Ethical question regarding video game refund policies

[Dominus Atheos]

I downloaded the free Bioshock demo off of Steam, and it doesn't work. It crashes every time I launch it. I'm concerned if I buy the full version I may have the same problem and have just thrown away $30, since Steam doesn't give refunds. The way I see it, there are 3 ways to resolve this:

• Buy it anyway and hope it works.
• Try to find another place to buy it from that does give refunds. (there aren't any, I already looked and I don't like buying physical disks)
• Pirate the game and try to play it. If it works, buy it off of Steam. If it doesn't, just delete the game and find a different game to buy.

I don't really like pirating things when there's an easy way to purchase it legally without any restrictions like "can't rip onto computer to play anytime or put on laptop to take with me" or "can only play on devices that were made by same company that sold it to me" or "have to have disk in drive to play and have to have disk and cd key to install, and god help you if you lose the cd key", but I'm fine with doing it if I'm planning to buy it if it works. It's just like the demo was free. I especially don't mind since it's Steam's refund policy that's preventing me from buying it.

Any opinions or suggestions? OS is Vista x64.

[Stark]

Since you're talking ethics and you've already bought 'a licence', I'd just get it somehow and play it. Steam not giving refunds (or supporting whatever your problem is) just makes it better. Of course this isn't legal, but we're talking ethics.

Bioshock certainly has no problems running on Vista x64.

[Dominus Atheos]

Since you're talking ethics and you've already bought 'a license', I'd just get it somehow and play it. Steam not giving refunds (or supporting whatever your problem is) just makes it better. Of course this isn't legal, but we're talking ethics.

Bioshock certainly has no problems running on Vista x64.

So far the only thing I have is the demo, I haven't bought anything yet. My fourth option is:

• Buy a different game and forget all about Bioshock.

[Stark]

Bleh, turns out I can't read. You can poke around the Steam update history to see if any similar issue was ever addressed by a patch.

[Darth Onasi]

Might be obvious, but have you tried running as administrator? A fair few games on vista crash on startup if you don't.

[Alyeska]

Steam does offer refunds, but only in limited situations. The GTA4 PC release happens to be one of them. For Bioshock itself? Not bloody likely. Another possibility you have is to acquire the game through alternative methods and test its functionality. If it works, purchase the game. If the purchased copy doesn't work, you still have the alternative copy at your disposal.

[Stark]

You mean that option he lists in the OP?

I'm actually pretty interest in the error he suffered; I know a few people who played BS on x64 Vista and they had no problems at all, but the demo is probably a really old version.

[Alyeska]

You mean that option he lists in the OP?

I'm actually pretty interest in the error he suffered; I know a few people who played BS on x64 Vista and they had no problems at all, but the demo is probably a really old version.

My stated option was a little less specific and gave him room to try multiple versions.

[General Zod]

Since you're talking ethics and you've already bought 'a license', I'd just get it somehow and play it. Steam not giving refunds (or supporting whatever your problem is) just makes it better. Of course this isn't legal, but we're talking ethics.

Bioshock certainly has no problems running on Vista x64.

So far the only thing I have is the demo, I haven't bought anything yet. My fourth option is:

• Buy a different game and forget all about Bioshock.

If the demo won't run then the full game itself probably won't. A friend of mine was complaining how he couldn't get Bioshock to run on his pc for some reason due to the system requirements; his machine isn't exactly low end either. Is a console version not an option?

[DPDarkPrimus]

Buy Bioshock for the 360 for $30.

[Dominus Atheos]

Buy Bioshock for the 360 for $30.

You mean $230. Not to mention the cost of a TV to play it on that isn't in my bedroom.

[charlemagne]

Around here, you can get Bioshock for €10,-, it's on discount everywhere they sell video games, this seems cheaper than a Steam download. So it's simply not available to just buy it in a store where you live? Why the hell don't you like buying physical discs, anyways?

[Dominus Atheos]

Around here, you can get Bioshock for €10,-, it's on discount everywhere they sell video games, this seems cheaper than a Steam download. So it's simply not available to just buy it in a store where you live? Why the hell don't you like buying physical discs, anyways?

That doesn't really solve my problem, since there aren't any stores that take back opened computer games.

[General Zod]

Around here, you can get Bioshock for €10,-, it's on discount everywhere they sell video games, this seems cheaper than a Steam download. So it's simply not available to just buy it in a store where you live? Why the hell don't you like buying physical discs, anyways?

That doesn't really solve my problem, since there aren't any stores that take back opened computer games.

Resell it on ebay if it doesn't work out?

[JointStrikeFighter]

Around here, you can get Bioshock for €10,-, it's on discount everywhere they sell video games, this seems cheaper than a Steam download. So it's simply not available to just buy it in a store where you live? Why the hell don't you like buying physical discs, anyways?

That doesn't really solve my problem, since there aren't any stores that take back opened computer games.

lol! buy it from EB australia.

[Shogoki]

Mmm, i do remember there was a particular problem with Bioshock that caused it to crash to desktop without any warning, and though I had it I don't remember how you were supposed to fix it.

As for the ethics of piracy and game refunds, I do confess that if there's no demo for the game I will download it and play it an hour or two, if I still want to play it, i buy it immediately, if I don't I erase it, It might be hard to believe but i really do like to support developers that entertain me. I know it's a practice that gets frowned upon but i really don't give a shit about what reviewers say anymore, it's like they're competing to see who can write the wankiest wankfest for every game that gets enough hype.

[Alyeska]

I've always been one to support companies for good games. The only two games I have pirated long term were Max Payne and Oblivion. Liked them so much I eventually bought the game. I've pirated a couple others and tried them only to toss them because they weren't very good.

Course with DRM becoming the norm I've been tempted to change this around a little. Either download the game, or purchase it then download it for a copy that works without DRM.

[Solauren]

I don't buy very many video games.

Quite frankly, the ones I do play long term, I buy. Games like Civilizations, or long campaign games.

However, other games, there is no point in bothering. I usually crush them in a few hours, or don't find the story enjoyable and walk away. For example, I play D&D alot (every other weekend at minimum), but I can't stand D&D computer games.

[Darwin]

figure out why the demo is crashing. Then you can make a more informed decision.