Are you eligible for a refund?
The stand-alone version of Bohemia Interactive's DayZ is a post apocalyptic massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that has received mostly positive feedback in its "Early Access" stage.
Surprisingly, the Community Hub for DayZ on Steam has been flooded with requests to receive a refund. After reading hundredths of complaints, I've compiled a list of the top complaints players gave when asking for a refund.
1) Hackers Are Everywhere.
DayZ continues to be plagued with hackers, some (if not most) of which has been killing everyone on their path. That's frustrating considering it can take hours just to find a solid weapon...
2) Game is Not as Expected.
Bohemia Interactive described DayZ as a "harsh post-apocalyptic" MMO with 230 square kilometers (approximately 88.8 square miles) of locations to explore. Some players who held Bohemia Interactive on their word ended up being disappointed when they found out that DayZ can be quiet empty at times.
Some players also expressed disappointment with the fact that it takes way too long to find needed loot.
3) Poor Performance.
The engine that powers DayZ is poorly optimized. If you can run Far Cry 3 on max settings in 1080p at 60 FPS, you can expect to play DayZ at 15-30 FPS on medium settings.
Bohemia Interactive claimed that you can run DayZ with only 2 GB of RAM -- but that's a misleading claim considering that game will take forever to load and likely crash when it eventually loads.
4) Game Breaking Glitches.
A lot of players reported they lost their progress for no reason. Imagine playing DayZ with the same character for 20 hours -- only to lose that character because of a glitch!
5) Updates are Few and Far Between.
On average Bohemia Interactive releases an update for DayZ once a month. That's a slower release schedule than most "Early Access" titles.
All of those complaints are linked to the fact that DayZ is an "Early Access" title, which is subject to major issues.
Also, Steam's refund policy clearly states they do not offer refunds or exchanges on games, DLC or in-game items purchased on their website or through their Steam Client.[1]
The bottom line: If you're not open to playing an "Early Access" title in its current state, you may want to wait until the full version of that game is released to find out if the issues has been resolved.
Sources:
- "Buying Games through Steam and Billing Questions." Steam. Retrieved July 28, 2014.