Your debit card is not an acceptable form of verification, and it's not acceptable under the letter of that new law. Valve isn't going to break the laws of your government, and frankly they're not going to come up with alternatives. The credit card is a bulletproof solution. No kid is going to be able to get around it. They aren't going to get fined, or end up on your nightly news.

The solution for you is to go to a local specialty store, and if they don't have the games on their shelves. They certainly have a catalog for placing custom orders. Since you are concerned about future laws being passed. You want to get physical copies of games anyway. You'll probably even be able to import the really raunchy stuff, and some of them have peripherals.

Take the opportunity to step up your game, but complaining here wont do anything. This is done Valve isn't going with anything other. It's a very niche market, and not worth the trouble.

just to make the argument a little more clear keep in mind most adult games will never be sold physically, and i am more concerned long run any game that even gets slightly classified as not safe for kids, this could include games that have lgbtq charecters, games that deal with mental health, self harming stuff like that could be restricted and on top knowing how inattentive parents can be at times most kids could probebly get a parent to use a credit card, also what isnt to stop nsfw games just forgoing the process of tagging, seeing as steam has had slip ups with games having crypto miners or skimmers built in, truth be told there is no answer and the uk government is in the wrong they passed the amended law too fast without thinking it through but steam needs to think long term as the uk has plans for forced digital i.d and some other stupid ideas, i cant force steam to do anything all i ask is they consider or look into it just in case,

So like 90th topic about "Valve caved to UK online safety act,"?
You know that government approved that law right? You go complain there

Originally posted by Princess Luna:

So like 90th topic about "Valve caved to UK online safety act,"?
You know that government approved that law right? You go complain there

I did and they said no, they rather keep pushing it with bs analytics so having to ask steam for some options is a better chance then the government coming to see sense also the law was changed right before the implementation and any and all problems are being ignored or they are down playing them, hell the petitions that have been signed have blown past the 100k needed for a debate and most have been ignored or flat out rejected with out any real progress being made, again I get the idea and yes I agree with the concept but it has many flaws and risks, hell even Wikipedia and some church sites have been affected,

Well just in case you didn't know this is a user forum, and these forums are basically automated affairs. Nobody from Valve is going to be reading this post, and while you think your lawmakers were too quick to act. Valve knew this was coming a long time ago, and this was their solution.

You're actually late to this particular party. Your buddies were still venting last week. The problem for you and for them too. Is that there aren't many of you. Anything they'd make to accommodate you. Would cost more then they'd make from you. Before that solution even got them in trouble.

The problem for you is the United Kingdom is one out of one hundred and eighty countries. At the end of the day this is a global enterprise, and they can't accommodate every single nanny state. You're going to have to find ways to subvert your own government.

Like I said you should go a boutique seller. I assure you they have hundreds if not thousands. If that isn't enough you could go the import route. Enthusiasts used to have to import games that weren't in their region. You've also got retro and open source titles. You've got other options.

Where there's a market there are people to service that market. You can sit here fussing till the cows come home, but you're going to have to change with the times. Nothings going to change, and you've got to accept that.

Originally posted by Dodece:

Well just in case you didn't know this is a user forum, and these forums are basically automated affairs. Nobody from Valve is going to be reading this post, and while you think your lawmakers were too quick to act. Valve knew this was coming a long time ago, and this was their solution.

You're actually late to this particular party. Your buddies were still venting last week. The problem for you and for them too. Is that there aren't many of you. Anything they'd make to accommodate you. Would cost more then they'd make from you. Before that solution even got them in trouble.

The problem for you is the United Kingdom is one out of one hundred and eighty countries. At the end of the day this is a global enterprise, and they can't accommodate every single nanny state. You're going to have to find ways to subvert your own government.

Like I said you should go a boutique seller. I assure you they have hundreds if not thousands. If that isn't enough you could go the import route. Enthusiasts used to have to import games that weren't in their region. You've also got retro and open source titles. You've got other options.

Where there's a market there are people to service that market. You can sit here fussing till the cows come home, but you're going to have to change with the times. Nothings going to change, and you've got to accept that.

we all knew it was comming but again the law was changed very last second before the mass enforcment not even wikipidea was speared, hell they want to know who edits wikis they also want acsess to peoples private messages on whatsapp, granted that has little affect on steam its more steam and other companies need to be ready for sudden changes like what will happen if visa mastercard and other start to refuse to verify peoples accounts, also apolagies for spelling mistakes but too lazy to retype

Originally posted by Princess Luna:

So like 90th topic about "Valve caved to UK online safety act,"?
You know that government approved that law right? You go complain there

Person is correct here. Valve is unwilling as always

Originally posted by habiBee:

Originally posted by Princess Luna:

So like 90th topic about "Valve caved to UK online safety act,"?
You know that government approved that law right? You go complain there

Person is correct here. Valve is unwilling as always

most likely they are right and if so steam is gonna have issues if it gets worse but we can hope seeing as collective shout, payment processors and more have being causing problems they need to make a choice and not just try to go with the flow tbh i can go without nsfw games but i just don't like having only one option of verification

Only reason UK users aren't totally restricted like German users are, is because CC's are a valid age verification method under the UK law and Valve already handles CC's.

If the law were to remove credit cards as valid age verification, then likely you wouldn't have any options. It's only because CC's are such low hanging fruit do you have an option currently. Not implementing age verification and restricting users to satisfy the law is a valid implementation.

I think from Valve's perspective it's a lot of hassle to implement age verification schemes for every country that passes laws and has it's own requirements. If it was worth it to them, namely if loss of revenue from adult content was significantly greater than the time and resources needed to implement age verification they might do it.

Whether that's laziness, or Valve just doesn't want to collect any more data than it absolutely has to that's likely where we are. Plenty of future yet to sort things out though, even if there's some annoyance in the interim.

Originally posted by nullable:

Only reason UK users aren't totally restricted like German users are, is because CC's are a valid age verification method under the UK law and Valve already handles CC's.

If the law were to remove credit cards as valid age verification, then likely you wouldn't have any options. It's only because CC's are such low hanging fruit do you have an option currently. Not implementing age verification and restricting users to satisfy the law is a valid implementation.

I think from Valve's perspective it's a lot of hassle to implement age verification schemes for every country that passes laws and has it's own requirements. If it was worth it to them, namely if loss of revenue from adult content was significantly greater than the time and resources needed to implement age verification they might do it.

Whether that's laziness, or Valve just doesn't want to collect any more data than it absolutely has to that's likely where we are. Plenty of future yet to sort things out though, even if there's some annoyance in the interim.

fair point but it never hurts also tbh laws like this should never rely be passed without public votes on them, then again knowing that it would probely be even more BS graphs and more trying to convince people its only to protect kids, but laws like this will only work if parents are held reponsible as they are the ones who can help children circumvent them

Soon you will be able to use your government issue digital ID card lol

cant folk simply get a credit card and not use it?

Originally posted by Pandora rito:

Originally posted by nullable:

Only reason UK users aren't totally restricted like German users are, is because CC's are a valid age verification method under the UK law and Valve already handles CC's.

If the law were to remove credit cards as valid age verification, then likely you wouldn't have any options. It's only because CC's are such low hanging fruit do you have an option currently. Not implementing age verification and restricting users to satisfy the law is a valid implementation.

I think from Valve's perspective it's a lot of hassle to implement age verification schemes for every country that passes laws and has it's own requirements. If it was worth it to them, namely if loss of revenue from adult content was significantly greater than the time and resources needed to implement age verification they might do it.

Whether that's laziness, or Valve just doesn't want to collect any more data than it absolutely has to that's likely where we are. Plenty of future yet to sort things out though, even if there's some annoyance in the interim.

fair point but it never hurts also tbh laws like this should never rely be passed without public votes on them, then again knowing that it would probely be even more BS graphs and more trying to convince people its only to protect kids, but laws like this will only work if parents are held reponsible as they are the ones who can help children circumvent them

Wasn't Brexit a public vote, and hows that working out. You live in a Nanny state. This would still be the law. The fact that so many of you think Valve should accommodate you. Is the exact same reason your countrymen would pass the law.

You're conditioned to expect government oversight. You don't question the need for regulation. You argue about what the regulation should be, and there in lies the trap that has snared you. It is exactly that kind of thinking that guaranteed this outcome.

The moment that nanny figured out computers. Was the moment this was going to happen.

Originally posted by nullable:

Only reason UK users aren't totally restricted like German users are, is because CC's are a valid age verification method under the UK law and Valve already handles CC's.

If the law were to remove credit cards as valid age verification, then likely you wouldn't have any options. It's only because CC's are such low hanging fruit do you have an option currently. Not implementing age verification and restricting users to satisfy the law is a valid implementation.

I think from Valve's perspective it's a lot of hassle to implement age verification schemes for every country that passes laws and has it's own requirements. If it was worth it to them, namely if loss of revenue from adult content was significantly greater than the time and resources needed to implement age verification they might do it.

Whether that's laziness, or Valve just doesn't want to collect any more data than it absolutely has to that's likely where we are. Plenty of future yet to sort things out though, even if there's some annoyance in the interim.

Quick question: If there was a country where something similar was approved. Would Valve apply the same method ? Difference would be that kids in Said country could own both crédit or debit cards but had no digital account (crestes by their gov) that every adult possess.

Originally posted by Ω Arkandor:

Originally posted by nullable:

Only reason UK users aren't totally restricted like German users are, is because CC's are a valid age verification method under the UK law and Valve already handles CC's.

If the law were to remove credit cards as valid age verification, then likely you wouldn't have any options. It's only because CC's are such low hanging fruit do you have an option currently. Not implementing age verification and restricting users to satisfy the law is a valid implementation.

I think from Valve's perspective it's a lot of hassle to implement age verification schemes for every country that passes laws and has it's own requirements. If it was worth it to them, namely if loss of revenue from adult content was significantly greater than the time and resources needed to implement age verification they might do it.

Whether that's laziness, or Valve just doesn't want to collect any more data than it absolutely has to that's likely where we are. Plenty of future yet to sort things out though, even if there's some annoyance in the interim.

Quick question: If there was a country where something similar was approved. Would Valve apply the same method ? Difference would be that kids in Said country could own both crédit or debit cards but had no digital account (crestes by their gov) that every adult possess.

now that is a damn good question