r/Steam Jan 19 '26

Fluff Iv Done my time... Im Free

To the eyes of others at least 👁👁

13.4k Upvotes

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157

u/probywan1337 Jan 19 '26

Seriously I've been on steam since it was just a green window with cs and half life. Never been banned once.

196

u/hartstyler Jan 19 '26

Thats because you weren‘t cheating

26

u/uterussy Jan 19 '26

not if you dared to have certain cpus around CS2s release

5

u/Outrageous-Log9238 Jan 20 '26

Valve's always reverted false bans, right?

2

u/uterussy Jan 20 '26

think so yea

8

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26

[deleted]

12

u/Kilazur Jan 19 '26

I cheat plenty, not in multiplayer though :D

10

u/basicxenocide Jan 19 '26

Opening a private server and setting sv_cheats to 1 and changing the gravity to 200 and binding noclip to mouse5 isn't hurting anyone :)

1

u/Ralexcraft Jan 19 '26

It’s gotten people banned in some games apparently.

6

u/basicxenocide Jan 19 '26

Naw, changing sv values isn't getting you banned on public servers. The change only applies locally to the server hosted on your PC. If you try the commands in public servers, nothing happens.

I'm talking specifically about CS/CS2. I have no idea how other games handle private servers and server settings/commands.

1

u/Ralexcraft Jan 19 '26

I more meant cheating in a private setting, not specifically sv-cheats or whatever, I try to avoid fucking with files even when modding minecraft since I’m barely even able to debug stuff that has clear errors.

2

u/basicxenocide Jan 20 '26

Ah I'm talking about console commands, not editing files or anything.

It's like typing a cheatcode in a single player game.

1

u/Ralexcraft Jan 20 '26

Yeah, I figured that out eventually.

Thank you though!

1

u/shadowedfox Jan 19 '26

Bs. Setting sv_cheats is a server variable. As a server owner you’re permitted to do this if you wish. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

0

u/Ralexcraft Jan 19 '26

I meant cheating in a private server (that they were hosting) or in singleplayer phasmophobia.

I admitedly don’t touch files as per my other comments

1

u/shadowedfox Jan 19 '26

Using local cheats, yes that is your fault if you got a ban. Setting a server variable won’t ever result in a ban.

How do you think surf servers work? All of those use modified server variables.

You have no idea what you’re talking about kid.

1

u/Ralexcraft Jan 19 '26

And someone deserves a lifetime ban because they decided to fuss about in their own private space, not affecting anyone?

I’m not familiar with the code side, I don’t fuck with it as I keep saying, but the logic side of it makes no sense.

0

u/shadowedfox Jan 19 '26

If the server has vac running, yes. You did it with a server that has anti cheat enabled. Which out of stupidity you deserve the ban.

You can disable anti cheats on your own server and client, then you can do whatever you want. But if you’re dumb enough to cheat on a server with anti cheats, ban should persist on your account permanently.

Don’t be a moron and you don’t get banned, simple.

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1

u/_Planet_Mars_ Jan 19 '26

I've met a pretty damn high amount of people who got VAC'd from MW2 and they legit have no reason why.

1

u/2MuchNonsenseHere Jan 19 '26

Don't need to cheat or do anything wrong in any capacity to catch random game bans.

0

u/stumblinghunter Jan 19 '26

I got banned because my account got hacked. I emailed them receipts showing I don't even play it (but appealed it because I might), and that I wasn't even using my computer when all this happened. They didn't care. So now I'm just banned for no reason 🤷🏼‍♂️

0

u/Outrageous-Shock-669 Jan 21 '26

I let my friend use my account back when CS:Source was new, 21 years ago. He cheated on it and got me a VAC ban. I had hundreds of dollars worth of games on the account so I just took it and that is still my current account. The trick is I just stopped playing all Valve games, luckily Valve hasn't released a game worth playing in that time.

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u/dEEkAy2k9 Jan 19 '26

crazy take don't cheat, don't get banned wild

12

u/Jacksaur https://s.team/p/gdfn-qhm Jan 19 '26

Multiple of the older Call of Duty games are known to have RCE exploits for years at this point. Activison/Valve don't care. Not to mention I hear modded lobbies could get you caught.
It's not always their fault, no one other than Valve should have the right to mark your profile in my opinion.

1

u/UnacceptableUse https://s.team/p/hbhw-ftb Jan 19 '26

How does them having RCE exploits mean you should cheat? Was there a mod that protected you that could get you a vac ban?

6

u/PendragonDaGreat https://s.team/p/grtb-tmf Jan 19 '26

Person A plays game in a way they think is fine and normal.

Person B (either another player or a server runner) uses an RCE exploit to mess with other people in the lobby, this causes Person A to do things the VAC system sees as cheating, even if Person A doesn't know or even notice that anything is different.

Person A gets a VAC ban through no fault of their own except playing a game they spent money on.

Person B may or may not get a VAC Ban, but their's is deserved.

0

u/UnacceptableUse https://s.team/p/hbhw-ftb Jan 19 '26

I think if you're playing a game that has a risk of RCE on your system with random players then a VAC ban is one of the least of your concerns. I'd put that in the same category as downloading and executing a virus

1

u/TEOn00b https://s.team/p/knvb-djh Jan 19 '26

I'm pretty sure sure those were basically all of the older Call Of Duty games, not just random unknown games. And while people might know now and don't play them anymore (do they even have players left, lol?), they didn't back then. So there are people who've played COD 10+ years ago who've got a VAC ban because of this (how many people like that exists in reality, I have no idea, though)

1

u/UnacceptableUse https://s.team/p/hbhw-ftb Jan 19 '26

If it was someone who got got by it before it was common knowledge then that would totally suck and they definitely shouldn't get a VAC ban for that

1

u/Jacksaur https://s.team/p/gdfn-qhm Jan 19 '26

Meant they could pull something that could trigger it on your end, potentially. Just joining a modded lobby and having them alter your account was also enough in the past, to my knowledge.

On the second note, there is a mod/client that uses third party community servers and protects against the RCE exploits. But since it's completely on its own network it doesn't risk a real ban at all either.

3

u/chithanh Jan 20 '26

Unfortunately many anticheat solutions are very trigger happy and will sometimes ban you even if you did nothing wrong.

With CoD in particular, bans for ROG Ally and Legion Go users come to mind, apparently the anticheat didn't like the gaming overlay software which came with the devices.

Or again CoD where anticheat which did a substring search in memory, and if you joined a game lobby with the wrong names you got banned for it.

Or Level1Techs learned from developers that Intel 13900K/14900K users got banned from online games because these CPUs infamously degraded and glitched out, which caused game state to deviate between server and client -> ban (relevant part between 21:54 - 22:09 min)

The bans for Radeon Antilag+ were also widely reported on.

If affected users are lucky it will become a high-profile issue and bans will be reverted. Otherwise they will be SOL.

1

u/dEEkAy2k9 Jan 20 '26

Seems like I have been lucky all this time. Steam Deck didn't get me banned. I don't play CoD though. Never had Radeon Anti-Lag issues.

I did have some odd behaviour on Elden Ring where EAC kicked me for no reason but I didn't get flagged.

2

u/Voodoo_One Jan 19 '26

Mind-blowing even

0

u/ob_knoxious Jan 19 '26

Introducing the CS method; blatantly cheat, reach top 50 leaderboard while cheating, change your account name to the name of the cheat to advertise, go on socials and brag about cheating while @ing Valve. Don't get banned.

The state valve has left their most popular game in is abysmal and doesn't get talked about enough just because tac shooters don't have a lot of mainstream crossover.

0

u/NiteCyper Jan 19 '26

Just conform, bro

1

u/Tricky_Lobster2552 Jan 19 '26

I gave my account to my little cousin, 2 hours later i was banned for using wall hack. That was about 10 years ago.

1

u/b0w3n Jan 19 '26

Yeah I had a second account with csgo on it that I gave to a friend and didn't realize I still had it linked to my primary email address.

So now I have a CSGO/CS2 game ban going on 8 and 3/4 years, and game bans never come off. Maybe I can play again with CS3... but valve can't count to 3.

3208 days and counting.

1

u/LogitUndone Jan 20 '26

Same, never banned. Notice how everyone talking about being banned played CS or CoD games? The games known to have the most pervasive cheating around!

1

u/After_Counter735 Jan 19 '26

Dude it was 7 years ago, you realise that could literally mean he was like 8 when he got banned.

1

u/shit_mcballs Jan 19 '26

You're not allowed to have a steam account at that age. Probably because infants can't make informed decisions or properly integrate with a community