Misbehave in a Steam game and its developer now has the ability to detect you and get you permanently banned.
Valve has opened up the possibility for developers to implement their own systems for identifying disruptive players, in addition to its own anti-cheat software.
Developers who are alerted to a player's misdeeds will then be able to instruct Valve to apply a permanent ban as punishment.
Steam explained the decision in the following announcement:
For more information on a game ban - and presumably to appeal - players will now have to contact the developer of the game itself, rather than Steam.
Valve boss Gabe Newell recently complained about the amount of extra work the company's support team had needed to put in to firefight the controversial introduction of paid-for mods. The company U-turned on the initiative shortly after.
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