Doubts about Receiving Region Blocked Games as Gifts !

[XadowMonzter]

Good Night.

Before saying anything, i ask that if any Moderator see this post, dont block it, and leave it as a Guide for people that may have the same doubt as me.

So, i was thinking about this Region Blocked Games, and got to a conclusion that in most cases, when a game is Region Block, its because of some content it has, for example: a sensitive subject in your country.

There is a rule in steam, that if you buy a game that is prohibited in your country, named as SSA Restriction, you could have your account Blocked/Restricted. About this, i was thinking, this rule applies only if you buy the game, because you are not allowed to buy it, but it doesnt say that you are not allowed to have it, so if you end up getting it as a gift, you are not violating the rules.

Im not beding the rules or anything, im just explaining what i understood about this rule. You are not allowed to buy the game in your country, but you are still allowed to have it.

If im mistaken about something, please correct me. Im also not trying to start any confusion in the forum. Im just trying to clarify this doubts.

Sorry for my bad grammar, and thanks for the attention.

[Kesac]

It won't let you do that -- I believe it just won't allow you to redeem the gift if it's from another region (or it won't allow the gift to be sent in the first place).

[XadowMonzter]

Unfortunatelly for the rule, that is not the case, because i know some people that got a lot of games receiving as gifts, and it works perfectly fine, no problems (working i mean, if the game is only banned from your country, not because of connection issues or problems like that). If Steam blocked the region, it would have to detect the region of each user, wich it doesent do that. The only way steam knows where you are from, its because of your base country IP Adress threw the site only, and if it blocked your Account to redeem codes, even if you bought a fisical game, you wouldnt be able to activate it wich they cant do, if the game is avaible on steam you can redeem it, even if its blocked in your region. The only thing steam does, is block the games in your country steam page, nothing else. If you want, you can even enter on another country steam page and buy it, but doing this its a sure ban, because its a clear violation of the rules.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Your are not allowed to bypass regional restrictions at all, not just for the purchasing. If you have to use a VPN to activate the game, then you would run the risk of an account being terminated/restricted.

If someone gifts it to you and you can activate it without a VPN, the you are most likely safe. However, some games have been known to be given a regional restriction at a latter point, making them unplayable on the account.

Steam does block game activations due to regional restrictions as well, otherwise someone could buy a game for cheap on the Russian site, and trade it to someone where the game is more expensive. Regional restrictions are not just about content, but also economics.

Regional restrictions are put in place by the developer/publisher of the game. Steam has to follow their requirements.

Basically:

Bypassing regional restrictions for buying and/or activating is against the SSA. There is no way around it without putting your account at risk.

[XadowMonzter]

Thank you for not blocking this post, as it can be used to help other users with the same doubts as me.

I understand that some games have their reasons as wy they were blocked in that determined region, because each country has their own rules and laws, as the publishers as well.

So just to see if i understood the meaning of what you said, if someone send me a game as a gift, its not against the rules? And if the game doesnt play in my account in the region im in, its the users loss? But any of the two users are not violating any rule, so they dont need to worry about getting terminated or restricted?

About this, i totally agree with it. But, its different in my case, wich i only want to have a game that doesnt sell in my region, and not to trade a game that has in both regions with different prices. As my research goes, the game is not banned is my country, as others national sites sells them without any problem, and steam had this game in this region in some point, i just dont know wy its not selling anymore, but this is not the case here.

Yes, i understood that if a game is blocked in your region, and you bypass it on any away, and buy it, you are clearly violating the rules, but that does not applie to receiving a game as a gift, or the person who sent the gift will be taking the risk? And it also doesnt applie if i buy that game in fisical version?

In the end, the only rule is that i cant bypass the site in anyway to buy the game?

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Bypassing regional restrictions for buying and/or activating is against the SSA. There is no way around it without putting your account at risk.

I'm all right with anything being "the law" I guess and they are free to set things up any way they want.

However if I where heavily invested in Steam and had my account closed then it seem very likely I'd just * the whole thing and go with p* instead.

So treating paying consumers poorly may be a bad idea. After all it's efficiently an optional thing to participate in many cases.

[HLCinSC]

There are various types of region locks.

1. You cannot purchase in region X

2. You cannot activate the game unless you are not in region X

3. You can only play the game while in region Y

[XadowMonzter]

Originally posted by Hayden:

There are various types of region locks.

1. You cannot purchase in region X

2. You cannot activate the game unless you are not in region X

3. You can only play the game while in region Y

Yeh, but two of those 3 rules, there is nothing you can do to change it, and, i dont think there is anything in steam that forbid there use. Its just the first one, that is the problem. Because of the laws of some countrys, the publishers and even the Developers, steam is not allowed to sell games in determined regions. As long as you dont buy that determined games, directly to your forbidem account, you are not going against the rule. Now, about the activation, its a whole different story, and i dont think you can do anything about it, same to play in determined regions.

At least is what i understood since i started this post.

[ponybn]

Stop buying games from steam, if this is the case... I have noticed that many of the retail games are also blocked by steam, but there is no mention on the case that the game is region blocked. They are misleading the community by not mentioning clearly where the game can be used...

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Aliquis:

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Bypassing regional restrictions for buying and/or activating is against the SSA. There is no way around it without putting your account at risk.

I'm all right with anything being "the law" I guess and they are free to set things up any way they want.

However if I where heavily invested in Steam and had my account closed then it seem very likely I'd just * the whole thing and go with p* instead.

So treating paying consumers poorly may be a bad idea. After all it's efficiently an optional thing to participate in many cases.

The thing is, besides the law, you AGREED to the Subscriber Agreement, so if you activated a regionally restrcited game, you would be in clear breach of such agreement.

That's how contracts work - the other would be FULLY entitled to take action. It need not be a full account ban, but they would still be entitled to do so if the circumstances demanded it.

Some people tend to get this sort of thing completely round their necks - assuming that because it states they have the RIGHT to deactivate your account, then that's whats going to happen in every case (or most).

That's not what these things mean - it simply means that it gives them legal right to do so, should the circumstances arise.

For example:
- If a user like yourself, went out and managed to get hold of a couple of games that were restricted to them, and they circumvented their agreement by using VPN or something, then Valve would most likely do the appropriate thing - remove those games and probably warn you.

- If a user, however, went and made a point of getting tons of restricted and region lcoked games, and was distributing and selling them to others, and had not many or no "legitimate" games on their account, then the FULL weight of this clause can be used.

So, it's not a mallet to crack a walnut as some think. It's just there if it's needed, and then when appropriate. Think of it like a criminal system - the maximum penalty for murder in most countries is life. Does every murderer get that? Of course not.

[A]

I hope someone can help me i'm pretty desperate, the thing is Dark Souls Prep to die edition is not available in my country's steam store and so prevents me from acquiring it but i've seen a steam trader that offers Dark Souls as a steam gift and it's ROW (he states it is) so if it's ROW would it work in my region? South East Asia

[76561198167053935]

я бы тоже хотел с вами поиграт, но я не мог, я тупой школьник!

[atlantida]

Norm

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

crunchyfrog: The law and the agreement may be anything it want too.

The thing is still that if they make it too uncomfortable to use / screwing me they lose.

I have no idea what the terms say.

I also have no idea how to see if a game has a region restriction and to what region in any store either.

I think Steam recommends against buying from non-authorized game sellers but they also keep no list of which one is authorized so how should I know?

GOG likely much better. But Steam is the standard.

[HLCinSC]

Originally posted by Aliquis:

crunchyfrog: The law and the agreement may be anything it want too.

The thing is still that if they make it too uncomfortable to use / screwing me they lose.

I have no idea what the terms say.

I also have no idea how to see if a game has a region restriction and to what region in any store either.

I think Steam recommends against buying from non-authorized game sellers but they also keep no list of which one is authorized so how should I know?

GOG likely much better. But Steam is the standard.

He's been MIA since November.

[-{Geo}- Cegorach]

It depends on game -

1. some games you can't purchase in specific region, but can activate in blocked one (activating them will Lock them to region where you activate them), if you have friend in allowed region he can gift you this type of game or if you go in to that region and purchase it there, but activate in your region.
2. some games can not be purchased and activated in specific regions (using VPN and similar programs prohibited by Steam and will cause permanent bun).

More accurate information about that kind of games you will get by contacting to games support centre (maybe Steam support will know this information too).