Valve is Shutting Down Over 20,000 Accounts for Illegal CDkey Use

Posted by: Newsfactory on: 11/23/2004 12:52 PM [ Print | 37 comment(s) ] · 7767 views

If you know what 5J52E-FVKXV-882FQ-YJXRQ-DOD98 is for and tried it, please try and refrain from being too upset in your posts.



If you don't know what it was for, it was part of a way to steal HL2 which doesn't work anymore.

Driverheaven

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c4_toky Member Posts: 25 Joined: 2004-12-28

#58376 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:07 PM HAHA

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MAT0 Unregistered

#58377 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:09 PM despite that this key is blicked, it should not be listed.

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MagamiAKO Unregistered

#58378 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:12 PM As I posted on DH I don't necessarily agree with how Valve is going about handling software piracy. By disabling these Steam accounts (and subsequently possibly banning innocent people), they are insisting that they don't want people to purchase the game if they at one point had attempted to pirate it. This is just wrong, in my opinion. Though many of these Steam accounts may be dummy accounts anyway (to 'prevent' Steam from having legitimate information of some of its pirated users), some of these may in fact be the accounts that people were going to use to purchase it anyway. Just because someone pirates a game initially does not mean that the person is always going to be a pirate of that game. For a good example, the Christmas holidays are fast approaching. Many of these pirates may in fact be teenagers who want to play the game prior to getting the game for Christmas. They're still going to purchase the game, sure...it's just that right now they don't personally have the financial ability than a lot of others--hell, I even have a job and it's hard to keep up with the rising prices of games and video hardware. Another example would be someone in a cash strapped situation myself. I've got a GF4 Ti4200, the card is 2.5 years old. It's about time I upgrade, but what do I want to invest my heard earned money on? The video hardware to play the game, or the game? And you do always have the people who pirate it just because, even if they could afford it. But can you blame them? Without a decently-sized demo to try out the game, why would they not want to pirate it? Why hasn't Valve released a 2-3 level demo of HL2 or 2 level demo of CS:S to the community to be able to play online without actually having the full version of the game? For example, back in the Duke Nukem 3D days, you could have the DN3D game and could still play with someone who had the full game so as long as they didn't choose a map that wasn't available in the demo. It would tie a much larger amount of people over until they could scrounge together the money to purchase their increasingly expensive games.

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scyphe Unregistered

#58379 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:17 PM Well, while your point holds substance, it's moot since there's no way to discern the difference between pure leeches or presumptious buyers. A demo is always a good thing that would make this discussion moot in itself. But seeing this from Valve's point of view, there's nothing wrong in what they're doing. Not from other buyers POV either come to think of it.

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streetw0lf Unregistered

#58380 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:22 PM "Thou doth protest too much" Funny how the folks who use, how should I say it, "evaluation games", are always the only people who voice displeasure when a company decides to take measures to combat the STEALING of their property. If you want to STEAL then accpet the consequences and shut the hell up. Buy the friggin game and you won't have any problems.

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MagamiAKO Unregistered

#58381 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:25 PM There are of course many reasons that many people do not purchase games. For a lot of these people, it comes down to just one of them being the deciding factor. For example, I know people who do not like to play games with anything less than 60FPS. Of course, these people don't exactly have the money to invest in the hardware to be able to handle that in Half Life 2. So instead, they'll pirate the game because even if it works sub-par on their system, they'll accept that fact because they didn't actually pay for it in the first place and they don't feel like they're being jipped for their money. You cannot convince those people to purchase and play the games with anything under "60 FPS", so they might actually end up buying the thing for another year or two down the line. And there are many other reasons, storylines, etc. I've heard most people are highly disappointed with the ending to HL2--and the more times that they give disappointing and incomplete endings, the less of a chance the person is going to want to purchase the next game. It's just something they're going to have to live with and should learn to cater their software to all markets. This includes releasing a 2-3 level demo of HL2 with a 2 level demo of CS:S.

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MagamiAKO Unregistered

#58382 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:32 PM It's funny that there are people out there who steal the games and then turn around and tell people who do the same to "shut the hell up." Not too many of the target audience for many video games are going to be able to purchase the games. Just like not everyone purchases all software. So that's fine, you've ran out and purchased and pre-ordered your copy of Doom 3 or HL2 with all the special t-shirts, cds, knick-knacks, etc. But you rush home to find that it doesn't like to start up on your pirated copy of Windows Server 2003. Yes, I know people who have done that and do that. I've got a friend that has purchased both Doom 3 and HL2, but runs a pirated copy of Windows 2003. For many pirates, it's subjectivity. For example, a lot MORE people are accepting of ripping off Microsoft, whereas they're a lot less accepting of ripping off Valve software. In your eyes, it's all the same thing, right? I haven't purchased either of these games. Does that mean I'm not going to purchase them? Of course not. I just haven't felt that I have been given a decent value, and I don't feel that I will experience a $60 purchase well without first making a $200 purchase on computer hardware. I remember playing the original HL demo that was released--which is why it surprises me that Valve hasn't put out a HL2 demo, after all.....they are supposedly a "community" oriented software developer....yeah, right.

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BetrayerX Unregistered

#58384 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:36 PM You posted this at DH and didnt get banned? BTW I agree with you on this.

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FailedCRC Unregistered

#58385 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:44 PM er, in all fairness if you were plain stupid enough to install hl2 using a pirated serial on your previously owned steam account... tough sh*t

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BetrayerX Unregistered

#58386 Posted on: 11/23/2004 01:44 PM This is stupid. If someone comes with an argument that they have the right to test the game before buying it, it makes your point moot. Of course, many pirates take refuge in that excuse...blah blah, but the bottomline is that if you are going to pay, at least you might want to know if it runs fine on your machine or if you will like the game. If the case is Valve aking down a key used by 20,000 people, then so be it (heck it can be 20), but usually when you take down multiple keys, innocent people might go down ... and they will...always happens.

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El_Coyote Senior Member Posts: 555 Joined: 2002-12-18

#58387 Posted on: 11/23/2004 02:48 PM Call it life! you cant always get everything you want. Not being able to afford both a washingmachine and a dryer, doesnt justify buying the washingmachine and then stealing the dryer the following night. it's the same with the whole "OMG I CANT AFFORD BOTH THE GAME AND THE GFX CARD" rant. buy the gfx card and then save up for the game... but HL2 is very scalable it runs on most systems that has directx7+ level hardware (Geforce 1+) You either have to: A: get better paying job. or B: manage your finances better and spend money on what's most important to you. drug addicts lack of funds doesnt justify robbing people either.

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razor_ro Member Posts: 53 Joined: 2002-07-03

#58389 Posted on: 11/23/2004 03:12 PM my account got disabled and i accept it.... but i didnt steal it, theres a video store near my house that rents pc games, and i was the first to rent HL2, so basically i had a free account, until last night :s, i guess everyone else that was renting it got screwed, hehe, but in all fairness theres no way i am going to ***** about it, i am just gonna have to go out and buy a copy.... i love CS so the upgrade to SOURCE is worth the purchase

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Chernobyl Member Posts: 65 Joined: 2003-05-03

#58390 Posted on: 11/23/2004 03:21 PM Agreed !!!

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d3m0n5 Junior Member Posts: 17 Joined: 2003-06-22

#58392 Posted on: 11/23/2004 04:23 PM loooooooool right on i bought HL2 & CS Source cuz I really really appreciate what VALVE made. I can't say the same for most other games i've d/l since HL1.

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shlepp420 Unregistered

#58393 Posted on: 11/23/2004 05:03 PM Anyone who is STUPID enough to pirate Hl2, actually DESERVES this to happen to them because Hl2 is a game that MUST be purchased, no if's and's or but's from pirates.

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Insane Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2001-11-20

#58396 Posted on: 11/23/2004 05:48 PM Although I purchased it myself that is your opinion that HL2 is a game that MUST be purchased. Because you say so doesnt really mean much to me or anyone else : I got it from purchasing a 9800xt ... only took 2 years. But yea anyone stupid enough to actually use a pirated version with their actual Steam account is a big dummy.

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Raiken3712 Unregistered

#58397 Posted on: 11/23/2004 06:09 PM This is just a stupid argument most of the people that pirate do it because they can't afford to get the game. So when they can afford it a big amount of the time they will end up buying it, but if they get screwed by the company they won't. The company doesn't lose less money by doing this kind of thing in fact with all the copy protection and all of this kind of thing they lose money but their own biased bad research tells them the opposite so they go with it. Fact is if you get messed over by a company because you pirate your never going to buy that game or software. Where as if they just left you alone a big percentage of those people will buy the software in the future because its good software. So none of the pirates buying the software virtually vs some of them actually buying eventually well it looks to me like they just sold more than they would have with all the bother screwing people out of the game.

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Raiken3712 Unregistered

#58398 Posted on: 11/23/2004 06:12 PM Oh yeah and they also didn't spend the money on all the stupid copy protection that sometimes hurts legitimate owners more than pirates. It costs money for the copy protection so they save money there too.

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twilliams1 Unregistered

#58403 Posted on: 11/23/2004 07:20 PM *THE-FACTS* I purchased the game as a pre-order. I expected the game on Tuesday the 16th. I was going nutz as friends of mine were playing the game the day of. I read on some page about the cd key and tried it just out of curiosity, but it did not work. The next day i got my copy of HL2 and installed and successfully registered it. I have been playing it and enjoying it for days "nausia aside". Today I logged in and my account has been disabled. I have speet about 5 hours trying to get support to reset my account, I have sent them copies of my recepts showing the purchase date, I have sent them pictures of my CD's and cd key and I cant get any thing. I had my HL-1 cd key and retail counter strike also under this account. At current I have 3 retail payed for games with recepts and dates and all of them are shut down. I do not think my curriosity warrents the loss of all my games when I am of legal right to owne and play all of them! I am not even one who could not get the game for free and then whent and payed, I bought it first and out of curriosity tried the key floating arround the web. I am pissed as hell and the support form STEAM is crap! any how, i thought i should share my story with you all... I am sure that if steam has 1/2 a brain they will be able to look at the logs and see I was not trying to cheat them, but only time will tell..

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wizzcat Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2002-07-18

#58407 Posted on: 11/23/2004 09:06 PM Dude, if you had 1/2 a brain you wouldn't use a key you found on the net on your legit account. Can't say I'm feeling too sorry for you. It should be quite obvious to anyone that they'd ban anyone who had anything to do with any leaked keys.

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Anach Unregistered

#58408 Posted on: 11/23/2004 09:18 PM As i own the game, i have no worry about this as i dont even know my own CD key. I purchased via steam. Those people who are banned, are banned for using that CD key. There is no innocent factor. Ive been known to use "Evaluation" software also, but I own the stuff i play. I know how many people complain about bugs due to poor cracks, or about bans for cheating or warez. Those people simply need to get a clue. I do have issues with certain copy protection though. Even with legitimate games not working in my burner or disabling other software on my sytem before they will run. So sometimes even the innocent can have trouble, but in the case of this above cdkey, there is no excuse. There is one thing that stands out though. Anyone who was stupid enough to use this downloaded *nuked* version of HL2 on their official Steam account should be banned, for being an idiot. The others who made secondary steam accounts need not worry. As far as these rumors about Valve setting up this to trap people. Dont be a moron, its simply cracked and warez like every other game, its just valve have access to IRC and Torrents just as much as anyone else. So they would of found out as soon as they read the NFO. I dont think Valve would need to go to the trouble of entrapment to find out who is using illegal versions.

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antspants Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-03-24

#58412 Posted on: 11/23/2004 10:46 PM You all just make me lagh my ass off. I wonder how many suicides this will cause? I wonder how many innocent people will be bombed? I wonder what will happen to the universe after hl2 is forgotten? half life half life half life half a life more like it

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smokeyjoe Unregistered

#58414 Posted on: 11/23/2004 11:20 PM half like sux balls get a real game like ut2004 valve can blow me haha

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scyphe Unregistered

#58416 Posted on: 11/23/2004 11:53 PM I still fail to feel any sympathy for any user downloading pirate-versions of software. If it doesn't work on his pirated copy of win2k3? tough luck, stay and take the pain or go away. I download movies.. yes, I do.. if there's something wrong with the rip, or something is wrong with sync etc. I don't expect any sympathy at all. it's all about being cheap bastards. I've bought original dvds for $2000+, but I still download more. why? I want to see the movie but I don't want to go through the hassle of waiting an extra 3 months to be able to rent it. and I may not have cash when I feel like watching it... but I'm still a lazy bastard. and so's every other single pirate out there. if you value any of the software industry, try to pay for at least the most important stuff. something is better than nothing, and it will keep the software industry making good stuff. but don't expect sympathy because your pirated game or app stops working.

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scyphe Unregistered

#58418 Posted on: 11/23/2004 11:55 PM that post was intelligent and full of substance... erh..