@BrikoX lol at the writer being immediately banned for his dumb "I totally didn't click ok on the TOS telling me not to talk about this, I pressed esc" schtick, then blaming it on him saying bad things instead of breaking the terms of the beta.
I think Valve banning him in this case is reasonable. It's an invite only free to play game. That said, clicking ok on some random text box is not a binding contract. Companies like to frame it like it is, but it's not.
@Cyth I don't know why people keep bringing up "binding contract." This is not a legal situation at all. It's called not being a jackass dipshit when someone does you a favor, and when you turn around and go against their wishes, you shouldn't be surprised one bit when they don't help you out further.
This dude knew very well the spirit of what was being conveyed to him. "If it's not illegal, it's ok" is social ineptitude. This has nothing to do with legality.
I think just because in most other cases that's how this is presented. That's at least how the journalist here presented it "And I’m not under NDA. I have signed no contracts and made no verbal agreements; I haven’t even clicked through a EULA". What you're saying is why I agree with you here, that Valve was in the right to ban him.
I can agree with you that it's a douche move to leak all the info, but at the same time it's his job and there were no binding terms. Valve could have easily prevented this if that was their goal, but they really want the info to leak far and wide.
@BrikoX The invitation to the beta says don't discuss it with anybody or you'll have your access revoked. It then tells you a second time when you boot the game "don't discuss this with anybody," which the guy took a screenshot of and claimed it wasn't binding since he hit escape, not ok. Except the idiot forgot that his access isn't promised, it's provisional, and it's 100000000% in valve's right to ban the guy if he's doing the exact opposite of what they asked him *TWICE* not to do.
I think you are grasping at straws to be angry at something. Nowhere did the author blame Valve for banning him, and he jokingly mentioned that Esc dismissed the message instead of clicking OK. In his update, he even asked to be mocked for getting banned since he exposed himself by doing his job.
Asking not to do something in a popup is not binding in any way, shape or form, it's just friendly asking, no matter if you click Esc or OK or any other key.