In a surprise move today, Valve has announced that game developers can now ban Steam gamers if they find players misbehaving or cheating within their games. The initiative, called "Game Ban," will allow game developers to identify cheaters within their games and then ban them permanently if they wish to do so.
Valve says:
Because nobody likes playing with cheaters.
Playing games should be fun. In order to ensure the best possible online multiplayer experience, Valve allows developers to implement their own systems that detect and permanently ban any disruptive players, such as those using cheats.
Game developers inform Valve when a disruptive player has been detected in their game, and Valve applies the game ban to the account. The game developer is solely responsible for the decision to apply a game ban. Valve only enforces the game ban as instructed by the game developer.
For more information about a game ban in a specific game, please contact the developer of that game.
According to the company, the decision to ban a player solely rests with the developer, which essentially means that Valve won"t be able to interfere. In case a player is banned, he"ll have to contact the respective developer in order to resolve the issue. It is notable that this ban will not restrict from Steam itself but will prevent you from accessing the game.
It"s being speculated there"s quite a high probability of this authority being misused by game developers as it grants complete autonomy to developers, allowing them to ban players without any questions being asked by Valve.