You know, I'm realizing the part that burns me up the most isn't the no sue clause(s), it is the auto agreeing to terms thing. They say that you automatically agree to any terms 30 days after you are notified of terms changes. The only way to say you don't agree is to cancel your account, which of course means you forfeit any games you purchased through Steam as well as physical retail games that use Steamworks DRM.
This is utter horseshit. It would be one thing if Steam was a subscription service like Onlive. But it's not. You are paying retail prices for individual games. $50-60 a pop, excluding sales and budget titles. It is sort of like buying a car, and part of the car loan says that you agree to any future terms 30 days after being notified of the terms. You can disagree to the terms, but it means your car is permanently disabled. Actually in a digital sense it would be like the car would be reposessed (so there was no scrap value or somethng). Then at some point the bank decides to update the terms to say that you have to perform fellatio monthly to all the members of the board of the bank.
What kind of choice is that? Suck some old guys' dicks or give up a car that you've paid money for, and were under the impression that you owned?
Sure, this is an extreme example but is it really off the mark?
I suppose in a real-world sense you just wouldn't sign such a loan agreement because there are certainly better terms to be had out there. But in gaming, this is the modus operandi of the industry.
