Valve suspends 20,000 Steam accounts

[Evi]

Sucks for them...those pirating bastards!! Now that they\'re done suspending accounts, maybe they can get the REAL accounts working for the people who actually paid :rolleyes:

Last week, rumors circulated that Valve had released a fake key to Half-Life 2 to various "warez" sites in order to trap game pirates. Today on the forums of Steam, Valve\'s download service, the developer announced it had busted nearly 20,000 people who tried "to access Half-Life 2 without purchasing it."

 As a result, the offenders have had their Steam accounts suspended indefinitely. Valve also warned that "Accounts also may be closed due to fraudulent activity in an attempt to obtain additional products for your Steam Account. This includes Credit Card fraud, theft of accounts you do not own and using cracked versions of Valve games."

Valve\'s statement was coy about how it caught the pirates. "The method used was extremely easy for Valve to trace and confirm," it read, "and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2."

However, Valve was extremely clear about one thing--it did not create a special version of Half-Life 2 to bust pirates. "Valve did not put out any kind of fake key or fake warez or hack instructions to trap people," read the statement. "The hack came from the \'community\' as do they all."

Source

Good for them.  Pirates suck.

Bad for them, keep in mind people whom actually purchased the game and are using no cd hacks, are being detected as pirates as well.

Originally posted by NVIDIA256
Bad for them, keep in mind people whom actually purchased the game and are using no cd hacks, are being detected as pirates as well.

Ugh, that should not lead to a banning.

I used to crack my original BF42 installation because the CD detection thingy was annoying and made the load times 2x longer (it checks after every fircking map change).

I remember reading on GameSpot that cracking Vietcong was the only way to get the game to run normally, because otherwise the cd protection system would interfere in the MIDDLE of the game causing a few seconds paus.

[Living-In-Clip]

I said it once, will say it again, Steam is a decent idea with terrible exeuction. Not only did Steam cause massive launch problems, but now people can face bannings for things they have not even done. Not to mention the fact that if I want to play HL2 offline, I have to load Steam up and let it connect to the service. Why!?!? Why? I ask.
Steam sucks.
Valve rocks.
Go figure.

[Bobs_Hardware]

I bought the game and can\'t even play it.

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by Bobs_Hardware
I bought the game and can\'t even play it.

Do to steam?

Steam makes baby Jesus cry.

I can unplug my Ethernet cable and still play HL2.  No net connection is required after key check.

Bad situation for the people who got de-steamed for simple no-cd hacks.  I almost got one myself.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Online Activation has to be the worst idea ever made.  People that have no internet connection would be really pissed right now.

[Bobs_Hardware]

I\'m really pissed right now.

Uhm, does the crack get around the online registration? \'cos I\'m dying to play the game, but there\'s no way I\'m getting online with my PC any time soon.

[Living-In-Clip]

Think no matter what you need to go online at least once. It unlocks the actual game itself via Steam. You could look into it, but I think you are out of luck. Probably either have to get a \'net connection for a couple hours or simply return the game.

[Evi]

This is the stupidest idea ever compiled by a gaming company in history. It\'s just a damn game. People should be able to play it RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX...

Internet connection is one of the requirements on the bottom of the box in case you guys didn\'t see it. :>

[Evi]

I\'m aware of that, I just think it\'s lame. I\'ve only had the chance to play it at my friend\'s house...that lucky bastard...:/

[Bobs_Hardware]

Any chance of activating it on another computer and transferring it over to my home one?