Steam and VPN's

So the general consensus is its a ba idea then,I'm a little worried about this now as asked before if this was safe regarding getting bo2 and there where no negative reactions (as it wasnt worth the saving for the possible loss of my account)just hope my account doesn't get banned now as I have a lot of games on there.
Are they generally quick on banning if they see this happen or is it a anytime,whenever deal?
 
Reed said:
I did quite a bit of reading regarding this subject when i was looking into unlocking XCOM early on steam.

The common consensus seems to be that if you are simply using a VPN to unlock a game earlier than your timezone would normally allow (games usually release earlier in the US for example) than the chances of you getting permanently banned are slim to none (people had been temp banned/ suspended pending investigation but when they came clean pretty much everyone reported that valve reactivated their account).

When it came to purchasing games on steam through a VPN and in a different currency than the common reports/tales were that the chances of you being permabanned rose dramatically and that valve took a pretty hard stance. This is all anecdotal evidence of course but the approach would seem to make sense (no one can blame someone for trying to access a game they legitimately purchased in their own timezone earlier if people from other timezones were were playing it, the same cannot really be said for trying to essentially scam valve). Either way, use a VPN at your own risk.

Note: the above only refers to purchasing games through steam itself, when it comes to purchasing a serial key through a foreign website then its a whole diffirent story again.
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How do you mean regarding buying a key from a site then registering it in steam is this not as bad or?
 
I wouldn't do it because you would get a Russian version and knowing my luck you couldn't change it. I don't want to have to learn Russian to play cod.
 
Reed said:
snip

Note: the above only refers to purchasing games through steam itself, when it comes to purchasing a serial key through a foreign website then its a whole diffirent story again.
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This is the bit I am interested in - please explain this story (or summarise if possible)

ty.
 
KIA said:
Don't do it unless you find a world key that can be activated without using a VPN, similar to Borderlands 2 after they removed the restrictions.
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I bought the polish borderlands 2 and I had to use VPN to activate well I was told to do this so thought I had to when registering the key there where two downloads the ru version or the normal English version.
I will see about this only being able to play with Russians later today but I can't see that as you get a English copy unless u decide to install the Russian version for some odd reason.
 
This isn't an opinion or something I read or something that happened to someone I know. It is fact, ie happened to me.

I bought 3-4 games from the US store as the dollar price was cheaper. After a couple of weeks my steam account got banned and I had to open a ticket. I played dumb and they unbanned me with the comment, don't use region-changing vpn to buy games. I got to keep all the games I had bought, although weirdly some of them wouldn't work until I reinstalled them. I imagine if I got caught doing it again they would be harsher.
 
Not read all of the posts but I heard some games will be starting to region lock the Russian versions of games so people can't do this. Not on about unlocking early and playing I mean like buying cheap RU version then having it on your account and being able to play while connected from UK.
 
from what I've read in here and other place's, buying a game normally on steam/origin and then using vpn to unlock the game as it already been released in other country few hours/days early is a grey area, no one as of yet has been known to have been ban from steam/origin for using vpn to unlock a game early. but their have been posts in some forums that using vpn to buy a game will get you banned, as it not look at very kindly using vpn to buy games.
 
Jordan711 said:
So Black Ops 2 is £40 on Steam and the Russian Steam is selling for 899 rubles which is around 17 quid, so could I use a VPN to buy it from the Russian Steam and then play on UK Steam or do they ban for this sort of thing?

Or could you create a new account on the Russian Steam via a VPN then gift it to yourself?

Thanks.
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neoglow said:
Its times like these that I would just love to know the absolute truth. I mean, all the talk of banning accounts is speculation. What I mean is, do Valve actively use a software system to look for users that use a VPN to buy Steam games and then actually ban/close/end the users account.

It just seems to be a bit OTT to me, say for example you have legally bought games - no matter how many, 1 or hundreds - on Steam and then one day you use a VPN to get a cheap game. Can they really ban your account, meaning the games you have legally paid for are now gone?!? I find that hard to swallow as surely you have paid for the goods and now own it, they cant just take it away from you can they?!?

I would love to have a real honest conversation with Gabe, and say do you actually ban accounts that use a VPN, yes or no. Or CAN you? Is there some law/right that prevents Valve from actually banning accounts even though they would like to as they know full well people use VPN keys.

Something, just something tells me No. Otherwise it would be common knowledge pretty quickly that all these sites selling cheap Russian Steam keys are useless as you do get banned 100%. So they wouldnt sell them any more.

Just my 2 pence.
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I used a VPN to buy several games cheaper, mainly from US steam. It took them a few weeks to catch on but my account was banned. I opened a ticket, acted dumb and they restored my account with all games intact. It did take about 4-5 days to get it back and they just said "don't use a VPN to change your region" and that was that.

I've not done it since so I don't know if punishments get worse the more you do it.
 
If you purchased the games then didn't play them immediately in the UK you'd probably get away with it, however I suspect many people are purchasing them then playing them shortly afterwards - then possibly using a VPN to purchase more games, this will look suspicious as your IP will be pinging back and forward between Russia and the UK.

If however you bought the games, then didn't play them for a few weeks I don't see how they'd be able to ban you. As you could quite easily have been on holiday or working abroad and wanted to buy the games at release/pre-release. In which case for you to get those games in your home country you'd have had to use a VPN.. and breached their EULA.

My Steam account is too valuable for me to risk it - I'd rather wait on a steam sale to be honest!
 
Some people get away with it, but personally I would not risk my account with this as it is against the EULA and therefore they would have the right to then block your account.

It's up to you, but I personally wouldn't risk it.
 
pecnarf said:
from what I've read in here and other place's, buying a game normally on steam/origin and then using vpn to unlock the game as it already been released in other country few hours/days early is a grey area, no one as of yet has been known to have been ban from steam/origin for using vpn to unlock a game early. but their have been posts in some forums that using vpn to buy a game will get you banned, as it not look at very kindly using vpn to buy games.
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Unlocking is fine. Buying is a big no no.
 
Sorry if this has already been suggested but what is stopping you from creating a new account, buying the game as a gift and gifting it to your main account. I have used a vpn to buy the BF3 dlc and that has worked fine without any issues.
 
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