Steam/Valve disabled my account

[GundamSonicZeroX]

I remember on the back of some PS2 games they say they can terminate you after 90 days for whatever reason. Is that in the HL2 EULA? But, yea just give them a call/e-mail and politely ask someone for help. Worst case scenario, you'll have to buy another copy of HL2 and get a new accout. And HL2's like 20 bucks US now anyway.

 

[dfuze]

I agree that you should call them up. They will probably believe you because how many people w/ illegal accounts will take the time to call them? None, they'll just make another one.

I am not an expert by any means, but from what I have learned in Contract Law classes (and I review contracts as my regular job) just because something is listed in the EULA doesn't mean that it would not stand up in court.

 

[Smilin]

This is how you resolve the issue. Follow these steps exactly.

1. Call them.
2. Write them a letter. (not email)
3. Have your lawyer write them a letter.
4. Sue.


It is highly unlikely you will reach step 4.

 

[imported_michealo]

because he'll realize the rediculousness of #3 and #4 shortly after completing #2.

 

[Jeeebus]

Originally posted by: dph1077
I agree that you should call them up. They will probably believe you because how many people w/ illegal accounts will take the time to call them? None, they'll just make another one.

I am not an expert by any means, but from what I have learned in Contract Law classes (and I review contracts as my regular job) just because something is listed in the EULA doesn't mean that it would not stand up in court.

Yes and no. If the EULA says "you agree that Valve shall have first rights with your wife on your wedding night," then it's not going to hold up. But a condition that says Valve has the right to disable an account if it believes you were cheating... good luck with that. There is no fundamental right to play online, nor is there a law guaranteeing your innocence until proven guilty, or any relevant legal authority that could help you.

As to the other person's suggestion to sue Valve/Steam... you're obviously not too familiar with the legal system. Replacement copy of HL2: $20 Initiation of suit in small claims court: $100 + time + $20 to buy a new copy of HL2 when you lose.

dph1077 - good luck with law school. You'll soon join our evil ranks.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus

Originally posted by: dph1077
I agree that you should call them up. They will probably believe you because how many people w/ illegal accounts will take the time to call them? None, they'll just make another one.

I am not an expert by any means, but from what I have learned in Contract Law classes (and I review contracts as my regular job) just because something is listed in the EULA doesn't mean that it would not stand up in court.

Yes and no. If the EULA says "you agree that Valve shall have first rights with your wife on your wedding night," then it's not going to hold up. But a condition that says Valve has the right to disable an account if it believes you were cheating... good luck with that. There is no fundamental right to play online, nor is there a law guaranteeing your innocence until proven guilty, or any relevant legal authority that could help you.

As to the other person's suggestion to sue Valve/Steam... you're obviously not too familiar with the legal system. Replacement copy of HL2: $20 Initiation of suit in small claims court: $100 + time + $20 to buy a new copy of HL2 when you lose.

dph1077 - good luck with law school. You'll soon join our evil ranks.

well, i'd obviously never sue them as it's obv not worth the $40 i spent when the game first came out. however, there are simpler - albeit less effective - alternatives such as the better business bereau.

however, people keep mentioning this "fundamental right to play online"... i want to make it clear that i'm not playing multiplayer. valve REQUIRES you to login via the internet to play single player. if you can't login you can't use the software AT ALL - singleplayer, multiplayer or otherwise.

now, if i pay money for the software, i'm pretty sure that gives me the "right" to play it singleplayer. otherwise, i paid $40 for a shiny box. i mean, if i don't have that right, then according to some ppl here the following scenario is perfectly acceptable:

1. i buy hl2
2. as i walk out of the store, valve immediately cancels my account (w/o any reason being given)
3. i can never play the game

does that seem reasonable to you guys?

so why is it any more reasonable for that exact scenario to happen, say, one year after i buy the game?

now, the EULA may give valve the right to cancel my account if the suspect foul play, and AGAIN i say that makes sense. but my whole point is that they made no attempt to contact me or resolve the situation. if they suspected something ILLEGAL was happening with my account they should have made an attempt to notify me. after all, steam may have had my PERSONAL info, such as CC number, address, etc, and if my account was hijacked, i deserve to know to PROTECT MY PRIVACY.

anyways, still no response to the email... i'll give it a few more (business) days and then call 'em up.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: michealo
because he'll realize the rediculousness of #3 and #4 shortly after completing #2.

?

It's actually #3 that I expect will work.

 

[brikis98]

Update: got an email from valve asking me for photos of my DVD (that show my key) and a copy of my receipt. I sent those in today. We'll see what happens.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Update: got an email from valve asking me for photos of my DVD (that show my key) and a copy of my receipt. I sent those in today. We'll see what happens.

Be sure you are pointing to the DVD key in the picture so that they don't miss it.

Also be sure you are using your middle finger.

 

[drifter106]

I can side with brikis to a certain extend in regards to steam... I have 2 computers and 2 seperate accounts. Each one has been shut down once and it took approximately 10 days to 2 weeks to get them up and running again. One account is 18 months old while the other one is close to 12. I don't know the rhyme or reason for them doing it but it is rather agravating that this happens. Each time I had to give them proof of ownership.

 

[clickynext]

Ridiculous. So they're basically saying "we're right and you're lying, until you prove us wrong".

 

[sodcha0s]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Update: got an email from valve asking me for photos of my DVD (that show my key) and a copy of my receipt. I sent those in today. We'll see what happens.

Thats kinda screwed up. How many people keep their receipt forever? I think the photo, your account password and password hint should be plenty of info.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: sodcha0s

Originally posted by: brikis98
Update: got an email from valve asking me for photos of my DVD (that show my key) and a copy of my receipt. I sent those in today. We'll see what happens.

Thats kinda screwed up. How many people keep their receipt forever? I think the photo, your account password and password hint should be plenty of info.

i had ordered the game from buy.com, so they still had my order history online and i sent that in. also, if you bought and downloaded the game from Steam, you could provide them other info (name, CC# used to purchase, etc).

however, if you had just bought it at a normal store, you'd probably be out of luck.

 

[ttown]

So, you caved, and are jumping through the hoops?

This has got to stop! And you're not helping things.

I think my response would be:
"Send a photographer to my house on my schedule, or send me a camera with pre-paid return shipping. Pick one."

This post has me convinced never to do business with steam/valve.

 

[nova2]

ordered your game from buy.com eh?

in other words anyone could've looked at the cdkey before it was shipped if they were careful.

this guy could've got 'unlucky' and got burned via this possibility.

i can't say this scenario would surprise me at all if true.

@ttown:
in any case, however this happened, its probably in the minority -- if not, then show me lots of examples of this happening. until I see that, whatever, you don't know 100% if this persons cdkey was stolen by someone or some other weird scenario.

brikis98 said "having to login every time you want to play single player was a pain in the ass."
disconnect your ethernet cable or disable your network interface (both easy to do) and you can run steam in offline mode (you'll be prompted to do this after starting steam).
after you do this reconnect to the internet if desired, and if needed, block steam with any capable firewall to prevent it from connecting to the net.

if you're offline and steam doesn't let you play because of your account being disabled and it remembering this in offline mode, well that's a problem.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: ttown
So, you caved, and are jumping through the hoops?

This has got to stop! And you're not helping things.

I think my response would be:
"Send a photographer to my house on my schedule, or send me a camera with pre-paid return shipping. Pick one."

This post has me convinced never to do business with steam/valve.

i somehow doubt your reponse would be particularly productive. however, i agree with you - i'm not going to pay money for a valve product again.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: nova2
ordered your game from buy.com eh?

in other words anyone could've looked at the cdkey before it was shipped if they were careful.

this guy could've got 'unlucky' and got burned via this possibility.

i can't say this scenario would surprise me at all if true.

@ttown:
in any case, however this happened, its probably in the minority -- if not, then show me lots of examples of this happening. until I see that, whatever, you don't know 100% if this persons cdkey was stolen by someone or some other weird scenario.

brikis98 said "having to login every time you want to play single player was a pain in the ass."
disconnect your ethernet cable or disable your network interface (both easy to do) and you can run steam in offline mode (you'll be prompted to do this after starting steam).
after you do this reconnect to the internet if desired, and if needed, block steam with any capable firewall to prevent it from connecting to the net.

if you're offline and steam doesn't let you play because of your account being disabled and it remembering this in offline mode, well that's a problem.

a quick google search will reveal that i am far from the only one who had a legit steam account disabled. you can read a little about it here, but basically, valve is now willing to audit account cancellations. however, the fact that the paying customer has to take the initiative to figure out they were banned and remedy the situation, is complete horsesh*t.

as for unplugging my internet, i didn't know that would work and it seems like a hack at best anyway.

 

[nealh]

I do not understand why so many people are defending Steam/Valve

From what I read, what they did was crap....they terminated his account for unknown reason..no communication at all

What kinda of business does this to customers and expects them to stay paying customers

Having to prove he owns a game he bought with no reason for the termination is crap

Piracy is Valve's problem not his....clearly he did nothing wrong....

This why I never palyed or bought HL2....no steam/valve for me period

I have no sympathy for the gaming companies because of there poor history of product performance..how many games are so buggy , the buer on the retail end gets a Beta product..then they want to make you jump through to play the game...in some cases placing protections that are so bad some optical drivers wont work, spyware(often done without anyone knowing) etc

this is one good aspect to consoles..and why pc gaming adds to their own problems

 

[erikistired]

valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: fisher
valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

I concur, I think Steam is fantastic, but I appear to be in the minority for some reason

 

[mundane]

I'm a bit torn over steam. On one hand, anything that makes it easier for developers to distribute their work is a step in the right direction. I'm concerned that big publishers (*cough*EA*cough*) are stifling innovation by only supporting re-hash products. I'd kill for a turn-based RPG/combat (ala Fallout, or a new X-com). With costs of cutting edge games rising way beyond what an independent studio can venture, it seems like the big names are relying on their franchises. I wouldn't mind developers working with current-gen technology instead of spending disproportionate amounts on next-gen graphics/features, and instead focus on real content. (It would also save me $$ in the form of hardware upgrades) Meanwhile, while I like single player RPGs (with optional MP cooperative play support), we're also witnessing the maturation of MMORPGs, which eclipse their single player ancestors by offering a continuing profit model. Why develop a game which you'll make $50 per copy, when you can get $25 per month (minus operating costs) per player?

On the other hand, I see their online distribution model is flawed, and I see no easy way to fix it. I'm a big fan of actually having the physical medium. I actually enjoy reading the manuals. What happens if Steam tanks? You can't play your game anymore, whether it be online or offline. There's some snafu with your email or account? You're SOL, until [unless] they resolve it. Your on a PC that [god forbid] doesn't have 'net access? You need a workaround to actually be able to start your game.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: fisher
valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

I concur, I think Steam is fantastic, but I appear to be in the minority for some reason

I love steam as well. I don't care if it crashes or updates too damn often. I think people are expecting steam to be perfect in every way and that's why they hate it.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: fisher
valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

I concur, I think Steam is fantastic, but I appear to be in the minority for some reason

I love steam as well. I don't care if it crashes or updates too damn often. I think people are expecting steam to be perfect in every way and that's why they hate it.

Steam can go to hell. I had 56k when I got HL2 and the network decrypting was bs. I also don't want my games to auto update. HL2 worked fine for me as shipped. I don't want to download patches I don't need, which can possibly break something that wasn't broken.

I'm on cable now, but I refuse to give them any more of my money. I may be getting Episode 1 through a video card I purchased, but I doubt I'm going to install it. I don't need a bunch of headaches provided by my entertainment. I get enough of that at work.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: fisher
valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

I concur, I think Steam is fantastic, but I appear to be in the minority for some reason

I love steam as well. I don't care if it crashes or updates too damn often. I think people are expecting steam to be perfect in every way and that's why they hate it.

Steam can go to hell. I had 56k when I got HL2 and the network decrypting was bs. I also don't want my games to auto update. HL2 worked fine for me as shipped. I don't want to download patches I don't need, which can possibly break something that wasn't broken.

I'm on cable now, but I refuse to give them any more of my money. I may be getting Episode 1 through a video card I purchased, but I doubt I'm going to install it. I don't need a bunch of headaches provided by my entertainment. I get enough of that at work.

Wait, why do you hate them? Because they are constantly updating and adding things to improve and fix their games? ...oh the horror!! :roll:

edit: typo

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: fisher
valve is great. steam is great. quit the hate.

i know people who have had their bf42 key stolen and had to get a new one, same procedure to prove they owned it, so it's not like valve is doing anything different. if they just believed every yahoo who emailed saying they should get a free key they'd go out of business.

I concur, I think Steam is fantastic, but I appear to be in the minority for some reason

I love steam as well. I don't care if it crashes or updates too damn often. I think people are expecting steam to be perfect in every way and that's why they hate it.

Steam can go to hell. I had 56k when I got HL2 and the network decrypting was bs. I also don't want my games to auto update. HL2 worked fine for me as shipped. I don't want to download patches I don't need, which can possibly break something that wasn't broken.

I'm on cable now, but I refuse to give them any more of my money. I may be getting Episode 1 through a video card I purchased, but I doubt I'm going to install it. I don't need a bunch of headaches provided by my entertainment. I get enough of that at work.

Wait, why do you hate them? Because they are constantly updating and adding things to improve and fix their games? ...oh the horror!! :roll:

edit: typo

Steam is communism.