Valve's Anti Cheat software runs amok, slays hundreds.

Awesome! So when will Stardock get VAC for their games?

They should release a DVD called "Software Gone Wild!" where various buggy software do things which normaly they never would.

Obivously all of those players are cheaters. They should shut up and pay another 60 bucks to Steam.

Hasn't anyone figured this out already? It's GlaDOS!!! She's still alive!!!

Quoting Wintersong,

reply 3

Obivously all of those players are cheaters. They should shut up and pay another 60 bucks to Steam.

Really though, there's no evidence that they are not.

There's no real evidence they ARE, either, since the program doesn't say what they've done or prove it in any way, and since they won't release nay inofrmation on it. If someone did something like that in a real world equivalent they'd never get away with it, at least without refunding the client.

Reading up on this, it sounds like the most plausible explanation, assuming not everyone banned is cheating, is that MW2 allows for hackers to set their own lobbies up that uses IW's old system to inject modified files into other players' game folders.

So people could have unwittingly downloaded hacks, due to some idiot running a server and their own ignorance of what was going on.

Certainly if that's the case, then Valve should ban the guys with the hacked lobbies and not the people who just happened to be connected to it.

How many people were banned? 100? 1000?

While it's Valve's right to ban people for no reason if people agreed to the fine print, the whole 'guilty without any facts or appeal' is kind of insane. It's like if your city mailed you a fine without saying anything more than you 'committed a violation' and have already taken the money out of your bank account to pay it.

Interestingly, if you enter the names of some of the people complaining about being banned into Google, their profile at "www.steam-hacks.co.uk" is among the first results.

Just FYI: Those who use private hacks [they pay for it], won't get caught sadly. It's worked like this in all of the CoD games so far.

It's not really Valve's right no matter what the fine print says (Valve has the right to refuse service to anyone arbitrarily, but this doesn't constitute taking someone's money for a product and then refusing service without refunding this money; alternatively, they could prove that the users violated their agreement, but reportedly, they refuse to do so. A contract which states that they can refuse service after payment for any reason whatsoever is almost certainly not valid). However, the practical reality is that its legal until someone challenges it, but no one is willing to spend the time and money to take the question up in court over a 60 buck dispute. Most internet property cases like these are similarly undefined because the law just doesn't really care to deal with them, so companies mostly dictate their responses based on the market. Maybe as things like these increase both in scale and popularity, we might see some clarification of the law, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Quoting Eidolon94,

reply 10

Interestingly, if you enter the names of some of the people complaining about being banned into Google, their profile at "www.steam-hacks.co.uk" is among the first results.

Which is why I'm skeptical about the mass complaints/Steam groups. Hacking sites have their communities too, so there's no guarantee that everyone in that Steam group is completely random. More likely it's just a bunch of people from the same hacking site/community got banned, and made the group to protest their non-existant innocence.

If Valve's anti-cheat was this flakey, there would've been many more cases since its inception.

Quoting Bogatz,

reply 12

It's not really Valve's right no matter what the fine print says (Valve has the right to refuse service to anyone arbitrarily, but this doesn't constitute taking someone's money for a product and then refusing service without refunding this money; alternatively, they could prove that the users violated their agreement, but reportedly, they refuse to do so. A contract which states that they can refuse service after payment for any reason whatsoever is almost certainly not valid). However, the practical reality is that its legal until someone challenges it, but no one is willing to spend the time and money to take the question up in court over a 60 buck dispute. Most internet property cases like these are similarly undefined because the law just doesn't really care to deal with them, so companies mostly dictate their responses based on the market. Maybe as things like these increase both in scale and popularity, we might see some clarification of the law, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

1. Their EULA is pretty normal for this type of service and I dont see anything regarding VAC that would be against law.

2 like it was alsready posted, many users who complained seems to be members of cheating sites/forums. Those just couldnt be trusted.......

Quoting Aractain,

reply 2

They should release a DVD called "Software Gone Wild!" where various buggy software do things which normaly they never would.

Already made it. Called "Demigod".

Classic, LOL!

Well, I dunno, I haven't read up on it, so I'll trust whatever you say. I was just kind of conjecturing based on the scenario as it was presented in the link. I don't really care about whether they can or can't ban people legally. The part that would rankle me is the total lack of information (again, trusting what that link says) because it doesn't give people any kind of representation.

Quoting NickJames,

reply 16

Already made it. Called "Demigod".
Classic, LOL!

lmao

For everyone who is calling Steam/Valve the anti-christ over this; it looks like Valve has identified VAC as triggering a false positive.

Know what those evil bastards at Valve did?

They un-banned everyone, and gave them 2 free copies of L4D2 for their problems:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1380803

Evil wins again...

These corps always pull that shit. They have no interest in making it right until it blows up and becomes bad press.

Quoting DethAdder,

reply 21

These corps always pull that shit. They have no interest in making it right until it blows up and becomes bad press.

Can't please everyone.

I guess it's not likely they don't see certain things like this until it explodes and affects a lot of people. VAC is an automated system, and if/when it ever has a false trigger it will affect many people, and this isn't the first time this has happened.

I guess it's easier to hate than to rationally think about it though.

HMm, my mw2 was banned too!! Can i has 2 copies of l4d2??

Valve’s support staff have, apparently, been courteously informing people that they’re sorry but their hands are tied, which makes sense- if you’ve got automated software which cuts people off from one of your products, you need to maintain a policy that the software is infallible, otherwise the whole system comes crashing down.

lolwhat

btw, this goes to show that those people banned weren't hackers or cheaters.

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Valve's Anti Cheat software runs amok, slays hundreds.