Will activating a key count as buying a game?

[Rogue Jedi]

My friend is a F2P steam user and can't afford any games. I have a Steam key left over from a Humble Bundle purchase and I would like to know if giving him the key to activate the game would allow him to send friend requests and stuff?

[nani-kokoro / 何-心]

No, you would need to buy the game on steam store.

[Sange y Yasha!]

is that truth???

[eram]

Steam keys will not work. It has to be a steam store purchase, buying an ingame item or redeem a gift.

Check the steam store for the sales and get the cheapest thing on steam you can send it as a gift.

[eram]

Originally posted by The French Connection:

Originally posted by eram:

you can send it as a gift.

I think, that won't work the account would stay lock from market, I know because I gift a lot of games to my daughter account.

Redeem a gift is 1 way to get an unlimited account. says so in the faq. Whatever it is you are doing it isnt for this.

[Rogue Jedi]

Thanks for the help, everyone! Kokoro kindly donated a game for me to gift to my friend.

[nani-kokoro / 何-心]

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi:

Thanks for the help, everyone! Kokoro kindly donated a game for me to gift to my friend.

Please hold this tread updated. We wanna know if it worked with a gifted game.

[Rogue Jedi]

Originally posted by Kokoro:

Originally posted by Rogue Jedi:

Thanks for the help, everyone! Kokoro kindly donated a game for me to gift to my friend.

Please hold this tread updated. We wanna know if it worked with a gifted game.

Sure, I'm just waiting for my friend to come online.

[eram]

For the nth time i told you redeeming a gift works and the op said it worked. :D

[Johnny Fiveaces]

No, afaik gifted games don't count as purchases for the giftee (ie unlocking community market etc.). You have to actually purchase at least one game on your account, even if it is pennies.

[eram]

Originally posted by You're not my Space Dad:

No, afaik gifted games don't count as purchases for the giftee (ie unlocking community market etc.). You have to actually purchase at least one game on your account, even if it is pennies.

final time for the late people as we dont wanna spam the ops thread.
Redeem a gift on steam.

Click this link and read it until you get to the part that says:

How can I gain access to all Steam features?
To access all features of Steam, simply do any of the following on your Steam account: purchase a game from the Steam store (It cannot be a gift for another account), redeem a Steam gift, or complete a microtransaction.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3330-IAGK-7663&l=English

redeem a Steam gift, redeem a Steam gift, redeem a Steam gift,

[Rogue Jedi]

Originally posted by You're not my Space Dad:

No, afaik gifted games don't count as purchases for the giftee (ie unlocking community market etc.). You have to actually purchase at least one game on your account, even if it is pennies.

I'm going to trust the moderator over you.

[Metheglin]

I thought redeem a Steam gift to access all features was removed a while ago, due to people using Humble Bundle gifts, and FAQ wasn't updated. I could be totally wrong though.

Yep, I was wrong :)

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by Origin:

I thought redeem a Steam gift to access all features was removed a while ago, due to people using Humble Bundle gifts, and FAQ wasn't updated. I could be totally wrong though.

Steam Gifts, not Humble Bundle gifts. Humble Bundle gifts are not Steam Gifts.

Steam Gifts are games purchased through Steam, redeemed on Steam.

Other "gifts" are just other stores handing out retail keys.

[Rogue Jedi]

Hey, my friend just recieved the game and is now a full member. Thanks to everyone who helped, especially Kokoro.