9 plus years on steam and still asked to confirm birthdate

[MoonRoccs]

still asking to confirm my birthday? its stupid to keep doing this..

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

It is now a session cookie. It will not store the date after you log out.

New change Valve made.

[Xsurfer]

Yeah Having to enter my birthday to see the same pages I have been to recently or worse games I own is getting really irritating.

[Zefar]

It's not because Steam wanted to be more annoying. It's probably because of law. Even a ton of adult sites asks if you're over 18. Do you think they would ask this if there wasn't a law for it?

It's a stupid law but it's one that you need to follow.

[sentenza]

Yeah, but I've confirmed my birthdate in account preferences already. There should be no need to ask again if I'm logged on my account - like when I'm using the desktop client.

No way the law requires Valve to ask the same customer their brithdate over and over again expecting a different answer each time?

[Bar]

the system is useless and should be removed. case n point: i always put 01/01/1900. being able to dodge the system makes me wonder why its even there in the 1st place????

[Cassidy]

Originally posted by Barium:

the system is useless and should be removed. case n point: i always put 01/01/1900. being able to dodge the system makes me wonder why its even there in the 1st place????

Because by having that age gate, the user has to confirm (or lie) that they are 18 or above. If the user lies and then ends up seeing content that disturbs them, that is on the user, not Valve, because the user lied and chose to see that content.

[The Giving One]

"This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important"

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/135507548120407092/

If you have come here to propose a suggestion for the Steam client, whether it be a new feature or an improvement of an existing one,

you have come to the right place. Please consider searching before posting, as your suggestion may have already been brought up before.

"age verification"

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061469928464&include_deleted=1&q=%22age+verification%22

Valve has to follow all appicable laws. As said above.........

Originally posted by Zefar:

It's a stupid law but it's one that you need to follow.

People disagree and don't like speed limits, too. But guess what ? It's a LAW and necessary. And not the fault of Valve for it having to exist. You cannot just have a one-time verification as if, for example, someone is wrongly sharing their account with someone else. If it asks for the verification, then it is asking for this reason.

[JPMcMillen]

Don't complain about having to do it after only 9 years on Steam. Even people here since the (near) beginning still have to do it from time to time.

[Zefar]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Zefar:

It's a stupid law but it's one that you need to follow.

People disagree and don't like speed limits, too. But guess what ? It's a LAW and necessary. And not the fault of Valve for it having to exist. You cannot just have a one-time verification as if, for example, someone is wrongly sharing their account with someone else. If it asks for the verification, then it is asking for this reason.

Speeding actually has a consequence where as lying about your age does not. So there is a good reason to follow the speed limit.

Had those signs not been made people would probably drive A LOT faster than you think.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Zefar:

Speeding actually has a consequence where as lying about your age does not.

You are right, of course, as the direct action of lying about one's age in of itself does not really have any direct consequences.

However, it is my understanding (and I am by no means a legal expert) that if something were to happen that was linked to that account at the time that person was using that account, and it was later proven they lied about their age, would that not protect Valve if any legal action was warranted ?

I understand this still does not necessarily result in any direct action against that person that lied about their age but it might land them in hot water with Valve concerning the account and who lied and if they did in fact lie, perhaps ?

Or maybe that is a bit of a stretch. Thanks.

EDIT..I was not posting my comment to you above, and if I caused confusion due to how I quoted you using your statement as an example, I apologize.

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Zefar:

It's not because Steam wanted to be more annoying. It's probably because of law. Even a ton of adult sites asks if you're over 18. Do you think they would ask this if there wasn't a law for it?

It's a stupid law but it's one that you need to follow.

Please don't ban me for saying this, but isn't it due to contract by the Entertainment Software Association? There is still a bug where it is still saving the DOB and broadcasting it over insecure HTTP. I can produce the Fiddler logs to prove it.

Originally posted by Zefar:

It's not because Steam wanted to be more annoying. It's probably because of law. Even a ton of adult sites asks if you're over 18. Do you think they would ask this if there wasn't a law for it?

It's a stupid law but it's one that you need to follow.

In your country, isn't video game content rating also voluntary and not enforceable by law?
Also, don't most of those so-called "adult" websites only have a yes/no question, likely to protect privacy? Steam does have this privacy respecting age gate format on some of its store pages.