Topic: My Steam account has been suspended

[idolminds]

Wee! I get to deal with support to find out why! I can't really think of anything short of being hacked, which seems unlikely since I changed my password recently to something crazy and 20 characters long (keepass), there have been no hits on Steam Guard since my last loging like someone was trying to get in, doesn't look like anyone has accessed the account for a month which seems about right for the last time I tried it, and there can't be any fraudulent purchases because I don't purchase anything from them.

So it'll be fun to find out the reason and hopefully get everything back. Because you know, Steam is awesome and shit.

[gpw11]

Let us know how this works out.  They don't give you a reason from the onset?  And thinking about it, if my Steam account got suspended or banned for some reason, I'd probably just call it quits on PC gaming completely.

[idolminds]

No, nothing. They dont even send you an email letting you know its happened. Its just now that I tried to log in that it says its suspended. So no clue when this first happened other than it was within the last month or so.

[Xessive]

That happened to me once but I got a message from Valve stating that it may have been hacked. I got in touch with them and within a day it was all resolved and reactivated. Hopefully they'll sort you out soon.

[scottws]

Man that sucks.  Best of luck getting it sorted out quickly!  Keep us posted.

[Pugnate]

wtf!

[Quemaqua]

Hope you don't lose access to everything you ever bought! All hail the digital distribution revolution!

Okay, I'm half-trolling. But this is the shit that worries me about Steam. Seriously, hope you get it worked out, mate.

[idolminds]

I know what you mean. Part of me is like, whatever, I rarely use it and avoid it at all costs as it is. The other part of me is like I've got over 100 games that I can't touch now. Ok, probably less than 100 because a good chunk of those are from the indie bundles which I have access to on Desura or direct download. But still.

And while I'm not in any particular rush to get into my account (was just going to edit the wishlist part of it), I still haven't heard back from them. I mean if I was someone whose entire game library was in Steam this would be quite the inconvenience.

[Pugnate]

Yea man...

[idolminds]

They got back to me! I had to write my support ticket number next to the CD key of a game I have registered on the account and send a photo to them to prove its really my account. I wonder what you have to do if all your purchases were from within Steam?

So back to waiting.

[scottws]

Maybe they have other verification procedures if they see that is the case.  Picture of a credit card attached to the account, perhaps?

Did they say why it was suspended in the first place?

[idolminds]

Not yet, guess they want to make sure its me before they give any details.

Only thing I can think of is one of the last time I ran it was on my netbook running on a USB HDD. The USB port or possibly the cable can be finicky and Windows will read it as a disconnect. When it "reconnects" the HDD and I rerun Steam it always thinks its on a new system, so it trips Steam Guard and I have to do the whole code thing. Well this happened twice the last time I connected to Steam so maybe they think I gave my account to other people or that it got hacked or something.

This of course was also around the time their forums were hacked so I changed my Steam password a few days before. Yeah, I'm going to guess they think it got hacked. But I'll find out the reason when they get back to me. I hope.

[Xessive]

Every time I log into the Steam website I have to go through the e-mail code verification. Steam, on the other hand, I only needed to verify the first time.

A while back when my Steam account got hacked they only needed to verify my personal information, since I have a lot of titles that were purchased through Steam. They didn't ask for CD keys from any of my retail-purchased Steam games.

[idolminds]

Now they want the receipt for M&B Warband, the game they previously wanted me to take a picture of (which I did). Who hangs on to that kind of thing? It just so happens I still have it which is probably the luckiest break, but I bought that shit back in May and normally don't keep those things. Seriously if they had asked for any other game, I do not have the receipts for any of them.

[Cobra951]

Every time I've tried to post here before has ended up with me censoring myself for trolling.  It's hard to know what to say, other than what I already have about Steam.  I wish I had better words of wisdom.  Good luck, man.

[idolminds]

Oh trust me, I share the same feelings. At this point its the principle of the matter rather than me needing the account back.

[MysterD]

Can you have more than one Steam account?
Or do they do IP bans, too?

[idolminds]

Its against the TOS, and if they figure out you have a banned account then they will ban your new account (at least Im pretty sure thats the case). Of course what good is a new account when all the games are registered on the old one?

[MysterD]

Its against the TOS, and if they figure out you have a banned account then they will ban your new account (at least Im pretty sure thats the case).

Thanks for the info.

Of course what good is a new account when all the games are registered on the old one?

Well, the new account could hold you over, until you get your old account back...
But, since having more than one Steam account is against TOS, that ends this discussion.

Geez...I really hope you can get all this madness straightened out.

[idolminds]

Well, after receiving a support email entirely in German (starts off "Hallo Herr Smith", which is awesome) it was immediately followed by the English version. They reset my password so I could log in, then I had to change the password to something else and change my security question. So I have my account back. No word at all as to why it was suspended in the first place, though.

[MysterD]

Well, after receiving a support email entirely in German (starts off "Hallo Herr Smith", which is awesome) it was immediately followed by the English version. They reset my password so I could log in, then I had to change the password to something else and change my security question. So I have my account back. No word at all as to why it was suspended in the first place, though.

WB to Steam! 

[scottws]

Man, you need to find out why it happened!

[idolminds]

I replied back asking for the reason. Hopefully they will tell me.

[scottws]

You should demand it, not just ask.

[PyroMenace]

Be sure to write the letter in blood.

[Quemaqua]

Can anyone still have faith in this system after seeing it in action? Honestly.

[scottws]

I've seen it in action for years and the only trouble I ever had was with offline mode like 6 years ago.  Don't get me wrong, the idea of locking myself into one vendor and then that one vendor screwing me somehow can be scary.  But so far my experience has alleviated my fears.  I can't speak for everyone of course, but that's how I personally feel.

[idolminds]

So I said that it was working find and that I want to know why it was suspended in the first place.

Hello Jay,

I am glad that the issue is resolved.

Please let us know if you encounter any further difficulty - we will be happy to assist you.

That clears that up!

I'm still amazed Valve gets away with the support system it has. If this happened on Origin I would have been in a live chat with support and had it all figured out in an hour instead of the better part of a week. And they might actually answer the other questions I had.

[Cobra951]

I find it surprising that you find it surprising.    They can get away with just about anything now.

[idolminds]

True. Its more amazement at the fact that people let them get away with it. Valve isn't the small studio everyone thinks it is. I mean, the development side might be (ignoring that they have multiple teams working on multiple games simultaneously. Guess each team is small...does that still count?), but Steam is the largest DD service out there and they have to be making craploads of money. Its time to get some decent support. LIVE support.

[scottws]

Write a letter.  Don't be one of the people that lets them get away with it.

[idolminds]

Its not over yet. Just waiting on a response.

[idolminds]

I think I'll just copy and paste the last bit of our conversation after I got my account back.

Me: Thank you, I'm all set up and back into my account. I am curious to know the reason why it was suspended in the first place, though. If it was something I did I'd like to know so I can avoid it in the future.[/quote]
Steam: Hello Jay, I am glad that the issue is resolved. Please let us know if you encounter any further difficulty - we will be happy to assist you.
Me: I want to know the reason my account was suspended in the first place.
Steam: Hello Jay, for safety reasons.

sigh....

[Xessive]

Heh?  "Safety Reasons" ? Ah yes, I see. They were keeping your account safe from your grubby paws.

[scottws]

Wow that is pretty bad. You took it too easy on them.

[idolminds]

Yeah, I know. I try to be nice about stuff.

[MysterD]

Why did they not define "Safety reasons"? 

[scottws]

Probably their way of saying they fucked up and suspended the
wrong account.

[MysterD]

Probably their way of saying they fucked up and suspended the
wrong account.

Well, if that was the case, why didn't they just say that out-right? 

[idolminds]

Hello MysterD, for safety reasons.