Steam now allows game developers to ban users from their games

[zappian]

If you ever put a foot in the online gaming community since Ultima Online, you’ll know that cheating is a thing and it’s a huge problem. Many games implement their own system to face the problem. Valve, for example, has VAC. When someone is caught cheating, usually the way to go is a ban. Not all the developers, especially the small ones, have the means to implement or buy an anti cheating system or to enforce a ban. Valve wants to try to offer a solution for the latter problem giving all the developers the option to have Steam prevent misbehaving users to launch their game.

Game developers that find disruptive players in their games, can now inform Valve about said players. Valve then proceeds to issue a game ban on the culript account. To be noticed that a game account ban only prevents the player to launch the game he was supposedly found cheating on, so the Steam account itself will remain functional.

This feature is a great advantage for small developers of multiplayer games. Enforce a ban is not always easy. If the game doesn’t force you to create an account to play multiplayer, it can be particularly tricky. We all know how much we love creating an account for every single game we play. Delegate the ban enforcing to Steam is an easy and quick way to make sure to revoke access to your game to cheaters.

 

So now Steam wants to give a option for small devs to regulate their user base.

Misbehaving users will be banned , misbehaving can be cheating , or just disagreeing with the developer.

I have no idea how valve will implement this  , and this is easily exploitable.

Dont agree with a game developer ? Think their game is bad? You may get banned from using the game .

Also if a game has SP and MP components you may be locked out of the SP part if you cheat on a MP game.

I hope valve is sensible in how they implement this.

 

According to valve the developer chooses why to ban a person , valve only enforces the ban.

This will be exploitable , i guarantee you.

The game developer is solely responsible for the decision to apply a game ban. Valve only enforces the game ban as instructed by the game developer.

 

CLARIFICATION:

 

This is completely separated of valves anti cheating system :

 

 

Cheaters, or those who engage in “disruptive” behavior, on Valve’s Steam service will need to be very wary from now on, as the firm is now enabling game developers to permanently ban players from their games, a Steam support page revealed.

 

It’s important to note that this is completely separate from Valve’s own measures against cheating, namely its Valve Anti-Cheat system (VAC). Here, the company is simply allowing developers to ban players from their games, not banning them on its own.

Original article : https://techraptor.net/content/steam-now-allows-game-developers-to-ban-users-from-their-games 

[TheKDub]

What the fuck has steam been smoking recently?

[TheDeadGhost]

Yay for slightly more control over cheating!

[Zeke]

Think their game is bad? You may get banned from using the game .

Well that's just like saying "you hate broccoli and now you're not allowed to eat them"

[Laputacake]

Good intentions but could be easily abused.

[DimasRMDO]

Gotta be more careful.... Damn steam....

[GrimNeo]

I hate cheaters so much.

[Speedbird]

Maybe if a dev wants to ban someone, Valve should approve it first.

[Kyuubixchidori]

sounds good, but would want a refund

[Castdeath97]

We need this in world of tanks, hell we do.

[ozziestig]

Lets hope game devs don't go over zealous in their BAN hammering.

[rambi36]

Not sure if bad thing or good thing

[MrSuperb]

Maybe this will be implemented in CS:GO to directly OW ban cheaters

[Snickerzz]

I dont feel like completely banning them from the game entirely is right. What if there's singleplayer or coop? Your SOL then.

[Dabombinable]

So Steam is going from bad to worse and now devs can take shit further if their stitched together unity asset based games get called out for being what they are. Well that's just fucked.

[Trik'Stari]

Now if only they could make DayZ playable, by getting rid of 99% of the assholes that immediately shoot everyone they see, without warning, for no reason other than to troll.

[Delphi1662]

Lets hope game devs don't go over zealous in their BAN hammering.

We already know a few that would do so on the spot at the slightest hint of dissenting opinions

[ShadowCaptain]

Now if only they could make DayZ playable, by getting rid of 99% of the assholes that immediately shoot everyone they see, without warning, for no reason other than to troll.

 

its funny :3

 

though I generally play nice

[Deadrogue]

Maybe this will be implemented in CS:GO to directly OW ban cheaters

I like your sense of humor. CS will never be cheat-free. 

[zappian]

Maybe this will be implemented in CS:GO to directly OW ban cheaters

CS GO has a anti cheating system.

This is meant for smaller devs that dont have such system.

[ShadowCaptain]

This is probably a good thing a lot of small time devs have problems with hackers and cheaters

 

as long as they dont abuse the system, I dont see an issue

[zappian]

This is probably a good thing a lot of small time devs have problems with hackers and cheaters

 

as long as they dont abuse the system, I dont see an issue

 

They will abuse the system .

Its naive to think otherwise.

Valve itself banned people from the dicussion board for shitting on paid mods.

This will be abused , thats the problem.

This is a perfect tool for early access scam artists like the air control developer.

[ShadowCaptain]

They will abuse the system .

Its naive to think otherwise.

Valve itself banned people from the dicussion board for shitting on paid mods.

This will be abused , thats the problem.

This is a perfect tool for early access scam artists like the air control developer.

 

Banning people from the discussion boards is a little different to whole games

 

I see it being an issue with some of the less trust-able devs - people say their game is shit so they just blanket ban all their players etc - i think 95% of devs would not be an issue though

[SurvivorNVL]

This will be abused, but hopefully when it is--an uproar can be had in relation to it.  I think this is overall a very good thing as many, many.. many.. good lord many alpha games as of late go from, "Wow this is really nice!"  to "Well.. if I wanted this many people flying around and playing speaker-killing sounds, I may as well go on a public GMOD server."

[MrSuperb]

CS GO has a anti cheating system.

This is meant for smaller devs that dont have such system.

 

CS GO has VAC and OW.

 

From what I know OW currently is used to filter cheaters and then a valve admin has to hand out a VAC ban after reviewing footage themselves.