Thanks, Valve, for first grabbing all my data and then saying i'm not allowed to enter due to my country.
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You're trying to say a big company that sells software into many countries and that has plans to also sell hardware globally didn't know that other countries might have other regulations?
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Don't be surprised. Those laws and regulations are typically clusterfucks, impossible to keep straight, even for professional specialists. This is what happens when you have a steady turnover and proliferation of temporary administrations whose only solution to any problem is more meddling. The whole regulatory environment becomes so confused that it can be impossible to tell what is allowed and what isn't.
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Not only that, but most jurisdictions don't allow for laws to be modified / removed from practice, only amendments and potentially an addendum to be made to them -_-
Pretty damn confusing.
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That actually sounds pretty damn good. Make it a group thing, so that you can prevent corruption even (by way of someone purposely leaving something out), unless the entire governmental system is corrupt. Include a way of having a rotating system of governance, partly picked from the general populace on the day of such talks, and you've got a pretty solid system to break corruption / abuse of law / loopholes by power mongers.
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In other words, out of 195 countries approximately on the globe, only USA has the appropriate regulations.
I'm impressed!
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postage costs too much and greedy valve like to keep 99.999999% profit.
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They probably didn't know before. Some companies are able to get exceptions to trade restrictions. Valve was being proactive by allowing the sign ups in case they were able to get the exception. Considering this is an entertainment device, that exception likely wasn't given by enough countries.
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Valve already stated that the recipient would have to pay any additional fees, so there was no need for any exceptions, basically
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Yeah they might do that. If valve wasn't from the US lol.
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Very lame indeed. Valve should have said from day #1 that they won't ship outside the US. Also, why is there a clause in the EULA that you (as tester) will pay the customs handling? That would imply that they SHOULD include non-US participants as well...
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Because they originally intended to ship it worldwide but "regulatory hurdles" occured.
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This is such BS.
They're even giving free games to people. Really now.
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I guess it's the price we must pay for the aliens invasion or the metheorite collision or the zombie apocalypse always happening in the USA
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If they have said that this is US only, We, the majority of non-US citizens, wouldn't bother with participating, so....
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Well duh, of course we wouldn't. The 'participation' for us was giving the kind of data that some companies only exist to harvest and sell to others.
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Yeah, I felt like a terrorist when I tried to buy cat food for my neighbor (old cat lady) a week ago and and my Paypal payment was refused because of the US Embargo against Cuba.. (I live in Germany and the shop is 20 km away) Payed with something else then.
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Now let's do a ROW embargo against USA. Or at least a steam group about it...
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Cuba to the U.S. is a Column 2 country. Column 2 countries are considered "Special conditions". You know what the other Column 2 country is? North Korea. Now, Column 2 deals with International trade, mainly the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, but it basically sums up our government's relationship with Cuba. But yeah, it sucks that Paypal is U.S.-based and therefore has to abide by the law by doing that. (I just realized this came out with a nasty tone. I'm trying to be genuine here)
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Valve DID choose to deny non-US users. This has nothing to do with trade regulations. To think it would be difficult for Valve to ship to f.e. Europe is to think Valve is led by a bunch of monkeys. International trade is not that difficult and it wouldnt even cost them much more than just the shipping cost.
I couldnt care less about getting the console or not, but reading this reason at least 5 times by now in this forum discussion is getting to much for me. Valve-fanboys without knowledge of international trade.. YUK!
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Look at butthurt foreigners. You expect an AMERICAN company to do INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING for a BETA TEST of consoles?
Anybody outside of the country would have stolen it and not return it because they know they are too far away to deal with it. If its inside the US, they can charge anyone in the US that doesn't return.
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Where does it say that it must be returned?
It says that it Valve may ask you to return them on their own expense, but they also say that you are free to modify it, tear it apart install different OS etc so it's safe to asume they are giving them away
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No. It says MAY. They MAY request the beta hardware be returned. Go re-read the agreement. You can re-read it any time by going to the page to input info and selecting to edit your shipping info.
Nowhere does it say that we WILL have to return it.
And from statements that Valve has made about wanting to track things including people adding/upgrading the machines in the Beta, it's actually a fairly safe assumption that they aren't planning to, but MAY happen.
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Changing the word "raffle" to "beta program" doesn't invalidate my argument, though
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Your argument is completely over the top butthurt. They asked for the data in hopes of getting the exception as it takes time to get. They didn't. Did it ever occur to you that since its a beta, more people will be added to it as time passes and by then they may have the go ahead from other countries?
If this was a much larger # of participants/winners (however you want to look at it), I could understand the anger, but 300 people is so low a number that if 1 person that comes on here regularly was chosen, it would be a surprise. 99% of "entrants" are going to be denied.
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I really don't know what you're trying to say with "Exceptions". There are no exceptions needed, Valve could simply send those boxes to EU participants. I don't know about other countries, but EU countries should be no problem.
Yes, i am butthurt. Valve tricked me to get my data
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Read up on trade regulations. Computer hardware is explicitly governed by every single country on the globe for the most part (bar ones like Somalia). Its the same reason why a someone can't buy a laptop from a corporation (i.e. from US Amazon) to ship to England or similar (person to person is different). Valve likely applied for an exception with various countries of beta participants and it was denied, but because of the time involved in receiving an exception they asked for the data so they could be ready for the beta launch.
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Uhm sorry to burst ur bubble,but those regulations are in place if Valve sells those beta consoles to people. They are giving them for free.....
The only good and simple explanation - Valve don't care about the rest of the world part(remember 1$ not equal to 1 euro/gbp part).
And btw my neighbour purchased a PS4 from Amazon US,so yeah - it is up to the company.
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Butthurt if you were to find out 5 hours before the actual thing happened you have ZERO chance to qualify ONLY because you DON'T live in the US, how would you feel? Butthurt doubled or what?
MONTHS ago they tell all of us are eligible. A little before it actually happens, they kick out most of us. Fair? I think not.
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I guess the part about getting your information and then telling foreigners that they can get it is an acceptable reason to be upset.
I'm sketchy when it comes to giving any of my info, but I've bought so many things from Valve that I trust them with my life savings (sorta).
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It states that its property of Valve corporation. That means they'll get it back eventually.
"If You are selected as a participant in the Beta Program, Valve will make the Beta Products available to You as part of the Beta Program."
So only during the beta.
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I don't think they would use the word giveaway instead. Beta program doesn't mean anything honestly and nowhere does it specifically mention that you must return them when the program ends. And yes I can read, that's how I respond to your replies.
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I know right? I would've definitely stolen it as soon as i got one.
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You ARE the stupid foreigner for everyone that doesn't live in your egoistical country do you realize that? The whole world doesn't spin around you. Most people here are pissed because they must have participated in this beta, given away time and private informations while they didn't had a chance to win in the first place. Simple as that.
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It's so unlikely but I can't help but be excited.
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It may surprise you, but the world consists of more than just USA and Europe.
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He gave it to get something in return (a chance to become beta participant)
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It has nothing to do with them thinking foreigners are shit. Maybe they just wanted to give it away in their own country.
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Well, if you willingly give me money, and then I'll run away instead giving you your coupon allowing you to try to win something, will you call it stealing?
But still, people overact WAY too much. It's not like you gave them other info then what you put when you're buying something on Steam.
Only thing Valve should do right now is officially delete all non-US data they gathered this way, or at least send mails allowing it with one click.
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Well poop. Not happy that they just ignored anyone outside the US. Not even a warning that it could be US only, so I don't want to hear the excuses. They left people thinking it could be any country because of the mentions that winners may need to deal with local costs related to getting it.
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According to the announcement
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements
-People will be notified at 5pm EST (2pm PST)
-US Only (cue the international complaints lol)
Good luck to all of you in being chosen. I dont expect to be, but damn, I'm hopeful.
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