Remove Game Bans on Profiles

[Med]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to bring up an issue that had affected me in a totally unfair way. As many of you know, Steam has a feature that allows game developers to ban players from their games. While this feature can be useful for combating cheating and other forms of misconduct (I don't see how tbh), it is also being abused by some developers to unfairly affect innocent players.

The problem is that when a developer issues a game ban, it is not only applied to the player's account in that particular game, but also to their entire Steam profile. This means that the player's reputation is effectively tarnished even if they were innocent.

This is a serious problem because it allows game developers to punish innocent players without any real evidence of wrongdoing. In some cases, players have been wrongly banned due to false positives or other errors in the anti-cheat system. And even in cases where a player has legitimately cheated, I don't see how painting their Steam profile by a third party solves anything, except giving more freedom and power to the actual game developers to do whatever they please (I'm a prime example of this type of abuse from Amazon Games Studios, caused by a faulty automation in their New World game).

While I do understand that Steam is a platform that serves as a marketplace for games developed by third-party developers, it is important to ensure that these developers are held accountable for their actions. Allowing developers to issue Steam bans without proper justification or due process can lead to an unfair and unregulated environment for Steam users.
It's frustrating to spend our hard-earned money on games, only to have our global Steam account reputation tarnished by the reckless abuse of power by developers. It's imperative that Steam takes proactive measures to safeguard its users against such unjust treatment and guarantees that their investment in the platform is protected.

I urge Steam to consider implementing stricter rules and regulations for game developers to ensure that users are treated fairly and that their reputations are not damaged unjustly. In the meantime, me and plenty of my Steam hardcore and elite Steam friends are considering switching over to other competitors that are adding more consumer-friendly features, if this kind of abuse continues to happen on Steam.

I do hope that my feedback reaches the executives and people in charge around the platform.



Disclaimer: Before we get started with the "don't cheat" unhelpful feedback, I want to make a quick disclaimer. I have been falsely flagged by New World's Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system for allegedly running a cheating program in the background. This is a well-known issue with New World, as many legitimate players have been banned without cause. I have already tried to contact Amazon Game Studios (AGS) to prove my innocence, but have only received automated responses so far. I am currently waiting to hear back from their higher-ups. Please refrain from making unhelpful comments about cheating, as this is not the issue at hand but rather a feedback aimed towards Steam.

Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion, and I welcome any feedback or discussion on this topic.

EDIT: Ban has been lifted.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Med:

Remove Game Bans on Profiles

Hello everyone,

I wanted to bring up an issue that had affected me in a totally unfair way. As many of you know, Steam has a feature that allows game developers to ban players from their games. While this feature can be useful for combating cheating and other forms of misconduct (I don't see how tbh), it is also being abused by some developers to unfairly affect innocent players.

The problem is that when a developer issues a game ban, it is not only applied to the player's account in that particular game, but also to their entire Steam profile. This means that the player's reputation is effectively tarnished even if they were innocent.

This is a serious problem because it allows game developers to punish innocent players without any real evidence of wrongdoing. In some cases, players have been wrongly banned due to false positives or other errors in the anti-cheat system. And even in cases where a player has legitimately cheated, I don't see how painting their Steam profile by a third party solves anything, except giving more freedom and power to the actual game developers to do whatever they please (I'm a prime example of this type of abuse from Amazon Games Studios, caused by a faulty automation in their New World game).

While I do understand that Steam is a platform that serves as a marketplace for games developed by third-party developers, it is important to ensure that these developers are held accountable for their actions. Allowing developers to issue Steam bans without proper justification or due process can lead to an unfair and unregulated environment for Steam users.
It's frustrating to spend our hard-earned money on games, only to have our global Steam account reputation tarnished by the reckless abuse of power by developers. It's imperative that Steam takes proactive measures to safeguard its users against such unjust treatment and guarantees that their investment in the platform is protected.

I urge Steam to consider implementing stricter rules and regulations for game developers to ensure that users are treated fairly and that their reputations are not damaged unjustly. In the meantime, me and plenty of my Steam hardcore and elite Steam friends are considering switching over to other competitors that are adding more consumer-friendly features, if this kind of abuse continues to happen on Steam.

I do hope that my feedback reaches the executives and people in charge around the platform.



Disclaimer: Before we get started with the "don't cheat" unhelpful feedback, I want to make a quick disclaimer. I have been falsely flagged by New World's Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system for allegedly running a cheating program in the background. This is a well-known issue with New World, as many legitimate players have been banned without cause. I have already tried to contact Amazon Game Studios (AGS) to prove my innocence, but have only received automated responses so far. I am currently waiting to hear back from their higher-ups. Please refrain from making unhelpful comments about cheating, as this is not the issue at hand but rather a feedback aimed towards Steam.

Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion, and I welcome any feedback or discussion on this topic.

Since Game bans are issued by developers, they remain visible forever, unlike VAC bans that hide to other users after 7 years.

All of this is intentional by design.

[Crazy Tiger]

This, making game bans not visible or so, has been suggested before. Quite some times. So take from that what you will with regards to "I do hope that my feedback reaches the executives and people in charge around the platform.".

Do people really think that saying "me and my friends will move to another platform if..." actually does something other than make other people laugh?

[vanishedchief2021]

I don't think you should get banned from a game that you have purchased that is wrong.

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by vanishedchief2021:

I don't think you should get banned from a game that you have purchased that is wrong.

if someone cheats in a game against others, what should happen? a warning telling you to stop?
the reason for banning people is to remove bad actors from that games community. you leave the bad actors alone and you kill off your game community and game. buying a game does not grant immunity to being banned.

steam does not have access to the logs about what happened, its between the account owner and who ever issued it. we see plenty of people claiming to be falsely banned. poke many of them enough and they admit to cheating in one form or another.

[lightwo]

Amazon should be forbidden to extend bans to the Steam account.

If they are so incompetent that the false ban issue still keeps persisting, even though they primarily handle bans via their own service, they must either move their asses and properly address the issue, or have the feature be taken away from them.

This is beyond ridiculous! How is it still a problem?!

[Med]

Originally posted by Wolf Knight:

Originally posted by vanishedchief2021:

I don't think you should get banned from a game that you have purchased that is wrong.

if someone cheats in a game against others, what should happen? a warning telling you to stop?
the reason for banning people is to remove bad actors from that games community. you leave the bad actors alone and you kill off your game community and game. buying a game does not grant immunity to being banned.

I do agree with this. Having bought or received a game for free doesn't grant you immunity and freedom to break the game rules. My concern is only about game ban texts on Steam profiles, I can see that it might provide an insight about real cheaters, but having a flawed anti cheat system (The dev) and then let them abuse your innocent customers (Steam) is both unfair and a concern.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by lightwo:

Amazon should be forbidden to extend bans to the Steam account.

If they are so incompetent that the false ban issue still keeps persisting, even though they primarily handle bans via their own service, they must either move their asses and properly address the issue, or have the feature be taken away from them.

This is beyond ridiculous! How is it still a problem?!

Every anti-cheat including VAC itself has had false bans and the falsely applied bans were removed within a reasonable amount of time.

[Tanoomba]

Is this a "false positive" issue or is it a "developer abuse" issue? Those are very different things.

[HikariLight]

You dont want a Game Ban showing on your profile? Follow the rules put in place by the game Developers.
You do not get to pick which rules apply to you and which ones do not.
By Buying and then starting up and playing the game you have agreed to follow any and all rules in place, failing to follow said rules will result in punishment.

[Satoru]

Cheaters being inconvenience by showing they cheated and wanting their cheating punishment removed is not something anyone who isn't cheating cares about

The developers have ample proof of your cheating. You not liking that they caught you is irrelevant.

[Nx Machina]

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46DB-4CEC-F7E9-49E5

Playing games should be fun. In order to ensure the best possible online multiplayer experience, Valve allows developers to implement their own systems that detect and permanently ban any disruptive players, such as those using cheats.

Game developers inform Valve when a disruptive player has been detected in their game, and Valve applies the game ban to the account. The game developer is solely responsible for the decision to apply a game ban. Valve only enforces the game ban as instructed by the game developer.


Note: Amazon has all the proof they need and with 903 hours in New World you assumed you would not be caught.

[Runkel]

Originally posted by Tanoomba:

Is this a "false positive" issue or is it a "developer abuse" issue? Those are very different things.

Sounds more like a "Talk your way out of a permanent ban" attempt.
I've read so much BS from banned accounts over the years i don't believe a single one.

[lightwo]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by lightwo:

Amazon should be forbidden to extend bans to the Steam account.

If they are so incompetent that the false ban issue still keeps persisting, even though they primarily handle bans via their own service, they must either move their asses and properly address the issue, or have the feature be taken away from them.

This is beyond ridiculous! How is it still a problem?!

Every anti-cheat including VAC itself has had false bans and the falsely applied bans were removed within a reasonable amount of time.

I can't confirm by the OP, but I recall that a couple of months ago, there was a fiasco surrounding unjust game bans specifically for this game.

Guess I'll waddle my way out of here because I don't know whether they addressed the core issue yet, but another point I had was that it's pointless assigning Steam game bans to begin with, since they track bans using their own service, and it is required to use an Amazon account to have the ban removed via support to begin with...

[Cathulhu]

Indeed, but Amazon did address the issue and revoked all bans.

[eram]

what program were you running in the background that triggered the game ban?