Question about Australia and RC games.

[Neonetik]

I live in Australia. As you may know, games here are viewed as literal murder trainers.

Sadly, I cannot access many games on steam, because my own country believes that seeing a pixelated man say and do mean things will literally cause me to become a psychopath and murder children, see Hotline Miami 2, Hatred, and of course, Manhunt.

I was wondering, if I had a way of getting games on steam that are available in other countries, but not in this one, could there be any danger to my steam account?

For example, if I managed to get someone to gift me Manhunt in return for something else, would I be breaking any particular steam rules or anything?

I recall buying Dark Sector off of some site that sold games and steam keys, maybe green man gaming or something, which was a title that was banned in Australia/censored or whatever, and I can totally buy Postal 2 off of steam, which is strange, but whatever. I had also pre purchased Hatred off the devs website and got a steam key which tied the game to my account.

I have 1000 games on my account, and I value it greatly. I totally want these games, but if there's any risk to my account, it's not worth it.

[The Flying Claw]

How is this policed in your country? Are Steam obliged to report you?

[Neonetik]

I don't think I would get in trouble with my government, but I just don't want to get in trouble with steam.

[Lemonload]

I know this is late but no it's fine, I've gotten Hotline Miami 2 through gift fine, and I'm trying to get Manhunt now

[Neonetik]

Not late at all! More information is always appreciated.

[Major Malfunction]

Hey buddy i am Australian too and i can tell you for a fact, someone can gift you a copy and it will work just fine with no risk. Check my profile, no bans no email warnings, nothing. All you need to do is find someone kind enough to gift it to you, good luck with that.

[JIMSL1CE]

This game is addable on Steam with a regular Steam Key
Currently available at Humble Bundle, just need to get them to give you the key first

[Cyrus]

Originally posted by JIMSL1CE:

This game is addable on Steam with a regular Steam Key
Currently available at Humble Bundle, just need to get them to give you the key first

HB version is region locked. details on the bundle page. Even says so when purchasing.

[JIMSL1CE]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

Originally posted by JIMSL1CE:

This game is addable on Steam with a regular Steam Key
Currently available at Humble Bundle, just need to get them to give you the key first

HB version is region locked. details on the bundle page. Even says so when purchasing.

Well the key worked for me, in Australia without region any change for Steam

[djcj]

This game is region locked in my country but I got the key from HB using Tor browser. You can also use a proxy or VPN to get around that region lock and buy the key.
I don't even want to play this, I just bought it because it was cheap and I hate region lock crap like that. I feel really sorry for Australian gamers, luckily the situation here in my country has become better during the last years. I hope things will change in Australia too (maybe start a petition or something). I don't even understand why Steam, HB or GoG do this. They're in the USA, right? So why do they care about the laws in other countries?

[JIMSL1CE]

Originally posted by djcj:

why do they care about the laws in other countries?

It's not wise to go against the laws of countries you sell your service in

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by djcj:

This game is region locked in my country but I got the key from HB using Tor browser. You can also use a proxy or VPN to get around that region lock and buy the key.
I don't even want to play this, I just bought it because it was cheap and I hate region lock crap like that. I feel really sorry for Australian gamers, luckily the situation here in my country has become better during the last years. I hope things will change in Australia too (maybe start a petition or something). I don't even understand why Steam, HB or GoG do this. They're in the USA, right? So why do they care about the laws in other countries?

Because Australian corrupt government abuse their power whenever they can. They're suing Steam for years too.

[drtekrox]

Originally posted by djcj:

This game is region locked in my country but I got the key from HB using Tor browser. You can also use a proxy or VPN to get around that region lock and buy the key.
I don't even want to play this, I just bought it because it was cheap and I hate region lock crap like that. I feel really sorry for Australian gamers, luckily the situation here in my country has become better during the last years. I hope things will change in Australia too (maybe start a petition or something). I don't even understand why Steam, HB or GoG do this. They're in the USA, right? So why do they care about the laws in other countries?

It's already changed in AU, we had R rating added several years ago, Rockstar needs to put the game up for classification again (this costs money) if they want it released here.

However for OP and anyone else this is the situation:
1. Steam or HB cannot sell you copy on Manhunt as it is currently Refused Classification (as it was classified well prior to an R rating for games), It's illegal for anyone to sell a work that is RC within Australia.
/HOWEVER/
2. It is *NOT* illegal to posses works that are RC, only to sell them within Australia.
thus
3. If you use a proxy/VPN/TOR to purchase the game, it's legal as HB doesn't know you're an Australian in Australia, therefore they are not doing anything wrong. (DO NOT use TOR for Steam though, as it's against the TOS and you might end up banned!)
4. Steam will activate keys for games that are RC, as Steam is not *selling* anything, you already own the key.

If you want Manhunt, get a VPN/TOR, buy it from HB and activate on Steam, simples.

[JIMSL1CE]

It's dissapointing that many Australian's buying the Bundle are getting no other game to replace it, I made sure I got it out of principle more than desire

[djcj]

I find this region lock thing a very anachronistic thing in our globalized world, but whatever...

[JIMSL1CE]

Originally posted by djcj:

I find this region lock thing a very anachronistic thing in our globalized world, but whatever...

It's just Age Classification, this game came out before Australia had R18+ & was unable to classify it as the game could not meet MA15 requirements
A game cannot be sold in Australia if it hasn't been classified, the main issue is the Classification Board not getting on top of things since the implementation of R18+