The overwhelming majority of the adults in the UK don't have credit cards regardless. It's also not a safe or credible mechanism for verification either. Valve will need to soon provide realistic alternatives because developers and publishers are going to lose a lot of sales.

Well, if you haven't got a job, what are doing wasting money on buying games for? As for anyone else, they can feel free to contact Steam Support with the suggestion that Valve implement far more intrusive methods. If everyone in the UK did that, Valve might notice...

What Valve won't notice is all the topics here. They don't come to this forum.

One of the first pieces of financial information most parents give their kids is about the risk of the "credit trap". That it is better to save and buy than buy and repay with interest.
I know people who have got into trouble because they couldn't pay back the interest on Credit Cards, the compulsion to spend was too great.
As I understand it, Steam allows you to have ONE card on your account, so what this is basically doing is saying, "If you want full access to the site, get in the credit trap.", that's NO different to some of the more dodgy online pron sites of the 90's to be honest...

True, Steam is basically telling you to get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by half-assing it and promoting such a scheme instead of just straightforward methods of payment using your actual funds directly.
Credit card companies were already using their influence to try and manipulate what you buy in the first place before this kicked in too.

Credit Cards are just a better dressed loan shark, still scummy at the core.

Originally posted by bansama:

Well, if you haven't got a job, what are doing wasting money on buying games for? As for anyone else, they can feel free to contact Steam Support with the suggestion that Valve implement far more intrusive methods. If everyone in the UK did that, Valve might notice...

What Valve won't notice is all the topics here. They don't come to this forum.

People that are DISABLED can't work and they rely off benefits but they're allowed to treat themselves to games

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

The overwhelming majority of the adults in the UK don't have credit cards regardless. It's also not a safe or credible mechanism for verification either. Valve will need to soon provide realistic alternatives because developers and publishers are going to lose a lot of sales.

62.11% of UK adults have a credit card.

Percent people with credit cards by country, around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com https://share.google/iSDTE1i86kyprJ06Z

Actually, the percentage is definitely higher now. Those World Bank stats were from four years ago.

Originally posted by dq_177:

True, Steam is basically telling you to get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by half-assing it and promoting such a scheme instead of just straightforward methods of payment using your actual funds directly.
Credit card companies were already using their influence to try and manipulate what you buy in the first place before this kicked in too.

Credit Cards are just a better dressed loan shark, still scummy at the core.

Exactly. Credit cards here are almost unheard of but in some countries like the USA, it's almost an encouraged culture. If this type of thing existed as across all sites then you'd see more and more young people being exploited into getting a credit card so they can access such content but then likely use the card on such store fronts and plunge themselves into irreversible positions.

Maybe this is Valve's compromise to Visa and Mastercard - we'll bait people into getting credit cards if you get off our backs with adult content pressure. The whole situation stinks.

Originally posted by robilar5500:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

The overwhelming majority of the adults in the UK don't have credit cards regardless. It's also not a safe or credible mechanism for verification either. Valve will need to soon provide realistic alternatives because developers and publishers are going to lose a lot of sales.

65% of UK adults have a credit card.

These figures are absolute nonsense and have just spread between articles and cookie-laden sites over the years. For starters, many payment providers will never actually disclose how many customers even have credit cards or how and when they are used so that alone renders any figures irrelevant. Some fringe ones that do publish data to entice others to their service actually count each card issued as a customer, so if someone has 15 cards, that's 15 'customers'. Other providers may even count credit-options on an open account as a credit card customer.

It's all a load of rubbish and regardless, Valve should not be using this as a mechanism for verification especially without other options on the table.

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by robilar5500:

65% of UK adults have a credit card.

These figures are absolute nonsense and have just spread between articles and cookie-laden sites over the years. For starters, many payment providers will never actually disclose how many customers even have credit cards or how and when they are used so that alone renders any figures irrelevant. Some fringe ones that do publish data to entice others to their service actually count each card issued as a customer, so if someone has 15 cards, that's 15 'customers'. Other providers may even count credit-options on an open account as a credit card customer.

It's all a load of rubbish and regardless, Valve should not be using this as a mechanism for verification especially without other options on the table.

It's referencing World Bank statistics. It's okay to admit you're wrong.

its far from unheard of

65% of UK adults (35.3 million) owned a credit card in 2024, more than 3 times as many as had an overdraft (21%).
https://www.merchantsavvy.co.uk/uk-credit-card-statistics/

one of the easiest ways to build good credit is to pay with credit then at the end/start of the month clear it with your debit card.

Originally posted by robilar5500:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

These figures are absolute nonsense and have just spread between articles and cookie-laden sites over the years. For starters, many payment providers will never actually disclose how many customers even have credit cards or how and when they are used so that alone renders any figures irrelevant. Some fringe ones that do publish data to entice others to their service actually count each card issued as a customer, so if someone has 15 cards, that's 15 'customers'. Other providers may even count credit-options on an open account as a credit card customer.

It's all a load of rubbish and regardless, Valve should not be using this as a mechanism for verification especially without other options on the table.

It's referencing World Bank statistics. It's okay to admit you're wrong.

World Bank statistics makes estimates and determinations by the figures that are attainable. It's the equivalent of how TV companies worked out how many people watched their programmes and isn't wholly accurate.

Try not to use Google AI for all your research next time because that also isn't accurate

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by robilar5500:

It's referencing World Bank statistics. It's okay to admit you're wrong.

World Bank statistics makes estimates and determinations by the figures that are attainable. It's the equivalent of how TV companies worked out how many people watched their programmes and isn't wholly accurate.

Try not to use Google AI for all your research next time because that also isn't accurate

Sure sure.
You know what's actually wholly inaccurate? Your 'trust me bro' assertion. Keep feeding your false narrative though, lol.

Originally posted by robilar5500:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

These figures are absolute nonsense and have just spread between articles and cookie-laden sites over the years. For starters, many payment providers will never actually disclose how many customers even have credit cards or how and when they are used so that alone renders any figures irrelevant. Some fringe ones that do publish data to entice others to their service actually count each card issued as a customer, so if someone has 15 cards, that's 15 'customers'. Other providers may even count credit-options on an open account as a credit card customer.

It's all a load of rubbish and regardless, Valve should not be using this as a mechanism for verification especially without other options on the table.

It's referencing World Bank statistics. It's okay to admit you're wrong.

I'm curious: I've had and used credit cards in the past, then found myself in the enviable position of no longer needing them; so I simply destroyed them. For years, the bank would send me unsolicited credit cards (which I also destroyed). They didn't stop until I changed banks. Do you think I still appear as owning a credit card in the statistics? I suspect I might, but I don't really know (or care).

AT the end of the day it's a stupid law and there are zero acceptable ways to do it that does not put customers at an elevated level of risk and cost steam huge fee's and fines. The only answer to this is for steam to just stop taking payments in the UK leave people with there current library and that's it till the OSA is repealed.

Originally posted by Old Vagabond:

Originally posted by robilar5500:

It's referencing World Bank statistics. It's okay to admit you're wrong.

I'm curious: I've had and used credit cards in the past, then found myself in the enviable position of no longer needing them; so I simply destroyed them. For years, the bank would send me unsolicited credit cards (which I also destroyed). They didn't stop until I changed banks. Do you think I still appear as owning a credit card in the statistics? I suspect I might, but I don't really know (or care).

If you closed the account then that would cease the statistics but unsolicited credit cards would be counted by payment providers and this is a massive bait market. There are many football clubs here who offer free credit cards along with season tickets and people just sit on them if they just want to pay via debit. You see the same thing with corporate motor racing and with so many providers inching off each other these days, it's all about inflated statistics. Klarna are the company now making some big moves with alternative simplistic methods. The stats that people would want to see are how many cards are actually used and active because those are the only useful and relevant ones.

I could probably amass 25 by the end of play today and not use one.