StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I'm looking at buying some new games and one of the stores I use is selling the Russian (with English language option) versions of some games for about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of the English version. They're selling Steam code unlocks and they actually suggest on the store page using something called a VPN (I have know idea what that is) to fake a Russian IP so you can get around the region locking on the code to activate the game and then after it's activated you can apparently play it from anywhere without having to worry about region locking.

So I really want to know if any knows if this is legal or not as I don't want to be risking all the games I have on my Steam account on a chance of getting banned, but if it is legal and it works then that'll be saving me a nice bit of money.

You're nit asking if it's legal (which is a dumb question), you're asking if Valve will get pissed when they find out.

Stark wrote:You're nit asking if it's legal (which is a dumb question), you're asking if Valve will get pissed when they find out.

.....

So I worded the question slightly wrong, it's still clear what I'm asking.

I'm fairly certain that gets your Steam account locked. I believe the only way to get games out of your region that doesn't get you banned is if you recieve the game as a gift. Apparently that is how a lot of German gamers get games that aren't sold to Germans due to local laws.

I wouldn't tunnel into some box in Russia to save a few bucks on a game.

Just a friendly warning here. Lets not get into open discussion about specifics on getting past regional structuring. General discussion is fine. Some companies consider it identical to piracy and we wouldn't want them to make life miserable for this forum. What is said behind closed doors... *shrugs*

Alyeska wrote:Just a friendly warning here. Lets not get into open discussion about specifics on getting past regional structuring. General discussion is fine. Some companies consider it identical to piracy and we wouldn't want them to make life miserable for this forum. What is said behind closed doors... *shrugs*

Which is a bit mind-boogling if you think about it: you are paying for the game, it's just from another place.

While with piracy, you steal get the game for free (often with pre-order DLC).

That's exactly identical to saying importing games is illegal, which is obviously wrong.

Oh well; when you're tied into a system like that (be it steam, Xbox Live, or whatever) their licence agreements are more important than law, because no judge is going to ban your account and steal all the shit you paid for.

Well I looked through the Steam Subsriber Agreement and didn't see anything about it, but I'm sure as hell not going to risk getting my Steam account banned, hence why I'm asking if there's someone more knowledgable who can chime in. My gut was that it was a bit dodgy but the way the store is putting it on the product page makes it seem a viable option.

Dalton's comment also seems to indicate that there may be some other risk to the procedure too.

So far no ones come out and said it's ok to do, so at best it's a grey area and that means I'll pass on the offer, the price will come down eventually.

Steam has clamped down on these actions before. When The Organge Box came out some people went snooping for versions from other regions to circumvent the region locks and Valve promptly locked down the accounts.

I can tell you outright that Russian versions of games on Steam are sold cheaper partly because they *are* locked, unlike most games on Steam. Trying to play them from a non-Russian IP will get your account flagged. That you're safe just activating them on a Russian IP is a myth started by scammers.

Living in Australia means that buying games is significantly cheaper for me in America than here. Is it illegal if my friend in the US buys a game on steam, gifts it to me, and I paypal him the cost of the game (plus some 'tip' money)?

defanatic wrote:Living in Australia means that buying games is significantly cheaper for me in America than here. Is it illegal if my friend in the US buys a game on steam, gifts it to me, and I paypal him the cost of the game (plus some 'tip' money)?

This seems like a more plausible way to do it with minimal risk. I have no experience so I defer to the experts, but my only advice is that you specifically mention in Paypal that the money you send to him is a gift or donation.

defanatic wrote:Living in Australia means that buying games is significantly cheaper for me in America than here. Is it illegal if my friend in the US buys a game on steam, gifts it to me, and I paypal him the cost of the game (plus some 'tip' money)?

That's totally above board. Just try and do it with someone who already owns and plays some games on Steam themselves, so there's no risk of "unusual account activity" flags.

It is still apparently frowned upon, as far as I can tell. They really like their money, I guess.

I haven't had problems doing it with a friend, but then again, we don't do the paypal repayment.

How do i create a proxy gateway for a vpn connection? I'm trying to setup a http or socks proxy which will route all traffic to a vpn connection. This is on linux.

Stark wrote:That's exactly identical to saying importing games is illegal, which is obviously wrong.

Oh well; when you're tied into a system like that (be it steam, Xbox Live, or whatever) their licence agreements are more important than law, because no judge is going to ban your account and steal all the shit you paid for.

Its not illegal but all imports are subject to import/export controls which is WHY companies set up different pricing structures (in addition to the raw economic differences). If you are representing yourself as an agent in a foreign country to purchase something and then using it in your home country without declaring it as imported you are, essentially, evading customs. Now such a case is extremely unlikely to be made and whether or not IP such as games is covered would be based on the country in question but it isn't some unsustainable position.