Region Restriction

[theseez]

Referring to the topic title, I am currently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and unfortunately due to region restrictions, SP: TSOT is unavailable on Steam or on GamersGate. Would appreciate if anybody could let me know how I can obtain a digital copy of the game.

 

Many thanks!

[Humanoid]

Amazon generally works, you just need an, ahem, alternative billing address in the US set as the account default when making the purchase. Just pick some hotel there as the address. For future convenience I recommend a state with no sales tax, such as Oregon.

 

Note that here in Australia, people have found US keys must be activated via VPN as well. After that's done it can be played normally (and uncensored). Since there's no specific regional version for the UAE I don't know whether this advice applies in that regard.

[theseez]

Thanks! Will try that out!

[Tagaziel]

Note that using VPNs is in contradiction of the Steam Subscriber Agreement:

 

You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, we may terminate your access to your Account.

So it's risky. I tend to travel to Poland relatively frequently to visit my family, so I usually bypass German bull**** censorship regulations by logging into Steam there. Can't ban me if I am physically in another country. Can't tell if going foreign is a viable option for you, though.

 

Humanoid is correct that once bought, your access will not be abridged. I can happily shoot and disintegrate Nazis in Wolfenstein that way, even if the sad old creatures forcing censorship would have a heart attack at the notion.

[Humanoid]

True, it's one of those things they reserve the right to do, but as far as I know, has never been done. That said, if you were being ultra cautious you could register a new, separate Steam account for the game alone. (For those with the patience, it's a pretty good policy in general as it means second hand PC game sales are still alive)

Edited March 11, 2014 by Humanoid

[Tagaziel]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?11198-Steam-banned-my-account-without-any-explanation

 

You don't really hear a lot about this, because a minority of users use VPN. I tend to buy my Steam keys from Kinguin, since they're cheaper, but I always pay attention to get ones for the EU. Kinguin did run a check and requested proof of residence, though.