Setting up an account for my little brother (family view and regional issues)

[lia]

[for tl;dr see the two questions below]

i was thinking about creating a steam account for my 6-year-old brother (he's a smart boy and enjoys playing games). we live in different countries right now, and so far i could only let him play on my laptop during my (short and rare) visits or send links to online games to my dad (he then lets him play on our parents' computer)

my parents wouldn't bother to search for/buy/install the games specifically for my brother (there are no games on my parents' pc, i believe, and they didn't buy any games for me until i was old enough to choose something i want and ask them for money). however, they would let him play if someone they trust took care of these things

so i thought a (restricted) steam account with a family view enabled might be a good option in our case. i plan to visit my home country soon, where i would be able to create the account, get some kid-friendly games and show my brother how to launch them. however, there're some things i'm not sure i would be able to do once i leave for another country again. hence, my questions:

1) can i gift my brother any games while i'm in finland, and will he be able to freely play them in ukraine? (it seems like all the games are more expensive in euro than in ukrainian currency, hryvnia)

2) can i log in to my brother's account from finland while he's using it in ukraine? i know one can access one's account from any device around the world, but what if this is done within a very short time frame or simultaneously? also, does it matter whether i log in via my browser or via the steam client? (it seems all the features i need are availbale in browser though)

i might need to access his account to redeem the game keys i'd get in the future, or accept the gifts i'd send to him (i'll teach him how to install a game in his library in advance)

i would also like to choose the games he can play. e.g. i might get a giveaway key for a good game, which i won't play myself, but my brother might enjoy when he's older (e.g. a shooter of some kind). it'd be nice to add it to his account now (to avoid the key deactivating later), but not display the game in his library yet. again, all while being in a different country

(thanks if you've read the above)

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

1. If the difference in the prices on the 2 Steam stores after currency conversion is 10% or greater, no. Buy wallet cards or digital wallet cards here...

http://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/selectgiftcard

2. Sure. It may send an email for suspicious login.

[Pheace]

Honestly, I'd recommend whomever the adult is that's taking care of him to deal with the account locally rather than managing it from a distance like that, it'll avoid a lot of headaches.

[lia]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

1. If the difference in the prices on the 2 Steam stores after currency conversion is 10% or greater, no.

i thought this rule is only for gifting cheaper games to a region where they're more expensive

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Buy wallet cards or digital wallet cards

will i be able to accept the gift card and make purchases on the store (in finland), while keeping the account restricted on my parents' computer? i mean when i use the password to leave the family view here, it is not automatically exited for my brother, right?
(i didn't think of this when considering key redemption and gift acceptance in the op)

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

2. Sure. It may send an email for suspicious login.

i will then be able to confirm that everything is ok, and no issues should arise? will it send an e-mail for each login, or only the first one? (from the same device)

Originally posted by Pheace:

Honestly, I'd recommend whomever the adult is that's taking care of him to deal with the account locally rather than managing it from a distance like that, it'll avoid a lot of headaches.

thanks for the suggestion, but i'd still try to make my method work out first

[pike]

thats a bad idea , he's too young understand what's legal and whats not, the odds of something bad happening are really high , his parents should make an account that they over-see and only allow limited access to .
your in another country , you are not there to make sure he stays out of trouble .
your intentions are good , but it's a bad idea

"my parents wouldn't bother to search for/buy/install the games specifically for my brother (there are no games on my parents' pc, i believe, and they didn't buy any games for me until i was old enough to choose something i want and ask them for money). however, they would let him play if someone they trust took care of these things"

you even say they (parents) wouldnt provide the proper supervision , who knows what malicious thing could happen , you could end up unleashing a nightmare on the whole community .

and the min age for a steam account is 13 .

your intentions are good , but it's a bad idea

[lia]

Originally posted by pike:

your intentions are good , but it's a bad idea

it's probably not as bad as you imagine given the restrictions that can be imposed on my brother's account

i experimented a bit with family view on my laptop and another device, and it works great

as expected, i could disable all steam features except the library of chosen games and steam support. everything else (store, market, profile, friends, forums etc.) was inaccessible without entering the password

while in family view (in client), i could install and play games, access their properties, uninstall them. i also had full access to support (it's the only feature available without password when logged in via browser), and even managed to 'permanently' delete a product from my account (which is reversible, of course). i don't know much about steam support, but i would imagine nothing horrible can happen there. if my brother does try to do anything major or contacts support team, i should at least get an e-mail notification

the best thing i found out is that when i exit family view on one device, it stays active on another. i could access all steam features on my laptop without compromising family view mode on another device. also, each time i enter/exit family view on my device (i forgot to check with logging in/out), the user is logged out of steam on the other (when he loggs in again, family view remains active - until he enters the correct password)

the only thing i'm still unsure about is the regional issues: game restrictions and suspicious logins from different countries

cSg|mc-Hotsauce suggested gift cards instead of gifting games - but won't this cause a similar problem when i buy games in finland (with the gift card money) for my brother to play in ukraine?

i guess the best option here is to get non-region-restricted game keys on external sites and redeem them on my brother's account

i'm also wondering whether it's worth warning steam support about logging in from different countries in advance (idk how serious of an issue those suspicisious logins can be)

Originally posted by pike:

you could end up unleashing a nightmare on the whole community

gave me a chuckle :)
thanks for trying to help me and the entire steam community

Originally posted by pike:

and the min age for a steam account is 13

that's the minimum age to create one's own account, not to play games on somebody else's (i was just reminded of this today). even though i say 'my brother's account', i would be the one who created it and who is in control. my brother would be able to create another one when he grows up, and i'll let him change e-mail/password on the old account

[pike]

he's 6 , he's just learning to read , his understanding and experience is almost non-existent ,
he doesnt really know right from wrong , he is an easy target to be exploited for scams ,and every other kind of nefarious acts possible with a steam account .
you're showing your immaturity and inability to make good decisions by even considering this .
you need to think it thru .

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by lia:

that's the minimum age to create one's own account, not to play games on somebody else's (i was just reminded of this today). even though i say 'my brother's account', i would be the one who created it and who is in control. my brother would be able to create another one when he grows up, and i'll let him change e-mail/password on the old account

Accounts cannot be shared either. Unless you mean family sharing here above.

Family sharing is ok, in sharing the library. Account sharing is not allowed.

[lia]

Originally posted by pike:

he is an easy target to be exploited for scams ,and every other kind of nefarious acts possible with a steam account

as i've said (almost) all he would be able to do on the account i'd create is play the games i picked for him. he wouldn't be able to buy anything in the store or on community market as well as interact with other users. support would be his only access to something more advanced, but i honestly doubt he'll try to do anything there (or even notice it) any time soon. it just doesn't look as interesting as games, and my brother isn't the one who would randomly click through anything he sees without having any idea about what he's doing

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Accounts cannot be shared either. Unless you mean family sharing here above.

Family sharing is ok, in sharing the library. Account sharing is not allowed.

oops, you're right. i was just excited about getting him 'his own' games to play, and somewhere along the way forgot who'd always be the rightful owner of the account

family sharing is a perfect option here, of course

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by lia:

family sharing is a perfect option here, of course

Exactly. Just wanted to be sure. Above, where hepful users are giving you suggestions, it's not at all to be "rule mongers". It's to help you. We have see case after case where this was done incorrectly, so everyone is just trying to give you good advice. Thanks for being receptive to tat advice.

[lia]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

oh sure, i appreciate everyone's help here
(i didn't mean to appear like i'm 'defending' against the suggestions posted, i'm just trying to keep the solution closest to what i imagined initially - especially when i see that this is possible/allowed and doesn't seem too risky. i would have a harder time doing this without the comments posted above - so yeah, thanks to those who i haven't thanked earlier)

[SloppyMcFloppy]

Damn if your bro is in Ukraine atm I hope he's okay

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by SloppyMcFloppy:

Damn if your bro is in Ukraine atm I hope he's okay

OP has been afk since 2018.

[John]

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