UK Citizen, Boycotting Steam :: Steam Discussions

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Your Doof (Shoal) 30 Aug @ 9:15pm

UK Citizen, Boycotting Steam

I'm closer to 30 than 18. I've been a Steam user for 12 years.
You are a monolithic hyper-corporation with enough funds and influence to fight any lawfare, shoe away any detractors and re-establish any foothold in any market you want.

Yet you have opted to adhere to a clearly ridiculous set of laws from a Government with a 13% approval rating that had no business interfering with your business, from a rapidly impoverishing Country that's glad to tax a bee collecting pollen, not trash its transaction traffic with one of the biggest entertainment platforms on Earth.

I have over 100 steam products in my account, I would've bought many more.
Several Steam products in my Library feature sexual themes and aren't going anywhere. But buying new ones is a no-no if I wish to use my Steam Wallet?

I'm not even a connoisseur of H-Games but the idea that you've just barred me from thousands of products arbitrarily to capitulate to unlikable cretins in suits from a foreign land makes my blood boil.

I'm just one simple game player and it doesn't matter for much, but no, I won't be adding a Credit Card to Verify my age, I won't be adding a single extra penny to your coffers for the remaining stint that you continue placating the bloated arseholes in Westminster, either.

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Showing 1-15 of 110 comments

DarkCrystalMethod 30 Aug @ 9:19pm

Migrate(legally) to a place without such draconain rules and become happy again.

Or, maybe leverage your government(as a citizen of that government) to make it work for you instead of the other way around.

d3str0y3r 30 Aug @ 9:35pm

What ever gave you the idea Valve has that kind of power??? They don't.... They don't even have that kind of power in the US, let alone a different country.

Valve is a US based company and has ZERO say on laws put in place in another country. They are however REQUIRED to follow them if they want to do business in said country.

Sunday Driver 30 Aug @ 9:38pm

The idea that corporations have no saw on what laws are in place in a country is more than a little naive. Lobbying is a thing. There are reasons that big companies like Google and co. pay so little tax or get laws passed favoring them and squashing potential competition.

Draug 30 Aug @ 9:43pm

Unfortunately account age is not a valid method Ofcom accepts as proof of age. I am sure Valve would use that method if it was acceptable as it is the least intrusive, but because it isn't they picked what they felt was the second least intrusive method.

Now granted the difference between the typical American having CC vs Europeans not having CC might not have been taken into account, but I am sure Valve is working on a secondary method to deal with the people who don't have a CC.

For the record here is the acceptable methods from the Ofcom website.

There’s a number of methods a site or app might use to ask you to confirm your age. They might do this check themselves or use another company to do the check. These methods include:

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.

So the question is which method would you be comfortable with if you didn't have a CC?

Sunday Driver 30 Aug @ 9:47pm

If you already pay with a debit card you'd probably not mind the open banking one as the bank and Valve already communicated and have been connected.

The mobile network option is also not a bad one if you have 2 factor authentication already which would use a mobile number anyway.

Add in those and it's giving good range of options to cover everyone.

Draug 30 Aug @ 9:49pm

Originally posted by Sunday Driver:
The idea that corporations have no saw on what laws are in place in a country is more than a little naive. Lobbying is a thing. There are reasons that big companies like Google and co. pay so little tax or get laws passed favoring them and squashing potential competition.

Google is about 35x bigger then Valve in terms of revenue. So of course Google can toss around a few billion each year on lobbying. Valve only makes about 10 billion a year, So they can't really spend much.

Draug 30 Aug @ 10:03pm

Originally posted by Sunday Driver:
If you already pay with a debit card you'd probably not mind the open banking one as the bank and Valve already communicated and have been connected.

The mobile network option is also not a bad one if you have 2 factor authentication already which would use a mobile number anyway.

Add in those and it's giving good range of options to cover everyone.

I agree, the only downside would be if banks charge a company for the service and how much it is (it seems like it is free for the consumer, but costs the website/service money)

you confirming that you have a valid CC doesn't cost Valve anything, So it is no wonder they went with that method first to get as many people as possible verified with that method.

Thinking about it some more, I bet they will roll out other methods in a few days to a week, most likely the two methods you listed plus facial age estimation (which will also cost valve money most likely) and while I assume some people will dttch the CC confirmation and go get confirmed another way the majority of people will leave things be, saving valve a ton of money.

Pocahawtness 30 Aug @ 10:04pm

It's not Valves fault.
My guess is they thought about this and decided that games, being a complainy lot, credit card was the least invasive method.
Besides, no one cares, it's porn. It always should have been behind an age verified wall.

Last edited by Pocahawtness; 30 Aug @ 10:04pm

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 30 Aug @ 10:08pm

Originally posted by Pocahawtness:
It's not Valves fault.
My guess is they thought about this and decided that games, being a complainy lot, credit card was the least invasive method.
Besides, no one cares, it's porn. It always should have been behind an age verified wall.

Least invasive, less friction for all parties.

Draug 30 Aug @ 10:08pm

Originally posted by Pocahawtness:
It's not Valves fault.
My guess is they thought about this and decided that games, being a complainy lot, credit card was the least invasive method.
Besides, no one cares, it's porn. It always should have been behind an age verified wall.

Its always been behind the same age verification system that works for those sites everywhere.

#10

Sunday Driver 30 Aug @ 10:11pm

Originally posted by Draug:
Originally posted by Sunday Driver:
If you already pay with a debit card you'd probably not mind the open banking one as the bank and Valve already communicated and have been connected.

The mobile network option is also not a bad one if you have 2 factor authentication already which would use a mobile number anyway.

Add in those and it's giving good range of options to cover everyone.

I agree, the only downside would be if banks charge a company for the service and how much it is (it seems like it is free for the consumer, but costs the website/service money)

you confirming that you have a valid CC doesn't cost Valve anything, So it is no wonder they went with that method first to get as many people as possible verified with that method.

Thinking about it some more, I bet they will roll out other methods in a few days to a week, most likely the two methods you listed plus facial age estimation (which will also cost valve money most likely) and while I assume some people will dttch the CC confirmation and go get confirmed another way the majority of people will leave things be, saving valve a ton of money.

If it was a set small fee for the banks it wouldn't be so bad as it's a one off thing for a lifetime and it's not going to be expensive, lots of companies do these age checks for free or as part of buying fairly very low cost and low margin items being bought already and before this regulation came into play.The main thing though is to offer reasonable alternatives that are already accepted under the list and so it'll be able to include everyone and not make people feel trapped or forced into once choice that they might not fit with.

#11

Sunday Driver 30 Aug @ 10:14pm

Originally posted by Pocahawtness:
It's not Valves fault.
My guess is they thought about this and decided that games, being a complainy lot, credit card was the least invasive method.
Besides, no one cares, it's porn. It always should have been behind an age verified wall.

It is not just porn that's being impacted by this.There are well regarded games like Fear and Hunger 2 (and other games that are clearly not porn) being thrown under this bus too.

Oddly enough people have already been showing lots of H games are not part of it too. It's a pretty broken system so far and it's not going to stop people from seeing porn if they seek it out.

#12

Draug 30 Aug @ 10:17pm

Originally posted by Sunday Driver:
Originally posted by Pocahawtness:
It's not Valves fault.
My guess is they thought about this and decided that games, being a complainy lot, credit card was the least invasive method.
Besides, no one cares, it's porn. It always should have been behind an age verified wall.
It is not just porn that's being impacted by this.There are well regarded games like Fear and Hunger 2 (and other games that are clearly not porn) being thrown under this bus too.

Oddly enough people have already been showing lots of H games are not part of it too. It's a pretty broken system so far and it's not going to stop people from seeing porn if they seek it out.

Its all games that ask for your age before showing you the content right (M rated games and similar ratings in other jurisdictions) Not just porn games right?

#13

Mr. Smiles 30 Aug @ 10:18pm

This is likely to become the norm in developed nations by the end of the decade. Better figure out a means of verification of you want to buy adults only games going forward.

#14