When you die, your Steam account dies with you

I'm already playing fewer games these days. It's not like the majority of 20-year-olds today will still play games when they're 80 or that the current games in your library will still work at that point anyway?
We had a 78 year old in our raid team at one point, he was a top tier healer and faster than most of the younger guys.
 
So... A bill has been signed into law in the US.


AB 2426: Consumer protection: false advertising: digital goods.​


Existing law makes it unlawful for any person doing business in California and advertising to consumers in California to make any false or misleading advertising claim. Existing law makes a person who violates specified false advertising provisions liable for a civil penalty, as specified, and provides that a person who violates those false advertising provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, additionally prohibit a seller of a digital good from advertising or offering for sale a digital good, as defined, to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(7)Digital good means a digital audiovisual work, digital audio work, digital book, digital code, or digital application or game, whether electronically or digitally delivered or accessed. Digital good does not include a cable television service, satellite relay television service, or any other distribution of television, video, or radio service.

(b)(1)It shall be unlawful for a seller of a digital good to advertise or offer for sale a digital good to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless either of the following occur:

(A)The seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser indicating all of the following:

(i)That the purchaser is receiving a license to access the digital good.

(ii)A complete list of restrictions and conditions of the license.

(iii)That access to the digital good may be unilaterally revoked by the seller if they no longer hold a right to the digital good, if applicable.

(B)The seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement that does both of the following:

(i)States in plain language that buying or purchasing the digital good is a license.

(ii)Includes a hyperlink, QR code, or similar method to access the terms and conditions that provide full details on the license.

(2)Any affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser or clear and conspicuous statement pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be distinct and separate from any other terms and conditions of the transaction that the purchaser acknowledges or agrees to.

(3)This section does not require a person to download a digital good, or prohibit a person from storing a digital good on a server for access through the internet.

(4)This section does not apply to any of the following:

(A)Any subscription-based service that advertises or offers for sale access to any digital good solely for the duration of the subscription.

(B)Any digital good that is advertised or offered to a person for no monetary consideration.

(C)Any digital good that is advertised or offered to a person that the seller cannot revoke access to after the transaction, which includes making the digital good available at the time of purchase for permanent offline download to an external storage source to be used without a connection to the internet.

This is a good step to advance consumer protection, BUT, it does not advance license continuity. You will now understand in plain text what you are agreeing to, and that is not owning digital goods.

Do expect EULAs and other terms and conditions to accommodate the above.

Obviously, this should technically apply to new purchases. Look, it is a step in the right direction, but I am not in the mind that it is accommodating ownership where applicable. There is digital content that you can own, and digital content that you cannot own. What publishers (and developers) will do now is sell you what must now be read in a clear and conspicuous statement. Framework.

I had a look at the opposing comments and this made me chuckle:

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: RXN Group asserts:

We appreciate the consumer protection and transparency goals of AB 2426 as they apply to digitally purchased digital “products.” However, NFTs are not traditional products, but rather are a series of letters and numbers that identify the location, associated rights, and accessibility of a digital asset on the blockchain. The NFT is not the associated digital asset, e.g., the art, baseball card, automobile title, or college diploma.

When individuals purchase NFTs, they are purchasing the key that provides access to what is behind an otherwise locked door - essentially, they are purchasing access and property rights as well as associated rights offered by the seller, e.g., to interact with, display, and enjoy the digital asset in approved ways, e.g., within an online game. Thus, the bill’s requirement that digital goods must be downloadable to an external storage source is inapposite with regard to NFTs.

I have to ask the RXN Group, what is DRM then, what is the Steam Marketplace?
 
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Just write down your logins and passwords in your will

As simple as that. Mine has a page with all logins and passwords for Crypto as well.
 
The new law signed in the US is already making its impression:

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No more ownership. A license can be revoked, irrespective of what Valve says. For those who don't know, there is no more arbitration with Steam; all disputes and claims will proceed in court.
 
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