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How to Change and Mask Your Geolocation on Steam Gaming Platform

Steam is one of the largest digital distribution platforms for PC games, with over 120 million monthly active users. It allows gamers to purchase, download, and play thousands of games on their computers.

However, Steam uses geolocation to determine a user’s country and display region-specific content. This means certain games or prices may not be available depending on your location. Fortunately, there are ways to change and mask your geolocation on Steam using a VPN service.

Why Change Your Geolocation on Steam?

Here are some of the main reasons you may want to modify your detected location on Steam:

  • Access region-locked games not available in your country
  • Unlock games early by connecting to a different time zone
  • Get better regional pricing on games in certain countries
  • Improve ping and connection speeds by selecting local download servers
  • Enhance privacy and security when gaming online

How Steam Detects Your Location

Steam determines your location using a few different methods:

  • Your computer’s IP address – This geolocates you to your internet service provider’s approximate area
  • Your Steam store country setting – This is based on your registered payment method and billing address
  • Your download region setting – You can manually select download servers in specific countries

So to appear in another location, you’ll need to change your IP address, store country, and download region.

Using a VPN to Change Your Geolocation

A VPN or “Virtual Private Network” allows you to route your internet traffic through remote servers and mask your IP address. This lets you spoof and change your detected location on Steam.

Here’s a quick guide on how to use a VPN to alter your geolocation:

1. Choose a Reliable VPN Provider

Select a reputable VPN app that offers fast speeds, allows P2P traffic for gaming, and has servers in your desired countries. ExpressVPN and NordVPN both meet these criteria.

2. Install and Connect Through a VPN Server

Download and install your VPN app then connect to a server located in your target region. This will give you an IP address from that country.

3. Set Your Steam Store Country

While connected to your VPN, go to your Steam account details and update your store country to match your new virtual location[3].

4. Select a Local Download Region

Also using the VPN, you can manually choose a download region on Steam that corresponds with your spoofed country[4].

5. Check Your New Geolocation

Visit sites like ipleak.net to confirm your IP address and location now match your connected VPN server’s geolocation.

Other Tips for Changing Your Geolocation

Here are some other things to keep in mind when modifying your detected location on Steam:

  • Steam only allows you to change store countries once every 3 months[6]
  • You need a payment method/billing address from your updated region
  • Exit and re-launch Steam after changing locations for it to take effect
  • Not all games can have their region restrictions bypassed

Using a VPN gives you the ability to mask your IP address and override geoblocks. However, restrictions set by game publishers and developers may still block access in certain locations.

Risks of Changing Your Geolocation

Although VPNs are commonly used on Steam, there are some risks associated with frequently changing your detected location:

  • Account bans – Repeatedly modifying regions to exploit pricing differences or other restrictions can get your Steam account banned[7].
  • Legal issues – Bypassing region locks may violate terms of service or copyright laws in some cases.
  • Payment problems – Having inconsistent countries on your Steam account can create issues when making purchases.

So in short, only change your location when absolutely necessary and avoid doing so solely for cheaper games or other unfair advantages against terms of service.

Conclusion

Changing your geolocation on Steam can provide benefits like accessing restricted content, improving speeds, and enhancing privacy. Using a reliable VPN allows you to spoof and alter your virtual location.

However, keep in mind restrictions, risks around bans, and Steam’s policy limiting country changes to once per 3 months. Be wise in how you apply geolocation changes on your Steam account.

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