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Valve Apologizes For 12,000 Erroneous Anti-Cheating Bans

Posted by Soulskill on from the making-it-right dept.

Earlier this week, there were reports that large numbers of Modern Warfare 2 players on Steam were getting erroneously banned by Valve's Anti-Cheat software. While such claims are usually best taken with a grain of salt, the quantity and suddenness caused speculation that Valve's software wasn't operating correctly. A few days later, Valve president Gabe Newell sent out an email acknowledging that roughly 12,000 players had been inappropriately banned over the preceding two weeks. "The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game." Valve reversed the bans and gave free copies of Left 4 Dead 2 to everyone who was affected.

38 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Customer service by bbqsrc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They admitted there was an error and as an apology gave them all a rather expensive game. That's pretty good customer service.

    --
    Disagree != mod troll.
    1. Re:Customer service by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 5, Funny

      And gave them all a competing multiplayer game.... /tinfoilhat

    2. Re:Customer service by kurokame · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Also some good spin work.

      They took something about them screwing up in a moderately serious way while doing something people tend to get upset about them doing, and turned it into being about the quality of their customer service while incidentally advertising a rather expensive game. Since it's over Steam, net cost to Valve is some time by their database people fixing the thing they're probably legally liable to fix plus some bandwidth. Damage contained, plus nearly free marketing which would have cost quite a bit through traditional methods.

    3. Re:Customer service by MachDelta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Gift it.
      Preferably in exchange for sex. Beer is good too. Cheetos will work in a pinch.

    4. Re:Customer service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You just get two gift copies that you can send to other people.

    5. Re:Customer service by Warll · · Score: 2, Insightful

      L4D may have strong multiplayer but it also has strong single player.

      Now if Valve wanted to steal customers they would have given them Team Fortress 2. At which point they wouldn't have needed to reverse the bans since the players would be too busy collecting hats to notice.

    6. Re:Customer service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes I do want to play games through a service that notices there errors, fesses up to them, and compensates the users for the error. It is rare enough to find a company that acknowledges there own errors let alone go out of there way to make it right.

    7. Re:Customer service by Splab · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And did all that without even having to resort to pointing at other networks and say they have the same problem.

    8. Re:Customer service by c0mpliant · · Score: 2, Informative

      Who honestly plays the single player version of L4D or L4D2?

      The entire game is based around the idea of other humans playing with you, not some bot. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I would be very surprised if there were anywhere near the number of people playing single player that would qualify the statement of it having "strong single player". In fact I'd say its probably got one of the weakest single player modes of any single player games out there. Neither I, nor any of my friends have played the single player and infact we've had conversations about the futility of even providing a single player version of the game.

      --
      There is no -1 disagree
    9. Re:Customer service by Vorghagen · · Score: 5, Informative

      The fucking DRM is NOT what caused this issue. It was the anti-cheating software that got confused when they were in the middle of an update. I hate DRM as much as the next guy but I don't feel the need to blame it for things it has nothing to do with.

    10. Re:Customer service by yoyhed · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Whether it's beneficial to them or not, it still shows how good customer service can be conducted to benefit both the company and the consumer. Valve is one of the most community-friendly game developers, which is all the more amazing since they're such a successful company (not just a small indie developer).

      Had this happened in a previous Call of Duty game, PunkBuster wouldn't have done a damn thing about it other than releasing a patch. If anyone cries foul at Valve's generous solution, they need to take off the tinfoil hat and also realize that not playing Modern Warfare 2 for a weekend isn't so bad.

      --
      WHO NEEDS SHIFT WHEN YOU HAVE CAPSLOCK/ DAMN1
    11. Re:Customer service by interactive_civilian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Who honestly plays the single player version of L4D or L4D2?

      I do. I have a sucky internet connection, and most of the people I want to play with are on the other side of the planet, so unless we get a time with low traffic and find a decent server somewhere in the middle, someone gets stuck with 400ms pings, which make L4D(2) worthless.

      However, as a somewhat mindless zombie killing bit of stress relief, it is fine on the single player mode, and the characters can be quite amusing. Plus, they never shoot you in the face. ;)

      I like L4D(2) very much for both the multiplayer and the single player. Sometimes you don't want to deal with other people and just want to kill zombies. Sometimes you like the challenge of trying to get through a level on your own on Expert difficulty. Sometimes you don't want to deal with the idiots in pub games while your friends are all offline. While I agree that it doesn't really have a "strong" single player, it can still be quite an enjoyable single player experience. They actually did a good job of balancing that, rather than making it one of those games that is impossible or exceptionally boring to play on single player.

      --
      "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
    12. Re:Customer service by rjch · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Also some good spin work.

      They took something about them screwing up in a moderately serious way while doing something people tend to get upset about them doing, and turned it into being about the quality of their customer service while incidentally advertising a rather expensive game.

      There's an old saying that it's not the fact that a company screws up that generates ill will, it's the response from the company to rectify the problem.

      This is a company that has heard that saying and has taken it to heart. Bravo.

    13. Re:Customer service by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 2, Insightful

      this is far more than "an error" on their part... but an apology and access to content they've already produced and can duplicate trivially at ~no cost is pretty much all they have to give.

      What's the cost to them got to do with anything? Apologising is about making the victim feel better, not the perpetrator feel worse. It's a good apology because they actually gave people something they may appreciate, even if there's little cost to them.

      Oh, and if you're truly that vindictive, you may take comfort in knowing that by giving them L4D2, that puts another 12,000 copies of L4D2 out there, for no money, thus, for 12,000 people, eliminating any chance that they will pay Valve for it (assuming those who have it already gift it to someone else). That puts a small but measurable dent in Valve's revenue for the game, which Valve won't be pleased about.

      --
      You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
    14. Re:Customer service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Three options:
      -Own server(Either paid for dedicated, or just host it while you play). It'll help a bit, one less middleman, but only if the person hosting it has a good connection.
      -Console command to open the server browser, and just find a good low ping one, no hoping and praying involved. "openserverbrowser"
      -Force it to only choose servers below a set max ping. Use "mm_dedicated_search_maxping 150".

    15. Re:Customer service by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 4, Funny

      i'm having a hard time picturing a credible scenario where a woman would be prepared to have sex in exchange for a copy of a video game.

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      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    16. Re:Customer service by Narishma · · Score: 4, Funny

      Who said anything about women?

      --
      Mada mada dane.
    17. Re:Customer service by Skuto · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >but quickly realised how bad the AI is compared to human counterparts

      No really, it's the other way around in most cases :-P

      The bots don't shoot you, don't run off on their own, etc. Coop multiplayer is much more challenging.

    18. Re:Customer service by Ash+Vince · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You can play Counter strike with bots, but I don't think you'll see many people playing it that way. I still think it will be firmly in the minority.

      I actually know of a lot of adults who do exactly this. They cant be bothered playing online due to all the people who have too much time to dedicate to being FPS ninjas. I have always found that if you are not willing to dedicate an hour per day to playing online games you will probably not get that much enjoyment out of it due to the insane amount of dieing you do for very little killing.

      An hour per day might not sound like much, but with a full time job, travelling to work, family, sleep and other commitments finding that hour can be hard. I used to spend at least 2 hours per day gaming, and pretty much all day at weekends. Battletracker lists my longest session on AA2 as 10 hours straight. (http://battletracker.com/playerstats/aao/289831/-GuNS-Nohax/)

      Now I have a girlfriend and a job I barely fit in an hour a day to learn BFBC2. Even this hour is partly at the expense of boozing with my mates after work. If I ever have kids I am fairly sure the gaming will have to be knocked on the head for more than an hour per week, let alone per day.

      However some people still love FPS games, even though they cannot keep the ninja reactions tuned. So they set an army of bots up where they can tune them to make them a challenge but not impossible.

      In my youth I used to use the bots on UT for training, try playing against 5 or 6 of them all set to "Godlike" on a small map.

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      I dont read /. to RTFA, I read /. to offend people in ignorance.
    19. Re:Customer service by Mr.+DOS · · Score: 5, Informative

      Summary's incorrect, as usual. Valve gave everyone affected a free copy of the game to gift to someone else, and a copy for themselves if they didn't already have L4D2. Essentially, Valve gave out 24,000 copies of L4D2.

    20. Re:Customer service by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 2, Funny

      Let her choose the cheetos or beer then.

    21. Re:Customer service by AtomicOrange · · Score: 2, Funny

      You think juggling all of that and a girlfriend is bad. Try getting married, I haven't played a computer game in 2 and a half months. My homebuilt pc is calling to me, it longs for my caress.

      --
      "What is there a tank on the boat? WHY IS THERE A TANK ON THE BOAT?!?" L4D2
  2. Actual email from Gabe by gravos · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the actual email from Gabe that was sent out:

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    Hello,

    Recently, your Steam account was erroneously banned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

    This was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you.

    The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn't a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks).

    We have reversed the ban, restoring your access to the game. In addition, we have given you a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to give as a gift on Steam, plus a free copy for yourself if you didn't already own the game.

    To share your extra copy of Left 4 Dead 2 with a friend, you can 'Manage Gifts and Guest Passes' from the 'Games' Menu in Steam, or visit this article on the Steam Support site for detailed instructions: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4502-TPJL-2656.

    To access your own copy of Left 4 Dead 2, visit your library of games in Steam. If you didn't already own the game, it will now be listed among your others there, and is available for download immediately.

    Regards,
    Gabe Newell
    President, Valve

    --
    This game will waste your life. Don't clicky!
    1. Re:Actual email from Gabe by MelodicMotives · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As much as I dislike the trends in super-DRM'd game distribution, you have to respect a clear, open email with no bull**** and pretty good compensation to boot.

    2. Re:Actual email from Gabe by Necroloth · · Score: 3, Funny

      *shameless begging* If anyone is kind enough to want to give their free copy, I'd appreciate it :)

  3. Re:Dear Soulskill by Noodlenoggin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are you actually trying to make a living out of this "game journalist" gig? Is it working?

    It's not working very well because I read about this a couple of days ago. Then again online journalism does seem to be all about rehashing something someone else wrote about last week.

  4. I Love Valve. by DoctorPylons · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Even though you can argue about Steam as DRM, I love what Valve is doing as far as consumer-relations. "Pirated our game? It's OK, we'll give you more incentive to buy it instead of pirating it." Gabe Newell is a trailblazer in the video games frontier, and I'm glad we have him.

  5. cheating by networkzombie · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wish punkbuster worked as hard as Steam at keeping cheaters offline and making up for their mistakes. I'd get all my games for free and I wouldn't get kicked as often.

    1. Re:cheating by Necroloth · · Score: 2, Informative

      and not just the cheaters, I wish they'd fix the game on Steam! If you have the Steam overlay on (as default), punkbuster will kick you out of your game! I have to disable/enable this everytime I change games away from CoD.

  6. That good by Netshroud · · Score: 5, Funny

    Valve's PR is so good that some people were complaining on the official forums that VAC didn't erroneously ban them - they wanted a free game.

  7. Re:Ironically by TechnoFrood · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm slightly confused as to how being banned from online servers has anything to do with DRM, given that a game with no DRM could still implement a similar anti cheat system to Valve's VAC.

    Assuming MW2 works anything like the Valve games with VAC (I'm thinking this may be unlikely as it has no dedicated servers), when you get VAC banned your account is prevented from playing on VAC secured servers (although the unsecured servers tend to be crap and full of people using cheats).

  8. Re:Ironically by pinkushun · · Score: 2, Informative

    Aah VAC is not DRM, my ignorance got ahead of me!

  9. I don't know that I'd call it serious by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean sure, people got banned but that would only be serious if the bans couldn't be undone or something. They got banned, they got unbanned. No problem. Same basic effect as if the servers had crashed or their net connection had died.

    It wasn't a serious problem because they dealt with it. The free game (two actually, they gave it to the people and gave them a copy to gift to a friend) is good PR, and should help smooth everything over.

    I don't mind that companies make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Anyone who demands perfection all the time is a moron. All I ask is that they acknowledge and fix their mistakes, which was done here. The free game was a good call, to settle people down, especially since many gamers act like an interruption of their gaming is the end of the world.

    1. Re:I don't know that I'd call it serious by Straterra · · Score: 2, Informative

      That means that with your account, you can no longer play on VAC-secured servers on any game

      Not true. You get banned for the single game and any other games that rely on the game engine. For example, I have two Steam accounts. Both have Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike : Source. One has been VAC banned for CS 1.6. Because of this, every 1.6 engine game is also VAC banned (Half Life, Team Fortress, The Specialist). On the second account, I have CS:S VAC banned. I can't play Garry's Mod, TF2, or any other Source engine game online on that account.

  10. Re:How about a refund. by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You make it sound like the block is a personal favour, and that giving you a game is useless, since you have no qualms about picking it up for free. Put short, you don't sound like you're owed an apology or restitution.

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    You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
  11. "VAC is infallible" by Durzel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As good a move as this I can't help but wonder about the comments made by volunteers moderators on the SPUFs (Steam Powered User Forum) about how "VAC doesn't make mistakes", how bans were permanent and indisputable, etc.

    I wasn't on the receiving end of one of these bans myself but if I had been I would've felt pretty aggreived to be tacitly labelled a cheater and that my account "was gone", with moderators talking about a computerised system being impossible to fool and never wrong, etc.

  12. Bad RAM? by Megane · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sounds to me like this could also give a ban to someone who had bad RAM. One bit wrong in an area that gets a signature check and you're gone. Doesn't even have to be bad RAM, if a cosmic ray flips a bit.

    Better run that memtest86 NOW.

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  13. VAC not so perfect after all, huh Valve? by ZorinLynx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One of my gripes with Valve is they have always claimed that VAC *never makes mistakes* and that VAC bans are absolutely permanent with no chance of appeal.

    I'm glad they were able to admit that yes, VAC can make mistakes and nothing is perfect. Maybe they will re-think their uppity "VAC is flawless. Bans are forever. Sorry." policy now.

    Heck, they won't even reverse VAC bans for people who get their accounts hacked. How wrong is that?