which 2 hours is enough for. You are supposed research the game (by reading reviews and watching YouTube videos) and ensure it's something you want to play BEFORE you purchase a game.

Valve policy states: "You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it." Testing games is a valid use of the policy, as ANY use is a valid use so long as it is not abuse.

Oprindeligt skrevet af William Shakesman:

Valve policy states: "You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it." Testing games is a valid use of the policy, as ANY use is a valid use so long as it is not abuse.

However refund warning clearly states: "You’ve requested a significant number of refunds recently. Please keep in mind that refunds are not a method for trying out games. If you’re unsure about a product, make sure to check out the customer reviews before purchasing."

Steam support will also tell you that refunds are not there to Demo games if you ask about it.

Steam could use clearer documentation on the matter so users could be made aware of this before getting their first warning.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Herleifr:

Am I the only one who feels that the refund policy is a little one sided with the 14day / or 2hr rule? Sometimes you can easily exceed the 2 hour before you find it is just not the game for "you". Sometimes character creation can take up the majority of that time. Then by the time you start playing you realize this is just not the game you though or was promised in the trailers. Maybe 10 day and 5hr or 5day 10hr stipulations could be looked into. For example I just purchased a game recently On Nov 30 but I played it for 5hr. Once I got past the character set up and into the game I realized the I did not like many things about the games mechanics, so I instantly applied for refund, However I do not think I will be getting it. at the very least there should be a store credit so I can find something else.

Refund policies: Take your pick.

Note: (***) same refund policy.

(A) (***) Steam - Within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime.

(B) (***) Epic - Games and products are eligible for refund within 14 days of purchase. However, you must have less than 2 hours of runtime on record.

(C) (***) Ubisoft (UPDATED) - You can request a refund for a digital PC game within 14 days of your purchase, as long as the game has not been played for more than two hours.

Previously it was: (You can request a refund for a digital order within 14 days of your purchase, as long as the content has not been launched).

(D) EA Play - Whichever comes first.

1) Within 24 hours after you first launch the game.

2) Within 14 days from the day you bought it, if you have not launched the game.

3) Within 14 days from the release date if you pre-ordered the game, if you haven't launched it yet.

(E) Blizzard - The game is newly purchased within the last 3 days. You haven't started the game; if the game has been played at all it won't qualify for a refund.

(F) GOG - starting now, you can get a full refund up to 30 days after purchasing a product, even if you downloaded, launched, and played it. That's it. #

# (Open to abuse and they monitor for abuse and reserve the right to refuse a refund as do all PC stores). https://ibb.co/ZzXPMwv


Even GOG the people's champion have set criteria for refunds.

How often can I refund my games? Is there some sort of limit?

We trust that you're making "informed purchasing decisions" and will use this updated "voluntary" Refund Policy "only" if something doesn't work as you expected.

We reserve the right to refuse refunds, or only offer Wallet Funds conversions, in individual cases.

Please respect all the time and hard work put into making the games you play and remember that refunds are not reviews. If you finished the game and didn't like it, please consider sharing your opinion instead.

Also, please don't take advantage of our trust by asking for an unreasonable amount of games to be refunded. Don't be that person. No one likes that person.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Anonymous Helper:

Oprindeligt skrevet af William Shakesman:

Valve policy states: "You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it." Testing games is a valid use of the policy, as ANY use is a valid use so long as it is not abuse.

However refund warning clearly states: "You’ve requested a significant number of refunds recently. Please keep in mind that refunds are not a method for trying out games. If you’re unsure about a product, make sure to check out the customer reviews before purchasing."

Steam support will also tell you that refunds are not there to Demo games if you ask about it.

Steam could use clearer documentation on the matter so users could be made aware of this before getting their first warning.

That's not really a warning so much as it is totally automated by quantity, rather than behaviors it actually talks about regarding "trying out games." The documentation is quite clear though when you remember how Tito explained the way Valve uses the verb "is" with some of their other policies, where it is really not a contradiction to say both "refunds are used as a means of testing it" but "refunds are not a method for trying out games." These are both true and correct and do not contradict each other.

And there's no way Valve didn't implement the refund system with FULL intent of pushing people from "I don't know if I will like the game" to feeling safe buying and trying it out. There's no way you can even argue with a straight face that's not how the majority of refunds are used, and that Valve makes a lot of money by having that policy nudging people to "just buy the game and try it."

EVERY single person that comes here saying "Aw geez I overstayed the policy" made Valve richer precisely because of the refund policy being used to try out games.

Oprindeligt skrevet af William Shakesman:

"just buy the game and try it."

Is there a reason you keep ignoring the message users receive from Steam Support which clearly states refunds are not a method for trying out games?

You’ve requested a significant number of refunds recently. Please keep in mind that refunds are not a method for trying out games. If you’re unsure about a product, make sure to check out the customer reviews before purchasing.

I am particularly autistic about character creation and even I can't spend more than 10 minutes in one.

i love character creation games, depending on how good that setup is, it takes me at least 2 hours,
and you can't always go by others reviews, for example [VN/AVN] i like most linear games [if story is good] because i don't like to make a bunch of brain busting choices, but there's others that will give bad reviews because they didn't have many choices in the game

What I do with a new game default character and play just get a feel for the game ... serious gaming is for the second play.