VAC is Valve-Anti-Cheat. A system created in 2002, along with Counter Strike. Since then has been modified so that it works without skipping a beat. Specific servers are VAC protected, if you’re caught cheating, you will be banned. If you’re cheating on a non-VAC protected server, you will not get a VAC ban but may be reported for cheating by other users of Steam.

Yes, you will be caught and will be banned sooner or later.




Like the picture above says, No there will always be a big red wording on your profile with a VAC ban / Game Bans X days ago. It’s only possible to get VAC bans (and Game Bans) on VAC protected games. To see a full list of all the Steam games protected by VAC, click here













The answer is rather simple. You cheated. VAC bans are triggered when VAC finds a cheating/hacking software running in the ram of your computer. Editing core game files can also trigger VAC bans. You may think “I cheated last week but not this week, how come I got a ban?” VAC bans are delayed, they can take days to take effect on your account. Once you cheat, its just a matter of time before you are caught and banned from playing on VAC secured servers.


No, the report didn't cause the VAC system to ban you, it just told Valve that you're cheating and let them know about your behavior.


If you get a VAC ban in one of the Gold Source games or Source Engine, it will apply to ALL Gold Source/Source Engine games. In games like Call of Duty, if you cheat in Black Ops lll, it won't apply to Modern Warfare 3.

List of Gold Source Games:

Counter-Strike
Condition Zero
Ricochet
Day of Defeat
Team Fortress Classic
Half-Life: Deathmatch
Deathmatch Classic

List of Source Engine Games:

Counter-Strike: Source
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Day of Defeat: Source
Team Fortress 2



Depends on the game. Some games allow you to turn VAC off when playing on a private matches. Other games you can’t. It's safe to say it's risky cheating even with a friend.




What does this mean? It means your account was caught cheating, and will be VAC banned within the next few hours.



You can create a new account and purchase the game again and still be able to play.








If you have Family Share enabled for some of your friends, and your friend uses your account to cheat, you will also be punished for the user’s actions. A good way to avoid this, is to only share your games with people you trust. Its your responsibility to manage your account. Be wise on who you lend your account to.




This also is a lot like the last question. Your account is your responsibility, not your friends, not your "cat's" or anyone else, only yours. Also to point this out, why would you even say your cat hacked? pffft.


Similar to library sharing, if you have a phone number tagged (setup via settings) on multiple accounts, all accounts will be banned if any of the accounts are caught with cheating.



If you were cheating in Minecraft and left the cheating program open and played Modern Warfare 3, you might have received the ban from that.



If the VAC system made a mistake, it will be caught and fixed as soon as possible.



You can start by removing all those cheating programs. It’s highly suggested to do a reformat of your OS after cheating; most software(s) can give you viruses. If you don’t reformat, it could lead to you having another VAC ban on your new account. Then, create that new account, buy the said game and don't cheat!



It means you were banned by server admins, or a third party ban manger. i.e – Punk Buster.



VAC ban is when you’re caught by Steam’s system. Game ban is when you’re caught by the Developers of the game you cheated on. If you get a permanent game ban, it will appear on your profile. If you get a temporary ban, it will not appear on your profile, however, it is up to the Developer to decide how long your temporary ban will last. Game bans may also restrict you from playing online and will only let you play offline, it depends on how the Developer punishes you.



Go into Settings < > Account tab <> VAC Status








The game will be removed from your library and the red mark of death (VAC / Game Ban) will be placed on your account.

First off, Cheater/Hacker really mean same thing. A Cheater breaks the rules and is called a cheater. A hacker is abusing the system by inserting hacks from program(s), so in a sense he/she is cheating.





What most people do when finding a Cheater, their first reaction is to call them out on it and post their profile link on the Steam Forums and asking people to spam report them for cheating. While it may seem you’re doing the right thing by reporting them for cheating, you are doing more harm than good. Here are the reasons why.

• Posting someone’s profile link in public is called Naming & Shaming
  
• Most people will have to spend their precious time to tell you that you are Naming & Shaming
  
• People report the cheater and create a spam list for Steam Support to deal with
  
• The Steam Moderators will end up having to edit your topic to remove the user’s profile

With that explained, by you reporting them you’ve created a lot of extra work for people. Now you’re wondering, well then how do I report them without creating all this extra work for people? The answer is rather simple. If you find a cheater, go to their profile and just report them by clicking on the More button > Report Violation. Then leave it at that. Don’t be the child who spams the Steam Forums and makes the active people of the community have to tell you the same thing over and over.

Like I already explained. Game bans are when the Developers of X game and find you cheating. For example, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, If you cheat on that game, the Devs will ban you once you're caught. Game bans can all be different. Some may be temporary, others may be permanent. The reason why Steam allowed Devs to do this, is so that they can have their own type of anti-cheat system.


When a Developer finds you cheating/hacking, he/her will issue a ban to Valve and Valve will ban the select user given to them by the Developer.


Depends. The Developer may have allowed you to still play in offline mode but restricted you from playing online. In most cases, the Dev will just limit you from playing online, but depending on how you cheated, it might effect how the ban will take effect on your account. Game bans may also prevent you from trading items from that game such as trading cards, skins, etc.

To conclude this guide, VAC is really simple to avoid, don’t cheat/hack on VAC protected servers. No one likes playing with cheaters, ruins the whole purpose of the game if you cheat. Along with VAC bans, Game bans are really the same as a VAC ban, but issued by a developer instead of Steam's Anti-Cheat-system. You can also read the links listed below for more information on the VAC system/Game Bans. I hope you found this guide helpful, if you have questions, leave them down below. Thanks for reading!

Valve Anti-Cheat System (VAC)

I've Been Banned

Banned by Game Developer (Game Ban)

VAC Pinned Thread

Game Ban Pinned Thread





Disclaimer: I do not take ownership of all photos used in this guide, only the screenshots of the Steam UI