Yay. Now i can play civ 4 for free!

[Abraxis]

Steam accidentally put BNW on sale for like 30% off less than a week after it came out. People who preordered for 10% off were kind of screwed, since they'd have been better off waiting. Steam apologized and gave everyone who preordered BNW Civ4 for free.

And people are now complaining because someone gave them a free game.

A free game they're allowed to trade or sell on Steam's marketplace if they already have it.

Because there is literally no pleasing some people's kids.

I refuse to believe you can't see the immorality of the situation, and you're just being a contrarian because you think it's fun or something. As a small business owner, I can assure you it's not just kids who would take offense to this sort of thing, and the people who did pre-order are right to be upset.
Steam should have put a bit of thought into reimbursing them, it's their image on the line, and under no circumstance would anyone in the business world consider this anything but shady practice.

 

[IAmOzymandias]

I just don't see the point of people who complain and moan and act like the world owes them a big favor. That's why you have these ambulance chasing lawyers who's first words are HAVE YOU CONSIDERED A LAWSUIT despite what actual anguish the person experienced simply because they know they can win and essentially rip off a company in the process.

I feel ashamed to live in a society where this exact situation that we're in right now pays out and people are actually offering lawsuits as a solution. If anybody actually does go through with that I hope the judge bursts out laughing and keeps laughing until the prosecution leaves the court in disgrace.

It was an honest mistake, nobody was intentionally ripped off and the actual damages are literally less than 10 dollars. There's no bigger picture here, there's no "stick it to the man" motivation, It's completely needless, and I don't know what sort of stick is up anybody's butt if they actually get offended by the fact that an honest mistake was made and a small consolation was offered by the offending party.

Seriously, grow up.

 

[IAmOzymandias]

I refuse to believe you can't see the immorality of the situation, and you're just being a contrarian because you think it's fun or something. As a small business owner, I can assure you it's not just kids who would take offense to this sort of thing, and the people who did pre-order are right to be upset.
Steam should have put a bit of thought into reimbursing them, it's their image on the line, and under no circumstance would anyone in the business world consider this anything but shady practice.

As a business owner this is paramount to you (or more specifically, one of your employees) making an honest (and temporary) mistake in pricing, (that i'm sure the vast majority of people never even noticed in the first place) One that you lose money on. . . So you give everybody who was impacted by this error a small item as a peace offering and they spit on it and and they start ranting and raving about how they're going to sue you for it, about how they're going to take you to court and tear you apart. That's REALLY the kind of world you want to live in, and the one you want to promote?

Maybe i'm a "Glass half full" type of personality, but I don't see this as "I potentially lost 8 dollars because if i was in the right place at the right time with psychic foresight I could have bought this game for a slightly cheaper price due to a pricing error", I see it as a "Sweet, I got a free game because a company is trying to rectify a situation in which somebody made an honest, human mistake.

And it's not "the corporation" who's responsible for this mistake, I bet it's one worker who's in charge of listing this stuff and simply forgot to remove the game from a umbrella deal, or mistyped a URL or something simple like that. Don't be so cold, he's probably already going to get enough trouble from his supervisor for it. Put yourself in his shoes.

 

[Magean]

Do you guys know where I could trade my free Civ IV ? I already own it.

Thanks

 

[IAmOzymandias]

Do you guys know where I could trade my free Civ IV ? I already own it.

Thanks

As I said before, give it to a buddy (online or irl) and get him hooked!

 

[ombak]

As a business owner this is paramount to you (or more specifically, one of your employees) making an honest (and temporary) mistake in pricing, (that i'm sure the vast majority of people never even noticed in the first place)

I agree with you that it was probably an honest mistake, but I disagree with the rest of your post. You exagerrate all the lawsuit claims because one or two posters were debating whether it's a legal issue or not.

Intent doesn't matter if harm was done. In my case I don't consider that harm was done because I am in the US and the sale happend on Thursday iirc. In my particular case there's a very good chance I would have pre-ordered anyways.

However, if someone shows that they would specifically not have pre-ordered if they even suspected it would be on a steam sale then they can certainly argue that Steam harmed them (regardless of your point that steam also harmed themselves). That doesn't automatically mean sue them (and I see no one saying it should) but it does mean they screwed up and just because it's an honest screw-up doesn't mean they shouldn't try to make up for it.

Finally, I think offering Civ 4 was a poor choice and a bit insulting frankly. If you pre-ordered Civ 5 you are much likelier than someone who didn't to have a copy of Civ 4 so it's an empty gesture made only to prevent the mistake from becoming a PR issue.

 

[Kilplow]

I was an avid fan of the first three civs, but I was so busy when civ 4 came out, that I skipped it and now that I have more time, I started up with civ 5. So I was one of the few lucky ones that actually can use civ 4.

I really didn't expect anything, so I was pretty happy to get something. After all, the big losers were the creators who lost a sizable chunk of what people might have paid for it. I think they were trying to make amends with the pre-order people like myself because we are the most loyal of fans that will buy a game without doing any research because we really love the style of game. I want to say something similar was done for the new sim city after its disastrous launch.

 

[NCommander]

Do you guys know where I could trade my free Civ IV ? I already own it.

Thanks

I'll take it, else there are plenty of people in the forums who will probably take it.

Civ IV is likely to run better on my crappy laptop than Civ V.

 

[IAmOzymandias]

my point of view, though is that if they had done nothing at all the fallout would have been nowhere near what it is. They effectively told everybody that "we made a mistake, and regardless of whether or not you feel wronged, here is a free game on your account to do what you please with."

If they had done nothing, I would literally not have known that my preorder could have been offset by 4 days and 8 dollars. I suppose I could see how persons in the EU may feel more wronged than I (I've had the game for about a week now) but the bottom line is I truly believe that it's an honest mistake, and in no way do I feel wronged.

My post earlier today (which was somewhat abrasive as I was in a bit of a mood) had noted that the total cost potentially saved is less than 10 dollars. I simply cannot imagine a situation where i'm going to get as upset as some people are acting over 10 dollars. What am I going to buy with this 10 dollars that would make me so happy that valve is now responsible for anguish over my loss of 10 dollars?

Bottom line is I'm an easy come easy go type of guy. Obviously others aren't but I seriously don't see the point getting bent out of shape over a small mistake like this where theoretically pre-orderers lost 10 dollars. I figure i'll be a happier person if I don't worry about this 10 dollars than if I throw a huff about it and get my 10 dollars back.

 

[Highway_King]

I was just happy to be able to play the game 15 minutes after it was available for download. I saw the free Civ IV thing the other day and was like sweet and gave it a shot. I didn't even know why I got it until now.

 

[Riker]

Oh cool, I can buy something one month in advance and get it at the same time of everyone else in Europe (since friday morning is not the best time in the world to play) just for 6-7 euros more! Thanks steam! Oh, and I get a free copy of civ4 without BTS too, how wonderful...

They have lost at least one customer

 

[Bakspatel]

I've no idea what is going on here, I didn't see a change in the 10% offer while I checked BNW regularly to check the waiting time. I bought it for 10% off and I don't see Civ4.

Not that I care too much about it, I've got BNW anyway. I started playing civ from Vanilla and I have no desire in playing any older versions.

 

[KRX]

So I preordered the game on Greenmangaming, do I still qualify for the free Civ 4? (Honestly not sure I'd even play it lol).

This is the first I'm hearing about compensation for that strange scenario.

 

[Stellarnight]

So I preordered the game on Greenmangaming, do I still qualify for the free Civ 4? (Honestly not sure I'd even play it lol).

This is the first I'm hearing about compensation for that strange scenario.

Nope. GMG said that they are not entitled to this. Besides...you got it cheaper from GMG right? I got it from GMG myself and personally i am not too peeved about this situation. I see no point in getting so worked up over it since it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game in which i am willing to pay full price over.

 

[kingofsealand]

Bogus they dropped the price i never even noticed but here is one Civ V fan who is going to put his free copy of CivIV to use, because ive never played it! A friend bought me V and ive been hooked since. Now i can try the game before for free, ill prolly even pick up BTS since i hear it is quintessential to the CIVIV experience. Sorry to all the fans who did not find this gift useful. At the very least you can gift it and get somebody else addicted to civ!

 

[Atol]

LOL now I have 3 Civ 4 games . I had the CD but lost the code stupid me. At the time I was having Laptop issues from 2007 to 2011. Alienware mess with the wrong person. So I order the direct2drive version because I had to redo 3 different laptops. Due to overheating and such. Now I have the CD, Gamefly & Steam version.

 

[VainoValkea]

I'm giving my copy to the kids next door. Although I have a physical copy I could give just as easily. Is there a way to redeem the free Civ IV for other games in Steam?

 

[Horizons]

Steam accidentally put BNW on sale for like 30% off less than a week after it came out. People who preordered for 10% off were kind of screwed, since they'd have been better off waiting. Steam apologized and gave everyone who preordered BNW Civ4 for free.

And people are now complaining because someone gave them a free game.

A free game they're allowed to trade or sell on Steam's marketplace if they already have it.

Because there is literally no pleasing some people's kids.

Oh wow you are so smart ... what about those who already owned the game ... well they can 'trade it' on Steam can they? Please tell us ignorant people who to do that? (And who is going to want to BUY a copy of vanilla Civ4 lol)

 

[NotSure]

I'll take it, else there are plenty of people in the forums who will probably take it.

Civ IV is likely to run better on my crappy laptop than Civ V.

If you (or anyone else) wants mine, send me a PM with your Steam name. I got BtS a few months ago so I don't need it.

 

[Polisurgist]

Oh wow you are so smart ... what about those who already owned the game ... well they can 'trade it' on Steam can they? Please tell us ignorant people who to do that? (And who is going to want to BUY a copy of vanilla Civ4 lol)

While I normally don't take demands from anyone who uses the word "lol" like it's punctuation, you do it via the Steam marketplace: http://lmgtfy.com/?q="steam+marketplace"