New Valve Anti-Cheating Purge

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
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Steam and its Valve Anti Cheating technology looks to be working overtime in July. In two days Valve banned over 90,000 Steam accounts. VAC bans differ from game-specific bans in that when an account is VAC-banned it is "permanent, non-negotiable, and cannot be removed by Steam Support," and impacts you Steam account, not just a game in your library. You can check the numbers yourself here. And of course once you get busted being a dirty cheater, you can go to this forum to beg for your account back, and subsequently be chastised by the community.
 
I'm not even sure what the context is to qualify for these bans. I play with cheat protection disabled. It's the only damn way to play a single player game these days. Maybe my mad hacks piss off people? I don't see how. I just don't want to play with them. It seems to me unless it's an MMO or competitive game, banning cheats in and of itself should be illeagle. It is part of fair use in my opinion.

On the other hand if people are using cheats in Multiplayer competitive game play then YES they should be banned. I'm at work so I can't read the actual article on steam.
 
Grimlaking said:
I'm not even sure what the context is to qualify for these bans. I play with cheat protection disabled. It's the only damn way to play a single player game these days. Maybe my mad hacks piss off people? I don't see how. I just don't want to play with them. It seems to me unless it's an MMO or competitive game, banning cheats in and of itself should be illeagle. It is part of fair use in my opinion.

On the other hand if people are using cheats in Multiplayer competitive game play then YES they should be banned. I'm at work so I can't read the actual article on steam.
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These are for multiplayer offences only and they only restrict your online play.
 
Grimlaking said:
I'm not even sure what the context is to qualify for these bans. I play with cheat protection disabled. It's the only damn way to play a single player game these days. Maybe my mad hacks piss off people? I don't see how. I just don't want to play with them. It seems to me unless it's an MMO or competitive game, banning cheats in and of itself should be illeagle. It is part of fair use in my opinion.

On the other hand if people are using cheats in Multiplayer competitive game play then YES they should be banned. I'm at work so I can't read the actual article on steam.
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They're not going to ban your account for increasing your carry weight in FO4 dude.
 
With how so many games are forcing an Multiplayer Mode on everyone these days.... being banned from multiplayer play... is damn near preferable. I just wish for competitive games they would just put all of the cheaters in the same group and be done with it. Problem solved.
 
Grimlaking said:
With how so many games are forcing an Multiplayer Mode on everyone these days.... being banned from multiplayer play... is damn near preferable. I just wish for competitive games they would just put all of the cheaters in the same group and be done with it. Problem solved.
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That seams like the best way to do it. Have like a shadow sever where all the hackers play
 
What about if someone gets nailed with a false positive? Its a non-negotiable ban and you lose your entire library of games......I dunno about you guys but library its pretty significant. I have 119 games on it and if I got hit with a perma-ban, I would be PISSED just to put it lightly.
I don't cheat at games because its just something i never had the desire to do but holy crap man......the potential......
 
Meaker said:
These are for multiplayer offences only and they only restrict your online play.
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And only for games that use VAC. Not every game on Steam uses VAC.
SomeoneElse said:
What about if someone gets nailed with a false positive? Its a non-negotiable ban and you lose your entire library of games......I dunno about you guys but library its pretty significant. I have 119 games on it and if I got hit with a perma-ban, I would be PISSED just to put it lightly.
I don't cheat at games because its just something i never had the desire to do but holy crap man......the potential......
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You don't lose your entire library, just the multiplayer-only ones using VAC. I've also never heard of legitimate false-positive bans from VAC in 14 years, despite the FUD hackers and cheaters try to spread around about it.
 
SomeoneElse said:
What about if someone gets nailed with a false positive? Its a non-negotiable ban and you lose your entire library of games......I dunno about you guys but library its pretty significant. I have 119 games on it and if I got hit with a perma-ban, I would be PISSED just to put it lightly.
I don't cheat at games because its just something i never had the desire to do but holy crap man......the potential......
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Their VAC bans are very hard to get a false positive for, they keep a running list of known cheating programs and known hacks and scan your computer while you are playing and see if you are running those programs on the list. The VAC analyses not just program names but memory signatures and processes. While a false positive is technically possible, I don't think I have ever heard of a notable case, just people bitching on Redit or the Steam forums about how they didn't do it only for somebody to post something definitively proving them a liar.
 
Armenius said:
You don't lose your entire library, just the multiplayer-only ones using VAC. I've also never heard of legitimate false-positive bans from VAC in 14 years, despite the FUD hackers and cheaters try to spread around about it.
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VAC bans differ from game-specific bans in that when an account is VAC-banned it is "permanent, non-negotiable, and cannot be removed by Steam Support," and impacts you Steam account, not just a game in your library.
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Its an account ban not a game specific.....I don't mess with VAC that's serious, but I agree with you its very rare but if it ever happened. That is insane. I have been a Vavle supporter since day one of HL so i have good faith with them but if i can't say hey man you guys got it all wrong.....that is a few thousand bucks of games that i just lost and have no chance on getting it back.
 
SomeoneElse said:
Its an account ban not a game specific.....I don't mess with VAC that's serious, but I agree with you its very rare but if it ever happened. That is insane. I have been a Vavle supporter since day one of HL so i have good faith with them but if i can't say hey man you guys got it all wrong.....that is a few thousand bucks of games that i just lost and have no chance on getting it back.
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https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4044-qdhj-5691
VAC banned accounts can still play single-player games, local LAN games, and multiplayer on non VAC-secured game servers. To find non VAC-secured servers, from the Steam main menu click on View, select Servers, then select Not secure in the Anti-cheat dropdown.
 
Armenius said:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4044-qdhj-5691
VAC banned accounts can still play single-player games, local LAN games, and multiplayer on non VAC-secured game servers. To find non VAC-secured servers, from the Steam main menu click on View, select Servers, then select Not secure in the Anti-cheat dropdown.
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Ahh i gotcha, so its not a steam account, i equated VAC account and steam account as the same but i guess they are held separately.... good to know.
 
I like this policy, but I still feel there does need to be an appeals process.

I've known people who had their accounts stolen, and then whoever stole them got them VAC banned before they could get them back.

That would really suck. I have 15 years of game purchases on there now.
 
How does one get their Steam account "stolen"? Are they not using Steam Guard? Is their password less complex than L33tSh00ter!!! ?

Personally, I wouldn't ban players. Instead, I would get creative with cheaters and make their gaming lives miserable. Some ideas...
  • Make the hit box much larger on the cheating player
  • Hits on the cheating player cause more damage
  • Damage caused by cheating player is reduced
  • Weapon accuracy and distance is reduced when used by cheating player
  • Weapons fired by cheating player shoots chickens instead of bullets
 
ZLoth said:
How does one get their Steam account "stolen"? Are they not using Steam Guard? Is their password less complex than L33tSh00ter!!! ?

Personally, I wouldn't ban players. Instead, I would get creative with cheaters and make their gaming lives miserable. Some ideas...
  • Make the hit box much larger on the cheating player
  • Hits on the cheating player cause more damage
  • Damage caused by cheating player is reduced
  • Weapon accuracy and distance is reduced when used by cheating player
  • Weapons fired by cheating player shoots chickens instead of bullets
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There are developers who actually do that. I am looking for the articles now, but I have seen some that will force your game to run at the lowest graphics quality possible or randomly reconfigure your keyboard/mouse/joystick configurations.

Remember what happens when you used Doom cheat codes on Heretic?
 
seems like a low ban number really, and bans should not be in waves any way (so they let them play for 4-6 months knowing they are cheating and then VAC ban them)

witch does not matter as they just move onto there next steam account as steam does not try to at least make the bans hard to avoid as its tied to the account not the PC or phone (well CS:go is but its tied to the mobile number not the phone device it self)
 
likeman said:
seems like a low ban number really, and bans should not be in waves any way (so they let them play for 4-6 months knowing they are cheating and then VAC ban them)

witch does not matter as they just move onto there next steam account as steam does not try to at least make the bans hard to avoid as its tied to the account not the PC or phone (well CS:go is but its tied to the mobile number not the phone device it self)
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I think going forward it will be safe to say the "VAC waves" will end and we will just see VAC bans until it slows down. This will be due to hacks getting past VAC, or people can't keep affording to throw away money at game keys and accounts. VAC as crappy as it is has been getting more sophisticated. They are adapting a similar way to identify cheaters. Not only is VAC scanning for programs running that would flag, but it has been taking player/game data to compare to players during matches. They use the data to see how possible something is. For example somebody getting 100% headshots and having a really high K/D is probably going to get at least flagged for VAC to watch that account. BF1 does the same with it's matches. During gameplay it tracks every player movement, shots, etc to see how realistic what they are doing is. This is helping a lot fighting aim/trigger bots, walls, BHOP scripts etc. Valve is just so dam far behind the curve that this is becoming a massive VAC wave because they are starting to actually catch up with all the hackers in the game. Next they need to get reined in on the slot machine and gambling that is still rampant with skins, but since Valve makes so much money off the bot farms, skin trading and gambling it will take a federal law to change that.
 
ManofGod said:
So, if they have a false report of cheating, someone who rarely plays the games in his or her steam account, rarely plays online, gets his whole account banned and his games essentially stolen from him, without any recourse, this is good how? Must be because it is a Microsoft issu…. oh, wait. I will not be buying anymore steam games or programs as long as a draconian measure like this is in place with no recourse at all.
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VAC is separate from in game reporting. You can get a game ban for being a sick, but a VAC ban is solely because they cheated or was using a program that is know for cheating while playing a valve game.
 
Moogle Stiltzkin said:
the only remorse they had was being caught and finally held to account.

they should feel fortunate this did not happen to them irl.
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Fake. And if it is not, I hope that individual brought that place down with legal fees and lawsuits. You are never justified to do something like that and never will be. Too bad, online games used to be fun but now they are clearly a complete and utter joke.
 
noclevername said:
VAC is separate from in game reporting. You can get a game ban for being a sick, but a VAC ban is solely because they cheated or was using a program that is know for cheating while playing a valve game.
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Allegedly, since there is no such thing as 100 % fool proof cheat detection. Will not be buying another game from them as long as they think they are justified in this action.
 
SomeoneElse said:
Ahh i gotcha, so its not a steam account, i equated VAC account and steam account as the same but i guess they are held separately.... good to know.
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Ah, ok, I do not any VAC anything, thankfully. But then, what does this have to do with Steam at all?
 
ManofGod said:
Ah, ok, I do not any VAC anything, thankfully. But then, what does this have to do with Steam at all?
Click to expand...

VAC = Valve Anti Cheat. VAC bans occur for actually cheating in Valve games. Steam is owned by Valve. Since Valve owns steam and puts out games (Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, CS:GO, TF2, DOTA, etc) if you care caught cheating in one of these games or others that use Valve Anti Cheat, you will get a VAC ban. If you were reported for verbal abuse because you raged and called a guy a smelly POS than you would end up with a warning ban, like 24 hour, 7 day, 30 day ban. If you were griefing all the time you might end up with a game ban. VAC bans are for people running cheats and getting caught.
 
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