Steam store you can gift it to them [someone from Germany], and they can activate it.

Amazon key, they cannot use.

I don't think region-locked is the right terminology here. It's just that the game is not available in Germany for obvious reasons. The problem is that they have so many restrictions and personally I don't feel that it would really be fair to everyone else.

I love how there is a German translation even though its of no use in Germany. Though I guess restrictions come after the fact. Surely they knew it wouldn't go over well. To answer your question though, I don't believe it counts as region-locked. Region-locked are generally only usable in a single region, like all those CD-Action keys in Poland for instance. Games get blocked from individual regions all the time but that is nothing we're responsible for here.

NOTE: Steam keys will not activate in Germany

Says right on the steam page.

I think only steam keys are not allowed in germany. I remember germany can purchase cut version (no x-ray bullet time) when sniper elite v2 was just released. So if you're talking about the amazon key, ye I guess that's not allowed

This is just an idea... Can steam gift copies of SE:NA be activated in Germany? This is all clearly assuming you wish to create giveaways using the Germany restricted Amazon keys.

If yes, then find a group of well trusted friends (preferably ones who want SE:NA) of yours willing to buy a giftable copy of SE:NA and give it to you in exchange for the key which they can either activate or trade on. You then gift the giftable on SG. Obviously you'd need to make this arrangement lucrative enough to your friends as they might not want to trade the full priced giftable copy for a miss-priced hence $2.50 key. And so this is more hassle than is necessary - you'd be spending a lot on stuff to sweeten the deals...

If the answer to the above question is no, then scrap this.

Easy answer, if a key is region locked but a gift is not, you could create a giveaway and, if the winner isn't from Germany, gift the key, if the winner is from Germany, buy a steam gift ;) (Though, of course, double check with support before attempting this.)

When the "no region-locked gifts" rule was made, I imagine it was made with, well, regions in mind. Germany is a country, not a region. The EU or Asia would be examples of regions. SE: NA activates in the rest of the EU. So if, hypothetically, a game key could activate in any country except Zimbabwe, would it still be banned from here? If not, where is the line drawn?

As long as it is made clear in the description where a key can or cannot be activated (what better use of the description box could there be?), I really don't see the problem. Illiterate people generally don't use the Internet. Providing a German translation, in this case, would also overcome any potential language barrier.

some games cannot be obtained in the german story,but activated no matter if key or item

some games work when gifted as item,but not activating a key

some games cannt be used from germany at all (even if activated via VPN you wont be able to install/play them from here)

Counting those games as "region restricted" just because germany cant activate it a lot of giveaways here on the site wouldnt be allowed.

This is my personal opinion on the subject. I can't tell you support's view without discussing it with other members (at this time no one is available ;_;).

If a game cannot be activated in certain region(s), it is region-locked. However, for that specific game, there is not much that we can do. Keep in mind that "user can't activate game due to his region" is NOT a generally accepted reason for rerolls. Rerolls in such a case are approved very VERY rarely, under special conditions.

Seeing that only keys don't work, if you make a giveaway of this game, you're still entitled to give the game to the winner.