Does Steam think I'm a bot?!

[Ducklord]

Dunno if anyone else ever had the same problem, just asking here out of curiosity.

I just bought three bundles from "a reseller that specializes in bundles" (don't know if it's okay to mention their name here). So, here I am, entering each games key manually in steam, since "that-specific-reseller" doesn't offer an easy click-to-activate-on-steam like "another reseller we all know". And after some keys, Steam stops me, throws an error about "too many wrong keys entered" or something, and asks me to wait some time before I go on.

Now, the reason I'm mentioning this here is 'cause I find it a bit... em... idiotic, on part of Steam as a client. I am MANUALLY copying-and-pasting keys, and each and every one of them is (supposed to be, don't know if I somehow got a "hacked" key someone else had) "unique".

So, IF there was no problem with a key being wrong (dunno 'till it lets me re-enter the last two keys), and it's just some kind of limit for bots, Steam - as a client, an application, talking about its "software logic" here - should "see" that the keys aren't entered in specific intervals but at different times - since, you know, I actually happen to be human.

And, apart from that, I can't even start to grasp the logic of this limit: it's not like a bot is entering stolen keys. EVEN if "it was a bot" (which, last time I checked, I'm not), what would be wrong with it entering... taratataaa: legaly purchased Steam Keys? I mean, what is the logic behind it? Did someone say aloud at Valve's offices "no, please, NO You Evil Bot You, stop giving us money"?!?

So, is there a limit? Is there some kind of ban on buying multiple titles at the same time? Am I a bot and nobody told me? Have I got a positronic brain? I always wanted to see one up close! What gives?

P.S.: I forbid ANY aspiring game developer from using "You Evil Bot You" as a title for any of his digital creations after reading this message.

P.S.2: I don't mean any disrespect to Valve or anyone who works there - I'm really wondering about their train of thought resulting in this little problem. If anyone stumbles on this message, and knows the "whys" and "hows" behind it, please, do enlighten me! :-)

[Spawk]

Originally posted by Ducklord:

And, apart from that, I can't even start to grasp the logic of this limit: it's not like a bot is entering stolen keys. EVEN if "it was a bot" (which, last time I checked, I'm not), what would be wrong with it entering... taratataaa: legaly purchased Steam Keys? I mean, what is the logic behind it? Did someone say aloud at Valve's offices "no, please, NO You Evil Bot You, stop giving us money"?!?

What if said bot was trying every possible CD-key combination?

[Ducklord]

And to be clear, the message reads: "There have been too many recent UNSUCCESSFUL activation attempts from this account". No, there haven't - that's my problem, in how the problem is "phrased": ALL games activated (or at least seemed to do so), I didn't meet ANY error up to this.

If it IS actually a hard-coded limit from Valve, shouldn't the problem be mentioned like...

"Too Many Activation Attempts:

There have been too many recent activation attempts from this account. Please wait and try your product code again later."


..? Notice that in my version the word "unsuccessful" is missing (since there WEREN'T "unsuccessful attempts"? The way it's written, it makes you think someone MAY have stolen one or more of your keys!

[Ducklord]

@Spawk : Err... No. I've used AutoHotKey to automate some of my day to day tasks, so I know a bit around scripting. A "bot" wouldn't happen to fall on correct keys one-after-the-other. Steam _should_ see that "the keys entered are correct" - EVEN if the user did one or two typos entering them, they could be detected as human error. A bot doesn't enter, say, 10 correct keys and three wrong ones in a timeframe of 5-10 minutes. It blasts a server with thousands of WRONG keys and it may occasionally stumble on a correct one.

Caps for emphasis, not shouting or being rude here (...and, by the way, would it be better if I bolded the words - and if yes, how?!).

[dirrtymartini]

Originally posted by Ducklord:

(snip)
Caps for emphasis, not shouting or being rude here (...and, by the way, would it be better if I bolded the words - and if yes, how?!).

There's a "Formatting Help" button next to the "Post Comment" button that would show you how to use bold.

[Spawk]

Originally posted by Ducklord:

@Spawk : Err... No. I've used AutoHotKey to automate some of my day to day tasks, so I know a bit around scripting.

Wow, you must be some sort of script wizard.

Originally posted by Ducklord:

A "bot" wouldn't happen to fall on correct keys one-after-the-other. Steam _should_ see that "the keys entered are correct"

You said yourself that you didn't know if a key might have been 'wrong'.

Originally posted by Ducklord:

So, IF there was no problem with a key being wrong (dunno 'till it lets me re-enter the last two keys)

[Ducklord]

@Spawk : No need to be rude mate, since I never said that "I'm a script wizard". You, on the other hand, are rude and offensive. And you totally didn't get what I'm saying. Let me simplify it a bit:

1. At the very least, the phrasing of the problem is wrong, IF there WASN'T "a wrong key". I mentioned the correct way of telling the user if there's a problem in this case - and I'm not a native English speaker.

2. If there WAS "a wrong key", the "logic" behind Steam is WRONG: ANYONE can make a typo, and that doesn't mean that he's a bot - if previously he'd entered more than 20 CORRECT keys in a row. Bots do the exact oposite: they hammer a key-field with WRONG keys until they stumble on a correct one.

3. If it IS an artificial limit on part of Valve, again, "it does not compute". It's illogical. Is Valve limiting how much someone can spend on it? Do you see a logic in them stopping you from paying them?

Now, can you stop replying like a kid and give a logical explanation to why this happened? I'm not crying like a kiddie 'cause I can't get my game fix. I think I stumbled on a phrasal or logical problem in Steam that I never met in any other program or platform in general in the 27 years I'm using computers and gaming, and just wondering if there's some kind of reason it happens. 'Cause if it IS "a problem", like I see it, it's something that Valve could, you know, FIX. Trying to HELP here, you know. Would it be better if I wrote "Yo, Valve, del unsuksesfool, its rong"?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Just so we're clear here:

1. How many keys did you enter before one stopped working?
2. Did all the keys that you entered before this last one activate successfully? If they did, you should have seen a confirmation message. It is pretty conspicuous.

I have heard of at least one retailer selling key codes that were already used, but I haven't heard about this problem in a while. I don't know why you're unwilling to state the retailer you bought your codes from, but I can't conclude anything else.

[Ducklord]

@ [dirrty]gsharp Thanks, didn't notice it (old blind me). Sorry for the idiotic question :-)

[Ducklord]

@Quint I didn't mention their names 'cause I don't know if it's okay in Steam Forums mentioning other retailers names. Here it goes: Bundle Stars. If it's against Steam Forum rules, mods, feel free to delete it. Hope I won't get banned.

The bundles were Reboot 5, Reboot 3 and Resurrection. First two have got six games each, second one... fourteen games. Got them just for 1-2 titles in each I'd played in the past or wanted to see (i.e. Blades of Time, Rune Classic etc).

So, I had 26 keys to enter in a row. It stopped me in the last two. And I'm (almost) sure I didn't do a typo, since I just copy-pasted them.

So, we're either talking a problem in the phrasing of the problem, or some kind of silly restriction, or someone, somehow, stealing one key or selling one that doesn't work. But, to answer your question, I can see all games I activated in my Library, and didn't meet any error while activating them (up to the one I mentioned).

@[JBG] MAGIKARP : Heh, sorry, as I said, not a native English speaker, may do some mistakes from time to time. And, nope, PS2 was (and still is) a great, great console. Ah, how many nights I've spent over Burnout 3... :-)

[Ducklord]

OK, it just let me enter the last two keys as well, after some time.

So, we're left with either problem in phrasing or silly restriction. Yoooo, Vaaalve! Which of the two is it? :-D

[Wolfman-RIP]

I buy steam keys from GMG, Amazon, Gamers gate etc and never had any issues even when entering them wrong 2 or 3 times in a row. At one point I tried to enter some keys from CD-ROM PC games I had from years ago. (Quake 3, Doom 3) They didn't work but I retyped them a few times to check.

I never got the error you came across.

You have must of entered the wrong key 10+ times in a short period of time. Getting it wrong 5 or less times can be put down to human error but more then that and you will be looking like a bot or a guy trying to get free games through pure luck/chance.

[Ducklord]

Yeah, that's exactly why I created this thread - 'cause I COULDN'T and HAVEN'T entered the wrong key "more than two times in a row", since I'm using Ditto, a clipboard manager, where I'd copied them in batches of three-four keys. At most, I could have entered the same already-activated key a second time.

The whole procedure went like "key - accepted, key - accepted, key - not accepted due to all the incorrect keys you entered previously".

That's why it seemed so... dunno, "wrong", but not in a heavy world-is-ending-due-to-kaiju-attacks way.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

I don't have experience with Bundle Stars, so I can't say much about them.

It sounds like it was indeed an automated lockout, just with the wrong message. Seems like it's nothing much to worry about. Just don't add keys en masse in the future. I suggest only adding those games you want and keeping the others saved somewhere.

[Ducklord]

Yeah, could be a glitch.

[TirithRR]

The lockout triggers on good activations too. It goes away after about 45 minutes. Don't worry about it. Nothing bad will happen as long as you are redeeming legit keys and not actually trying to brute force free games.