Unable to redeem game codes in the Steam Store?

[DieselDragon]

Problem: Unable to find any option under https://store.steampowered.com to redeem a Steam game code and apply its license to my account.
Desired solution: Location of the page on the Steam Store where I can add a Steam game code (And its associated license/usage rights) to my account.
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Hi guys!
I'm presently staying with a friend who's a longtime Steam customer and who also uses trustworthy, established and Steam-authorised bundle sites. Earlier today he pointed me to one particular bundle that I was extremely interested in (Not only because I like my simulator games, but also because one of them is an item in my Steam wishlist) and needless to say I went and bought the bundle in a heartbeat!

However: After buying my shiny new bundle and getting a small fistful of codes ready to poke into Steam, I logged-in (Via the website. My Linux laptop gets dependancy aggro and can't support the Steam client) and searched the Steam store extensively for the "Redeem Game Code" option but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
I've come across the "Redeem Steam wallet code" page several times of course, but - Having tried to use that in the past to redeem a code that a friend gave me for a game he didn't want - I know that the Steam Wallet code box doesn't accept or redeem game codes at all. :-/

I have to admit I'm a bit of an impatient so-and-so and I'd like to load my new game codes onto my Steam account ASAP so I can download and play them the moment I get home (Especially as my friend - Who bought the same bundle - Got his game license upgraded to the latest version immediately upon redemption, and I don't stand for missing the boat) so if anybody can please point me to the option on the Steam Store to do this, I'd be most greatful.
That said: My friend has also suggested that this might only be available in the Steam client itself, which I don't think sounds right personally. If this IS the case though, can somebody please explain exactly why this is and how it can be justified that I'd be effectively blocked from redeeming my own game codes upon my own account just because my travel laptop can't support the Linux version of the Steam client? :-/

That said: The bundle site that we've bought ours from (Whose name I won't mention yet as I don't know how this sits with forum policy) does support linking ones Steam account to that site. If I do this and then hit the [Redeem in Steam] button on the site will that add the game to my account via the Steam API, working around my inability to do this in the client? :-)

Many thanks for any information and assistance!
+++ DieselDragon +++

[size=1]Edits: Steam UBBcode implementation doesn't appear to handle non-markup square brackets gracefully.[/size]

[Cathulhu]

You can only redeem codes in the Steamclient. Not the website.
It was always that way and i'm sure that authorized reseller told you the same.
The Steam API no longer supports remote activations of game. I don't know why, i miss that option myself.

[DieselDragon]

Well: I can redeem the codes when I get back I suppose, but it still makes no sense that I can't redeem these through the website to allow me to power up and enjoy a one-click install when I get home! :-)

This does raise one important question in my mind though; If Valve/Steam won't consider their own website secure enough for such a perfectly routine and reasonable task, should we users be trusting it with our payment card details? :-o
+++ DieselDragon +++

[ReBoot]

You're free not to buy anything on Steam. Still, you can only redeem keys on Steam, get to a trustworthy PC and log into Steam there.

[DieselDragon]

My question at this point though has to be: Why do they apply this seemingly daft restriction? There's no obvious call for it, there's no obvious need for it, and - In absence of an FAQ/help article explaining why this is - Absolutely no explanation for it either.

Especially when considering that in many respects the Steam client itself looks (To my eye) very much like a customised web browser perhaps with some PGP functionality added on the side. Not exactly something that can't be replicated with GNU utils AFAIK... :-)

I am busily trying to make the Steam client work on my system to avoid this issue, but I keep on hitting the same old snag: It seems they've gone and chosen every single standard and format that my distro doesn't support without considerable amounts of hassle! :-o :-p
+++ DieselDragon +++

[Matt]

Originally posted by DieselDragon:

My question at this point though has to be: Why do they apply this seemingly daft restriction? There's no obvious call for it, there's no obvious need for it, and - In absence of an FAQ/help article explaining why this is - Absolutely no explanation for it either.

Registering a product through Steam itself existed long before the Steam Community website. They've just never gone back to add the functionality. A "restriction" implies not being able to do something that you normally can; however, in this case it's never existed.

[DieselDragon]

Hmm, that's a shame. I highly doubt I'm the only user who's been looking for this though, so surprised they havn't been bugged enough over it to either implement it, or at least write an FAQ entry giving a rationale as to why it'll never be implemented...

As for Steam working on the distro I use; Looks like there's practially no hope of it here. There's so much broken dependancy I can't even unpack the (XZ compressed) client downloader! :-(

If it can be click and go for Windows users, I don't see why on Earth Linux has to be such a perennial pain in the Brexit...
+++ DieselDragon +++

[ReBoot]

Can't you install the missing dependencies? I remember using Steam on Linux a while ago and it worked after a thorough session with apt.

[DieselDragon]

The trouble is that my distro was heavily customised for my use (I have several accessibility requirements) a while back and because of that, it's an absolute pig to go adding even more on. I did try force-updating libc6 to the latest version in my Steam client tests, but doing this completely garotted the OS from the inside out! :-o

Thank goodness I always clone my setup and trial in a VM prior to implementing it on production systems. It's also a very good example of why sudo ought to be a privilege (Groan) and not a right... :-p

That said: Whilst taking a trip through the Steam repository the other day I did manage to find the ISO image for SteamOS, so once I get the time I'll download/burn that and give it a try to see if I can make it work alongside my usual customisations. I hear SteamOS didn't get a very good reputation and proved to be a bit of a flop (That's what other Steam users have told me, at any rate) but as long as it can run games in a suitable DRM-happy environment whilst still giving me access to a terminal, I'm happy. :-)

Anyhow...Managed to get to my Windows box and successfully added the game keys I'd obtained just now. That said, I still think it should be possible to do this through the Steam store in a web browser. Much easier to secure newly gifted content to your account whilst on the road if you could.
+++ DieselDragon +++

[wuddih]

making this function available on a website would allow easy automatism. they did it "partly" over the steamapi to make this function available for allowed 3rd party sites(mainly humble and indiegala), resulted in insta abuse and was removed.

[ReBoot]

What kind of abuse was that?

[DieselDragon]

Originally posted by Wuddih:

Making this function available on a website would allow easy automatism. They did it "partly" over the steamapi to make this function available for allowed 3rd party sites(mainly humble and indiegala), resulted in insta abuse and was removed.

This is something that's throwing me a bit. Provided the user is already logged-in to Steam on that device (i.e: Via the website, Steam client, SteamOS or whatever) and hasn't authenticated through a third party (except via oAuth or a similar method) then I can't see exactly how this would be open to abuse.

Taking my case as an example: Though I have the Steam client installed on a Windows 10 PC for lightweight gaming I tend to administrate my account and obtain content licenses primarily through my Linux laptop, which can't run the Steam client for Debian. I also tend to get given game codes by friends and my partner occasionally or through Humble, which I'd also like to be able to credit to my Steam account as soon as possible after acquisition.
Being able to log-in to the Steam website and cut/paste the code across from Humble or wherever into the Steam store would allow me to do this, and - Again - I can't quite see where the potential for abuse presents itself in this case.

If it was possible for one to Unacquire content licenses through the website and "Cash in" account content for licence codes or Steam wallet balance, then I'd understand such a restriction (And would expect a Steam Guard check on every such action) but as my knowledge suggest this isn't, surely such a restriction is unnecessarily inconvenient without due cause? :-?
+++ DieselDragon +++