Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die
www.techspot.com
The confirmation came from the Steam support staff earlier this month when Resetera forum user delete12345 asked Steam support if he can put his Steam library in...
  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    18610·
    6 months ago

    If steam did allow transfers this way, I can imagine it being a new type scam where people fabricate death documents to steal steam accounts.

      • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        35·
        6 months ago

        Oh for sure, but it’s definitely a concern for stuff like this. It’s a lot easier for valve to just expect people to pass login info down as a way to pass on an account.

        Valve actually migrating purchases from one account to another risks upsetting publishers, and requires whole new policies on how to verify death and verify who should receive the account. Finally there’s the risk of scams and having to resolve them. Overall it’s a lot of headache for valve, I’m not surprised they’re not jumping to offer it officially.

    • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      671·
      6 months ago

      True but ultimately this is about ownership - we don’t own our games. We license them - that is what is lost with Steam and DRM, and moving away from physical media.

      GOG is an alternative in that you can download and back up the installers for your games (mostly) but even then do you own your ganes?

      • jqubed@lemmy.worldEnglish
        394·
        6 months ago

        You’ve never owned your games. You owned the media they came on but legally you only ever had a license to use the software. Depending on the license agreement (the thing where most people click “I agree” without reading) you had more or fewer rights, such as transfer of license, but the way things work legally ownership of software seems to mean the more of the copyright ownership. Maybe like a book: you own your copy of the book but you don’t have the rights to print more books or make a movie based on the book.

        • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          301·
          6 months ago

          With physical media those licenses didn’t materially matter though because a contract you can’t read until after a purchase is automatically void in court.

                • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  2·
                  6 months ago

                  Using “updated” terms intending them as their original meaning is not usually the best plan… Like me saying “that’s an awful haircut” but using awful as the near synonym for awesome.

          • jqubed@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            Which is why those license agreements generally had a clause that if you disagreed you could return the software with all the media for a full refund.

            I’m not saying it’s the right way, just that’s how it’s been structured legally. Of course, in the days of physical media with software that couldn’t phone home it was harder to enforce those licenses if people didn’t strictly adhere to them. The software companies didn’t generally find it worth going after individuals if they found out about violations either. Corporations, on the other hand… I worked once at a media company that Adobe caught running a lot of unlicensed software. The story went that it was so bad at the main office their auditors found a copy of After Effects or something similarly ridiculous on a computer that was used as a cash register in the corporate cafeteria. That was very much worth Adobe’s time and money to get the lawyers involved, and became a very expensive problem for my employer. I wasn’t involved in the problem, but I had to check and clean my local office, where we found about a half-dozen computers with unlicensed software.

            • Aceticon@lemmy.worldEnglish
              22·
              6 months ago

              It makes no difference.

              They’re trying to impose an obligation or task on a customer after the purchase, even if it’s only the customer having to go through the trouble of getting the refund (which is a task they were not informed about before the purchase).

              If it’s not before the sale it’s void and even in some cases before the sale (for example bait and switch, were you’re mislead with fake contract conditions until the last minute) it’s void.

              The whole point is that they must be clear upfront about any conditions attached when the customer is making the decision to buy and adding any conditions after the sale is not acceptable even if the seller gives options (such as refunds) because the customer has a right to use the product under the conditions at the time of the sale and cannot legally be forced otherwise, including forced to refund.

        • MudMan@fedia.io
          6·
          6 months ago

          Owning media and owning the copyright to the media aren’t the same thing. There is a well recognized right to resell and transfer physical media, regardless of what the EULA says. You can’t sell more copies, but you absolutely sell (or gift, or leave in a will) the copy you have. The question here isn’t whether you should have a copyright on your digital purchases, it’s whether your rights to digital purchases should be analogous to your physical purchases.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      6 months ago

      Realistically, the transfer would likely need to be set up ahead of time via the account holder. For instance, my password manager has a function to allow me to designate a beneficiary. But importantly, that beneficiary assignment must come from my account before I die. If I die without designating a beneficiary, there’s nothing my family can do to gain access to my password vault. Only the accounts I have designated will be able to gain access.

      In other words, in order to falsely designate a beneficiary, they would already need access to my account. And at that point, they wouldn’t need to deal with death certificates and beneficiaries, because they already have access to my account.

    • MudMan@fedia.io
      139·
      6 months ago

      I’d like you to read what you just wrote very slowly and imagine it’s somebody else saying it, just to visualize if it’s an absolutey bonkers thing to say.

        • MudMan@fedia.io
          312·
          6 months ago

          I’d like you to read what you just wrote veeeeery slowly…

          • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
            6·
            6 months ago

            Yes, I know, and people should have access to them. Just share passwords with loved ones and they can take the items out eventually. Steam needs to do things like this because publishers are assholes who want it.

            • MudMan@fedia.io
              83·
              6 months ago

              This is absolutely not true. The publishers get very little of a say on what Steam does, as evidenced by the fact that a bunch of them, including Activision and EA, arguably the two most powerful third party publishers, left in a huff over fees and microtransaction revenue splits… and then came back because Steam is the only game in town.

              So no, Steam isn’t the good guy having their arm twisted by evil publishers, they are a large corporation that invented most of the practices in both digital distribution and games as a service, including this one.

      • Lad@reddthat.comEnglish
        35·
        6 months ago

        New tinder bio: “need a woman to birth me a child that will inherit my Steam account on the day of my demise”

    • pdxfed@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      6 months ago

      Between my birthday of 1/1/1901 and unlicensed game inheritance, shit is going to go down in the next 50 years. We’ll have AI legal reps for powerful firms requesting a statement of all software licenses by the deceased, challenging them, and then having a court order the rest null.

      I hate that I will be right about that.

    • space@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Will valve allow accounts to exist indefinitely? Will they create an expiration policy, like accounts being closed after 100 years

  • Baggins [he/him]@lemmy.caEnglish
    1282·
    6 months ago

    Life Pro Tip: Register an LLC to buy your steam games under. The LLC will never die and you can transfer ownership of the business entity while it retains control of the steam account.

      • orrk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        18·
        6 months ago

        ya, but as an LLC you get a lot of rights that you didn’t have before!

      • ____@infosec.pubEnglish
        241·
        6 months ago

        As others have pointed out - costs a few bucks annually,and requires beneficial ownership report (free IIRC).

        Otherwise, it’s a tried and true tactic to pass businesses down through generations. An LLC vs. a corp vs a trust is a convo to have w/ lawyer barred in your state but the general premise is vaguely sane.

      • FireTower@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        6 months ago

        Tldr: Don’t do this unless you have a business that requires a steam account for tax purposes. It doesn’t need to be successful but it does need to be real.

        Trusts are probably a better option for this sort of thing than a LLC.

        • shottymcb@lemm.eeEnglish
          131·
          6 months ago

          There’s at least 10 states with no annual fee. Arizona is $50 to file, $0 annual fees, and no annual report to file.

          If you’d prefer your company to have voting rights, you can file in Rhode Island, and your company can vote in local and state elections without ever stepping foot in the state. Hooray late stage capitalism 😞

          • shottymcb@lemm.eeEnglish
            3·
            6 months ago

            Not in Arizona. You don’t even have to live there, just have to file there.

    • SymbioteSynapse@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      6 months ago

      $800/year is a lot to save maybe $1000 worth of games. At least that’s what an LLC costs where I live.

      • littlewonder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Woah, that’s expensive AF. I think forming an LLC in my state is like $25 and then nothing except tax burdens on revenue.

      • AppleMango@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Almost 10 times less where I live, but not sure because I don’t know which dollars you’re referring to

        • SymbioteSynapse@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          6 months ago

          US dollars. I’m in California, which is probably one of the most expensive states to get an LLC but still. Even at $100/year I’m probably not getting my money’s worth. Digital games don’t hold their value unfortunately.

    • 𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Register a religious organisation/church worshipping digital media and proclaim that this account is part of religious rituals of your church. In the United States, freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

    • Agent641@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      6 months ago

      Gabe is riding to your house in a SWAT van as we speak. Resist, or don’t, your death is inevitable either way.

    • lawrence@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      It’s a bit more complicated. Besides the Steam credentials, you also need to share your email and its password. You need to provide your mobile phone unlocked or share its password (for SMS and two-factor authentication).

  • Siegfried@lemmy.worldEnglish
    104·
    6 months ago

    Do they check? Or can i just give my password to my homie in a letter

    "Dear homie,

    if you are reading this, it means that i’m on the long path to meet with master Kaio to train my ass off to death in the afterlife. Until we meet again, this is my user and pass of my steam account.

    PS: i didn’t bought the porno VR games. Someone gifted them to me.

    Your bro in eternity,

    Siegfried"

    • udon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      661·
      6 months ago

      Bro, but what about the credit card receipt for porno VR games, signed by Siegfried? What about the warranty card for the porno VR games, filled out by Siegfried? What about the book “Porno VR Games and Me (This Sort of Thing is my Bag, Baby!)” by Siegfried?

  • banana_lama@lemm.eeEnglish
    89·
    6 months ago

    Oh I didn’t own my steam account it was created for my future children. it’s a trust.

    • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
      313·
      6 months ago

      Lol. That’s hilarious. But unfortunately you never owned the games in the first place. You rented the privilege to play the game for life?..life of the rental company or your life only? Oh man, we gotta go thru the small print on this.

      • banana_lama@lemm.eeEnglish
        17·
        6 months ago

        I understand for the life of the company. But it’s not even my steam account. It’s my child’s who’s currently -5 years old (give or take). I did create it on their behalf a decade ago to redeem the free games on their behalf and gift them games I think they’ll enjoy.

      • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        6 months ago

        “Add to Cart”, “Continue Shopping”, “Purchase for myself”, “Purchase as a gift”, “Purchase”.

        Who knows, one day a court may find these terms could lead people into believing they’re buying a game and force some companies to allow us to to trade or resell them (an EU court most probably).

        • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          “yes, you made a purchase. But what you purchased were tickets. Tickets to specific rides at a theme park. You did not buy the rides. You bought tickets for the rides. Those tickets are valid for your personal use. If you are not the one using them, they are not to be used.” –Their argument in court probably.

          • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            You can resell Windows CD keys legally in the EU as the courts rejected the “only for you” part of the argument: invalidating that part of the EULA. I probably have the right to resell my Steam game tickets.

        • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          Purchased should mean what it means for other things like cars or apples…you get a copy of an apple via a purchase and you are guaranteed to be able to use that apple in any manner you please. So for example, you could eat it, ferment it, store it in resin for posterity and for future humans to recreate it. There aren’t any limits to a purchase. So I agree, maybe we need ask the supremes of the supreme court if purchasing means different things. So if I purchase sex from a prostitute legally in Las Vegas, does that prostitute need to specifically state what activities I will own? Or if I go to Costco and buy a fried chicken, does Costco need to specifically state that the chicken is not just a rental but a final exchange between you and Costco, money for dead poultry. More relatable, a screw driver from home Depot, that thing will last a few uses, so do you still own it if home Depot goes down? Can you still rotate screws with it?

          • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            6 months ago

            Software can be both a product and a service:

            • it’s a product when running on my computer (i.e. the game)
            • it’s a service when running on their computer (i.e. providing the hosting for downloading, multiplayer client-server hosting).


            The issue preventing one practically enacting on software is that copyright defaults to preventing you redistributing it, and you need the source code to be able to modify (fully). Thankfully some games are free software/open source when you can act on your ownership.

            • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              So that should be “I purchased a game” when you got a detached product that is functional forever… unless the makers make a deal with Microsoft to fuck it up on the next illegally forced update or with Nvidia to change the next card such that it is unplayable.

              And it should be “I purchased…I subscribed to this online game” when you know that shit is not yours, so don’t expect it to last.

              • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                That would at least be more honest… from my perspective anyway. The games industry has done this for so long that this is the norm for generatations who grew up with consoles being online - this is “purchasing” to some as words have usages and not inate meaning.

                It would be better if they just stopped doing that but you get more money that way.

  • Lad@reddthat.comEnglish
    85·
    6 months ago

    When you’re dead but someone has got into your steam account and is about to find all of your anime titty games

  • fox2263@lemmy.worldEnglish
    781·
    6 months ago

    “And to my son, I bequeath my steam account - user is blah and password is blah”

    Checkmate steam

    • LemmyFeed@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      6 months ago

      The article goes into that and states password sharing is against the Eula so technically they can kick you off the service if they find out… IF they find out wink wink

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        6 months ago

        Old and busted: Pretending someone’s alive for their Social Security check

        New hotness: Pretending someone’s alive for their Steam account

        • RGB3x3@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          6 months ago

          4 generations later: “I’ve inherited my father’s steam account just as he inherited it from his father and so on. The library has grown ever larger, and yet so many remain untouched. The summer sales have sustained my forefathers and yet I feel hollow. Each year, more games are added to this historic account, but each year brings more regret as the purchases go untouched. I shall make a promise to myself: finish the extensive library, honor my family, complete the library. But first, some more Counter Strike.”

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.mlEnglish
        12·
        6 months ago

        I have reached a place where I genuinely don’t care about anyone seeing my browser history.

        FBI: “Mr. JoMiran, did you spend an hour browsing through Peggy Hill cosmic horror hentai?”

        Me: “Meh. I found most of the tentacle detail work lacking and the exaggerated breast size off-putting.”

  • Reminds_Me_Of_Reddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    65·
    6 months ago

    Who’s notifying Valve someone with an account has died? Link the dead person’s account to a steam family and enjoy the inheritance.

      • telllos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        6 months ago

        You’re account is tied to an email address, you just give the email address as well.

    • Takumidesh@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      6 months ago

      If you will a steam account to someone, there is a chance that there are disputes/claims for the account that need to be settled in court.

    • Vent@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      6 months ago

      The interesting question is what happens if Valve is still around after all of us are long gone and there are millions of 150+ year old accounts, many under active use?

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        In a world that isn’t drowning in late stage capitalism what we call that is the overwhelming gift given to us by the generations before us so that we may in turn give it to the next generation. Video games are only a tiny subsection of those gifts compared to everything else we just get handed for free.

        Wealthy US boomers brutally executed that way of looking at the world though, so literally any form of passing on gifts to the next generation other than being rich as fuck and directly leaving an unbelievable amount of money to your kids is unfathomable or framed as unfair or absurd in modern day society.

  • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    542·
    6 months ago

    Assuming that the world continues to exist in a way that lets me have a steam account at the time of my natural lifespans average end (another… 46 years):

    My steam library grows at a slower rate than my mass storage has, and I’m quite confident that one will be able to fit my entire steam library as it currently is on a normal and affordable drive in at most 15 years.

    With those two facts in play I can remain confident in my ability to crack everything I own (assuming I even want everything) and safely store it for at-will passing down to as many people as I want.

    But thanks for the reminder to not blindly trust you, Valve. Always useful to have those.