When will Steam finally get a real age verification?

[SoundOfDarkness]

Just entering your date of birth is point- and useless. And of course it's not a safe verification because anyone can enter any date.

"Meh, I want this game but I was born in 2015, guess I'll just enter 2000 as birthdate."

As a man in his 40s I'm sick and tired of running into blocked games just because Steam doesn't have a reliable age verification. And no, it's not just porn games. I'm honestly surprised we are still allowed to access some unrated or all the rated 18+ games.

[Crazy Tiger]

The age gates aren't a verification, but an indemnification. It's not to verify ages, just to stop people from sueing them. Different angle.

Actual verification requires hooking up into 3rd party systems. Germany shows that Valve simply isn't interested in doing that.

[Tito Shivan]

Probably never. As the system is working as intended by Steam.

[SoundOfDarkness]

How can blocking customers be "working as intended"? Blocking customers is losing money. I highly doubt that Valve or any dev thinks: "No, I don't want you to buy my game."

[Tito Shivan]

The Steam age gates block as much customers like the curtains leading to the adult section did in videoclubs.

[Crazy Tiger]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

How can blocking customers be "working as intended"? Blocking customers is losing money. I highly doubt that Valve or any dev thinks: "No, I don't want you to buy my game."

Not every sale or customer is equal and worth the same. And certainly with Valve, if they aren't interested in offering something, they won't. Until more countries take the same stance as Germany, it's unlikely to be a priority for Valve.

Tito Shivan a écrit :

The Steam age gates block as much customers like the curtains leading to the adult section did in videoclubs.

OP has Germany as location, so assuming they are from there, such games are actually blocked there.

[SoundOfDarkness]

Except it's not a curtain but a 2 meter thick reinforced concrete wall for some countries. We can't even reach that age gate because we are blocked by "not available in your country" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Start_Running]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

Just entering your date of birth is point- and useless. And of course it's not a safe verification because anyone can enter any date.

"Meh, I want this game but I was born in 2015, guess I'll just enter 2000 as birthdate."

As a man in his 40s I'm sick and tired of running into blocked games just because Steam doesn't have a reliable age verification. And no, it's not just porn games. I'm honestly surprised we are still allowed to access some unrated or all the rated 18+ games.

There is no such thing as reliable age verification because .. and he'res the kicker there's always the question of whether or not any ID , etc presented actually belongs to the person the ID represents

Valve knoiws this so they basically just make it so they make as few legally problematic assumptions as possible.

[Boblin the Goblin]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

Except it's not a curtain but a 2 meter thick reinforced concrete wall for some countries. We can't even reach that age gate because we are blocked by "not available in your country" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

That because your country requires measures that Valve doesn't want to implement either due to privacy or cost.

[SoundOfDarkness]

Of course there is no perfect verification but asking for an ID number would be safer and more reliable. Even the "we don't give a ♥♥♥♥" people of Sony were capable of doing something like this and that was many years ago. The solution is simple: No pornographic or overly violent depictions like dismemberment allowed in screenshots or trailers on the store page and ask for ID during or before payment process.

I seriously can't imagine that parents in other countries don't care if their kids buy violent or pornographic games. Right now it's not protecting any kids at all or making it impossible to purchase for everyone.

[Boblin the Goblin]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

Of course there is no perfect verification but asking for an ID number would be safer and more reliable. Even the "we don't give a ♥♥♥♥" people of Sony were capable of doing something like this and that was many years ago. The solution is simple: No pornographic or overly violent depictions like dismemberment allowed in screenshots or trailers on the store page and ask for ID during or before payment process.

I seriously can't imagine that parents in other countries don't care if their kids buy violent or pornographic games. Right now it's not protecting any kids at all or making it impossible to purchase for everyone.

It's not for protection, it's to mitigate lawsuits since it becomes the responsibility of the user for lying about their age.

Not ever country has an ID system for verification and even more have laws about 3rd parties collecting or accessing that information.

[SoundOfDarkness]

Yeah, still doesn't make sense for me. So you can't buy a beer unless you're clearly 21 or older but you can buy porn or violence filled games/movies online with no problems whatsoever?

[Crazy Tiger]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

Of course there is no perfect verification but asking for an ID number would be safer and more reliable. Even the "we don't give a ♥♥♥♥" people of Sony were capable of doing something like this and that was many years ago. The solution is simple: No pornographic or overly violent depictions like dismemberment allowed in screenshots or trailers on the store page and ask for ID during or before payment process.

I seriously can't imagine that parents in other countries don't care if their kids buy violent or pornographic games. Right now it's not protecting any kids at all or making it impossible to purchase for everyone.

Valve has no authority to ask my ID for it as they're not a business for which it's required, nor can they verify it anyway. And they aren't allowed to deny me access if I don't want to give my ID either. Privacy laws exist.

[Boblin the Goblin]

SoundOfDarkness a écrit :

Yeah, still doesn't make sense for me. So you can't buy a beer unless you're clearly 21 or older but you can buy porn or violence filled games/movies online with no problems whatsoever?

Just like using a fake ID to buy alcohol, lying about your age to to purchase porn is the same.

[m662]

At least in the EU there are currently experimentation going on with Identification for certain content sites. There are already talks of enforcing it for online alcohol shops. Its not a major thought leap that it will get implemented on game platforms. I give it about 5 years.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2023/739350/EPRS_ATA(2023)739350_EN.pdf

[Nx Machina]

Age gates remove liability due to the simple fact that you, irrespective of age confirm you are 18, therefore a website owner cannot be held responsible for a voluntary action, even if the person is under 18.

Secondly there is zero requirement under law to provide a photograph of yourself, nor id to use a gaming service nor a website such as Amazon, because for example, it infringes upon GDPR (UK and EU) which restricts what information a company can hold on you as an individual, information which you CAN legally asked to be removed.

Your rights under GDPR are:

* be informed about how your data is being used
* access personal data
* have incorrect data updated
* have data erased <<<<<<<<
* stop or restrict the processing of your data <<<<<<<<
* data portability (allowing you to get and reuse your data for different services)
* object to how your data is processed in certain circumstances <<<<<<<<

And finally you are only required under law to provide a photograph for a passport, a driving licence (country dependant) etc.