A perspective from a new player on payment/player numbers

[guncrasher]

you guys seem to forget that by using credit cards you are protecting yourself.  any unauthorized charges will be reversed. all it takes is a call or go online. a little bit different than using debit cards or prepaid cards.

semp

[JimmyD3]

They have much more at stake than HTC....   And the all-mighty dollar Wiley

Not only does steam handle user information and credit cards, but also handles the exchange of money between users and developers... They simply have more at steak in the way of liability than HTC does. 

I mean think about this for a second...  A TINY company with all of what, 6-10 employees in a small office out of Texas, has the credit card information of all it's users whom trust the source completely and are used to multiple "updates" to their machines. 

LOL I'm not saying it's aliens.... But....

(Image removed from quote.)

I don't think that is accurate, More at stake than HTC??    Absolutely not.

[Skuzzy]

They have much more at stake than HTC....   And the all-mighty dollar Wiley

Not only does steam handle user information and credit cards, but also handles the exchange of money between users and developers... They simply have more at steak in the way of liability than HTC does. 

I mean think about this for a second...  A TINY company with all of what, 6-10 employees in a small office out of Texas, has the credit card information of all it's users whom trust the source completely and are used to multiple "updates" to their machines. 

LOL I'm not saying it's aliens.... But....

(Image removed from quote.)

Our track record is better than Valve's as it pertains to security.

Would you like a list of the companies, with thousands of employees, who have had their credit card database hacked?

The size of a company is no measure of how secure it is or is not.  Our track record speaks for itself.

As far as who has more at stake goes.  It all depends on how you measure it.  When you have 100 employees doing the same thing, they have a tendency to get complacent about it as it is easier to point fingers at the other person.

When you have one person responsible for any given thing, they have a tendency to be more mindful as there is no place to hide.

Obscurity means less exposure and thus less hacking; that's about all about it.

Game companies are always a target for hackers.

[hitech]

I believe I ICI (My first game company) was the first online game company to take Credit Cards over the net.

HiTech

[DubiousKB]

Our track record is better than Valve's as it pertains to security.

How many instances of players playing the game outside the limits you intended? As in, what IS your track record with respect to hacking players and/or security? .... Since it's such a good record, it would seem you wouldn't mind sharing it publicly...   I always wondered how many times players like *He-who-shall-not-be-named* has been blocked/banned....

I don't think that is accurate, More at stake than HTC??    Absolutely not.

Sure.... HTC is a billionaire with more assets/employees than Valve...

Not unknown to me. I've met Dale and co. face to face. Steam? Not so much.

I'm trying to play devils advocate, everyone on this board quickly forgets what it's like to NOT to be a part of the AcesHigh community and what it's like coming into this game "blind".... As in how did you find this game?   

Steam IS THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP TO INTRODUCE THE GAME TO A LARGE AUDIENCE.

[DubiousKB]

I believe I ICI (My first game company) was the first online game company to take Credit Cards over the net.

HiTech

Seriously!? THE first?  ummmm... How old are you!?

[Wiley]

Sure.... HTC is a billionaire with more assets/employees than Valve...

What I was trying to point out but didn't articulate well in my last post was, sure, Valve is big.  People still deal with PSN in spite of multiple hacks.  The large companies, especially one as diverse as Valve can weather a little bad publicity here and there if something like that happens.

It could be said that a small company has more at stake because a smaller incident can completely cripple them.

How many instances of players playing the game outside the limits you intended? As in, what IS your track record with respect to hacking players and/or security? .... Since it's such a good record, it would seem you wouldn't mind sharing it publicly...   I always wondered how many times players like *He-who-shall-not-be-named* has been blocked/banned....

Sorry, what on earth does some pud circumventing an IP ban have to do with security of customer information?

Wiley.

[ImADot]

How many instances of players playing the game outside the limits you intended? As in, what IS your track record with respect to hacking players and/or security? .... Since it's such a good record, it would seem you wouldn't mind sharing it publicly...   I always wondered how many times players like *He-who-shall-not-be-named* has been blocked/banned....

I'm pretty sure this part of the conversation revolves around the security of customer payment data. And I'm pretty sure HTC is more vested in this type of security than Valve/Steam, being HTC is a small shop. Their reputation and relatively small pool of income would not survive a data breach the likes of what we've seen in the news lately.

[DubiousKB]

It could be said that a small company has more at stake because a smaller incident can completely cripple them.

Sorry, what on earth does some pud circumventing an IP ban have to do with security of customer information?

Wiley.

Fair point on the first; smaller could mean more at risk, but I was thinking in terms of the total assets etc.... I'd be able to pull more money out of valve with a lawsuit than if one "ruined" HTC and co....

as far as credit card security goes, I'm sure HTC and co. are just as hardcore as anyone else using this system.. I mean I know personally they have never missed charging my card, so 10/10 securley taking my $$$   

[Wiley]

Fair point on the first; smaller could mean more at risk, but I was thinking in terms of the total assets etc.... I'd be able to pull more money out of valve with a lawsuit than if one "ruined" HTC and co.

Yeah, at which point they'd pay you out, put out a boilerplate press release saying, "It's ok!  We fixed it.", buy one less ivory back scratcher and continue business as usual.

Wiley.

[popeye]

I'm sure HTC credit card info is very secure.  I just don't understand the code: "GRAGGANMORE", on the statement.

 

[Skuzzy]

We have never had one bit of a customers data compromised, in the 18 years we have been around.  We have never had a customer data breech.

Valve had their entire source code compromised and has had security issues with their customer database.

You are the one implying a small company cannot be as secure as a large company in spite of the fact many, many large companies have been compromised.

A TINY company with all of what, 6-10 employees in a small office out of Texas, has the credit card information of all it's users whom trust the source completely and are used to multiple "updates" to their machines.

What do you have to back that up with?

[Ack-Ack]

you guys seem to forget that by using credit cards you are protecting yourself.  any unauthorized charges will be reversed. all it takes is a call or go online. a little bit different than using debit cards or prepaid cards.

semp

Do you know who has to eat the fees for charge backs?  Hint...It's not Steam, the bank or the customer.

[hitech]

Seriously!? THE first?  ummmm... How old are you!?

Yes I am serious. Very few people even know what the internet was back in 1995.

Read this to give you some perspective on my history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_massively_multiplayer_online_games

HiTech

[DubiousKB]

  Ill just shutup. 

My intent has lost context and I'll i'm doing is boiling the blood of the powers that be...     

Just please give Steam the respect it deserves because it has the potential to re-invigorate this game with players.

Don't just throw mud at the wall and say "I told you so" when it fails....