GAME BAN Bugs With Window7 (Already UNBANNED)

[NorTh WinD]

2023/10/03 unbanned Update

First of all, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone, whether you believed in me or not. It's because of all of you that this article gained traction and allowed Valve to hear our voices.

As a Steam user who strongly opposes cheating and has never used cheats myself, I understand that it's not easy to convince you all of my innocence once I was labeled. However, there were people who chose to believe in me despite the label, and I'm truly thankful for that.

I also want to thank those who passionately criticized me, accusing me of being a liar and a cheater while I was still locked. Without your responses, this article wouldn't have gained such high visibility, and perhaps Valve wouldn't have noticed it.

Once again, I genuinely appreciate all of you.

What's somewhat disheartening is that the primary wave of unlocks seems to be focused on Windows 7 users. There are still a few Windows 7 users in the community who haven't been unlocked, along with Windows 10 and 11 users.

I believe it will take some time for VALVE to address these wrongful bans. Our group, which was locked earlier, took about 10 days to be unlocked, possibly due to the order in which they were processed.

Perhaps in a few more days, it will be your turn to be unlocked. I also wish for the speedy unlocking of those who are still wrongfully banned.

Hello, everyone , Moderators.

Until Valve clears our names, I don't care how you label us, whether it's as liars, cheaters. Arguing about these matters is meaningless.

Of course, I can't vouch for whether any players other than myself have used cheats or if there is indeed a cheater among our team.

The occurrence of the incident

I obtained access to CS2 testing on September 1st, and during that period, everything was normal with green trust factors.I didn't have red trust factors.

For anyone who may not be familiar with what trust factor is, here's an explanation:https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/00EF-D679-C76A-C185

On September 17th I played two CS2 matches with friends, and my trust factor was still green at that time.

However, the next day, September 18th, I could no longer play with my friends.Because my trust factor had changed from green to red within a day. This change prevented me from playing CS2 or CS1 normally.

With a green trust factor, it took only about 5 minutes or less to find opponents. However, once it turned red, the waiting time for matches increased to approximately 30 to 60 minutes. I couldn't afford to wait that long, and even when I did find matches, my teammates didn't have service medals, were beginners, or were using cheats.

Confused

I initially wondered if perhaps I had been reported by teammates or strangers during my matches the day before, but I felt my performance was quite average. However, considering that my trust factor went from green to red within a single day, I became concerned.

Therefore, on 9/19, I sent two emails to Valve. One was addressed to the CSGO Team Feedback regarding trust factor at CSGOTeamFeedback [at] valvesoftware [dot] com. The other email was sent through Steam Support.But Steam support but didn't get any useful response. They just told me to play more CS:GO.

Testing another account (XX)

And on 9/18, because my main account had a red trust factor and couldn't play with friends, I decided to use another account (XX) to play. This account (XX) also had a green trust factor, so we found opponents within 5 minutes and played just two games of CS2 before calling it a day.

On 9/19, I tested my main account again, which still had the red trust factor and couldn't find matches. So, I continued to use the green trust factor account (XX). However, to my surprise, on 9/19, this account (XX) also turned from green to red trust factor within a single day. This seemed highly unlikely because I had only played 2 matches with this account (XX) - it couldn't have turned red that quickly, right?

The occurrence of the ban

On 9/23 in the middle of the night, I discovered that my main account had received a GAME BAN. In a hurry, I checked my other account(XX), and found that it was still fine. However, after a few hours, this account (XX) also received a GAME BAN, just like my main account.

But i have another account(XY), which I use exclusively for CS1, as I didn't qualify for CS2. This account remained unaffected and didn't receive a GAME BAN.

Suspecting the possibility

In essence, there is a high likelihood that this issue is related to playing CS2 on Windows 7, as playing CS1 on Windows 7 doesn't seem to have the same problem, based on my tests. If there were something wrong with my computer, both CS1 and CS2 should result in GAME BANs, but that's not the case. Only the accounts played CS2 on my Windows 7 machine and experienced the transition from green to red trust factor within a day were eventually GAME BANned a few days later.

I find it highly unusual that my account went from green trust factor to red trust factor within a day.

Currently, Windows 7 users cannot directly launch CS2 due to what I suspect may be related to the minimum system requirement of Windows 10. When clicking the "Play" button, the game starts and then immediately closes. However, we can still play CS2 by finding the CS2 icon in the CSGO folder. Even though it shows "VAC was unable to verify your game session," if a friend or someone else hosts the lobby and invites us, we can still play together. I'm not sure if this issue is the cause of the BAN, but I have shared the details with you.

So why aren't there as many people affected by this recent wave of mistaken bans?

This goes back to Steam hardware investigation. According to... https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey.Only a small percentage, 1.1%, of players are using Win7, and not every Win7 player is playing CS:GO. Among those playing CS:GO, not all of them are eligible or inclined to play CS2.This group is quite small, and that's precisely why we are speaking out.

Here are the current posts in the CSGO discussion board, and these people share similar experiences with me:

(1). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463511592097/
(2). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463507609801/
(3). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463505228008/
(4). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463507876854/
(5). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463508661756/
(6). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463508075747/
(7). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463505017930/
(8). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463498234642/
(9). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/5291222824585950665/
(10). https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3879344463513278428/

Users who are suspected to be affected

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/needvalvefixit/discussions/0/3878218962823751953/

But we have discovered some common characteristics!

(1).Most of them use the the Win7 operating system.
(2).Their accounts are mostly old accounts, with over 5 years of history.
(3).Their playtime ranges from approximately 500 to 2000 hours, and even more.
(4).Almost all of them noticed their trust factor turning red (due to playing CS2) shortly after the update on September 15th.
(5).Around September 20th to 24th, some of them started receiving GAME BANs.

These signs make it seem like perhaps cheaters during this period went a bit wild? They chose to use cheats on their old accounts? Or maybe Valve's anti-cheat system had some issues?

Let's take a look at what happened three years ago when 5e caused Valve's VAC system to mistakenly ban many players with VAC or Game bans.

https://twitter.com/CounterStrike/status/1316830402753916928?s=20

I just want to say that Valve's anti-cheat system is not foolproof, and there may be cases of players being mistakenly banned.

But the reason many people spoke up during that previous wave was because 5e was a global platform used by many players at the time.

Self-declaration

Lastly, I want to reiterate that I've invested a lot of time and effort into this account. I love the Steam platform and enjoy playing games like CSGO, PUBG, APEX, NARAKA, and more. I have never considered cheating to solve any problems, which is why my playtime is high. While I don't like to bring this up, my inventory does have some value. No one would risk using an account of such value for cheating, and I hope Valve can see this.

To be honest, we've tried various ways to appeal this issue, but Valve's lack of response or action is something we cannot accept. So, we are speaking out to defend ourselves.

We have submitted complaints through several channels, but none have received a response:
1.STEAM support center.
2.CSGOTeamFeedback [at] valvesoftware [dot] com.
3.cs2team [at] valvesoftware [dot] com
4.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive discussions. (These discussions are often locked by moderators, preventing us from gathering more people to voice our concerns.)
5.Reddit

We earnestly request the moderators not to delete our posts. Please listen to our thoughts. We don't want to argue about who among us might have cheated or not. We just want the truth.

If possible, we need more players with similar cases to come forward and ask VALVE to investigate and fix this bug.

So we can get justice.

Thank you to everyone on this board.

If anyone can get in touch with Valve staff, please let me know. Thank you.

This article is also posted on Reddit. If comments are locked here, please discuss it on Reddit. The same article is posted on three different Reddit threads, but the content is identical.

{1). https://www.reddit.com/r/csgo/comments/16r18e4/game_ban_bugs_with_window7/
(2). https://www.reddit.com/r/cs2/comments/16r17oh/game_ban_bugs_with_window7/
(3). https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/16r18yf/game_ban_bugs_with_window7/

I've also created a Steam group. If there are individuals with similar experiences, please feel free to apply for membership directly.

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/needvalvefixit

If your Steam profile is set to private, or if your account age is too low and your gameplay hours are too short, you will not be allowed to join.

[Vault Hunter 101]

Why are you possting from your alt and not ur game banned main mr. booster service?

[NorTh WinD]

Originally posted by Vault Hunter 101:

Why are you possting from your alt and not ur game banned main mr. booster service?

oops ? this is my main account

[Abigail From Sneaky Shrimp Dept.]

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

We earnestly request the moderators not to delete our posts. Please listen to our thoughts. We don't want to argue about who among us might have cheated or not. We just want the truth.

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

[anime downloader]

you purposefully bypassed the requirements and the system flagged you as a rule breaker. seems like the ban was applied correctly.

[Symbiosion]

Originally posted by Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.:

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

We earnestly request the moderators not to delete our posts. Please listen to our thoughts. We don't want to argue about who among us might have cheated or not. We just want the truth.

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

My thread with the same issue is still active.

[Morbidly Majestic]

Why are you still using windows 7?

[Symbiosion]

Originally posted by Morbidly Majestic:

Why are you still using windows 7?

I didn´t like the looks of Win10/11. I am used to Win7. Got a Laptop which I use for DJing, and this one is still running on Windows XP xD

[NorTh WinD]

Originally posted by Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.:

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

We earnestly request the moderators not to delete our posts. Please listen to our thoughts. We don't want to argue about who among us might have cheated or not. We just want the truth.

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

Don't you think this is similar to what authoritarian regimes do? We are all individuals with our own thoughts and freedom of speech. Today, we followed Valve's procedures, but they didn't listen to our situation or respond to us. So, do we need to stand up and unite ourselves? I understand that this discussion board doesn't have official responses, but I can gather some people who have encountered the same issue as me. You are not alone, and we can come together to make Valve take this BUG issue seriously. Instead of locking discussion boards according to Valve's procedures, there is no response or correction. This will sadden players who have invested a lot of time into their accounts. It's not that we want to do this, but Valve's cold responses have pushed us to do so. I've followed all the official channels for reporting this issue, but there's still no response.

[Symbiosion]

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

Originally posted by Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.:

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

Don't you think this is similar to what authoritarian regimes do? We are all individuals with our own thoughts and freedom of speech. Today, we followed Valve's procedures, but they didn't listen to our situation or respond to us. So, do we need to stand up and unite ourselves? I understand that this discussion board doesn't have official responses, but I can gather some people who have encountered the same issue as me. You are not alone, and we can come together to make Valve take this BUG issue seriously. Instead of locking discussion boards according to Valve's procedures, there is no response or correction. This will sadden players who have invested a lot of time into their accounts. It's not that we want to do this, but Valve's cold responses have pushed us to do so. I've followed all the official channels for reporting this issue, but there's still no response.

Well said. 100%

[NorTh WinD]

Originally posted by Morbidly Majestic:

Why are you still using windows 7?

I use Windows 7 because my work environment requires it, and some older games are not very compatible with Windows 10. Furthermore, Windows 7 is supported by Steam until the end of the year. Even if I switch to Windows 10 later this year, it doesn't violate Steam's terms.

[NorTh WinD]

Originally posted by anime downloader:

you purposefully bypassed the requirements and the system flagged you as a rule breaker. seems like the ban was applied correctly.

I purposefully bypassed the requirements ??

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Minimum equipment:
OS: Windows® 7/Vista/XPor newer version

CS2 right now only DLC

So Win7 can play it well

[Troy McClure]

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

Originally posted by Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.:

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

Don't you think this is similar to what authoritarian regimes do? We are all individuals with our own thoughts and freedom of speech. Today, we followed Valve's procedures, but they didn't listen to our situation or respond to us. So, do we need to stand up and unite ourselves? I understand that this discussion board doesn't have official responses, but I can gather some people who have encountered the same issue as me. You are not alone, and we can come together to make Valve take this BUG issue seriously. Instead of locking discussion boards according to Valve's procedures, there is no response or correction. This will sadden players who have invested a lot of time into their accounts. It's not that we want to do this, but Valve's cold responses have pushed us to do so. I've followed all the official channels for reporting this issue, but there's still no response.

bullsh*t , if you rlly had this mental approach you should install some gnu/linux os and not stick to an ancient old and not secure system

[Abigail From Sneaky Shrimp Dept.]

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

Originally posted by Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.:

Your threads are being locked because there's nothing to discuss here. If keep getting locked that also means you are supposed to stop making them.

Don't you think this is similar to what authoritarian regimes do? We are all individuals with our own thoughts and freedom of speech. Today, we followed Valve's procedures, but they didn't listen to our situation or respond to us. So, do we need to stand up and unite ourselves? I understand that this discussion board doesn't have official responses, but I can gather some people who have encountered the same issue as me. You are not alone, and we can come together to make Valve take this BUG issue seriously. Instead of locking discussion boards according to Valve's procedures, there is no response or correction. This will sadden players who have invested a lot of time into their accounts. It's not that we want to do this, but Valve's cold responses have pushed us to do so. I've followed all the official channels for reporting this issue, but there's still no response.

Trying to compare the actions of an authoritarian government to a privately owned game developer is quite the stretch.

For someone with an account older the mine I'm always shocked how people go :surprised_pikachu: when valve doesn't communicate anything, something they are quite (in)famous for.

[Shifundy]

rip big inventory, so sad nice kato

[NorTh WinD]

Originally posted by ᓚᘏᗢ:

Originally posted by NorTh WinD:

Don't you think this is similar to what authoritarian regimes do? We are all individuals with our own thoughts and freedom of speech. Today, we followed Valve's procedures, but they didn't listen to our situation or respond to us. So, do we need to stand up and unite ourselves? I understand that this discussion board doesn't have official responses, but I can gather some people who have encountered the same issue as me. You are not alone, and we can come together to make Valve take this BUG issue seriously. Instead of locking discussion boards according to Valve's procedures, there is no response or correction. This will sadden players who have invested a lot of time into their accounts. It's not that we want to do this, but Valve's cold responses have pushed us to do so. I've followed all the official channels for reporting this issue, but there's still no response.

bullsh*t , if you rlly had this mental approach you should install some gnu/linux os and not stick to an ancient old and not secure system

But no one knew that sticking to your preferred system would result in a GAME BAN. I believe that GAME BANs or VAC bans are based on the assumption of cheating. Therefore, when I am very certain that I won't run cheat programs, I don't care about these.

Furthermore, Windows 7 is supported by Steam until the end of the year. Even if I switch to Windows 10 later this year, it doesn't violate Steam's terms.