Why bother proving you have a credit card if eventually the card company isn't going to let you buy the game anyway?

I actually put up a thought about it i think your years of service should be taken into account. Like i have 11+ years. Like I think your account has around 8-11+ years of service to steam your account should automatically be deemed as over the age.

Originally posted by DarkCrystalMethod:

Why bother proving you have a credit card if eventually the card company isn't going to let you buy the game anyway?

Good point. I thought these games were banned anyhow. Apparently they're still there.

At least you still by your adult games, how long has that not been an option in Germany.

Originally posted by KyraPhobic:

I actually put up a thought about it i think your years of service should be taken into account. Like i have 11+ years. Like I think your account has around 8-11+ years of service to steam your account should automatically be deemed as over the age.

Except that the age of a Steam account is not legitimate age verification.

It's a good point though, that alternative ways as the OP brought up, being DL numbers or State or Country ID's should be introduced as an alternative method.

It may be that will happen, but Valve would have to contract out an outside company to do it.

The UKs authority on the matter, cites many different ways. It's that Steam chose this one.

Probably because it was the easiest as of now.

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by KyraPhobic:

I actually put up a thought about it i think your years of service should be taken into account. Like i have 11+ years. Like I think your account has around 8-11+ years of service to steam your account should automatically be deemed as over the age.

Except that the age of a Steam account is not legitimate age verification.

To an extent it is verification cause it's an extension of said person's age.

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

It's a good point though, that alternative ways as the OP brought up, being DL numbers or State or Country ID's should be introduced as an alternative method.

It may be that will happen, but Valve would have to contract out an outside company to do it.

The UKs authority on the matter, cites many different ways. It's that Steam chose this one.

Probably because it was the easiest as of now.

Valve just went the easy way out but they didn't think that not every adult has credit card.

Originally posted by KyraPhobic:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Except that the age of a Steam account is not legitimate age verification.

To an extent it is verification cause it's an extension of said person's age.

Not according to the British Authorities its not.

The issue here is not Steam. The issue here is Steam having to follow the law.

Originally posted by DxTrixterz:

Originally posted by xBCxRangers:

It's a good point though, that alternative ways as the OP brought up, being DL numbers or State or Country ID's should be introduced as an alternative method.

It may be that will happen, but Valve would have to contract out an outside company to do it.

The UKs authority on the matter, cites many different ways. It's that Steam chose this one.

Probably because it was the easiest as of now.

Valve just went the easy way out but they didn't think that not every adult has credit card.

Right, but that may change. I just think they need more time.

Originally posted by KyraPhobic:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Except that the age of a Steam account is not legitimate age verification.

To an extent it is verification cause it's an extension of said person's age.

No, not to an extent. It simply is not at all.

It cannot be age verification since age verification requires personal information that is verifiable. Hence why a CC is required, since the CC company has to check the personal information.

Taken off one of the comments made by user "Frz" in one of the other discussions about this:

Facial age estimation – you show your face via photo or video, and technology analyses it to estimate your age.
Open banking – you give permission for the age-check service to securely access information from your bank about whether you are over 18. The age-check service then confirms this with the site or app.
Digital identity services – these include digital identity wallets, which can securely store and share information which proves your age in a digital format.
Credit card age checks – you provide your credit card details and a payment processor checks if the card is valid. As you must be over 18 to obtain a credit card this shows you are over 18.
Email-based age estimation – you provide your email address, and technology analyses other online services where it has been used – such as banking or utility providers - to estimate your age.
Mobile network operator age checks – you give your permission for an age-check service to confirm whether or not your mobile phone number has age filters applied to it. If there are no restrictions, this confirms you are over 18.
Photo-ID matching – this is similar to a check when you show a document. For example, you upload an image of a document that shows your face and age, and an image of yourself at the same time – these are compared to confirm if the document is yours.

Look at all these ways Valve could have handled this mess. I'm not saying we all would have to do this but at least give us a choice that would actually allow and not alienate many from confirming our age. Valve has done it possibly the worst and laziest way they could have done it.

I just can't wait for the gender/pronoun confirming check that they will be forced to implement to prove if you can enter gender specific/exclusive forums/games.

Originally posted by DarkCrystalMethod:

I just can't wait for the gender/pronoun confirming check that they will be forced to implement to prove if you can enter gender specific/exclusive forums/games.

If you can't understand CIS, Zer and all the other weird acronyms used, it should prove your old enough to play adult games, if you can understand all that however.......

Originally posted by KyraPhobic:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Except that the age of a Steam account is not legitimate age verification.

To an extent it is verification cause it's an extension of said person's age.

To the extent any of that matters under the current letter of the law.

Like yeah, we all understand the obvious argument behind it. The law may not accommodate that because law makers have their own sloppy thought processes and miss the obvious unintended consequences. Don't worry, after reading dozens of these topics seems like gamers sloppy thinking wants to blame Valve, or lecture how things ought to be done without understanding the law they're lecturing about.