this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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Valve locks game libraries?
No, you just get permabanned from playing on VAC-enabled servers if you get caught cheating on one. So first of all, don't cheat on mulltiplayer games. But if you do cheat, you can still play on servers that aren't VAC-enabled, with all the other cheaters.
But it's not really much of a issue for most people who cheat anyway, because it has no effect for games that don't use VAC.
Say you get VAC banned, your entire library can’t play VAC multiplayer games. If you hacked in Splatoon you buy a new Switch but your library is retained.
You can still play any multiplayer game, you just can't play on VAC-enabled servers anymore. The best way to prevent being VAC banned is don't cheat on multiplayer games. If you do, you deserve having your account VAC banned.
You can still play your Switch games online after getting banned using LDN bridges. The best way to avoid getting banned from a Nintendo service is not to hack your device.
There’s a big difference between pirating a game and cheating on a multiplayer game, and if you can’t tell the difference, then you’re definitely a liberal politically.
From Nintendo’s point of view hacked device is a hacked device. Whether you use it to pirate or hack in multiplayer, they don’t really care, you’re not supposed to do either and they take that device off their network. I usually pay for games because second hand market exists but I also won’t condemn piracy because some can’t afford even that. It’s the expectation that a company like Nintendo has to take it under the guise of consumer protection that I find funny, bad political takes too.
Welcome to the internet young man! Just so you know, you need your parents’ permission to log on while under the age of 13. Until then have fun and stay safe!
There's nuance that you're not including. VAC and game bans are dependent on a per game basis, and don't apply to ALL multi-player servers, just "VAC secured servers" (which makes sense if you got banned by Valve Anti-Cheat), with the sole exception being Valve games that utilize the same underlying engine for their multi-player (CS:Source and TF2, GoldSrc games, so on...) with the same restrictions.
You can still play VAC and other anti-cheat supported multi-player with games not related to your ban, but you will still have VAC bans on record on your profile, which people may cite to kick you.
All of this (apart from the social stigma) is plainly documented on Steam Support:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/571A-97DA-70E9-FF74
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/647C-5CC1-7EA9-3C29