What Is A VAC Ban On Steam

In the Steam and Counter-Strike universe, VAC stands for “Valve Anti-Cheat.” As the name suggests, VAC is an Anti-Cheat software created by Valve Corporation, the company that owns Steam and Counter-Strike, along with other popular gaming titles.

With this in mind, a VAC ban is when a player using cheating or hacking clients is issued a punishment. Players with a VAC ban are prohibited from playing on Valve secured servers, which include popular game modes such as Competitive, Deathmatch, and Casual in CSGO.

A direct quote from Valve can shed more light about the consequences of a VAC ban: “VAC bans are permanent, non-negotiable, and cannot be removed by Steam Support. If a VAC ban is determined to have been issued incorrectly it will automatically be removed.”

As the quote mentions, VAC bans are permanent. However, if players are wrongfully banned, Valve will take a second look and unban their accounts if they are proven to be innocent.

It is also important to note that accounts linked with the same phone number will also receive VAC bans.

If you received a VAC ban, there is probably a good reason why. The likeliest reason is you used cheats, hacks, or related clients on a Valve-secured game server. In a game like Counter-Strike, all online game modes are protected by VAC.

There are two main reasons your account was spotted by Valve’s Anti-Cheat system.

1. Your cheat client was immediately detected by VAC. This means your client was very aware that VAC could automatically ban your account.
2. You received excessive reports from players in your games. Then, your account was featured in an Overwatch case where real human players deemed that you were cheating with hacked clients, with a Valve employee making the final call.

Be careful when logging into your Steam account on public computers such as the ones in internet cafes. Even if you didn’t download cheats, playing on a computer with it could result in an unfortunate VAC ban.

Valve has also made it clear that library sharing can also get you VAC banned. So, if a friend or family member used your library sharing and cheated, you could also receive a VAC ban because of them.

You will likely receive a VAC ban for the game you cheated on. On top of Counter-Strike, other Valve titles such as Team Fortress 2 or Dota 2 are also protected by Valve’s Anti-Cheat system.

However, since all Valve games are linked to the same developer, getting banned on one title means you will also be banned from every other game. So, getting banned on Counter-Strike essentially means you cannot play any other Valve games properly.

You can perform a manual check to see which games you were banned from by visiting your Steam settings. On your Steam client, go to the Settings page and make your way to the Account Tab. Next, press “Click for Details,” where you should see a list of games you are banned from.

Getting a VAC ban also means your account will be trade-locked on the games you were banned from. So, a VAC ban also means your account will be trade banned!

You cannot move items from your inventory by trading them to other players or selling them on the Steam Community Market. This is why you rarely see players with expensive skins use cheats; there is too much to risk if they get VAC banned.

However, in the miracle that you were only banned from playing Counter-Strike, you can still trade items from other Valve games such as Dota 2. Still, since VAC bans are almost always permanent, your items will pretty much be stuck in your inventory for the rest of your life.

Though VAC bans are the primary type of bans in Counter-Strike, there are also “game bans” that are issued for other reasons.

As discussed throughout the article, players that receive VAC bans are guilty of using cheating or hacking clients that give them an unfair advantage. Valve bans are usually issued automatically, or if a Valve employee pulls the final trigger.

Meanwhile, game bans come from other means, mainly Counter-Strike’s Overwatch system, where reviewers can conduct an investigation and come up with a final verdict. However, players can also get banned for other offenses such as griefing or communication abuse.

When Overwatch members claim that the suspect was involved in bad conduct, they will receive a game ban. However, a Valve employee will take a second look, and the game ban can be upgraded to a VAC ban if any cheating was present.

In CSGO, game bans will allow players to play in non-competitive game modes such as Causal and Deathmatch. Meanwhile, VAC bans will not allow players to play on any online game mode.  Additionally, only permanent game bans will be displayed on your Steam Profile.

There are several cases of false VAC bans, where players were wrongly accused of using cheats. If this is the case, Valve will automatically remove the game bans after a few days.

However, if the ban is not falsely placed and a player did cheat, Valve has zero tolerance and will never lift the VAC ban. Valve does not take in support tickets about removing VAC bans, and you are only wasting time by appealing for an unban request.

A guilty ban is essentially a lifetime ban. No matter how much evidence you try to provide to Steam Support, you will never be able to remove the VAC ban. The best course of action is to move on.

If you were VAC banned for good reason, then assume it is the price to pay for ruining the game for other players.

Many Counter-Strike players have day jobs. Some of them come home from a long day of work to enjoy a game of CSGO, only to be greeted by hackers who destroy the fun. Getting VAC banned permanently should be enough punishment to get you to repent from cheating in video games, as it is a pretty shameful thing to do.

If you still plan on playing Counter-Strike, you can always have a fresh start with a new Steam account. However, you must link this new account to a new mobile number, as VAC bans are permanently linked to the same number.

However, in the rare case that you were wrongfully convicted, all you have to do is wait a couple days and Valve should lift the VAC ban from your account. If you were not unbanned after a week, then it’s safe to say that you were responsible for cheating.