this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
16 points (100.0% liked)

Gaming

30556 readers
179 users here now

From video gaming to card games and stuff in between, if it's gaming you can probably discuss it here!

Please Note: Gaming memes are permitted to be posted on Meme Mondays, but will otherwise be removed in an effort to allow other discussions to take place.

See also Gaming's sister community Tabletop Gaming.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
Whom@beehaw.org
The_Hunted_One@beehaw.org
chloyster@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
16
Get Humble Choice and other package titles for cheaper (reddthat.com)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by mateomaui@reddthat.com to c/gaming@beehaw.org
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

tl;dr: key shops... use https://gg.deals as a finder

For those who didn't know, whenever Humble Bundle or other services have a package available, you can usually find the individual titles for even cheaper than you normally would at keyshops if you don't want/need the whole package.

For example, this month's Humble Choice is $11.99, but I only wanted to add Aragami 2, The Red Lantern, and Twin Mirror to my collection.

Using the above gg.deals website, it pointed me to:

  • Aragami 2 - driffle - $2.41
  • The Red Lantern - kinguin - $0.78
  • Twin Mirror - kinguin - $1.27

Total: $4.46

Those prices were the final I paid after discount codes and service fees, but may change at any time for better or worse at different shops.

Hope this is helpful to someone, this concludes this PSA.

edit: regarding possible scams from gray markets

I have purchased literally hundreds of steam keys from such shops over the years and have had a grand total of only 3 keys be removed from my account within days or weeks, and was granted refunds from the shops when I provided proof from Steam that the keys were rejected as duplicates. Every game I’ve installed other than those 3 have worked without issues. It’s an educated risk that I failed to mention because it’s been over 99% successful for me. Make your own call.

edit2: Also worth mentioning that there are many games in my Steam account that were added after the games were delisted, such as the original GTA Trilogy, solely because I could still find keys on keyshops. If you want a delisted game, it’s worth considering.

top 26 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] delmain@beehaw.org 40 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I mean that might be true, but those key reseller sites are also often grey-market. Sometimes they are legit, but sometimes they resell keys they bought with stolen credit cards etc.

I personally wouldn't buy from a site that I couldn't easily verify is legit (steam, gog, hb, etc)

Multiple indie developers I've seen (wube who makes factorio has been very vocal about it) have complained about losing significant amounts of money from grey/black market keys since they end up being on the hook for fees when people do credit card chargebacks.

[–] paour@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I totally agree.

The site OP linked to at least warns about scammy sites and risks associated. It also tracks prices on official resellers.

I wouldn't use it to save a few bucks on an indie title, but it's a nice resource when waiting for a AAA game to become affordable.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago

Options for everyone.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago

tracks prices on official resellers

I'd use isthereanydeal for that.

And if a shop aint listed there it's suspicious to start.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I have purchased literally hundreds of steam keys from such shops over the years and have had a grand total of only 3 keys be removed from my account within days or weeks, and was granted refunds from the shops when I provided proof from Steam that the keys were rejected as duplicates. Every game I’ve installed other than those 3 have worked without issues. It’s an educated risk that I failed to mention because it’s been over 99% successful for me. Make your own call.

edit: Also worth mentioning that there are many games in my Steam account that were added after the games were delisted, such as the original GTA Trilogy, solely because I could still find keys on keyshops. If you want a delisted game, it’s worth considering.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They aren't taking about dupes that don't work and you get screwed out of money. They are talking about legit keys bought by stealing money from other people. If you buy such keys (no way to know whether one is or isn't), then you are splitting the profits from fraud with a criminal enterprise. You get a discount, they get laundered stolen money.

Your reply doesn't address the core problem in any way.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Like you said, no way to know one way or the other. Disapprove of me if it makes you feel superior. I’ve still spent a mint on Steam and GOG, and I’m still pirating. And half this community bitches about paying for anything so excuse me while I lol.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm for piracy when the ones being hurt are massive companies who can cover it by lowering their quarterly bonus .5%. I'm not for knowing your neighbors bike was stolen and then buying one "just like it" from a pawn shop at a steal.

This isn't about feeling superior, this is about having empathy for the people whose money was stolen and frustration that this business model is profitable because of people who support it.

Do what you're going to do, but folks reading this thread deserve to understand the moral implications of taking part in this.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Ok then, everyone is informed about things you cannot verify as true per key, and that you support piracy when it screws the right entity with employees, so you’re a model of selective morality.

Like he said, do as you will, everyone.

edit: honestly, I love the usual “it’s ok to screw gaming corporations” angle, when if you had a sense of morality worth talking about, you’d advocate zero piracy and that everyone should wait until games were something like 1/2 price or bargain bin, because at least then the corporations may reverse course on raising prices, and maybe not lay off so many workers. But when you say it’s fine to pirate that, you’re possibly contributing to those massive layoffs, regardless of how much money the company still has, because such decisions are determined by performance metrics. Like I said, model of selective morality.

[–] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Every individual stolen key does massive harm.

They didn't say piracy is good. They said piracy is (by a massive amount) less malicious and less harmful than buying from fences for stolen keys like all the disgusting sites you're promoting.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Rage on, it’s entertaining at this point.

I'm for piracy when the ones being hurt are massive companies who can cover it by lowering their quarterly bonus .5%.

That is selectively supporting piracy, like it or not.

And to be clear, the only site I actually promoted and linked to is gg.deals, where you can compare the prices at regular storefronts in one place, not just for keyshops. Where I got my keys were mentioned but not linked. As said before, options for every moral stance.

[–] bermuda@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

it's entertaining at this point

Been on the Internet for a while. 100% of people who say this are not entertained and are really saying this to stroke a badly bruised ego. OP, it's clear to me that you got your ego damaged when people poked holes in your plan to make less money by buying things from shady sites. I hope after your sleep you come back to engage in a healthy manner without constantly trying to act morally superior or at least uncaring about real moral grey areas. Supporting these sites negatively affects real people.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

They interpreted it better than I said it. Who's acting superior now? This is clearly a real sore spot for you. I don't pirate but I also don't go around telling people how immoral it is to pirate. Plus piracy is part of the business model for some companies and it's how we went from cable to streaming (although thats getting all fucked up again).

So yes I have much less moral problem with piracy. But like I said I didn't come here to get all morally superior, I spoke up because you clearly didn't understand the nature of the harm you are doing since you took the wrong message away that someone was warning about being scammed by these companies.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I don’t actually care about the morality of pirating, I said that bit to point out the total hypocrisy you have on display. It’s not a sore spot for me at all, I have no problem doing it, the same way I have no problem buying hundreds of games directly from Steam and GOG, or hundreds more from keyshops. You’re the one actually complaining about morality, you made it specifically clear you wanted everyone to know such implications.

Honestly, totally amazing that needed to be explained to you.

It’s almost 3am here, so I’m cutting off this nonsense now for something more productive. Sleep.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It's weird cos you're the only person bringing up pirating first (others are bringing it up as a talking point you've raised), and that's not the dichotomy - it's not dubious reselling sites or pirating, it's Humble Choice, the topic of your post, where the games are already discounted, the developers have decided to opt in, and some money is actually going to charity.

Even if you bring up your original post as providing "options for everyone", it was written in the spirit of advertising grey market sites as an alternative to Humble Choice, and therefore it's entirely fair that others are bringing up the harms of grey market sites so that everyone knows what the risks are between them. I used to use those grey market sites as a kid more than a decade ago before I understood that they were a tool by scammers to make their money, and now I no longer use them. It would only be honest for you to have talked about that in your original post rather than ignoring it because the only alternative to you is piracy.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Actually no, the subject of pirating was first brought up by this response

https://beehaw.org/comment/1949744

Even developers would rather people pirate than buy from key resellers

where they said developers would prefer that to keyshops, and in the order I read them and answered people, that was the one I read and replied to, before first mentioning it myself in reply to another person here

https://reddthat.com/comment/6093055

If you want me to stay in the piracy section, just say so. I’m there anyway.

I’ve also plainly stated in the same comment

I have also purchased literally hundreds of games directly from Steam and GOG, so the sum total of my soul in gaming is in the positive, as far as I’m concerned.

so the rest of your reply is ignorant nonsense, because piracy is not the only alternative for me. It’s one of many options for me.

edit: if you want to argue about the order I read and responded to messages, feel free to check my comment history. They are listed in order of creation regardless of last edit.

But I’m going to bed now. I’m done with this.

[–] AdellcomdoisL@beehaw.org 29 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not only are Kinguin and other key resellers notorious for having scamming cases - to the point of having "protection fees" you can pay while purchasing from them - they're also pointless in any way except for adding a library entry for Steam - and even then, one that might be removed

Even developers would rather people pirate than buy from key resellers

https://www.pcgamer.com/developers-tell-people-to-pirate-their-games-instead-of-using-g2a/

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48908726

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

they're also pointless in any way except for adding a library entry for Steam

uh… yeah… that’s the point. It works exactly the same way it does for keys you get from Humble, Fanatical, or Amazon. If it’s added to my library, and if I can install it, and if it doesn’t get removed, then I own it, regardless of where the key came from.

edit from main post:

I have purchased literally hundreds of steam keys from such shops over the years and have had a grand total of only 3 keys be removed from my account within days or weeks, and was granted refunds from the shops when I provided proof from Steam that the keys were rejected as duplicates. Every game I’ve installed other than those 3 have worked without issues. It’s an educated risk that I failed to mention because it’s been over 99% successful for me. Make your own call.

edit: Also worth mentioning that there are many games in my Steam account that were added after the games were delisted, such as the original GTA Trilogy, solely because I could still find keys on keyshops. If you want a delisted game, it’s worth considering.

[–] Stillhart@lemm.ee 27 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, instead of giving money to the developers and charity, we can instead give money to thieves and scammers? Wow! Thanks! Fuck charity and the people who make the games I want to play, amirite?

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Whatever floats your boat.

If you want me to stay in the piracy section, just say so. I’m there anyway.

I have also purchased literally hundreds of games directly from Steam and GOG, so the sum total of my soul in gaming is in the positive, as far as I’m concerned.

Also, if you’re purchasing a humble package for charity, you’d better customize where the money goes because by default the devs and the charity get barely any of it. I’ve bought many of them over the years.

regarding scammers:

I have purchased literally hundreds of steam keys from such shops over the years and have had a grand total of only 3 keys be removed from my account within days or weeks, and was granted refunds from the shops when I provided proof from Steam that the keys were rejected as duplicates. Every game I’ve installed other than those 3 have worked without issues. It’s an educated risk that I failed to mention because it’s been over 99% successful for me. Make your own call.

edit: Also worth mentioning that there are many games in my Steam account that were added after the games were delisted, such as the original GTA Trilogy, solely because I could still find keys on keyshops. If you want a delisted game, it’s worth considering.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Reminder to everyone that being an ethical consumer usually means you need to pay a bit more for the greater good.

[–] mpldr@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I agree partially. For indie devs: get the game directly from the dev if possible, never get the codes, because the dev doesn't really get money for those.

With AAA games, the picture is different. The business model for most has now pivoted to be about extracting money to the point where its absurd. And for them, I have absolutely no qualms with taking advantage of their bad business decisions.

[–] Plume@beehaw.org 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Scamming a charity? :|

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

For Humble Choice, the charity gets 5%, and there’s no way to adjust that as far as I know, so you’re worried about a whole $0.60 per membership, assuming you paid full price for the month at $11.99. If you managed to get it at $8, it’s $0.40.

If you’re going to be upset about something, save it for non Choice bundles, where you can actually adjust how much the charity gets.

And even then, if I have most everything in the bundle, I’m still not paying $25 or whatever for it.

What’s crazy to me in light of this post’s exchanges is that often these cheap keys show up a day or more after Choice or a bundle goes live, and there may be only one or two keys per merchant, so it’s entirely possible people are buying the bundles, and just reselling the keys separately to make a buck after the publishers and charities already got their cut. Maybe, or not.

[–] EstrangedMoistness@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I've used https://barter.vg to trade games I got in bundles but wasn't interested in. No money involved.

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I’ve just given them away on reddit. The trading sites are fine but rarely does anyone have a key I want, while also wanting a key that I have. Just easier to donate to a random gamer.