EDIT: Refund stats show I was freaking out over nothing.

The Moon Sliver:
23k copies sold
169 copies refunded
0.7% refund rate

The Music Machine
861 copies sold
14 copies refunded
1.6% refund rate

That sucks. I noticed that the developer has control over what dlc is refundable, maybe you can get around this by making your games as a single product with each story being dlc.

Time to put some fetch quests and hidden collectables in your game...

In a serious note, i do wonder if they have something to preven abuse from players...

Here is the full announcement from Steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

I will say that its about time that they finally put in a system for refunds which other digital stores have been doing for quite sometime now. The positive aspects is it being pro-consumer with the no questions asked two weeks refund policy but it may be abused as well and indie developers could get exploited. There is the abuse warning in the announcement where Valve can decide to refuse refunds if they find customers taking advantage of it so that may help to curb it.

It's more work to purchase a title and then ask for refund than just to pirate it. I wouldn't worry too much.

I don't ever underestimate the ignorant desire of certain people to "stick it to the man" when they find a loophole. And in this situation, I'm "the man."

Is that system really so exploitable? Can't you contact the Steam dudes?
(btw, don't suggest evil ideas to the public :P)

Still it won't stop people from asking for a refund because they fell disappointed that the game lasted less than 2 hours (even if it was cheap). I wonder if they will add extra time for the card drops, i can imagine people buying those, errr, waifu games, dropping 2 or 3 cards from it and selling for a nice profit before asking for a refund.

You make them sound like a gang. :P

I'm sure it'll happen, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a minority. In Czech Republic, you can return anything purchased online within 14 days after purchase for a full refund - without giving a single reason. While there is abuse of this rule like purchasing a piece of hardware and then returning it after you're done with it, its abuse is so small that the law had not been updated for years. Most people are sensible, and won't even believe that it's worth going trough the entire process for 5-10 bucks.

That does, however, bring up a fairly interesting question - how are the refunds issued? Does Steam withold finances from you for 14 days after every purchase? Does Valve just suck up the expences?

How much will the video game that you are developing that is 2 hours cost?

If it does not cost $50 dollars (USD), $40 dollars (USD), $30 dollars (USD), $20 dollars (USD) or $10 dollars (USD), but something like $0.99 dollars (USD) up to lets say $3.99 dollars (USD). Then I will never ask for a refund for your video game. I might even purchase your video game more than once.

One could discover the short length of the game after beating it and then be tempted to ask for a refund. Anyway, I really doubt that the system can be so easily abused.

Damn it! Even when steam tries to do anything good, it still ends up faqing someone hard!

Sympathies.

Umm... well, I don't think I'm allowed to say. But basically, no. Valve doesn't suck up the expenses. Valve and the developer are both responsible.

Such people are a distinct minority though. Trust me - if anyone is hellbent on playing your game without paying, they'll have already hoisted the ol' Jolly Roger.