steam for <13 child?

[failsafe]

I wanted to create a new account for my 11 yo son... but seems that I can't. Steam allows to create accounts only for 13+. I dont discuss policy of the company, they are free to allow 99+ if they want, but still, I'm little suprised. I mean I can easily create email account for 11 yo kid or even issue a debit card for him... but I can't legally create a gaming account. Or maybe I didnt notice something? Is there a legal way to do this?

[Wolf Knight]

you have to be 13 to make your own account. a parent can make an account for their child

make sure you go over account security with your child, and what to do if someone claiming to be from steam ever contacts them (the scammers dont care who their victim is)

[Unn4m3d (♥AUT♥)]

You can make an account for him as his legal guardian.

[Crazy Tiger]

Yes, you create the account together with your kid. It's not illegal to create one. the reason Steam, and other services, are "not" for under 13 is due to COPPA and data collection. Companies are not permitted to collect data of under 13 yr olds.

However, you as a parent can create the account together with your kid. It makes you responsible, as an adult. If you create it with your kid, it also means they're there for the proofs of ownership.

You can further use Family View to put restrictions on your kids account.

[nullable]

Well, parents can create whatever accounts they want for their children. It would nominally be your account. My advice would be to keep track of the account creation details in password manager because in twenty years if your kid needs to recover the account and they didn't even create it that may be a hassle.

A child under 13 wouldn't be allowed to create an account on their own and be abiding by the terms.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by failsafe:

I wanted to create a new account for my 11 yo son... but seems that I can't. Steam allows to create accounts only for 13+. I dont discuss policy of the company, they are free to allow 99+ if they want, but still, I'm little suprised. I mean I can easily create email account for 11 yo kid or even issue a debit card for him... but I can't legally create a gaming account. Or maybe I didnt notice something? Is there a legal way to do this?

I created an account for my son when he was 8/yo. Family shared my games and put on full Family View lock outs until he was 13. Purchased games he kept borrowing from my account for him as well as games for us to play together.

You can create the account for him and assume all responsibility for the account.

Under 13 can't enter into a binding legal agreement, but their parent/guardian can on their behalf.

[failsafe]

So, if I understand correct, I just create normal account but unlike other accounts (gmail for example) I never state that this is my son's account - it is mine account used by him. Well, okay, I get it. I think I recently got used to situation where accounts have shared responsibility - gmail does it well. Account is created for my son, with his name ect, but I'm stated - as a separate person - as a responsible for this account.

Thanks ;-)

[Cloud_X1]

So basically no? You have to lie about being 13th old? Are are people saying to make an account with my own info and then eventually update the info to reflect my child’s actual age once they turn 13?

[Hikari Light]

Originally posted by Cloud_X1:

So basically no? You have to lie about being 13th old? Are are people saying to make an account with my own info and then eventually update the info to reflect my child’s actual age once they turn 13?

If you are under 13, you need to have a parent create one for you.
There are parental control settings a parent can enable and lack to control what the under 13 kid has access to.

Once the child is 13 you can disable the parental controls and give them full control if you feel you can trust them.

13 year olds are supposed to be mature enough to control themselves when online.

[newalienfromla]

Originally posted by failsafe:

I wanted to create a new account for my 11 yo son... but seems that I can't. Steam allows to create accounts only for 13+. I dont discuss policy of the company, they are free to allow 99+ if they want, but still, I'm little suprised. I mean I can easily create email account for 11 yo kid or even issue a debit card for him... but I can't legally create a gaming account. Or maybe I didnt notice something? Is there a legal way to do this?

Considering that there are PEGI7 games, it's strange that you can't create a child account...

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by Cloud_X1:

So basically no? You have to lie about being 13th old? Are are people saying to make an account with my own info and then eventually update the info to reflect my child’s actual age once they turn 13?

Valve doesn't want to deal with COPPA, so they don't handle personal information from people under the age of 13. But if you're making an account for your child, that's perfectly fine. Steam doesn't store your birth date or age.

[Alice Liddell]

You should disable Steam chat first and foremost and then disable the ability to go into certain Steam forums such as Off Topic using Steam console. You can thank me later.

[SanekiBeko]

Guys I'm pretty sure the kid is 13 now. This thread is 2 years old.

[dancats123]

ok

[Garry]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.