Can I play steam games while using VPN and is it safe?

[Doctor Fetus]

I know that using VPN to buy games cheaper or whatever is prohibited and you will probably get banned but what if I just use it for gaming? Are there any risks? Should I turn steam off when using VPN and playing or it is not needed?

[Supafly]

Mines on all the time and I sometimes change server whilst connected if I get slow or unstable connection

Depending on the VPN you might have a split tunneling feature that would allow you to

Route Specific apps via the VPN

or

Have Specific App bypass the VPN

Though I don't bother as I only connect to UK servers as I'm from the UK.

[MancSoulja]

The general rule on Steam is that you’re fine using a VPN, as long as that VPN isn’t used to hide your country of Origin, so if you live in France for example, use a French server not a US one.

[Doctor Fetus]

Originally posted by MancSoulja:

The general rule on Steam is that you’re fine using a VPN, as long as that VPN isn’t used to hide your country of Origin, so if you live in France for example, use a French server not a US one.

The problem I am trying to solve is that I have issues in MP in Doom Eternal as I get constant disconnects from the servers.

I tried some basic workarounds but nothing helped. I read on forums that VPN can solve that by using USA servers that are more stable. So, I could get banned on steam for doing so? What if I just close steam completely when doing that? Will it help?

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Doctor Fetus:

I know that using VPN to buy games cheaper or whatever is prohibited and you will probably get banned but what if I just use it for gaming? Are there any risks? Should I turn steam off when using VPN and playing or it is not needed?

It is fine. Valve only enforces their stance on VPN usage if a VPN is used to bypass region restrictions or attempt to get cheaper prices.

[Tom Homan, Border Bouncer]

According to steam TOS, "You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, Valve may terminate your access to your Account." That means using a VPN technically violates their terms of service. It's up to interpretation how specific "place of residence" is. If it refers to your home address, any server is a violation, but if it refers to your state or country, you may be fine.

HOWEVER, there is an official response from steam support regarding this.
https://imgur.com/a/OEyW7

It basically says that steam will not punish you for playing games with a VPN active, though it may cause issues with the steam client (for instance, messing with region blocked games and content, or putting European censors on games.) They ask that you turn your VPN off before making a purchase.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by Doctor Fetus:

The problem I am trying to solve is that I have issues in MP in Doom Eternal as I get constant disconnects from the servers.

That won't help with connections if the issue is isp or routing issues.

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Big Bridge.mp4:

Originally posted by Doctor Fetus:

I know that using VPN to buy games cheaper or whatever is prohibited and you will probably get banned but what if I just use it for gaming? Are there any risks? Should I turn steam off when using VPN and playing or it is not needed?

It is fine. Valve only enforces their stance on VPN usage if a VPN is used to bypass region restrictions or attempt to get cheaper prices.

Have there been any statements from any Valve officials or is this speculation?

[Supafly]

Originally posted by thanks i hate it:

According to steam TOS, "You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, Valve may terminate your access to your Account." That means using a VPN technically violates their terms of service. It's up to interpretation how specific "place of residence" is. If it refers to your home address, any server is a violation, but if it refers to your state or country, you may be fine.

Funny thing is Valve often shows me logged in from 150 miles away at a minimum. Whilst using a VPN and connecting to a server 200 or 300 miles away, closest available, Steam can often see me as logging in <100 miles away. Thus using the VPN gets them more accurate data.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Crashed:

Originally posted by Big Bridge.mp4:

It is fine. Valve only enforces their stance on VPN usage if a VPN is used to bypass region restrictions or attempt to get cheaper prices.

Have there been any statements from any Valve officials or is this speculation?

There's the conditions listed in the Steam Subscriber Agreement regarding circumventing regional restrictions to buy or access content but the only statements given regarding everyday VPN usage are from Support and these state that it is fine to use as long as you're not doing it for the reasons given in the SSA.

I do believe the SSA needs updating regarding this aspect as it's been like this for many years now despite the use of VPN's growing and becoming a necessity. Even Valve-endorsed tournaments have used these. Steam also has further restriction methods in play to prevent region-rigging such as needing a payment method to match the store you are accessing so even with a VPN alone, you cannot really buy games outside of your locale anymore which succeeds what's given in the SSA as it is.

[crunchyfrog]

Using a VPN is no problem.

USing a VPN to skitr the rules re avoiding regional pricing on games IS bannable.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Crashed:

Originally posted by Big Bridge.mp4:

It is fine. Valve only enforces their stance on VPN usage if a VPN is used to bypass region restrictions or attempt to get cheaper prices.

Have there been any statements from any Valve officials or is this speculation?

yes. Person earlier provided a screenshot of support answering them that playing games with a vpn on won't get you banned but may cause issues with gameplay or the client.

[RetroKoH]

I apologize for necro-posting but this is topical. I am a user living in Vietnam and our access to the store is completely geoblocked by VN. If I use a VPN through a VN server I can access the store and I am not masking my account's country in doing so. Shows the same prices in the same currency

Would I still get banned for this though? Wanna know before I try

[nullable]

Are your breaking Vietnam law(s) in order to do so? Valve may not have any specific action to take in your situation. But there's a lot of variables you might want to address first. And if it were the case Vietnam wanted to block Steam and was to fine Valve any time they provided service to a Vietnam customer they might be compelled to penalize your account for trying to bypass the block.

I'm not saying that is happening or will happen, I don't know. But any casual answer you get today may not be true tomorrow, so take it with a grain of salt. The details may matter.

[John]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.