Change Account Username

[Game Hoard]

I was just thinking... Why am I unable to just simply change my username on Steam... I can change password, email, etc. Although I am not able to change mu username.

I really think that would be usfull personally, but I just dont know why it wasnt in use before. People change there information ALL THE TIME why is it so much of a sucurity opening for the use of that?

USERNAME ON LOGIN.

[WhereIsBusmin]

Which name are you talking about? There is often confusion:

Your account ID (what you use to log into Steam with) cannot be changed. No one but you ever sees this so it shouldn't be a huge problem.

You can however change your username/profile name/"gamertag" (your "visible name"): In the top left corner of the Steam client, click "Steam" > "Settings" > "Friends" tab.

[TirithRR]

It should be noted Steam remembers your past nicknames, so you can't really use that to hide or change your identity :).

[Game Hoard]

Originally posted by WhereIsBusmin:

Which name are you talking about? There is often confusion:

Your account ID (what you use to log into Steam with) cannot be changed. No one but you ever sees this so it shouldn't be a huge problem.

You can however change your username/profile name/"gamertag" (your "visible name"): In the top left corner of the Steam client, click "Steam" > "Settings" > "Friends" tab.

I was talking about the name used on Login. Not the Username seen by other users...

[Game Hoard]

Originally posted by TirithRR:

It should be noted Steam remembers your past nicknames, so you can't really use that to hide or change your identity :).

Not the username I was talking about....

[WhereIsBusmin]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Where can you change the log in name?

You can't ;)

[WhereIsBusmin]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by WhereIsBusmin:

You can't ;)

Originally posted by bannanagamer:

People change there information ALL THE TIME

Thats why i asked.

Oh *smacks head* I missed that one comment in the OP that tied it all together. I was wondering why you were asking when I knew you knew the answer... Haha. "Durr".

[MalikQayum]

might be abit confusing to understand but ill try to explaing it in an example:

- to find something in a database u need to look for constant clearly steam has 3 but only uses 1 being the Login username, which is visible to the creator and the ones who knows it, so that means all they have to do is type the Login username u give and they find it relatively fast i would assume.

- if u remove the constant which is the Login username and make it changeable suddently u dont have a constant u can search for, well u probably could search for it if the Login usernames are stored in a history, but the time finding it would increase significantly, how much i dont know but i do have feeling they can find it relatively fast anyway but it doesnt change the point that it increases their search.

- how about the other 2 constants im talking about, then why cant they use them, because the steamid 64 and account user id are not something people remember 64 id is 17 digits long good luck expecting people memorize that, acount user id is i think 7 digits long cant really remember but thats not really visible anywhere unless u use the api or look into the html source, either way not everyone is gonna remember that too.

why am i talking about all this ?
well in cases of hijacking image the hijacker changing the Login username 20 - 50 times over the timespan its hijacked, which constant are you gonna give steam support?
the steam 64 id, do u remember the 17 digit of the top of your head?
did u look into the html source for the user account id ?

i guess u didnt, so when u open a ticket saying i lost my account, you type in "myloginusermane" but by that time the hijacker already changed it to "nowitsmineloginusername" so u telling steam to find a login username that doesnt exist anymore :)


another thing this opens up for is that the hijacker could change the login username of your account make an empty account and use the login username you originally had so when you login the next time all you see is an empty account thinking you lost all your games while in fact the hijacker is using your account and you are using a bogus account :)

[Ineffable Anathema]

I don't really see what practical use changing your login name would be. Your usertag, which you can change at will, is all you really need if you don't like your current nickname. There's no point to changing the actual login name, and doing so can make the accounts a greater security risk (as Malek above pointed out.) It's probably much less stress on them in terms of legal issues and billing to make each account stick to one name as well. What possible use could you have for changing it?

[Game Hoard]

Originally posted by MaLeK:

Keeping Account Safe.

• Uniqe Username
  
• Strong Password

People make the mistake to do somthing to get them in a jam, but then just blame it on Steam. Dousn't need to be so ####ING sucure. They dont hack Steam Database or bomb there systems, all they do is take the guess at the password and username.

Not that? Maybe the user shouldnt have been doing what he was doing. HALF the poeple who get hacked on Steam are kids who have used some website or application on there computer to get them in a hole. Although, someones got to learn eventually.

[Game Hoard]

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

Not really what I asked, but ill go ahead and respond...
Steam Servers can take that change, and I dont really know what you mean by Steam Legal stuff, but that shouldnt ever be a issue...

[Kickin' Chicken]

The name you wanted has already been taken...problem solved!

[Ineffable Anathema]

Originally posted by bannanagamer:

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

Not really what I asked, but ill go ahead and respond...
Steam Servers can take that change, and I dont really know what you mean by Steam Legal stuff, but that shouldnt ever be a issue...

There's no real answer for the rest of it unless it comes directly from Valve because they're the only ones who know why it's like that. No regular user is party to that, and I doubt the mods are either. There's nowhere this thread can go unless one of them (Valve employees) decides to post here.

[Silicon Vampire]

Actually, it has been stated by a Valve employee that the database is NOT set up to allow name changes. To many things are interdependent on it. They also stated that they may be able to change that at some point in the future but don't hold your breath.

Sorry, no I do not have the post/thread reference.

[WhereIsBusmin]

Originally posted by Silicon Vampire:

Actually, it has been stated by a Valve employee that the database is NOT set up to allow name changes. To many things are interdependent on it. They also stated that they may be able to change that at some point in the future but don't hold your breath.

Sorry, no I do not have the post/thread reference.

My understanding of the reasons are the same as what you provided. Here is a thread in which Burton confirms that renames are not possible, but it's lacking an explaination.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=26088889#post26088889

[Game Hoard]

Originally posted by Silicon Vampire:

Actually, it has been stated by a Valve employee that the database is NOT set up to allow name changes. To many things are interdependent on it. They also stated that they may be able to change that at some point in the future but don't hold your breath.

Sorry, no I do not have the post/thread reference.

That really sounds like its missing somthing...