Why can't we change the login name?

[Aposentado Gamer]

I have another steam account that I created a few years ago, I created the login name with the nick name I was known for. Some time later I created a channel in a livestream platform with the same nick name, exactly like the steam login name, and now often appears attempt to login with my steam account, is not successful, but there are frequent attempts.

I know there is no risk, I have two-factor authentication, I change the password frequently, but I would like to change the login name so as not to take any more risks.

Why can't we change the login name?

[my new friend]

Originally posted by Cabo Loso:

Why can't we change the login name?

Because it is Valve.

[Lily McFluffy Butt]

Because of how the database was made back then. The login name is tied to many things and allowing changing it would require redoing the whole database and have unforeseen risks.

[Lily McFluffy Butt]

Expect a hell storm from one guy btw. He'll come in here whining about an event that happened years ago due to a code input box failure that's long been patched, and use that as leverage for why Valve should change the whole database from the ground up just for this.

[my new friend]

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/5406000785156863495/

[MoonC A T]

The bigger question is...why did you make it match in the first place?

[Muppet among Puppets]

Most of the times someone has these emails, they are not real.
Or not meant for that account.

You can easily test it by changing the email for steam.
Also if you use the guard app, you dont get emails at all.

[MoonC A T]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Most of the times someone has these emails, they are not real.

What emails are you referring to?

[Muppet among Puppets]

The emails that tell him "about" a failed login.

[MoonC A T]

Gotcha. thanks...

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Cabo Loso:

Why can't we change the login name?

A better question is: why would you want to?

See, you can also set (and change) the display ('profile') name for your Steam account which will define what name is used on your profile, forum posts, etc.

Go to your profile, click the 'edit' option and there you can change it. In fact... it's highly recommended to use a different profile name than your account name, for security purposes.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Originally posted by Cabo Loso:

Why can't we change the login name?

A better question is: why would you want to?

See, you can also set (and change) the display ('profile') name for your Steam account which will define what name is used on your profile, forum posts, etc.

Go to your profile, click the 'edit' option and there you can change it. In fact... it's highly recommended to use a different profile name than your account name, for security purposes.

OP kinda said why they want to, in the OP itself. It's a pretty reasonable reason.

It's recommended to use a different profile name than one's account name, for security purposes, but this is a quirk of Steam and kinda unique to it.



As for OP, yeah, the usual explanation given is that, based on stuff some Valve employees said many years ago, they built the database badly and made everything depend on the name.

It's of course something that can be rectified, since there IS already a SteamID number separate from the name, and furthermore, they can also change the login itself to not depend on the name if they still need everyting to depend on the account name. But, regardless, they haven't implemented such a feature yet, even though it really ought to be a thing (as it is for a variety of other, even more secure, sites).

[nullable]

Originally posted by ᴹᴼᴼᴺC A T:

The bigger question is...why did you make it match in the first place?

I mean my account name matches the typical screen name I was using at the time. Of course at the time 2003/2004 Steam was a bit different. And lots of services the username isn't a secret, it wouldn't have seemed weird at the time. Or if you know nothing about Steam when you created your account.

[DC-GS]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

It's of course something that can be rectified, since there IS already a SteamID number separate from the name

Except Valve cant change 3rd party system which still run on the old ID. It would break games and accounts of a few games.

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

they can also change the login itself to not depend on the name

Honestly....
I dont see why this CANT be done. At least from technical perspective.

It would be an security nightmare. Look at all the people getting their account phished. If the user doesnt know his own ID, how is he supposed to reocver the account?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by DC-GS:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

It's of course something that can be rectified, since there IS already a SteamID number separate from the name

Except Valve cant change 3rd party system which still run on the old ID. It would break games and accounts of a few games.

Given that there's a SteamID that's much more systematically consistent (and also exists more simply in the form of a number), I'd say game devs ought to be using that instead. But regardless of that, Valve has certainly changed things in ways that cause incompatibility with existing other systems. I think it's more plausible that Valve just hasn't gotten around to it yet.

Originally posted by DC-GS:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

they can also change the login itself to not depend on the name

Honestly....
I dont see why this CANT be done. At least from technical perspective.

It would be an security nightmare. Look at all the people getting their account phished. If the user doesnt know his own ID, how is he supposed to reocver the account?

Considering that Steam keeps records of past display names, I'd be quite surprised if they didn't keep records of past login names. There are many, many pieces of information that can be used to identify a Steam account. (Not to mention that if the login name becomes separate from the account name, then the account name is still the same anyway.) I mean, how do sites that have changeable login names or that use (changeable) e-mail addresses as login names handle forgotten user IDs?

If you meant the SteamID, I don't think Steam actually requires people to know their SteamID (the long string of numbers) to be able to recover their account.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

OP kinda said why they want to, in the OP itself.

Yups, which I think is based on false expectations.

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

It's a pretty reasonable reason.

Have to disagree on that one, also considering that this is something you'd want to keep private in the first place. So who cares that it doesn't match your current impressions or believes or etc... in fact, the mismatch alone will make it harder for others to guess your login name.


Now, I do agree with the statement that it shouldn't be much of an issue from a technical perspective. In fact, I actually doubt that this has anything to do with technical limitations because everyone already gets a unique Steam account ID.

I think the main reason why you can't change the logon name is to prevent people from losing it and thus not being able to log in anymore. And in addition to prevent abuse, the "I forgot my login name" option is often abused on websites which do provide it.

And well.. given the numerous threads about people getting scammed because they were gullible enough to believe someone's claim on Discord that they're a manager of some sort.... yah, safety first!