User violates sub agreement - loses access to almost 2K worth of games

[Alpha_Au]

Best not do *anything* to violate your own agreement then.

What happens if you violate Steam's Subscriber Agreement and you have a library of games worth nearly $2,000? As one user learned, you'll lose access to all of those games.

The user in question, who has a total of $1,794.52 worth of games on his or her Steam account, decided to ask how much another person might pay for such an account. "Obviously I don't want someone to pay $1,800 for my account," the gamer wrote on Reddit. "I'm looking at money of course, not full price considering I bought most of them on sale, but maybe we can come to some sort of deal...Of course if someone actually takes me up I'll be removing my credit card information from the account, along with my friends list."

That was a month ago. A little more than a week ago the user was unable to connect with Steam, and was later informed that the account had been disabled for violating the Steam Subscriber Agreement, which explicitly states "you may not sell or charge others for the right to use your account, or otherwise transfer your account." And according to this e-mail chain, the ban is permanent.

In a later Reddit post, the user claims he or she was simply "asking how much someone would pay for a profile like that" and that the account was never actually sold or traded. However, the intention to sell was clearly there, as another post reads "I WAS 'trying' to sell my Steam account on r/gameswap, but that was over a month ago, you can't even access the post now. What pisses me off is that they waited an entire month, up to last night, before disabling my account. They didn't even send me an email [explaining] why it was disabled, I was just logged off of Steam with no warning."

Source.

Discuss.

[brohawk]

Hence why I think you should stick with CD/DVDs, but whatever... personally I think that Steam is wrong. I mean the guy did buy those games and they are his. If he wants to sell them then he should be able to. Pretty crooked in my book on Steam's part, but then of course they wouldn't want you to sell them. More money for them. Maybe Steam should refund his money since they took his property.

[Jigoku]

Update: Valve has since posted on its forum that the account has been re-activated.

[Beavis]

Ars has contacted Valve for comment and will update the story if we hear back.
Update: Valve has since posted on its forum that the account has been re-activated.

[Beavis]

You gotta be quick,hey Jig

[SGTyogi]

lol i intend to rob a bank 2day

now wait to be arrested u cant punish someone with intent it must transpire b4 any punishment can be handled out

[Jigoku]

Accounts that are offered for sale have often been hijacked. Valve disable accounts it finds on sale to dissuade this practice. Contacting Steam support and offering proof of ownership will in general allow you to reclaim your account.

[King_Rocket]

This is why I have started to buy the odd Boxed game again. I never want to have my entire gaming library bound to one company.

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by SGTyogi

lol i intend to rob a bank 2day

now wait to be arrested u cant punish someone with intent it must transpire b4 any punishment can be handled out

Yet if you are planning a terrorist attack you can been held indefinitely without legal assistance

[Drac]

I'm planning a terrorist attack against my fridge, there's some damn funky stuff caked to the back of it that just refuses to conform to my religion that all self-replicating substances must perish.