Ancient Forge are giving away a custom-skin Steam Deck for Hotel Galactic

What a nice idea. BTW do the skins fit both OLED and original SteamDecks?

What a nice idea. BTW do the skins fit both OLED and original SteamDecks?

Based on what Liam said in the article, it's a custom fitted 512 GB OLED Steam Deck, and based on the picture it's not just a skin, it's also got colored face buttons. I don't know if they're selling the skin separate but I would imagine they aren't.

wholesome nostalgia

Ehhh, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Now in my day . . .

Uhm, those terms.... (emphasis mine)

By entering this content (e.g., photo, video, text, etc.), You understand and agree that the Sponsor and anyone acting on behalf of the Sponsor or its respective licensees, successors, and assigns, shall have the right, where permitted by law, to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use in any media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity and throughout the World, without limitation, your entry, name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Campaign, and biographical information for news, publicity, information, trade, advertising, public relations, and promotional purposes without any further compensation, notice, review, or consent.

Surely that can't be legal? Signing over the rights to one's name, likeness and voice in perpetuity in order to enter a contest?

Uhm, those terms.... (emphasis mine)
Surely that can't be legal? Signing over the rights to one's name, likeness and voice in perpetuity in order to enter a contest?

They just mean they want the right to re-post your Twitter/Insta/Tiktok on their socials pages. This is strictly a publicity tactic, and I'd be quite surprised if the winner of this isn't the one with the highest profile social media accounts with the most followers who makes the best post advertising the game. Hence why I never bother with Gleam giveaways as I don't use twitter/insta/tiktok, I'm a faceless anonymous gamer: my chances of winning are dead in the water. If I won, they'd simply say "congratulations chickenb00 on winning a custom Steam Deck!" and they couldn't even @ me.

Edit to add: This is quite a nice custom deck, though a bit bright... The game looks nice though. Spirited Away, The Game, basically


Last edited by chickenb00 on 14 June 2024 at 6:00 pm UTC

That skin is too busy for me since I like my electronics simple and black, but damn that game looks gorgeous. Gonna keep my eye on that one.

Uhm, those terms.... (emphasis mine)

By entering this content (e.g., photo, video, text, etc.), You understand and agree that the Sponsor and anyone acting on behalf of the Sponsor or its respective licensees, successors, and assigns, shall have the right, where permitted by law, to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use in any media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity and throughout the World, without limitation, your entry, name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Campaign, and biographical information for news, publicity, information, trade, advertising, public relations, and promotional purposes without any further compensation, notice, review, or consent.

Surely that can't be legal? Signing over the rights to one's name, likeness and voice in perpetuity in order to enter a contest?

When I was running my retail computer store 20 years ago, a local TV studio wanted to film some footage in the store. They presented me with a waiver/contract to sign that was worded exactly like this. I balked and refused to sign. My business partner was quite upset with me. All he saw was the potential free publicity. I was not willing to give up my sovereignty for some cheap media attention.

This kind of waiver/contract is pretty standard with the News & Entertainment Media corporations. It is slimey, I agree. The fact that the terms allow them to use the material for any purpose, not just the original one, deeply erodes my trust in them.

Presumably, this means it will have good Steam Deck support.

Yes, yes it will 😎

Uhm, those terms.... (emphasis mine)

By entering this content (e.g., photo, video, text, etc.), You understand and agree that the Sponsor and anyone acting on behalf of the Sponsor or its respective licensees, successors, and assigns, shall have the right, where permitted by law, to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use in any media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity and throughout the World, without limitation, your entry, name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Campaign, and biographical information for news, publicity, information, trade, advertising, public relations, and promotional purposes without any further compensation, notice, review, or consent.

Surely that can't be legal? Signing over the rights to one's name, likeness and voice in perpetuity in order to enter a contest?

These are the default terms for each Gleam.io giveaway. Gleam.io is a platform for creating such giveaways and it allows for designing actions such as "record yourself saying why you love our brand best". Rest assured, nothing like that is the case here. What is collected first and foremost are emails to send info about prizes won as well as social media profile names to confirm that the action was performed (follow on Twitter etc.)

Uhm, those terms.... (emphasis mine)

By entering this content (e.g., photo, video, text, etc.), You understand and agree that the Sponsor and anyone acting on behalf of the Sponsor or its respective licensees, successors, and assigns, shall have the right, where permitted by law, to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use in any media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity and throughout the World, without limitation, your entry, name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Campaign, and biographical information for news, publicity, information, trade, advertising, public relations, and promotional purposes without any further compensation, notice, review, or consent.

Surely that can't be legal? Signing over the rights to one's name, likeness and voice in perpetuity in order to enter a contest?

These are the default terms for each Gleam.io giveaway. Gleam.io is a platform for creating such giveaways and it allows for designing actions such as "record yourself saying why you love our brand best". Rest assured, nothing like that is the case here. What is collected first and foremost are emails to send info about prizes won as well as social media profile names to confirm that the action was performed (follow on Twitter etc.)

I understand the intended purpose, I'm just fairly surprised that the conditions don't say something along the lines of "shall have the right [...] to your name, [etc.] within the context of the Campaign" instead of a blanket statement that could include anything.