From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Well, for the second month in a row I decided that the eight games
offered in the monthly "HumbleChoice" weren't to my liking, and
decided to put my account on 'hold'. This is an option where you tell
Humble, "Hey, I still want to be a subscriber, but I don't want this
month's games. Please don't charge me, and I'll see you next month."
There's no penalty to this, except obviously you don't get the game
and any other benefits you may accrue (for instance, you get a
discount on their store) aren't available to you. But next month,
you've got another chance to start anew. You can put your account on
hold as often as you want, and it's fairly easy to do (if somewhat
hidden in your account settings). Just one or two clicks, and you're
done.

Except... apparently Humble isn't very good about checking to see if
you've actually done that. Because for the second time in a row,
Humble has charged me for the service despite my putting myself on
hold weeks earlier.

Now, to be fair to the company, getting them to reverse the charge is
fairly easy. I emailed them about the problem (using their
web-interface) and the charge was reversed by the next day. But it's
annoying that this keeps happening.

I used to be a big fan of Humble. They offered a lot of great games at
a great price; they supported Indie developers, they did that whole
'charity' thing (even if only a fraction of the money actually made it
to the charity)... it was pretty good. But increasingly Humble has
become a worse and worse product. The selection of games on Choice has
been getting ever poorer, they've raised their prices, they've pulled
services, and now they charge me despite being told not to do so.

If I didn't have such a crushing addiction to The Number, I'd say fuck
them entirely. But alas, I don't have that sort of willpower and
--when the games on Choice aren't terrible-- the games are still
(marginally) worth the price.

But I can't recommend them to anybody else anymore. And if you do use
them, and do put your account on hold... be sure to check to make sure
they aren't charging your credit card regardless.


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 7/1/2026 11:48 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Well, for the second month in a row I decided that the eight games
offered in the monthly "HumbleChoice" weren't to my liking, and
decided to put my account on 'hold'. This is an option where you tell
Humble, "Hey, I still want to be a subscriber, but I don't want this
month's games. Please don't charge me, and I'll see you next month."
There's no penalty to this, except obviously you don't get the game
and any other benefits you may accrue (for instance, you get a
discount on their store) aren't available to you. But next month,
you've got another chance to start anew. You can put your account on
hold as often as you want, and it's fairly easy to do (if somewhat
hidden in your account settings). Just one or two clicks, and you're
done.

Except... apparently Humble isn't very good about checking to see if
you've actually done that. Because for the second time in a row,
Humble has charged me for the service despite my putting myself on
hold weeks earlier.

Now, to be fair to the company, getting them to reverse the charge is
fairly easy. I emailed them about the problem (using their
web-interface) and the charge was reversed by the next day. But it's
annoying that this keeps happening.

I used to be a big fan of Humble. They offered a lot of great games at
a great price; they supported Indie developers, they did that whole
'charity' thing (even if only a fraction of the money actually made it
to the charity)... it was pretty good. But increasingly Humble has
become a worse and worse product. The selection of games on Choice has
been getting ever poorer, they've raised their prices, they've pulled services, and now they charge me despite being told not to do so.

If I didn't have such a crushing addiction to The Number, I'd say fuck
them entirely. But alas, I don't have that sort of willpower and
--when the games on Choice aren't terrible-- the games are still
(marginally) worth the price.

But I can't recommend them to anybody else anymore. And if you do use
them, and do put your account on hold... be sure to check to make sure
they aren't charging your credit card regardless.

The "Oh we forget you put it on hold" shtick is deliberate. They count
on people not checking or not putting in the effort to correct their "mistake".
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 7/2/2026 2:30 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

The "Oh we forget you put it on hold" shtick is deliberate.  They count
on people not checking or not putting in the effort to correct their "mistake".

I seem to remember their shtick was originally they were the ethical
ones that helped different charities with their offers.
Haven't felt that way from them for a while.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 7/2/2026 4:27 AM, Gottfried Neuner wrote:

On 7/2/2026 2:30 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

The "Oh we forget you put it on hold" shtick is deliberate.  They
count on people not checking or not putting in the effort to correct
their "mistake".

I seem to remember their shtick was originally they were the ethical
ones that helped different charities with their offers.
Haven't felt that way from them for a while.

Donations to charities are tax write-offs.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 2 Jul 2026 06:28:24 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

On 7/2/2026 4:27 AM, Gottfried Neuner wrote:

On 7/2/2026 2:30 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

The "Oh we forget you put it on hold" shtick is deliberate.  They
count on people not checking or not putting in the effort to correct
their "mistake".

I seem to remember their shtick was originally they were the ethical
ones that helped different charities with their offers.
Haven't felt that way from them for a while.

Donations to charities are tax write-offs.

The wholesomeness of Humble basically ended when they were purchased
by Ziff Davis. Prior to that it seemed that, yes they were a business,
but the charity part was important to them. Afterwards, it very
quickly just became a marketing gimmick, and not even a very big one.
I really get the feeling ZiffDavis wishes they could sweep that entire
aspect of the company under the table and forget about it. Heck, its
pretty clear Ziff Davis isn't that interested in the company as a
whole, seeing as how they fire a huge number of its staff and tried to
sell the division in 2024!

So, yeah, Humble is not at all the same company it used to be.
Sometimes the monthly HumbleChoices are still worth the price, but
increasingly it's getting hard to recommend even those. The rest of
their market isn't great either (it's not terrible, but it's nothing
special). And they aren't supporting Indie games as a publisher
anymore either. There is ever less reason to shop there.

I'll still, for the time being, announce their monthly HumbleChoice
selections, just because it's hard for me to resist getting 8 new
games for cheap (and I need something to post about here in csipga!
;-) but I can imagine that in the next year or so I'll just give up on
that too.


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