That's odd. I reported someone 5 days ago and he still hasn't been banned, or at least had his messages removed.

Just would like to know, in general.

Keys were already duped and placed on the Steam market where their prices fell to somewhere close to $2.00. It is actually inevitable that this will happen, fortunately Valve was able to remove the duped keys off the Marketplace probably because they were on THEIR servers, heh. I think people misunderstand my post. I have no problem with trading CS:GO weapon skins, items, whatever, what I'm saying is that the eSports keys need to be purchased from Valve. Every form of currency in TF2 has been duped. To say an extra layer of security saves these items from that same result is to brush off this important matter.

You and I don't know how to duplicate these items, but other people do, and people like to make money. Just as we see now with keys somewhere near $1.80, people aren't buying them from the Mann Co. Store, people are...
- Trading keys with people who
- Acquired them for $1.80, from people who
- Could've traded a buds to get the keys
- The former owner of the buds could have purchased the aforementioned via Paypal
- Paying someone for an item which may have been duped and therefore the devaluation of the TF2 currencies unfold.
If there is money to be made, it's inevitable. Proceeds from the purchase of TF2 keys from the Mann Co. Store don't go towards supporting TF2 in eSports, they go to Valve in support of whatever.

You understand that this discussion is simply about the eSports key, yes? What I'm saying is, every one of them needs to be purchased from Valve. That's why I'm asking that Outpost consider not allowing them to be traded on their website.

Finally, if you think $250,000 from just over a month's worth of transactions was funded by "negligible" amounts, you're delusional, and your misunderstanding of what I'm discussing is far more obvious now. Keep the skins, the crates, the trading cards, even the weapon case keys, just asking Outpost to forego the eSports keys. How anyone could argue against supporting CS:GO in eSports boggles my mind. Every eSports key needs to originate from Valve's Marketplace, after being paid for.

I'd just like to throw my support behind this. BUT I think the admins of Outpost ought to be more considerate in CS:GO's case. Since the arms deal update on August 13, Valve is not simply making money off of the Steam Market transactions, they are also apportioning funds towards cash prizes, which in turn is enormously helping CS:GO break into the larger scene that is currently dominated by games such as League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Call of Duty, DotA 2, and etc.

Valve has already pledged $250,000 towards (and only) the CS:GO DreamHack Winter event (which features other games as well, with prize purses of their own) . Here's an excerpt from an article which explains it better:
"Valve announced today (Sep. 16) that the 2013 DreamHack Steelseries Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Championship taking place at DreamHack Winter will feature a $250,000 community-funded prize pool. The prize pool is the largest in Counter-Strike’s history.
The funds were generated from in game item purchases."

And here's an excerpt from Valve's own CS:GO blog to further explain:
"We also want The Arms Deal Update to give back to the community, which is why we’re happy to announce the eSports Weapon Case. A portion of the proceeds from sales of eSports Case Keys will go towards prize purses at CS:GO community competitive events."

With the recent return of the huge and legendary eSports organizations like Evil Geniuses (EG) and SK-Gaming, and over 30,000 viewers seen at once on a single Counter-Strike Twitch.tv stream, the community is primed and ready to grow.

What I am asking, almost pleading, is that TF2 Outpost does NOT allow the trading of eSports keys. That they remain only purchasable on the Steam Market. In the long run, you would be taking away from the game: defunding prize purses, causing sponsors to pull out of the game which in turn leads to professional players dropping off, the community shrinking, and maybe most important, hurting the already struggling and small *North American* CS:GO scene.

If you aren't already aware, there's been an initiative within the community to bring Counter-Strike back to life in North America, it's been named NA Revival (narevival.com). But for the first time in Counter-Strike history, Valve is financially backing tournaments through their profits. This is a huge step and much needed encouragement for especially North American players and teams.

Over $250,000 generated since Aug. 13 to Sep. 16 (the DreamHack announcement) simply from one of their two types of keys.

Consider the larger picture, and how much might be taken away if/when eSports keys were conveniently and safely tradable or purchasable outside of the Steam Market. They would get duped (Russians already duped them and put them on the Market, but Valve removed them all within a week or two), their value would go down, and CS:GO would take a big hit in so many ways. The weapons case keys, according to Valve, don't contribute towards community-funded prize pools, but please keep the eSports keys off Outpost. You'd be doing an enormous favor (larger than you may know) for eSports in general, and especially for CS:GO.

Thanks for reading this.

tl;dr Please don't allow the trading of specifically eSports keys since a part of their sale on the Steam Market goes towards funding tournament cash prizes. CS:GO needs to grow, and Outpost would largely be hindering that and all the further results, such as sponsors and eSports organizations dropping off, and big tournaments featuring CS:GO and large prize pools become fewer and out of reach for professional North American players.