Valve is one of the most successful and respected game developers in the world. Their "Half-Life" games are arguably the best PC games of the past decade, and their "Steam" software is considered the paragon of digital delivery.

It really is a nice system, but there's a fatal flaw at Valve - one that makes everything they've done well forgotten. This is the VAC and Valve's Customer Support.

The VAC is Valve's attempt to curb rampant "cheating" in their online games, such as Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. The concept seems to be that they have some sort of process within Steam to detect "cheat" programs (or "hacks"). The offender is punished (in accordance with the EULA) by having their account flagged as "VAC banned". This disallows that person from playing any online game on a "VAC secured server" (which accounts for at least 95% of the Internet servers hosting their games). The player is then only allowed to play on the few "unsecured" servers, where they are of course victim to cheaters.

For all intents and purposes, this results in the inability to play their games online - as the unsecured servers are few, and not enjoyable to play on... The whole purpose of the ban. But that's okay, because those dirty cheaters deserve it.

But what happens when a "false positive" occurs? What happens when a person who does not, nor has ever cheated in one of their games is mysteriously "VAC banned"? This seems to be, and have been the case for a number of people - reference this RealTechNews blog post. Unfortunately, as I discovered last Thursday -when trying to play on an Internet server with a friend of mine - this has now happened to me as well.

Now, I must preface this. I am aware that "hacks" and "cheats" exist in online games. I've played them for a long time, and have heard of "wall hacks" and "aim bots" and all the sort of things that the VAC is designed to stop. I have even seen a video on YouTube which shows what this sort of thing looks like. However, I have myself, never cheated in an online game. I have never used a "hack". I have never used a "cheat". I am morally and ethically opposed to an unfair advantage when playing with other real people. Heck, I hardly ever play these games online, I can't remember the last time... but I know I've never cheated, and I've never allowed another person to use my account. So why was I "VAC banned?"

That is the question that I posed to Valve. In trying to be polite as possible, I wrote the following:

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I am being informed by Steam that I am banned from some servers due to a "cheating infraction". I have never cheated in any valve game, nor would I even know how to do so. I am confused as to the reason for this. I was never informed of this "ban" and there is no reason for it.

I would like to request that this "vac" ban be lifted from my account immediately. If this is not possible, I would like all of my purchased software transfered to another account, that does not have such a ban on it.

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Valve took less than 24 hours to reply to me with the following canned response:

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If you have been VAC banned, *WE WILL NOT UNBAN THE ACCOUNT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES*. After June 2005 bans for all Valve games are *PERMANENT*. You are responsible for your account regardless of who used your account. Valve has a zero-tolerance policy on cheating. For more information, see http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=subscriber_agreement.

There are no false positives. Custom skins, sounds, etc. will not get you banned. We will not disclose the cheats that were detected running on your system or the date and time the infraction took place so please do not ask, as your inquiries will be rejected.

You can still play single-player games or connect to non-secure game servers or on your own LAN. To find non-secure servers, change your filters in the server browser list to show "Insecure Servers" only (Steam main menu found in your system tray > Servers > Anti-Cheat > Insecure Only). Bans apply to your Steam account. Each CDKey may only be used with one Steam account. Once used, it is permanently bound to that account, and may not be used with another. Deleting the account will not free the CDKey to be used again. If you choose to purchase a new copy of the game, register it or install it under a different, un-banned Steam account. Do not register retail products to your banned account. Prior to install, remove all cheats from your system. If the cheats still exist on your system, VAC will detect them and immediately ban your new Steam account. You must remove cheats from wherever they were installed. If you do not know where they were installed, then you might want to consider a reformat of your hard disk and clean re-install of your operating system and Steam.

If this message does not apply to the problem you are experiencing, please disregard it and reopen your support request.

Again, *WE WILL NOT LIFT THE BAN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES*. This is not negotiable. Persistant emails after you have been notified of your VAC ban will cause your support account to be disabled.

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So, if I understand correctly, they're saying:

1. Too bad, so sad.
2. Our system is flawless. There are no false positives.
3. We won't let you move your (approximately) $200 in game purchases to another account
4. If you contact us again, We'll turn off your ability to play all of the games that you've purchased from us.

I'm very upset and dismayed over this customer service practice. First, they obviously didn't even research my issue. They simply sent me a (rather threatening) canned response. Second, this is a situation where this company has complete control over the software that I buy from them - even after I have paid good money for it. In essence, I'm "renting" the games from them. I am completely at their mercy since they can, at their whim, close my Steam account which kills my ability to play their games, which all require the use of Steam.

With the number of reports of these false-positives, I am rather surprised that no class-action lawsuit has been brought against the company. I do know for a fact that, unless they resolve this issue, I will no longer be conducting business with Valve software.

Note: If anyone knows of a class action being filed on this issue, please let me know.