Valve disabled my account...

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Originally posted by Matt_E
I call that stealing his money.

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Nah, it's called "teaching him a lesson".

He can either return the game for a refund/store credit or he can contact Valve and plead his case. For all his protestations of innocence, what he is embarrassed to do -- but will have to if he wants to play HL2 -- is call Valve and tell them that he got banned because he tried to pirate their game. If they think he has learned the error of his ways they will unlock his account. If he gives them the same kind of silly rationalisation or litany of excuses for his actions as he is offering here, then Valve should let him stew.

Valve has no legal standing taking his money "to teach him a lesson". It is not up to Valve to hand out punitive measures & take people's money for it.

One of the reasons I hate this whole steam concept. Even if you are legit, they can prevent you from even playing the single player setup. Bummer, man.

Some folks on the newsgroups have talked about having great success with those NO STEAM patches. Maybe that would work?
BTW - Piracy = BAD

Anybody who pirates deserves what they get, I figure. You do the crime, you do the time.

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Originally posted by Bearded Kirklander
One of the reasons I hate this whole steam concept. Even if you are legit, they can prevent you from even playing the single player setup. Bummer, man.

Some folks on the newsgroups have talked about having great success with those NO STEAM patches. Maybe that would work?
BTW - Piracy = BAD

Anybody who pirates deserves what they get, I figure. You do the crime, you do the time.

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YET again not true, once you authenticate, decrypt and save your username/password.. You dont need to validate on steam ever again...

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Originally posted by Matt_E
Valve has no legal standing taking his money "to teach him a lesson". It is not up to Valve to hand out punitive measures & take people's money for it.

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Heh, Valve only "took his money" because he gave it to some retailer after he discovered he couldn't play the game for free. And there is nothing punitive about Valve's conduct here; they are exercising their right to protect their property. As I said before, if he has the courage to fess up, Valve will unlock their goodies for him.

You know those coin-operated boxes that sell newspapers? You can pay one quarter and take two papers but they depend on an honor system. Since no honor system is even conceivable among gamers who always want something without paying for it, Valve has simply found a way to take the initiative.

That intent of his would be very hard to prove for Valve.

One more time: I do not condone his conduct of trying to pirate software, not at all. I find it disgusting, and have not participated in that practice in over a decade.

But, he did pay 54.99 to Valve. For what?

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Originally posted by Colossus
YET again not true, once you authenticate, decrypt and save your username/password.. You dont need to validate on steam ever again...

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That's right. I have never experienced a moment's difficulty playing this game offline.

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Originally posted by Matt_E
But, he did pay 54.99 to Valve. For what?

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Look at it as a form of taxation of stupidity. Seriously.

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Originally posted by TwIce
Look at it as a form of taxation of stupidity. Seriously.

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No legal standing for this vigilante action. You can't go around and do whatever you want.

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Originally posted by TwIce
That's right. I have never experienced a moment's difficulty playing this game offline.

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exactly...there's even a card that EXPLAINS how to use it in offline mode...and it even explains what puts it in online mode...I don't know how they could've laid it out any better

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Originally posted by TwIce
Heh, Valve only "took his money" because he gave it to some retailer after he discovered he couldn't play the game for free. And there is nothing punitive about Valve's conduct here; they are exercising their right to protect their property. As I said before, if he has the courage to fess up, Valve will unlock their goodies for him.

You know those coin-operated boxes that sell newspapers? You can pay one quarter and take two papers but they depend on an honor system. Since no honor system is even conceivable among gamers who always want something without paying for it, Valve has simply found a way to take the initiative.

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Ok, here is what happened. I entered the key into steam and a few days later I bought the game VIA steam. After entering the key I could have went ahead and downloaded the game. I didnt do that because I was planning on buy it in a few days.

so you never played the game...just entered the key and left it there? they probably just did a search on what accounts has that exact key and banned them all...I understand your anger but on the other hand you can't blame them for what they did...they can't go though 20,000 accounts and find which one actually bought the game after entering that key and which ones are still using it...

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Originally posted by SmoothCorn
Ok, here is what happened. I entered the key into steam and a few days later I bought the game VIA steam. After entering the key I could have went ahead and downloaded the game. I didnt do that because I was planning on buy it in a few days.

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What you did was hardly grand larceny. But trying to give Valve your hacked key on Steam was like the guy who held up a bank but left his drivers license on the counter!

I'm not moralising, SmoothCorn. I'm simply stating the obvious: You can solve your problem by fessing up to Valve, not appealing for sympathy on this board. That might make you feel righteous but it won't help you play HALF LIFE 2!

I can't believe how people actually try to justify stealing. I'm not saying I never did it, but there's no way you can justify it.

How can valve seperate him from rest of the thieves? Say you walk into a store and steal something. Then you go back later and they recognize you as the guy who just stole from them but you buy the same exact item you just stole. Does that mean you are innocent? Does that mean that just because you paid now, it makes up for what you stole before? No. You will be arrested. Give it a try if you don't believe me...see what the jury says.

Now another thing...everyone is cursing Valve for trying to protect their games and their profits...WHY? Why don't they have the right to try to protect what they've worked hard for?

If you live with someone and they lock the door of your house, should you be angry that now you have to take out your key to get in...or *GASP...wait for them to open the door if you have a problem? Shouldn't you be able to secure your valuables? Or should everyone leave their doors wide open to make sure it's not inconvenient for anyone...thieves included? Valve is just trying to protect themselves. Everyone has the right to.

The last thing is the backlash people have to this protection. Saying things like "just because I need steam, now I'm going to pirate Half-life 2...MWUAHAHA...that will teach you VALVE!"
Ok so next time I see your car...if you have an alarm or have it locked...I'm going to steal it just because you tried to prevent me from doing it. MWUAHAHA...that will teach you from trying to stop me from stealing your stuff!

Sorry for the vent but there's just been too many topics on this stupidity.

Those of you upset about the bannings, what you going to do about it?

There are 20,000 of you. Surely it doesnt take more than 5 mins to figure out how to retaliate against Valve. Valve has declared war on you, so do something about it.

Such as boycotting all Valve present and future products, all games that licensed Valve Source engine (ie. their partners), and emailing Valve's partners and telling them you will no longer buy anything made with Valve technology. Email all *potential* Valve partners thinking of even licensing the Source engine, and telling them not to bother because 20,000 who wont be buying. It takes about 80,000 copies sold to break even on most game projects these days so do the math.

Valve just screwed their own business partners and publisher ROFLOL :D

BTW the forum that is owned by Valve just erased the huge thread on this - I gather they're very, very afraid of the publicity, and are even more afraid of what you 20,000 will do should/if you get organized...

Im off to play CS: Source online now ;) Cya