About banned games

[Ben Dover]

I would like to say that A friend of mine and I are planning to buy GTA V's CD. After installing, we would like to verify the code in steam. Where I currently live , Saudi Arabia, the game might be banned. I was thinking if I bought the game outside the kingdom and installed it on my computer. Will I be able to verify the game and update the game normally? Or It will cause me an issue.

[Ineffable Anathema]

You cannot circumvent region locks by purchasing the game in another country.

[Kargor]

Steam is very concerned with enforcing censorship, not so much with enforcing user rights to actually play their games.

Although, in Saudi Arabia, ignoring a ban imposed by the government might not be a good thing to do anyway, regardless of Steam.

[Gana]

You can buy the game outside a country where it is banned, or someone from outside the country can gift it...that's all 'legal' as far as Steam is concerned, but if it ends up banned and some sort of country lock being put on it -- the only way to get the game to play in a country where it's locked would be through VPN or proxy, and if Steam catches you using one of those to get around the game lock they can take your account (and all your games) away.

http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/

[Ineffable Anathema]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Kargor:

Steam is very concerned with enforcing censorship, not so much with enforcing user rights to actually play their games.

Although, in Saudi Arabia, ignoring a ban imposed by the government might not be a good thing to do anyway, regardless of Steam.

You sound as if you think they have a choice in the matter. Valve isn't the one making the region locks, the game's developers/publishers are. And some are simply a result of a given country's laws. Valve's not trying to be a bad guy, they're trying to not get sued.

[Ben Dover]

So, even if I bought the cd and then redeemed the code in steam, it will be region locked in my library?

[Hopper]

I would listen to federal laws myself.

[Ozer]

I have Recently bought Rise of Nations: EE but cannot download it st states ''This is a restricted gift which can only be redeemed in these countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Republic of, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russian Federation'' and i live in the UK What do i do i paid for it?

[Paradigm]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย ekrem_ozer:

i live in the UK What do i do i paid for it?

Complain to the place you bought it from. They sold you cheap RU gift.

[Ineffable Anathema]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย ekrem_ozer:

I have Recently bought Rise of Nations: EE but cannot download it st states ''This is a restricted gift which can only be redeemed in these countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Republic of, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russian Federation'' and i live in the UK What do i do i paid for it?

I'm guessing you purchased it from an unlicensed internet "key shop." Simply put, if the shop is not licensed you have literally no idea where the seller got the keys from. These shady, unofficial sites should never be used no matter how popular they seem to be on Steam because they frequently sell keys which are:

>region locked
>being resold from bundles which is forbidden
>require use of an illegal proxy to activate (which can get your Steam account suspended)
>stolen
>scammed from developers under the guise of being a "youtube reviewer"
>purchased with fraudulent or stolen credit cards or bank accounts or paypals
>outright fake keys

There is nothing Valve can do to help you with this. You must go back to the shop where you bought the key and deal with them. That is the risk you take buying from a shady key shop.


If you did not happen to buy it on the internet and instead traded for it through the Steam trading system, there is a chance you can get back the items you paid for it. You would have to contact Steam support to do this, and it will only work if the trade was a single trade window conducted entirely within the Steam trading system, i.e. no paypal, no "codes" exchanged afterward, etc.

[YooOwnIt]

Where I currently live , Saudi Arabia, the game might be banned.

Your profile says you live in the Philippines

[Ben Dover]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย TNT-BBX-SNIPER:

Where I currently live , Saudi Arabia, the game might be banned.

Your profile says you live in the Philippines

Residing in Saudi Arabia for a year or so, Also uhmm if I redeemed the code it will be region locked? Even if I bought the gta v game from USA and then received it and then redeemed the code in steam? I cant even play it?

[Gana]

There is no information on region restrictions for a pc game that *isn't out yet*. But since you are trying to make a US version of a highly disputed game play in the Middle East, don't count on even being able to redeem the code.

[t]

If the game gets banned in your country it might be just banned in Retail Stores and not Digitally like most games and like in Australia's case.

[ KARR™]

There's also the fact that no-one has yet said that you can activate GTA5 keys ON steam. So you may not be able to do it regardless of the fact if it is banned or not in your country.