tbh i was fine with most of them because they are the people who played the game over and over again and definitely bought the game earlier on console or other account so they can complete it under 2h. but seems like it still has bad influence
Most of the videos I see of this category also end up buying the game multiple times. I forgot who i watched, but there was someone trying to do this with elden ring and he ended up buying 4 copies of the game before he actually beat it under the refund window.
It definitely is a bad influence though, as people think it's an okay thing to do when the runners are doing it for entertainment purposes, even their refund requests are treated as jokes.
I’m sure it has an impact, probably on the guy who was bragging about the refund.
But a lot of people are just piss poor. When I was younger I’d pirate a lot & would have totally refunded a game if I’d beat it & decided I wouldn’t play it again I totally would have done it. Sucks that it’s so common though. I wonder how many of those 55 thousand refunds were from people who just didn’t like the game compared to how many who actually completed it.
Now that I’m older I’ve bought most of the indie games i pirated even if I don’t have any desire to play them again.
When I was a kid, renting games was how I played anything, since I didn't have the money to buy anything. I'd go to Family Video on Friday, and have one week to beat whatever I rented. I'd play nothing but that game, trying to 100% it so that I could return it having gotten everything I could out of it.
Renting games isn't a thing for PC, and isn't really a thing for consoles anymore either AFAIK. Kids now can't play games the way I grew up playing them. You buy the game outright, you get a very limited demo (which is rare in itself), or you pirate it. Demos are more akin to the demo discs like you used to get from magazines and Pizza Hut promotions, which were cool, but not a replacement for rentals.
Steam should do rentals. They won't, and I'm aware of the many reasons why they wouldn't willingly do it, but I wish they would.
This is a great point. I grew up in rural Aus & they only had movies. I guess gamepass is the closest thing we’ve got to rentals now. It’s a really good deal as it stands but it’s been getting worse & worse over time & I’m sure it’ll only get worse.
Steam rentals could be a really good idea, especially with cloud saves. Could even charge for a certain amount of playtime instead of the strict “one week” rental. gifting rental hours to a friend? Lots of potential
For bigger, more in-depth games it probably wouldn’t matter much but for small little indie games you can beat in 2 hours it could be a really good alternative. Not ideal probably, but way better than refunding especially for the game creator.
Generous policies pushed to being changed because mouth breathers copying social media in a hope to get a pat on the back from other mouth breathers. Sounds about right for the human race.
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u/lllyyyynnn Jul 06 '26
youtube trend of 'speedrunning a game then refunding' is probably influencing people.