Steam let me activate games I already owned.

[Somnium Deus]

Like many stream users, I bought many games that I thought I'd play (soon).
I bought "Cities in Motion Complete (2012)" for a very long time.

Today, I bought "HUMBLE PARADOX MANAGEMENT BUNDLE" from Humble Bundle.

I activated all of them at once cause I trusted that steam would notify me if I already owned the game. It notified me that I cannot activate "Cities in Motion 2", 1 game only.

So, I activated the base game and 3 DLCs (US Cities - Tokyo - German Cities) for nothing.

Can I get the keys back to give them to my bro or my friends like I usually do?

I know it's my fault that I trust that steam wouldn't let me activate the games I already owned but I also think that there's a problem with this product activation too.

(I can't find anything about this is steam help/support. And I really wanted to talk to their customer service agent to explain the situation.)

[Wolf Knight]

if you own the game, it will not use the key. if the version of the game you are trying to activate is different then the one you already have on the account, it will use the key (you are adding content to your game).

steam support is unable to refund game activation keys, they are a one time use item.

you would need to discuss this with Humble, they sold the keys to you.

[SpunkyJones]

No, the key is gone, it was probably a different version of the game, which is why it activated. Why did you even input the key?

[Theblaze]

If I remember correctly, Steam warns you when one or more items included in the bundle are already in your account, it also tells you when you get a extra copy of the game you already own.

[wuddih]

Originally posted by Theblaze:

If I remember correctly, Steam warns you when one or more items included in the bundle are already in your account, it also tells you when you get a extra copy of the game you already own.

just on purchase via Steam itself, not activation with keys.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

This is why you search the game title when adding bundle keys to a large library.

This is common sense stuff.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by wuddih:

Originally posted by Theblaze:

If I remember correctly, Steam warns you when one or more items included in the bundle are already in your account, it also tells you when you get a extra copy of the game you already own.

just on purchase via Steam itself, not activation with keys.

Is that sure?

[Ogami]

If you try to activate a game you already own the key activation will just tell you " You already own all products associated with this serial key".
That will not use up the key.
But only if you try to activate a single game. Bundle keys with multiple games /DLC included will activate as long as you missing at least one game/DLC from it without any warning.

[The Giving One]

Pretty sure that any difference at all in the content from the key will allow it to be activated.

A soundtrack, a language difference, etc.

Any difference at all between the content being added by the key and what you already have on your account will allow Steam to add the new key.

Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

[Somnium Deus]

Well, I still don't know how different.

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

This is why you search the game title when adding bundle keys to a large library.

This is common sense stuff.

Common sense for me is a warning when I try to activate the game I already have (like . . . Cities in Motion 2 and almost every other game. I put "almost" there because now I'm not sure anymore.

[The Giving One]

Steam only knows you are trying to add a key that is different in some way. Yes, a feature that tells you any similarities would be nice, but it does not work that way as far as I know.

There must have been something different about the key that you used, as compared to what you already had on your account.

We see these threads here often, and what usually happens is what has been said here also.

EDIT.....................

Also, sorry for the double post, but your account login name is visible in your screenshot.

You should take that down from imgur. It's best to edit that out when submitting such screenshots here.

[Somnium Deus]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Steam only knows you are trying to add a key that is different in some way. Yes, a feature that tells you any similarities would be nice, but it does not work that way as far as I know.

There must have been something different about the key that you used, as compared to what you already had on your account.

We see these threads here often, and what usually happens is what has been said here also.

EDIT.....................

Also, sorry for the double post, but your account login name is visible in your screenshot.

You should take that down from imgur. It's best to edit that out when submitting such screenshots here.

Thanks for your advice. I edited the comment and deleted the images.
(I thought everyone in this thread could see my id by just hover/click at my name so I didn't mind.)

Well, if it's pretty common around here then I guess that's it.
I'm not going to try any harder so I can give them to my bro/friends. I wonder if they even want to play it. LOL

I guess it's just another thing I should be more careful. Even Steam is not perfect.

----
Thank you for other helpful comments too!

[The Giving One]

You are welcome, and no, we can see your profile name, otherwise known as your nickname here, and you can change that as you like.

Your account login name is specific, and unique. No one should ever be allowed to see your real account login name, and no one can, unless you make it visible somehow (screenshots, for example).

Feel free to ask any other questions about this, as I can only guess there must have been something different about the key you used, but I don't know that for sure. I just know that is "usually" the case in these threads. Thanks.