But doesn’t the change open up for litigation in small claims court?

More like mandates it. For those who live in the country to even have ACCESS to it. The vast majority of Steam users don’t (while the US has more users than any other single country, it’s still only ~14m out of 120m) and would also need a lawyer licensed to practice in both countries afaik.

So nah, I don’t suspect that this change will benefit the users in general, rather the opposite…

I don’t think it is. If it’s anything like the US court systems I know more about (criminal, juvenile, immigration, main civil court), it’s extremely backlogged already.

And that’s even before considering jurisdiction and how much more a lawyer licensed to practice in at least two countries charges.

Even IF you decided to go through with it in spite of everything, you could easily end up spending thousands of dollars fighting an $80 case and STILL be likely to lose.

Which is why it’s best to let the user choose rather than force one or the other.

The reason why we always hear about companies forcing arbitration is because arbitration is best for them when it comes to the big stuff that the news report on, compared to court.

The reason why we never hear about the opposite is twofold:

1. it doesn’t happen as often and

2. “yamanii didn’t get their refund approved even though they were entitled to according to the rules” isn’t something that makes headlines or even makes it to court.

as I understand it, arbitration is still available (if both parties agree, I assume), it’s just not a requirement anymore.

Unless the OP is a forgery of some sort, you evidently DON’T understand it.

still seems to me that consumers are getting more options which is usually a good thing.

Nope. They’re switching from one mandatory method which favors companies liable to get into big disputes where a court case is advantageous to the consumer, which isn’t the case with them, to one that favors a company wanting to avoid a lot of issues too small to warrant a lawyer.

It’s not anywhere near as bad for consumers as when a utility company that poisons thousands of people forces everyone to corporate-friendly arbitration procedure (likely with the “neutral” third party much less neutral than the ones Valve used), but it’s certainly not GOOD for Steam users to not be able to complain without lawyering up.

Forcing you to shut up or go to court isn’t great either, though.

On the big stuff where they’re liable for a lot of money and you might be able to get a pro bono lawyer, sure.

On the small stuff, though, the prospect of having to pay for a lawyer and likely have your case thrown out by a judge for not being worth the expense and effort of suing a foreign company is probably going to deter a LOT of legitimate claims.

If, for example, I want to return a game in accordance with the rules and they won’t let me, I’m not gonna lawyer up and sue them from the other side of the Atlantic.

Nice try, AI powered AI detector.

If only their next meeting had been on a Tuesday, that would have been the perfect plausibly deniable “fuck you” to end the reply with 😄

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The problem isn’t the people voluntarily participating in the world’s biggest grift losing money.

The problem is the real world consequences for other people.

Barbara Streisand

OoooOOOoooOOOoo!

I get that once in a while here in Denmark too, only replace USPS with PostNord, sometimes DHL or GLS

A nuclear plant is not a bad thing

This specific one famously is.

BABY!

The third of his name.

That’s why I said probably. My calculations are not always correct.

🎵 so take this ring

I’ll fight with anyone who didn’t like Pulaski

I’ll get in the world’s longest line to fight you, I guess 🤷

would always stand up for and push for what she thought was right

That’s not a good thing when you’re wrong most of the time. And a bigot. Both of which she was.

I’d assume that the main reason they’re referred to as “medical equipment” is for insurance reasons

(Looks like you do, but I never get to use that meme 😁)

EXACTLY like Baby Boomers in government, in fact.