It looks like Valve Corp is not quite ready to get back on its users’ good side, as the Washington-based game studio has revealed a controversial new ban system that allows game developers to directly ban users from their games. Not only do the bans keep the players for joining multiplayer servers, but they also prevent the players from accessing the game on Steam entirely.

Steam’s VAC system is already well known for its uncompromisingly strict attitude toward bans, which are permanent and cannot be appealed. These bans are handed out for players who use hacks or exploits to cheat on multiplayer games.

Now a new type of ban has been added to steam called a “Game Ban” which can be used by developers to remove disruptive players.

“Playing games should be fun,” the Steam support page for game bans says. “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.”

Valve apparently reviews the bans submitted by developers, but it does not seem like they worry about the cause too much.

“Game developers inform Valve when a disruptive player has been detected in their game, and Valve applies the game ban to the account,” the support page explains. “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.”

Valve does not even address the concerns of players who have been game banned from products that they own through Steam. Instead, the page directs them to “contact the developer of that game.”

While no one would argue that cheating players should be banned from multiplayer servers, Valve’s information about the ban system is disturbingly vague, and several lengthy discussions have popped up on the Steam Community page, where users are worried that it could be vulnerable to abuse by developers who could possibly use it as a tool to censor dissatisfied customers.

“Some Indie devs have been notorious in silencing dissenting opinions on forums and such,” a user wrote in one discussion. “What’s to say they won’t silence someone forever if that person doesn’t like the game?”

Image credit: Valve Corp