Turning 12yo nephew may get gaming PC Bday/Xmas, how to handle "his" account?

[TGS]

Can his parents make a Steam account on a new email so that the games they or I gift him will always be his? Something that lets his games remain his would be the best outcome, he's not an only child.

...or does it have to be a parental account. They don't game or have a gaming PC other than the one gifted. The parents do handle the accounts on phones/consoles and the like, so they are used to doing the necessary oversight routine.

I will show threads replies to his parents so they get the info.

[Pierce Dalton]

Well, technically, he can't have his own account - you must be 13yo.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Set up an account for him and enable Family View...

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6B1A-66BE-E911-3D98

Първоначално публикувано от Pierce Dalton:

Well, technically, he can't have his own account - you must be 13yo.

Technically, he can.

[Pierce Dalton]

Първоначално публикувано от cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Set up an account for him and enable Family View...

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6B1A-66BE-E911-3D98

Първоначално публикувано от Pierce Dalton:

Well, technically, he can't have his own account - you must be 13yo.

Technically, he can.

:qr:

This page disagrees with you:
https://store.steampowered.com/join/?

[bnuuy]

Make sure it's his account because Steam TOS is pretty strict about account ownership; ie, you can't give your account to your kids. You're essentially buying a license to access games for one person, for their lifetime. If his account isn't in his name, then he doesn't have the rights to it. He might have problems down the line with account recovery should something happen.

what we did with younger kids in the family was 1) set up an account in their name and 2) load it up with games, etc.
3) talk to them about online safety, password security and privacy.
4) check in on their friends list every now and then. Ask questions about who they're interacting with, if they have questions about things they've heard online, and make sure they haven't run into anything uncomfortable.

He should be supervised anyway-- most of his interactions are going to be through online games and not Steam itself.

As long as you have an open dialogue with him regarding the things he might encounter through online gaming (assuming he's not sticking to singleplayer only titles), there isn't much else you need to maintain.

IIRC there's also a way to restrict community/store access through Family View, but I'm not sure if that can be applied to single accounts.

[steven1mac]

I made my niece and nephew Steam accounts when they got cheap laptop. I also set up their computer and Microsoft password. I could of set it up as a kids account, but honestly I didn't see a point since they have more or less free access to the internet. Anyways I did that to avoid potential hassle of a restricted account, but it is something you need to discuss with the parents.

The parents can easily set up an account, If you are the one to set up the account, you will want to use their email, and not your own. A good parent should have their password to ensure everything is running smooth on the other end.

After that it is a regular Steam account, you can gift him games, or send funds to his wallet. Remember he will have a restricted account until he spend 5 dollars, so you might want to friend him before he gets the account, since he can't friend you until it is unrestricted.

If you really trust him, you might check out the family sharing feature, this would allow him to play your games when you are not on Steam. Also you might want to talk about basic internet security, I would hate for him to get scammed for trying to get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ for a game, or get a VAC ban for cheating.

Wow, didn't know the would censor skins, oh well.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Първоначално публикувано от Pierce Dalton:

Първоначално публикувано от cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Set up an account for him and enable Family View...

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6B1A-66BE-E911-3D98



Technically, he can.

:qr:

This page disagrees with you:
https://store.steampowered.com/join/?

Now show us where Valve is actually able to verify the age of users. Oh wait. So yes TECHNICALLY there is nothing actually preventing the creation of an account by someone under the age of 13.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Parents/legal guardians can create accounts for their children.

[Pierce Dalton]

Първоначално публикувано от Judgmental Amaterasu:

Първоначално публикувано от Pierce Dalton:

This page disagrees with you:
https://store.steampowered.com/join/?

Now show us where Valve is actually able to verify the age of users. Oh wait. So yes TECHNICALLY there is nothing actually preventing the creation of an account by someone under the age of 13.

No, you show me where I said they can verify the age of users lol...

[Paratech2008]

Thing is starting an account with a minor will benefit the child in the long run by teaching how to behave online. How to avoid scammers. They can build a library of games and learn how to make good decisions about games they want and later will purchase with their money.

When they live on their own they'll have games they can play and when their PCs become outdated or break, they have a library they can play on a new PC.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Buy the games off of Steam, DRM-free, and avoid this hassle of figuring out what account to put the games on.

[Black Blade]

Първоначално публикувано от Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Buy the games off of Steam, DRM-free, and avoid this hassle of figuring out what account to put the games on.

So... break agreements? You do know that is basiclly piracy in the eyes of the agreements you agree on the DRM free site right?
Just becouse you can dose not mean your suppose to
Also it dose not have all games

[Pierce Dalton]

Първоначално публикувано от Black Blade:

Първоначално публикувано от Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Buy the games off of Steam, DRM-free, and avoid this hassle of figuring out what account to put the games on.

So... break agreements? You do know that is basiclly piracy in the eyes of the agreements you agree on the DRM free site right?
Just becouse you can dose not mean your suppose to
Also it dose not have all games

Wut

Dude, Quint was referring to other stores like GOG.

[Black Blade]

Първоначално публикувано от Pierce Dalton:

Wut

Dude, Quint was referring to other stores like GOG.

I am aware of that, and that is what the reply was about

DRM free dont mean you allowed to buy and give to someone else
So by there agreement (GOG)

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Първоначално публикувано от Black Blade:

Първоначално публикувано от Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Buy the games off of Steam, DRM-free, and avoid this hassle of figuring out what account to put the games on.

So... break agreements? You do know that is basiclly piracy in the eyes of the agreements you agree on the DRM free site right?
Just becouse you can dose not mean your suppose to
Also it dose not have all games

OP is talking about games for their nephew to play, not having two people both use the same copy of the game. There's no cheaping out by purchasing fewer copies of the game; it's not piracy.

The games could be bought on the Steam account of a parent/guardian, and Family Share them to the nephew, but then tha would cause problems when the parent/guardian wants to play their own games (not to be confused the ones they bought for their nephew) because Steam Family Share is an unnessary pain in the butt. This problem is avoided if the games are DRM-free, and it's still one copy being bought and played by just the nephew anyway.

As for the nephew having their own account, that does give them more latitude to access their games, which would at least partly solve the issue above, though there are still some other drawbacks (e.g. forced updates, being spammed with advertising in the game library) resulting from having stuff stuck on their Steam account. Some potential problems (e.g. the social features of Steam and the ability to purchase games/microtransactions) may be mitigated to varying extents by using Family View (itself protected by just a four-digit PIN), but not all.

I'd frankly recommend parents/guardians/whoeveristheresponsibleadult just provide children with the raw game installers/archives/files than be routed through third-party launcher clients. And buying games DRM-free will provide the parents (et al.) those installers/archives/files that can be downloaded to the child's computer.

To be fair, third-party launcher clients might be unavoidable for some games. But for parents concerned about how their children will be interacting with games, it's useful to note that access to just the game is a more focused and easier-to-oversee arrangement than access to a launcher that launches the game and does various other things.

[Black Blade]

Първоначално публикувано от Quint the Alligator Snapper:

OP is talking about games for their nephew to play, not having two people both use the same copy of the game. There's no cheaping out by purchasing fewer copies of the game; it's not piracy.

The games could be bought on the Steam account of a parent/guardian, and Family Share them to the nephew, but then tha would cause problems when the parent/guardian wants to play their own games (not to be confused the ones they bought for their nephew) because Steam Family Share is an unnessary pain in the butt. This problem is avoided if the games are DRM-free, and it's still one copy being bought and played by just the nephew anyway.

As for the nephew having their own account, that does give them more latitude to access their games, which would at least partly solve the issue above, though there are still some other drawbacks (e.g. forced updates, being spammed with advertising in the game library) resulting from having stuff stuck on their Steam account. Some potential problems (e.g. the social features of Steam and the ability to purchase games/microtransactions) may be mitigated to varying extents by using Family View (itself protected by just a four-digit PIN), but not all.

I'd frankly recommend parents/guardians/whoeveristheresponsibleadult just provide children with the raw game installers/archives/files than be routed through third-party launcher clients. And buying games DRM-free will provide the parents (et al.) those installers/archives/files that can be downloaded to the child's computer.

To be fair, third-party launcher clients might be unavoidable for some games. But for parents concerned about how their children will be interacting with games, it's useful to note that access to just the game is a more focused and easier-to-oversee arrangement than access to a launcher that launches the game and does various other things.

But are you talking about buying a game for them on the parant account or the kids account? (pretty sure GOG at least also has a limited age)
Becouse if its not the kids account, there not suppose to get the game from someone else, as I said before

Over all its the same, be Steam or GOG the parant has to make an account for the kid, then the kid can play on there own account, as long as the care taker accept it its fine (GOG and Steam)
The rest you got Family view
You welcome to say that GOG is better, but not on "advantages" it dose not have, Steam and GOG on who allowed to access and kids account I belive are the same stance, Only GOG in all cases dose not block you breaking it, as much as Steam in some cases

Can check on GOG when I get back home, if nothing else jumps to take my time