HL1 is now 17 years old, original cd-key method no longer fair

[Pink Monster]

What are extremely old account owners supposed to do if they lose access to their account?

When you contact steam support if you have lost your account access, they tell you they need you to write a code on your original game packaging next to the original cd key used to create the steam account.

So half life one is now 17 years old, and those who opened the account with a hard copy of half life one are supposed to have kept hold of this case in good condition through almost 2 decades of house-moves, junk clear outs, acts of god, etc.?

There NEEDS to be a solution to this problem. I am terrified of losing my account. Though the recovery page offers multiple paths to prove yourself the account owner, customer service representatives will only accept the hand-written cd key. For a company that embraced the online purchasing market, this is an incredibly outdated and unfair system to use.

17 years.......

[TirithRR]

Well, your 17 year old account would hopefully have something else to use to prove ownership. Work with Steam Support as to what they would accept as proof of ownership.

[Pink Monster]

TirithRR - if only you could. Even if you inform them that you have every single other piece of information pertaining to the ownership of your account, you will be told that the ONLY way you can get help is if you provide this information.

I recently forgot my password and the automatic recovery was kicking up an error for me. I contacted support and was put in this exact situation with only ONE solution, that solution being the original cd case and cd key.

I fortunately remembered my password, but i live in terror now that if i were to be hacked or something else, i would not be able to recover my steam account which has so much invested into it.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by Pink Monster:

you will be told that the ONLY way you can get help is if you provide this information.

That is false. It's only one way. There are multiple other ways.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2268-EAFZ-9762

[Pink Monster]

TirithRR - then are you suggesting that i am lying, or that i was presented with a representative who was giving me incorrect directions?

I specifically told him that i have every single other piece of information listed on the page that you linked, and was repeatedly told that the only way i would get help is if i provided the original cd key and case.

What is a person to do when a representative tells you this? What higher authority can you appeal to?

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by Pink Monster:

TirithRR - then are you suggesting that i am lying, or that i was presented with a representative who was giving me incorrect directions?

I'm suggesting that you were misinformed or misunderstood. I don't have, or want, access to your Steam Support ticket history.

The proof of ownership I used on my last Support ticket was the order number of the purchases (I was requesting a refund) and the last four digits of the credit card used on my Steam Account. I did not provide any Steam keys.

[Satoru]

Steam requires you to use the HL ky you registered in rare cases. Especially with older accounts as those are ripe for hijacking.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Steam requires you to use the HL ky you registered in rare cases. Especially with older accounts as those are ripe for hijacking.

Seems odd, given that you would use the account for any number of things in the years since then.

I could see if the HL Key was the only thing you ever had on the account, but say my account, with 1500 games and a few thousand dollars in sales and purchases, I have plenty of other methods available for proof. If I had happened to create my account with HL back then, I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn't accept any of my other proof.

[Pink Monster]

I am not going to paste any logs in case that could have me banned.

I had a conversation with a representative, with multiple replies back and forth. The first asked for the original cd key. I told them that it was now 17 years since i bought the game and could not provide that. I told them that i had all the bank account details, email addresses and paypal details pertaining to the account.

The very next reply simply said "if you cannot provide proof of ownership we cannot help you." It did not request an alternative method from those that i had offered.

What would be the next step that would allow me to provide other proof? If i reopened the ticket, stating i did not have access to the cd key, would i be given an alternative method? This person repeated their request to me several times despite me offering alternatives and linking to the very same page you linked me to.

[Pink Monster]

Satoru - indeed the old accounts are ripe for hijacking. They are also extremely poorly defended given that the older the account is the less likely one is to have access to the original cd key and case.

That is exactly why my recent exchange with a representative has me terrified to lose my details.

[TirithRR]

Reopen the ticket and politely insist that they pay attention to the other information you provided at proof. Make it clear, and avoid discussing the CD Key, and lack there of, in the reply to avoid any possible confusion about you "not having the CD Key".

Edit:
I'm curious why the older accounts are "ripe for hijacking" when compared to any other account? What's so special about them? Seems like the hijacking methods all rest in the User, not the account itself.

[Pink Monster]

I made it abundantly clear in the ticket, several times and in completely unambiguous language.

Sounds like guesswork on your part. Whilst i appreciate the effort and replies, this is not in any way a reliable solution to the problem that older steam account holders face.

Edit: They are of particular interest to hackers - i imagine - because of the value that accumulates over time with most steam accounts.

[Pink Monster]

Do customer service representatives ever consider these posts, or is it community only? Is there a way for me to make this point to someone who could give me a definitive answer about what is/is not allowed?

[TirithRR]

This is all just community. You may get the occasional Steam admin floating around, but I've never seen one reply here.

[MalikQayum]

yep i totally get where the OP is coming from, as i have inqueried support about this..
what if a user is not in a possesion to provide any proof ?
by any proof i mean the ones listed :

Credit Cards
Bank Transfers
CD Keys
Steam Wallet Codes

then you might ask in which scenarios would that ever be ?
well f2p games like dota2 where u have spendt massive amount of hours playing and got significantly a lot of item drops..

now in this case u would not have any of the above required things..

so how would you reclaim it when support repeately ask for a cd key?

answer is you cant and there a bunch of topics about people not being able to relaim their accounts.

i find it sad that support are hung up on getting a cd key like the OP says, not everyone is going to want to play other games if u like dota2 and u dont have any interest in other games is it fair to demand they buy another game just to be safe in the future?

EDIT: i do remember in my ticket that they said they had alternative methods of proving ownership but i was not allowed to ask hypothetical questions so they closed my ticket.

6 Message by Support Tech Jared on Sat, 6th Sep 2014 14:27
Hello Malik,

Steam Support does not provide support for hypothetical situations.

so the only way is actually making an dota2 account and pretend to have lost access to see what alternative methods they do provide.. which tbh i did not bother doing.